Have we ever had it so good?

[Alfonzo]

Is off-road blossoming or what?


Kyosho and Tamiya return
Yokomo running well
Losi XX4 still sharp
Hotbodies looking..uhh..hot
BJ4 strong as ever
Atomic Carbon looking promising
4wd MKI-4 sounds a great idea
Academy
Pred X11 should be goodOff-road is looking healthy, and from what I can see the majority of the above are competitive. Happy days :cool:

[BenG]

Dont forget the Atomic Carbon Slim4 and Slim2

[Col]

Dont forget the Atomic Carbon Slim4 and Slim2

Is off-road blossoming or what?


Kyosho and Tamiya return
Yokomo running well
Losi XX4 still sharp
Hotbodies looking..uhh..hot
BJ4 strong as ever
Atomic Carbon looking promising
4wd MKI-4 sounds a great idea
Academy
Pred X11 should be goodOff-road is looking healthy, and from what I can see the majority of the above are competitive. Happy days :cool:

....

[Nick Goodall]

It is looking good, but from my point of view the big name missing that truly belongs is SCHUMACHER - The Cat series of cars up to the 3000 were just so good, i still think on the right track the Cat 2000 EC would still be competitive (particularly smooth Grass) - it's a shame they're not about and not looking likely to make a return to Off Road soon :(

[super__dan]

You also forgot the X Factory X5, 2007 BRCA indoor finals winner as of yesterday ;)

[Alfonzo]

Yes, I agree about Schumacher. It's like the party's started but the main guest has yet to turn up :) . Still, I can't blame them - it must be damned difficult to make a decent business out of RC kits at this volume, especially now there's so much competition. I wonder if they'd consider re-releasing the CAT 2000 with a few tweaks to bring it up to date? They must have all the tooling still, and that's a lot of the up-front cost sorted.

Still, happy days for us Off Roaders. I'm especially looking forward to the Pred X11 :)

[Alfonzo]

Oops, yup - the X factory kit too. Jeezz - amazing range of competitors, it's never been so strong. Plus, in my opinion you could choose pretty much any from my list and do the business on the track.

[jim76]

it's just a shame 2wd isn't quite as varied. Maybe the RB5 and X6 will make claims this year. I'll be interested to see the X6 results now Ellis is on board and there is a year of testing and set up from Dan and Chris. I fancy Ellis for the 4wd with his X5 as he was awesome at CML raceway.

[Nick Goodall]

Tricky will still take some beating in 4wd - he must know that XX-4 as well as anyone ever did by now.

I can't see Schumacher re-releasing anything but i do believe in the right hands the Cat would still be good on the right track - you've only got to think how it competed with the XX4 for a few years - it wasn't ever far off and the XX4 is still winning now in 2006/7 so it would be interesting

[Alfonzo]

Yup, I'm sure the Cat 2000 would still win, at least the lesser events. I'm not sure about top level nationals - but it probably could do some damage in the right hands. I'm not sure whether there has been any dramatic progress the last 5 - 10 years in terms of chassis design. Plenty of refinements, especially with regards to dealing with the more modern motor output, but no fundamental cosmic leaps forward in basic car design, witness the XX4 still ultra competitive.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons off road is so popular.

[jim76]

i still have my cat 2000 (original, not EC version) i actually dug it out a couple of years ago when i started back before i bought a modern buggy. i raced it the first few weeks at a small club near me and it was certainly as quick as anything else out there. The transmission might struggle with the power of modern motors, but in terms of handling it was spot on still.

[NeilD]

There have been rumours that Schumacher will re release the 2k as a budget car and the 3k with all the original hop ups as standard. A 4k was heavily developed but then they pulled the plug again there is the odd rumbling about them starting this up again although when i emailed Robin he said there were no plans for a 4k for the forseeable future.

[Nick Goodall]

I raced the Cat2k for years and then ran the 3k for one season. I'd say the 2000 is still the better car, the only place i ever really got to grips with the 3k was at the 2000 Euro's in Sweden (Qualfied 9th) but apart from that i couldn't really get on with it.

I'd have another Cat 2000 if it came with the Alloy gearboxes front and rear, towards the end of running the Cat we had a nightmare getting the "blade" drive shafts to last so they'd have no hope nowadays :D

[Alfonzo]

I ran a 3000 for a few years. It never worked for me TBH. Take a 2000, get rid of those silly driveshaft blades and drop in alloy gear boxes as you say - hey presto! An Old Skool upset in the making :)

[Medders]

I raced my old Procat at the indoor finals on Sunday. Qualified last in the G final with it (the finals went down to i) which had more to do with my rustiness and general lack of ability than the poor performance of the car.

The transmission struggled a bit with the 10x2 but with some better care should cope. It seems ok compared to the other cars in the tighter sections but in the faster corners and bumpy sections is seemed less stable, which I guess is down to the less sophisticated and adjustable suspension and weight of the car. Not sure it would do very well outdoors but I will give it a try at some point this season.

I still love the car and wish schumacher would release something new but based on the same basic principles.

[Alfonzo]

Pro Cat eh? Now THAT's Old Skool, and I like it!

Funny how any discussion on 1:10th offroad vehicles tends to end up veering round towards Schumacher chat. Shows what an impact on us (older?) racers Northampton's finest had :D

[NeilD]

I raced my old Procat at the indoor finals on Sunday. Qualified last in the G final with it (the finals went down to i) which had more to do with my rustiness and general lack of ability than the poor performance of the car.

The transmission struggled a bit with the 10x2 but with some better care should cope. It seems ok compared to the other cars in the tighter sections but in the faster corners and bumpy sections is seemed less stable, which I guess is down to the less sophisticated and adjustable suspension and weight of the car. Not sure it would do very well outdoors but I will give it a try at some point this season.

I still love the car and wish schumacher would release something new but based on the same basic principles.

I was watching you going round with it, it brought back a few happy memories. :)

[HKP]

Speaking of oldies.. I still race a lazer ZXR indoors. On a low grip surface it's untouchable, shame the driver can't compete though!! Some of these old chassis really do still have the advantage in certain conditions. I say bring back the CAT 2K EC for smooth grass tracks :)

[Alfonzo]

I think the first 2007 National at Tiverton proved the point of this thread - fantastic variety of chassis.

[Body Paint]

And was good to see 3 of the "little guys" , the real enthusiats at the top. Aero, Atomic Carbon and X-Factory