Best car of its era

[DaveG28]

If your prepared to look you can still get the odd XX4 brand new (WE version anyway), for example I have a BNIB one I found in a shop, and one at a place in North Carolina too!

[sime46]

I first raced an origional tamiya hotshot way back when at the winter gardens in skeg vegas. Skip forward a little it was a Lazer zx then on again to the zxr. I wish I'd kept them! I'd do owt for an origional lazer! I have the re release hotshot but havn't built it yet.

[stulec52]

I was thinking about this as a similar topic came up on TamiyaClub.

I also thought which car made the biggest jump in performance over everything else when it came along.

Also you asked for era, not year, so for me there are 3 cars that set the bar just a little higher when they came along, and therefore are the best of the era for me.

CAT XLS - I was going to say the original CAT, but honestly it was so hard to drive, and even harder to build without breaking anything !
XLS made the CAT accesible to Joe Racer and kicked butt !
Optima Mid Custom Special - I know it wasn't really the car that pushed the bar higher as such, but it was the final refinement of that model which was such a great car.
and the number 1 position goes to:

RC-10.
it was better than the 4wd cars of the day !
Just THE car to have if you wanted to race.

[gaza121]

In my opinion, I think the car the changing Buggy racing/design has got to be the original Optima, I had one of the very first in my club and no other car was even close to it at the time, I think the closest to it was the mardave meteor!!!!

A year later the Cat was released and my optima just could not keep up with them, the biggest floor in the original optima was the chain stretching!!

G

[Gayo]

IMO, the cars that raised the bar the most were the original RC10, then the Team Car, the Losi XX and the Losi XXX. In 4wd, it would be the Cat XLS (specially indoors), the YZ870C, and of course the fantastic Cat 2000 with laydown shocks.

Awesome post guys, keep them coming!

[bender]

This is quite a difficult question to answer, as often a successful car in one continent didn't necessarily mean it would work well everywhere else.

The Optima is a prime example of this - in Europe this car ended the reign of the 2wd (before the classes were split), most notably at the 86 Euro's, where Jamie Booth was the lone RC10 (10th) in a field of 8 Optimas and 1 SG Coyote.

However locally for me (Australia), the Optima was completely outclassed by a buggy released in 1985, the Mugen Bulldog. This was simply because a local distributor developed some excellent mods for this car which saw it completely dominate our racing scene for several years, and was even competitive against the Cat.

Outside Australia, the Bulldog was probably an almost unhead of car.

For me, the best cars are the one which were innovative for their time, such as:

83 Hirobo 44b
84 RC10
85 Bulldog
86 Incident
86 Cat
89 JRX2
93 Losi XX
94 Yok YZ10
97 Losi XX4

[BORMAC]

Yep Im going to put this one out there- how about the Tamiya 501X. Sure its new and even though it hasnt revolutionised the racing scene as such it certainly lifted the bar as far as Tamiya is concerned.
But talking vintage-perhaps the biggest suprise would have been when the JRX2 came to town. Not many people knew much of Team Losi when this car was released and it quickly ate up alot of the current competition cars.
I think puting almost any car in the right hands will yeild good results.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by lochness42

.......... Then year 2000 came and everyone here started racing TC. So I had no option and sold it to Poland. .......

Was Poland happy with it's purchase.

[B44&501xRacerEX]

Originally Posted by bender

This is quite a difficult question to answer, as often a successful car in one continent didn't necessarily mean it would work well everywhere else.

The Optima is a prime example of this - in Europe this car ended the reign of the 2wd (before the classes were split), most notably at the 86 Euro's, where Jamie Booth was the lone RC10 (10th) in a field of 8 Optimas and 1 SG Coyote.

However locally for me (Australia), the Optima was completely outclassed by a buggy released in 1985, the Mugen Bulldog. This was simply because a local distributor developed some excellent mods for this car which saw it completely dominate our racing scene for several years, and was even competitive against the Cat.

Outside Australia, the Bulldog was probably an almost unhead of car.

For me, the best cars are the one which were innovative for their time, such as:

83 Hirobo 44b
84 RC10
85 Bulldog
86 Incident
86 Cat
89 JRX2
93 Losi XX
94 Yok YZ10
97 Losi XX4

Oh you mean this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cJLvSa9CcA
It's the 1987 iFmar Worlds

Now Look at this one:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoWT-lMs0Pk
2003 Ifmar worlds with a B4 and T4.

And this one:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veKEnDts85w
This is the qualifying with a lone 501x, I think I saw one.
And compare the 3.

After seening these japan pro drivers practice I got a 501x.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfsdiRa38ws

[lochness42]

Originally Posted by Stu

Was Poland happy with it's purchase.

That polish guy was surely happy =o) It was hard to get good car here.

[super__dan]

The XX4 was amazingly innovative and progressed moulded intergrated chassis to another level, wasn't quite matched by the electrics of the time which is almost a shame retrospectivly. Similairly after the long term domination of the RC10, the Losi XX brought 2wd bump and jump handling on leaps and bounds.

The Pred will always be one of the most innovative cars and though I didn't race 4wd at the time, I know if you could get it to finish the run it was an amazingly fast car.

I think the X6 is innovative in that whilst not the first manufacturer to make a mid motor 2wd, I personally class them as the first to make a successful one.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by lochness42

That polish guy was surely happy =o) It was hard to get good car here.

It it hard to get good hats also - you should sell him yours - it's the shizzle.

[lochness42]

Originally Posted by Stu

It it hard to get good hats also - you should sell him yours - it's the shizzle.

Well I'm not going to sell it. It's only I have.

[Stu]

I need one, where did you get yours? My brother goes to your place twice a year for paragliding reasons - I'll tell him to get one.

[lochness42]

Stu - truly I really don't know. It just appeared here from nowhere.

[rcluke]

i would get a load of old tamiya's - they're worth a helluva lot now - if thats what the thread is about

[dave p hall]

i had procat,never liked itpain in the arse trying to keep the belt on front pulleythen i bought work's 91 yokomo

[supersonic]

2wd:
1983- present RC10 B1,2,3,4

[pugs]

can anyone remember the tamiya egress? raced one from 1989-1994,then moved to the cat 2000 both were class cars

[cjm_2008]

Originally Posted by pugs

can anyone remember the tamiya egress? raced one from 1989-1994,then moved to the cat 2000 both were class cars

awesome car.

what about jamie booths 4wd national champ manta ray / topforce hybrid?