Procat and works tomy

[D&LA]

Like a lot of people on the forum have been out of the sport for longer than I care to mention but now my son is about to hit 8 the fun of r/c cars is calling me back. We went to watch the recent memorial meeting at bury and it's changed a bit, I left the sport in 1992 to race 1/8th nitro (thanks to Ian Oddie) but never really got on with Nitro and gave up for good in 1993.

I am thinking of starting up again with my son and have dragged the old cars out of the garage...
First is my 1991 cat xls which was modded into a procat, also have a big pile of bits the other is my works Tomy one of the first cars in the uk. Heavily modded of course. Are these worth anything? Should we look at getting these running with new electrics as vintage racing seems to be picking up or sell them and go for something all new? What would people advise for a young starter and his dad? Would also be great to hear from any guys from the early 90's north west Oldham/bury/bolton/southport who remember the good old days of buggy racing

Dave Ashworth

[Ashlandchris]

Snap. I have an 8 yr old to blame too.

My advice would be to keep the vintage cars but get new as trying new electrics in old gearboxes is not a happy marriage.

There are loads of threads on here about which cars etc are good, but I think it usually comes down to what is used at your local club

[Si Coe]

First off come and visit us again at Bury Metro. We've got a few of the old hands still racing from the clubs early days so there might well be someone you know. I'm an early 90's racer myself but for down south. You'll find me in race control so come have a chat.
Secondly DON'T RUN THE TOMY!!!! Its probably worth a fortune to the right person these days so keep it pristine. The Procat you could probably run in the vintage class we are considering over the winter, but I'd suggest getting new stuff for racing.
As you saw at the Memorial these days 2wd is vastly more popular than 4wd so thats what you want to get. The good news is that it has never been cheaper to start racing - you can pick up a Durango 210 RTR for £160 from MB Models, add a charger and lipo from Hobbyking and be racing with a moderately competitive car (which can be upgraded to truly competitive) for under £200. Many in our beginner heat run the same setup.

[Adam F]

The cat would be worth much more if you have the xls bits for it, as they drop in price quite a bit once they are more procat than xls..

The tomy is awesome, but don't go for as much as they should. The last one I sold went for £150 on eBay, as they are just not that well known unfortunately. The main issue is getting parts, so unless you have a stash it can render it useless. (I have run my current mint one a couple of times indoors, but was terrified of hurting it.)

Both very cool tho... Let me know if you decide to sell the intruder, always room for another one

[D&LA]

Thanks for the advice appreciated - I will certainly come down to bury again-have a chat with you guys. when are you racing next?

Thanks to the other posts another picture of the Tomy I took all the electrics out yesterday - spares wise I do have a few key bits - suspension arms, original parts etc. interesting about xls being more in demand than a procat - think I might put the xls chassis and body back on
Cheers D

[iank55]

Hi Dave,

I thought I recognised you trackside last week but have always been crap with faces hence didn't let on...

I came back to racing earlier this year and have been impressed how cheaply you can be relatively competitive (you only need one motor and a couple of batteries compared to having a box of six of each in the old days).

Like you I am also trying to get my son into it too but he is only 5 and has a 3 second attention span at the minute.

Next race meeting at Bury is on the 21st. I will be there for qualifying in the morning but will be leaving at lunch to take the children to see Sooty in the afternoon!

Ian Kirkpatrick

[V6Jim]

Tomy values are climbing rapidly. Your one looks like it's in pretty good nick and I'm sure it would sell very well.

You should go on IconicRC on Facebook and post this picture. They would be wetting themselves! I reckon £300 for a good one now. Especially with spares!

Jimmy

[Peakey]

Keep the tomy and don't run it like jim said the values are rising and are getting more and more desirable.

And for the cat convert it back to xls and again there much sought after. But unless there mint with the perfect chrome alloys then your probably looking £150 - £200 depending in condition and upgrades.

[D&LA]

Thanks gents, as a bit of history on the tomy it was provided by top gear models and samifran racing when I was sponsored by them back 91/92 With spares support from Tomy Japan - even have my tomy racing team tshirt somewhere with an intruder picture on the front!
As I remember their were 3 or 4 top gear drivers (the uk distributor) backed by Tomy, one in Scotland who I never met, but working with the guy in the south (I have forgotten his name unfortunately) we did a couple of nationals together and got the cars going really well, with a few modifications! especially with the centre gears (we would strip teeth for fun until we worked out the fix) diff and rear shock mounts were also upgraded, and those lovely red wheels would breakup so white yokomos were the answer. even for use spares from japan were a real problem.
The intruder was always really stable and fast in a straight line the drive train made a great noise when flat out, I was running b&r signature motors and glyns cells through Samifran at the time.
We did change some perceptions of the car their was always the toy jokes until we blew the jokers doors off the main downside for me was that it didn't turn in fast enough on some of the grass tracks of the time unlike the cats and even well sorted yokomos! So I must admit I ran a procat at tracks where the tomy struggled. Think I was third in the NW 4wd that year behind pete Hastings and Craig dresher - damn yokomos! (did win the 2wd nw title though that year)

[V6Jim]

I expect the Scottish one would be me! I ran it in the Scottish Nationals with a fair amount of success. Loved blowing away the Tomy sceptics! Brilliant straight out the box and even better with some tweaks. Loved it!

Jimmy

[Peakey]

Looks nice jim I hope you still have it? I wanted on when they were released but as with my very limited budget being young couldn't afford one but who knows one day

[D&LA]

Just finished full rebuild of the cat cleaned and swapped out all the rusty bearings back on the xls chassis, slight trauma when I rebuilt the front end and put the diff upside down, you forget the pitfalls- realised just as I remounting the shocks to finish the front end, the one way drive shafts worked great backwards!
All done now and a top tip the freezer works wonders for getting rusty bearings off drive shafts , just need to mount the wing.
Next is the tomy rebuild, then it's decision time - eBay or back in the garage...love the picture Jim that alloy rear shock mount is epic!

[Peakey]

Put them back in the garage you'll regret selling them trust me. Even if Danb4 try's to buy them do t sell them to him

Unless you want to sell them me I'll give you £100 for the pair pal

[V6Jim]

Yeah, don't let Daniel get his hands on it! He's already got most if the nice Tomy's that are left in the world! Including 2 EX's!
I had to give thus back to Classic Models I'm afraid. Don't know what happened to it, sadly.

Jimmy

[DanB4]

Haha just seen this

Definitely keep the Intruder it's a nice one - Jimmy and Justin, I have enough now

Lucky to have:

1 NEW Intruder EX
1 Runner Intruder EX
1 NEW Intruder
1 Runner Intruder (rebuild in progress)
1 NEW Celica (Based on Intruder Adonis)

I'll not take over your thread with pics but you can see most in the vintage threads.

Cheers!

Dan

[Peakey]

Originally Posted by DanB4

Haha just seen this Jimmy and Justin, I have enough now

Now that I don't believe

[daz75]

Matt hodgson from the north west I think was one of the other sponsored drivers