TOPIC:

I got my first RC car in 1984, a Tamiya Super Champ.
I had saved money for half the car and a Tamiya 7,2V hump pack.
The rest I kindly received as Christmas and birthday gifts from the rest of the family.
I borrowed a 9-channel radio from my dad. Also I got to use his charger which had
adjustable current and timer cut-off.
It was mostly I nice car, but heavy. On grass it was a bit slow, even just after I had been
cutting it. On gravel it made nice donuts, but did not move anywhere fast. On asphalt it
ran fast, but then the tires wore awfully fast thanks to no differential.

I did work in the summers and got a nice collection as you can see on the picture
from late 1986.
The knitted patchwork was made by my grandmother of course.
The Tamiya Frog ran very well. It had the speed to fly nicely with all wheels off the
ground after certain bumps, not just fall down like the old metal thing.



In the background is an Associated RC12i 1/12 pancar. I bought this one used.
It came with a specially modified silver Mabuchi motor that had been opened and
power wires soldered very close to the brushes. The endbell stayed on with green tape.
I bought a used 2 channel Futaba to use with the pancar.
I even had to buy a faster servo, because it was way too fast for the standard servo.
By the way, I used the RC12i at one race. The rear axle broke and I later sold it.

I did almost no RC from 1988 to 1998.

Then I started some custom building with parts from the old cars.
Some attempts were made to make a buggy that could handle the now modern big jumps.
It did not work out very well, so an on-road car was made instead.
It used the Frog gearbox and dampers. By using a pair of Super Shot outdrives and flipping
the gearbox it was an efficient gearbox with the motor mounted low.
Suspension parts were from the 80's, but not Tamiya. Many parts were custom made.
The chassis was made from a 8cm wide piece of laminate floor board!
On top I used a nice Sierrra Cosworth body shell.
This car I used for practice on the asphalt track at Hvervenbukta, Oslo Norway during the 1999
summer season.

In late 1999, both a nice Touring Car and a 2WD buggy were released.
So in 2000 I got into competition level touring car racing.
I also ran 1:10 buggy and 1:12 track.
I even ran Tamiya M-Chassis (M-03 Mini Cooper) for a couple of years.

Since 2005 I have had a break and not attended any major RC races.
The Super Champ was sold to a certain collector that appreciates such things.
(Now it lives a happy retirement in The TamiyaBase collection).

In 2008 a retro buggy race was held in Oslo Norway.
I decided to get a re-release Tamiya Hornet for the purpose of retro racing.
It looks cool, but handles terrible, and bounces with no control on rough terrain.
The good thing is that parts supply is better than most other Tamiyas.

As you see, I keep RC-cars mostly for running and not for display on the shelf.
I appreciate good information and nice pictures of old cars and RC stuff, though.
I'll try to visit TamiyaBase once in a while, and would be happy to help if
anyone has any questions.

Hii and welcome,

Cool to see some oldies. also like the story

Another member from Norway... hi and welcome! Great intro.

Thank you for the kind words!