JohnP2

As a newbie to "the hobby", I've taken an interest in our forefathers and learning about the origins and major miletones for "hobby-grade RC Cars". I recently have been reading about Roger Curtis andhis design of the RC-10.

It got me thinkg about nitro. What are some of the pioneer nitro rc cars that we have to thank? Yes, I could Google iy, but I imagine half of you probably all that stuff anyways. :-) Thanks

narwalrus

My Feedback: (4)

I've had the opportunity to check out some of Golden Year's RC's collection at RCX. I sold the guy a NIB RC250 a while ago. I can almost certainly say that the orginas of RC racing are in 1/8th Gas/Nitro Pan Cars. Check out some of them.. custom build almost all the way..

(I really don't know if these are Gas OR Nitro, nitro might be way newer.. either way it's certainly very interesting!)
http://www.goldenyearsrc.com/

This might be electric but I've seen it in person and it's truly incredible:
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HerrSavage

I designed the TMAXX in my garage back in the 90's, using old technical drawings smuggled out of the USSR State Archives in Moscow in the 50's, which in turn had been carted back to Russia from Germany after WWII. The Germans were up to all kinds of things towards the end of the war.

JohnP2

Thanks, guys. I'm always hearing about how 10 years ago, "Nitro was all the rage"....which vehicles were popular back then? Is there a specific manufactuer that led the way with this? i.e. Is there any company known as the "King of Nitro"?

MajorTomski

Wow! I am always amazed at how limited most rc drivers' knowledge of the age of thier hobby really is.

My Dad worked with Bill and Ken Campbell in Westside St. Louis in their garage in 1967 on developing the Delta Systems GT Mk 7 RC car. Bill was the true engineer, designing EVERYTHING needed to make a sucessful car. He found ways to get wheels and tires made that worked and held up. He even designed their own Delta Systems RC radio system.. My dad did the electroinics in the servos.

The GT Mk 7 was the first all molded fiberglass car and chassis. It had leaf spring suspension front and rear, first to use a worm drive and simple clutch. Ken envisioned growing the driver with the car. Start with a .19 to learn to drive, move to a .35 for track racing and a .60 for drag racing. I ran my car solo for most of 68-70 in local parking lots in Akron OH. That's when Heathkit brought out a .19 powered sidewinder pan car that blew the doors off my heavy fiberglass GT Mk 7. I have no idea what dad has done with that car in the interveneing 35 years since I left home.

jayjay283

1985 I bought my 1st nitro, was an ofna onroad 4wd blue thin aluminum frame 2 layer shaft driven with an OS 15, they only had ofna and kyosho in nitro there on Hawthorne blvd in So Cal Before that I had only seen pan cars what were nitro or some weird kyosho metal buggy.

quietnas1

OS has a great time line of their engines starting back in 1936. It's pretty interesting to see how things have changed. Here is a link.
http://www.osengines.com/history/ostimeline01.html

JohnP2

Ha! Thus the reason I am trying to learn, Major. Give me a break, I'll still a newbie. ;-) I agree with, and appreciate the importance of learning the origins of our hobby - which is why I'm proactively trying to learn. We all have to start somewhere, eh? Sounds like you were fortunate to grow up being exposed to some pretty cool stuff relating to RC vehicles. I imagine you're a wealth of knowledge on this. I am a closet fan of the pan car, When I reach the skill level, I want to build one.

SLAYERDUDE

RC500 was my first taste of nitro, quite insane to say the least, and RC10's were the craziest thing I'd had before that, they were pretty "insane" with 12T motors and 1500 MAH NICD packs lol.
Shortly after I got a Black tub RC10GT with an O.S. .12CVR, been hooked ever since.

The_Shark

it was a duratrax nitro evader with a blown out CV-R motor I got used at 12 (bought it with my own monies) I learned how to tune on that engine, because I learned how to tune a poorly running engine, once i put in my brand new (well old new stock) force "red head" Everything just clicked, I completely understood how to get a good engine to run great.

narwalrus

My Feedback: (4)

I'd love to build a 1/8th Nitro Pan Car if I had somewhere to run it.. maybe electric sometime.

pcarluvr

I remember back in the 90's when I had a Kyosho Outlaw Rampage with a .12 O.s. and converted it to diesel. Anyone remember that? It was a cylinder head replacement that you adjusted the compression with a allen key when you got it running.

nitrosportsandrunner

1st time I sold a fairly old (not sure the age) 1/8 nitro buggy with a massive engine, and a chassis that wieghed a ton I was intriged. Then the owner said it ran on a 50% nitro mixture! Most race stuff today only runs on 30%, and most run 15-20%.

cumquat

i remember reading somewhere that the first rc cars where in fact tether cars converted to RC using an aftermarket kit.

pcarluvr

I remember hearing the same thing that RC was started by the tether cars...well, atleast ground running rc!