Originally Posted by
hitcharide1
Wish I had an idea of what this thing is worth, and still wondering what ROAR had against it. Way back, there was a rule in pan, no variable speed...and there was only one car it applied to. I think it was way ahead of its time, and the concept makes more sense to me than multiple gears, plus a 4wd setup in the fashion of how Kyosho did it makes a lot of sense to me as well. Granted, I still have doubts on the piano wire suspension (I think Serpents first car had that as well, mounted in plastic pieces, and it sucked) but the drive part was and is a really good idea, setup is a snap, belt replacement very easy, and a good looking car, all in all.
Phil - don't think there was ever any rule that prevented the Thorp car from competing , Dana Smeltzer was probably the last to compete successfully with the car , as motors became more powerful the belt breakage problem grew greater but from a distance it looked to me like the bigger problem was that the clutch / shift system raised the ratio too quickly and pulled the motor off the pipe.