OLD SKOOL
 

Hi Guy's

My name is Sean Connolly

My old man bought me my first R/C car back in 1985, a Wild Willy.

I absolutely loved that car,and thought it was the coolest thing on the planet.

After being involved in the local club (Broken Hill, Far West NSW) for a while the old man saw I had a passion for the sport and upgraded me to a tamiya frog. (what a weapon)

After a few years I as a teenager took over the running of the club in Broken Hill and also started a hobby shop there called "Toy's for Boy's" (those that have old dirt and track mag's from the late 80's early 90's will have my name and former address in the club section of the mag)

After the demise of the club,I myself became involved in speedway and ran a car successfully for many seasons.

And after a move to Bendigo, Victoria in 2001 and a wife and a couple of Kids, I have found R/C racing is the only form of motorsport I still enjoy and can afford.

Now getting to the subject of this post.

We are looking at racing electric this weekend at keilor (1st time electric racing in over 13 year's. been racing nitro for last 5 years)

And had a guy in my new hobby shop (Bad Habit Hobbies, Easy Plug) today that was old skool.

How cool is OLD SKOOL. Talkin about the Mugen Bulldog 4WD 4WS.
The RC10 Gold Tub, Schumacher Cat with Rubber Band front arms.
Tamiya with the "NEW IDEA'S" mono shocks,rack and pinion steering,the supped up black motor.

What are your old skool memories of what the hobby use to be about.
Dosn't have to be about only the cars.

Remember 50c cans of coke and 2100mah NICAD batteries.

Bring bak those memories.

Don't talk about it, race it!

we have vintage enthusiasts who race regularly, bth in Vic, and all around the country. Next meet is S Ives, Sydney on the 14th Feb. 20 yrs since the worlds, and the last meet before the track gets dozed and re-designed.

i remember buying the old australian rc mag, can't remember what it was called, mid to late 80's when i was at school. every issue seemed to have an airbrush job thar had some form of chequerboard or grid pattern on the car. chequerboard grid was IN!

yeah i remember 2100 nicads, and like 5 minutes run time in my boomerang before charging for another half hour. i had lot of fun with that car, but i drove it fully into the ground. being a kid with little money it didn't even ever get new tyres! :lol:

1200 nicads, like 4 minutes run time


Dirt & Track is the magazine;):D


checkerboard grid is still in !

Ah yes, those were the days, mid 80's, saving every cent I could to get my first hobby grade RC, The mighty Tamiya FOX (upgrading from a Metro Jet Hopper :lol:).

I still have that FOX, and a Marui Big Bear, and a Schumacher CAT XLS, all sitting in my old bedroom 5000kms away. I was a member of AHMC (Adelaide Hills Model Club, now called Radio Racing Cars SA). My first ever race meeting was a 'Tamiya Challenge' were I finished 2nd in 2wd stock :cry:.

I plan on bringing my old cars back the next time I visit my parents, and look at restoring them to their former glory :batman:.

Upgrades back then were things like 'copy cat' tyres, Novak T4 mosfet speed controllers, SCR Nicad cells, Trinity 'comm drops' KO Propo EX5 radio, fet servo's, the list goes on.......

And yes, 'Radio Controlled Cars for Dirt and Track', I have a stack of them also in my old bedroom, might bring them aswell.

Cheers

dirt and track, yeah that's it! :lol:

mtb i grew up in cairns, i remeber when there was a dirt track near where the fruit bat van parks, near the airport n the main road out of town as you are heading to the northern beaches

Hi all

That brings back memories, I started back in the early 80's at Templestowe Off Road RC club with a Tamiya Wild One that I ran in 2wd stock class, then modified it with a front and top speedway wings so I could run in the 2wd modified class. Even ran it in the National Titles to gain a place in the 1989 International Titles at St Ives.

I moved on to the RC10 2wd (Gold Tub) and ran in the cancelled International Titles in early 1989. Qualified 14th in the world in 2wd Mod but could not make it to the rescheduled meeting later that year.

I sold the RC10 to fund my foray into RC scaled boats in the early 1990's, still have a 86.5 inch Australian Paddle Steamer, and only recently sold the Modded Wild One to fund my re-emergence into RC racing both Nitro and electric, On and Off Road.

Ahhh what memories, Camping at St Ives in the pouring rain, sending my wife, then girlfriend, to the local chemist with some friends, other racers, to buy a box of condoms to protect my receiver. She never forgave me for that because the guys that went with her were big on the practicle jokes and loudly called out to her in the chemist, " Don't forget to get a box for each of us and remember that there are 12 of us camping together"

Hahahahaha

I can still see the red glow from her face when she returned back to the campsite.

Oh, I also forgot to mention that I also raced at the Oz titles, held in SA one year, cant remember what year, 89 or 90 or so, but it was run as part of the Motor Show, at the Wayville showgrounds inside a pavilion on a man made track. Awesome event as I remember. Was anyone else there?

Im only 22 now so probably not very old skool. My dad first got me a Tamiya Grasshopper 2 back in 1993 but i still remember playing with that thing all the time. 1200mah battery lasted about 10 minutes before we had to change batteries. Luckily only a 15 minute wait using the car battery.

Also got a boat which we ran around in a lake at manly. Unfortunately the same battery lasted maybe 8 minutes and once was stuck in the middle of the lake and someone had to go fish it out with a real boat.

Forward 15 years latter and i discovered it over again.

[QUOTE=Sp Racer;5387335]1200 nicads, like 4 minutes run time


I think the NiCd's must have been built better than modern NiMH batt's.
I still run a pair of Tamiya 1400NP's that cost a weeks wages when I bought them, now they only get used to start a Revo, and up till a year ago to run a TT Panda.

Yep...:D

1990 Nats

I got my first proper r/c car about 3 years ago, a nitro pirtek falcon(BV1), so im still a novice in my 30's:lol:

i had mates back in the late 80s and early 90s who played around with r/c buggies, trucks and boats. One fond memory was of a mate who was running his boat around the local resevoir one summer (twin elec motor called a stinger i think???) and in the middle, it stopped dead and wouldnt do anything. Then it slowly started to sink. he strips down to his jocks in front of picnicing familes and wades in to retrieve it, and when he came back to the shore with the boat, had to do the walk of shame through a bunch of laughing and pointing little kids:lol::lol::lol::lol:

Back in the late 80's, i think 89??? i went with my family to an Oen Day at the Ford Proving grounds in the You Yangs. I remember an R/C club had built a track with old tyres and were racing gas on-road cars around. i think they may have been 1/8th scale but i was young when that was on. Can any racers from way back remember racing at the Open Day there? they dont have them very often so it may trigger someones memory?


I remember my mates would drive around in there buggies and when the battery started going flat they let me have a go:cry:They would take hours to charge too.