born2build

Lola, Ferrari, Mclaren, Lotus, Porsche, IMSA, Group 5, SCCA, Can-Am, GTP. When I hear the word racecar, these are the images I conjure up in my mind. With so many stunning works of art in the world of motor racing over the years, How did the 1/10 touring car become the standard bearer in the world of R/C road racing? Can some of you racers out there help me understand this? When I decided to get back into R/C cars late last year, I built 3 cars: an RC12R5.2, a Tamiya TT-01, and a B5MFL. The buggy with the "cab forward" look is just about the ugliest thing I've ever seen. But I wanted to try my hand at off-road racing.The Tamiya car is for bling and scale. It's mostly carbon and aluminum. The pan car is strictly for carpet racing, of course. Notice I did not build a TC for racing. I didn't want a model of a car I could find at any used car lot. But that's just me. I think if some of the younger racers out there would search the names I mentioned at the top of this post, you will see just how fantastic these cars were/are. Wouldn't it be great to re-create these machines in miniature for ourselves instead of things like Mazdas and Civics? I know there are special classes for Formula 1 and GT racing, but they are the exception and not the norm. And as such, many tracks throughout the country have difficulty putting a full field of these cars on the track. Here in Las Vegas, at 702 Raceway, there were a total of 5 1/12 pan cars in the A Main because that's all that showed up! I will be #6 as soon as I get some seat time and practice. Wish me luck!

SpidarX

iTrader: (3)

The USGT and VTA classes are quite popular in part because they offer a variety of body styles. However, with that being said, NASCAR is popular, and those bodies are relatively generic like our touring car bodies. I personally don't mind the look of the TC body. I think they look good with the right paint job.

(0000000000)

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like your club had a bad turnout in 1/12 scale, which is coincidentally not very realistic or scale.

What exactly are you suggesting? There is nothing stopping you from running a scale tamiya body with the lexan driver inside.

1spunspur

iTrader: (1)

born2build; I believe Tamiya makes all those cars you mentioned, in very good detail, I might add. So what's your hang up. If you don't like TC don't build or race them.

SWTour

iTrader: (9)

born2build

quick answer is - Touring Cars car run well on many surface types -- pan cars can't.

Back in the 80's when 1/12th and 1/10th pan cars still had a large following on asphalt and concrete tracks -- one of the complaints was that it was difficult to sell these cars to "Bashers" - who might just want to play in the street in front of their houses.

Off-Road and Touring Cars both fit and drive well for bashers - and racers both.

SpeedySST

iTrader: (6)

What about WTCC, BTCC, V8 Supercars? There are some really good touring car series around the world!

R3VoLuTiOn

iTrader: (29)

tamiya made a lot of them previously

I've most true scale realistic bodies don't handle as well as the molded performance ones

Roelof

The problem is that making a body of a real excisting car cost royalties. That is why the Tamiya bodies and HPI are more expensve than other RC racing bodies. For sure Ferrari is expensive and sometimes only exclusive to one RC brand.

You can take a look to the Supastox bodies which should fit 1/12 pancars.

howardcano

iTrader: (37)

If I could ever be a member of the choir, then you'd be preaching to me. I also want my toy cars to look like purpose-built racing cars.

There are several beautiful, realistic bodies made for TC chassis. HPI and Tamiya are the well-known names for these, but there are also other smaller manufacturers like Delta Plastik.

Older 1/12 bodies are much more realistic than newer ones, and these can be found on the evil auction site (as re-pulls), and sometimes by rummaging through old stuff in a hobby store or even a friend's closet. Delta Plastik has several good-looking bodies, and Stormer carries the Osella PA-9.

RedBullFiXX

iTrader: (34)

Tamiya 1/12GT from TCS series races



http://www.rctech.net/forum/electric...ng-master.html

Rick Hohwart

Road racing was pretty much dead in the mid '90s. It made its comeback thanks to companies like Tamiya who created realistic cars on chassis that could be run on less than ideal parking lot surfaces. Parking lot racing became very popular (revived actually because R/C on-road racing started on parking lots). Touring car racing was very popular and what Tamiya introduced was what was popular at the time and also very realistic and included a variety of models from the JTCC, BTCC, and DTM. The entire JDM scene didn't hurt either.

On-road touring car racing grew to a point that it was not only the premier on road class, but arguably the premier R/C racing class of the time period.

Realistic bodies are still available and there are many classes that require them. If scale appearance is what you are looking for, you don't have to look very far.

ASM

iTrader: (30)

Well said Rick.

born2build - in the very late 90's and early 2000's, the touring car scene exploded and very closely resembled the BTCC. What you saw on the BTCC (televised on the SPEED Channel) were the same bodies we were using in touring car. The Volvo's, Alfa's and even the Ford Mondeo. It was very common at my local track then, Superior Hobbies in Orlando, to see G and even H mains at a club race! Things have changed a lot since then but at the time it was very realistic - all things considered.

valk

iTrader: (13)

Depends if you want to spend time racing cars or looking at them. Touring and 12th scale have certain requirements in design to allow them to corner at the speeds they do or be stable at high straight line speeds they do.
physics and aerodynamics are indescriminate so what is pretty isnt always what wins.
But rc is great. A class for everyones interest and commitment level.

born2build

First of all, I want to thank everyone who have responded to this post so far. I am especially pleased that Mr. Hohwart has taken the time to chime in. Your input is always welcome and valued, sir.
Whenever I consider participating in any form of competition, I try to determine what is the most popular type or class to compete with, in my town. This is what I did when I returned to slot car racing some years ago. As it turned out, it was NASCAR outlaw 12. Ok, so I raced in that class. Did pretty well, too. Here in Vegas, there are only two places to race R/C cars, 702 Raceway and R/C Tracks of Las Vegas. The former is an indoor facility for both on and off road racing on carpet. The latter is a new outdoor venue for off-road only. I guess what I'm trying to say is Vegas isn't exactly a hotbed for R/C racing like in SoCal. I feel very lucky to have anywhere to race at all, let alone two! With that being said, the special interest groups (SIG's) such as F-1, USGT, and VTA, are not well represented, if at all. We'll see what the future brings. For now, I'm gonna run what I brung, as it were, and hope for the best.

born2build

Well, sir, I don't like them so I did not build one!