I had a helluva tough time starting my old Spada with a Kyosho Multistart - the one they recommend. The flywheel was just impossible to line up without modifying the chassis to make it protrude a little more.

I've since picked up an NIB Spada on impulse...I'll build it, but I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to run it. That's how I found another HandyStart roto system for it - that was the only way I was able to start it consistently.

I recently built a sweet new re-re Kyosho Plazma MKIII Limited, & hit an invisible drain pipe on top of a parking garage on its 1st run. Thrashed the thing. My old Spada chassis looked like I ran nails over it after just a few runs.There's just nowhere to drive 1/12 indoors or a smooth enough track., & my "modern" Kyosho Plazma RA gets a few laps at the tennis court when I have time. With something like a Spada where you practically have to go to Japan to find parts...I have a big collection of vintage pan-cars that just sit on the shelf & look pretty.

btw, If you've found a track that has a racing class for 4WD 1/12 .09 pan-cars anywhere on earth I would love to know about it!

I'm just ranting because I'm laid up after surgery & bored, but I really believe it is this attitude that contributes at least in part to why these tracks are nearly extinct in the US.

I think there are more 1/12 "bashers" than people think...I've lost count of how many tracks I've seen go under since I've lived in AZ. The closest now is probably a 7hr drive to LA, where they are also getting scarce. The most recent and now-closed track definitely lost business by catering only to racers, & an environment that was, well, the opposite of welcoming to everyone else. At 14, my best friend & I ran out & bought MKIIIs (just my 2nd car after The Falcon) after seeing a MKII zooming around our neighborhood. We'd scout the best pavement within biking distance, & drove those things till the tires wore out, mechanical speed controls & all. Kyosho tried to cater to the "just-for-fun" crowd for a while with cars like the Super Alta Porsche & Buick Stocker, but honestly I can't recall how popular they were. People don't buy their first pan-car & immediately start spending a lot of $$ & signing up for races. Some eventually will, others may just want to drive around with their friends. It is just plain dumb, and bad business, to be exclusionary rather than encouraging newbies whenever we can. Sure, maybe they should be separated, but there's a whole lot of hours when there's no racing or practice laps going on...I know there's a lot more to this business model that makes it a tough slog, but I dunno... My take is that this is the wrong way to go about it if the class is really going to stay alive.

This is what happens to your brand new Kyosho Plazma MKIII Limited when u drive it on top of a parking garage that looked smooth, except for the hidden invisible drain pipe.