The Tc3 was winning races up until the very end. Sure, battery slots got milled, some guys ran Losi rear hubs, or a certain driveline part was a " had to have" item, etc. If Associated just felt like selling a car that had all the mods done to it, improved some of the QC stuff, had a better motor mount, and allowed you to move the hinge pin mounts for roll center in a similar manner to say the Pro4, they could have kept selling the car for a while. Perhaps if they made it so you could easily use the nitro rack as well..
They seemed to want a car that did better on asphalt..why I don't know. It seemed plenty fast there. They had total domination of the carpet racing market, especially in stock motor. I remember plenty of people trying other cars, only to return to AE. So they removed a lot of the ribbing in the chassis, which seemed to be a mistake. The suspension parts also had less stiffness. Also the arm geometry was different if I remember correctly.
Changing from a suspension geometry and level of chassis stiffness that was so successful to my mind was the mistake. The only flaws of the TC3 car were some of the QC issues, and adjustability in "new" areas, like hinge pin height. Sure, the battery slot placement was a problem, but only because we went from 2000s to 3300s.
If you look at what Craig did at the Reedy, that was an asphalt race. I remember talking to one fast stock racer at Cleveland who was kicking himself for leaving his TC3 at home the year the TC4 came out. He could not get the car up to speed. Now he drives an Xray, like all the others who switched, that is unless they drive a Corally
. The point of all this is not to be down on Associated, because they did an unreal job on the TC3. The car was basically designed in 96-97, and took a long time to debut finally in 99. It lasted until around 2004. Last year at Vegas, Jim Herrmann laid it down in stock in the first round with the baddest TC3 I have ever seen. Upon all the Xrays, Corallys, Tc4s, etc...the car was a tremendous design to stay competetive for all those years. I think that if the car works that well, you don't stray far. Xray became dominant because they stayed with the general layout and kept improving it, once they really hit with the FOC and FK cars. Associated could have made "maintaince" type changes, and stayed on or close to the top.
That's all behind us now anyway. The new car is 100% new from the internet pictures, and I'm sure they will do awesome. The preliminary results from the reedy look great, and I know they have some good people over there (Hi Bob
)