This was Hardcore RC racing in 1983

[SrC]

This was Racing at the Top level in '83. Kind of funny when you look back. They took racing quite seriously like done today.
Tamiya's, with mechanical resistor Speedo's. Shocks with oil wasn't a thing yet. Just springs. With wheels bouncing like Pogo sticks.
It was taken seriously.
AM frequency radios/receivers that needed long antennas on "Stick" Radios. Radio channel Crystals were purchased separately. So there were no radio conflicts when running together as a group. Radios were Quarantined with the race director, and not allowed at the Pit tables. You only had your radio when actually competing. Or you could accidentally throw someones race, during the events if you turned it On at the Pits. ( overlapping same Freq.) Wheel Radios weren't even a thing yet. There were only like 10 channels available. If you had an FM band Air RC radio, you were king with a $600.00 stick radio. Today that would be like $2k for a radio.
By 1990 where I started, Groomed tracks became a thing, and RC technology advanced so quickly with the AE platform brand and the RC10 and RC100's ( On Road) and racing was supported/sponsored by mfr's. It all happened quick, and peaked through until the early 2000's. In the States, AE , Losi and Schumacher were in the mix at the Top level.

 

[Bustedaw11]

This is absolutely awesome!
I love old rc racing videos, this is probably the oldest I've seen.
Thanks for sharing

 

[razz007]

I was “racing” a fast attack vehicle back then , may have been 84 , I remember ( just ) the rc10 blitzing everything . They used to race mardave minis in the car park too . Great fun had indeed . 7.2v tamiya hump pack and resistor charger . Which may still be at mums somewhere . It was screwed to a Ali plate

 

[Engineer]

Awesome! I still have my TX frequency flags somewhere…

 

[hobo]

my god how things have changed I remember the van in the background next door neighbour had one when I was a kid

 

[Sphexish]

Oh man, the whole thing with antennas and radios brings me back... I remember me and my childhood friend both saving up forever to each buy a white variant of the Nikko Turbo Panther (or a clone thereof) from our local toy shop, since they were all the rage back then. Only to discover -- after loading in a metric crapton of batteries -- that we couldn't actually race them against each other since they both operated on the same frequency, meaning we'd just constantly mess each other up.

 

[Dan B.]

In ‘83 I was in college majoring in Female Anatomy and Recreational Pharmaceuticals. I had already crashed my Cox tether plane into oblivion, and couldn’t afford 8 more D-cells for my “rc” car.

 

[Radiocontrolsoul]

I wasnt alive back in 83 but my dad started into rc in that time and many years later gifted me his gold pan rc10. Been hooked ever since

 

[sumguy75]

I wa a kid at the time, got my first rc 2 or 3 years later, a Nikko Lobo from Sears!

 

[Johnny b]

Ahhh..memories. pulling frequency pins at the air field. Futaba radios. Control line planes. Miss America cox 049.

 

[Pinepig]

I have a box in the attic with every RC transmitter I've ever owned. First one was a Cox 2 channel 2 stick that I got for my 12th birthday around 1978 or so. Next up was a Futaba 3 channel with the chrome gimbals with the tan pebble finish ( I have 4 different versions of those style radios ) A couple of JR including a analog helicopter radio with pots for the required mixing. The last radio on 72mhz I had was a Multiplex 3030, I really liked that thing.

 

[Rowdyray]

Ahhh..memories. pulling frequency pins at the air field. Futaba radios. Control line planes. Miss America cox 049.

Those were the days,,,

 

[Bustedaw11]

Ahhh..memories. pulling frequency pins at the air field. Futaba radios. Control line planes. Miss America cox 049.

Oh man I loved flying control line! Walmart sold some and the nitro fuel when I was a kid. Me and my dad bought them and spent tons of time at the local school yard flying them. I remember doing back flips, that was no easy task.

I still have some larger control line planes and a ton of motors from them. Think they were mostly McCoy? Green and red tops, I may be mis-remembering the engines... got 2 of the cox dragster still too. A pinto and a top fuel.
Dad moved onto rc planes and I got into rc cars lol. We'd always go to Mark Twain hobbies in St Charles on the weekends and a few other shops to drool...
Good times

 

[Johnny b]

One of my favorites was a little red atc three wheeler powered by Cox fuel 049 motor. Had a little pull string start.

 

[Jchammbone]

Missed this early part of the 80's as far as RCs..i was still in grade school but did score a Tamiya Frog in HS around 1988. Had futaba pistol radio. (In a box in pieces in the basement)

 

[SrC]

Awesome! I still have my TX frequency flags somewhere…

Yeah everyone needed a freq flag. If you had the same freq, , it was first come first serve. So you needed extra crystals. And they came with the freq sticker you placed on the that hard plastic flag that clipped onto the end of your antenna. If you didn't show up with a flag everyone dissed you. Especially if you had no clue what freq you were running on. Like the newb that you were. Crystals weren't cheap either, purchased in matching pairs one for the Tx, onefor the Rx. And there were preferred crystal frqs. Supposedly that were better than others. It was common to replace those easily bent and broken telecopic antennas. I remember trying to use a Coat hanger once. Sometimes the antenna would just come apart when extending them. Range and Interference glitching was horrible. On the street if a car passed by, your rig crashed out of control. Separate Signal failsafe boxes/modules were a thing. My Futaba PCM 1024 FM band wheel radio with encryption was like $600. The best at the time. And it still had glitching sometimes. The cheapest Futaba servo was was around $100. for a small plastic geared servo. The Rx's for them were huge. The PCM 1024 Futaba needed a new plug in module to change out the frqs. That cost like $100. Just to change out the freqs!

 

[SrC]

Oh man, the whole thing with antennas and radios brings me back... I remember me and my childhood friend both saving up forever to each buy a white variant of the Nikko Turbo Panther (or a clone thereof) from our local toy shop, since they were all the rage back then. Only to discover -- after loading in a metric crapton of batteries -- that we couldn't actually race them against each other since they both operated on the same frequency, meaning we'd just constantly mess each other up.

I had a Nikko also. From ToysRus if I remember.
I though it was the best thing since sliced bread, because I upgraded it with Tamiya Yellow Oil filled shocks. I used Car motor oil to fill them. Shock oils were hard to find. Leaked and horrible. Wrong oil to use, Silicone oil was too new to even find.

 

[Johnny b]

I had a Nikko also. From ToysRus if I remember.
I though it was the best thing since sliced bread, because I upgraded it with Tamiya Yellow Oil filled shocks. I used Car motor oil to fill them. Shock oils were hard to find. Leaked and horrible. Wrong oil to use, Silicone oil was too new to even find.

Worked for toys r us for 13 years. I well remember selling tyco, & nikko. Those were some of the top RC's at that time. Broke easy and no replacement parts available.

 

[SrC]

Ahhh..memories. pulling frequency pins at the air field. Futaba radios. Control line planes. Miss America cox 049.

Wow I remember the Miss Ameriica.....049 Cox. Had that engine in a Non RC controlled Dune buggy that had different cams you ran to make it do a programmed driving course. Went always out of control
I also had the Testors "Tethered" Mustang plane with the 049 Cox. Got me dizzy. I had to go to a certain field at the Worlds fair to fly it in the 1960's. The field is still there, but is now a Controlled air space for Drone RC hobbyists. That Cox engine was king.

 

[Johnny b]

Wow I remeber the Miss Ameriica.....049 Cox. Had that engine in a Non RC controlled Dune buggy that had different cams you ran to make it do a programmed driving course.
I also had the Testors Tethered Mustang plane with the 049 Cox. That Cox engine was king.

Had that mustang as well. Those 049 engines would spew raw fuel all over the model. messy and smelly but loved it.