Yokomo Off-Road Car Timeline

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Dual
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Yokomo Off-Road Car Timeline

Post by Dual »

Hi,

Bellow is a Yokomo Timeline of all the Yokomo Off-Road cars that I am aware of. I have heard of other versions (not listed below) such as the 'Craig Drescher' Version but I cannot personally confirm the release of such models (http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=33294). Maybe there is someone out there that can add to the list I have provided. Here is a link to a site providing photos and information about most of the cars listed bellow. http://free73.tistory.com/123

1983: Yokomo YZ-834B Dog Fighter

Late 1985: Yokomo Wonder Dog Fighter

1986: Yokomo/RPS Gil Losi Jr. Dog Fighter

Late 1987: Yokomo YZ870C Super Dog Fighter
For me the first true competition 4WD car released by Yokomo although I am sure there are others that would disagree (hint: YZ-834B). Set the standard (along with the Schumacher Cat) for the future development of 4WD Competition Racers in terms of belt drive drive train and chassis/battery layout set-up. Not widely released in the U.S.A but was imported in very small numbers as the Yokomo C4.

1988: Yokomo YZ10 (U.S. release version ofthe YZ870C)
Identical to the YZ870C but with some cosmetic changes such as white rims (as opposed to pink rims on the YZ-870C) and a more box-shaped Protech 4 Body to make the car more appealing to the U.S. market. Also minor running changes such as slightly (and I stress slightly) improved shock absorbers. Sold under the Team Associated banner.

198-: Yokomo YZ870C Custom
I am not sure about the specification of this car other than it was a YZ-870C kit with a Graphite Chassis, some upgrades and included a Yokomo Esprit motor.

Early 1991: Yokomo Works '91
This model incorporated many modifications that Masami Hirosaka used on his 1989 IFMAR World Championship Winning YZ-870C. Features included a new graphite chassis with different battery lay-out, an upper deck stiffener, the infamous 2mm fine pitch drive belts, center one-way layshaft with dual ball bearings (an expensive option part), aluminium front and rear bulkheads (replacing the fragile magnesium versions on the YZ870C), new design shock absorbers with matching shock towers, new longer front and rear A-arms, titanium turnbuckles, slotted bulkhead holes to allow adjustment of rear belt tension and the 'Squashed Bug' poly-carbonate body that let everyone know what car you were driving. The Works '91 was never released in the U.S.

Early to Mid 1992: Yokomo Works '92 Spec.
Identical in design to the Works '91 but included changes such a redesigned front and rear shock towers (offering improved shock geometry), redesigned front and rear hub carriers (offering improved strength over the originals) and softer 3mm pitch drive belts to replace the problematical 2mm fine pitch belts on the Works '91.

Early 1993: Yokomo Works '93
A personal favorite of mine and was released World-Wide. Designed to replicate to a certain extent the 1991 IFMAR World Championship winning car driven by Cliff Lett. Quite expensive (359.99 U.S.) for the time but did come with a lot of option parts such as titanium turnbuckles, Traction Control System (T.C.S.), softer kevlar 3mm pitch drive belts (Works '93 exclusive), lightened differentials and a new design upper deck. It was the first Yokomo to sport the coloured plastic wings and coloured wheel discs (2 very popular items for a few years).

November 1993: Yokomo World Championship Special (W.C.S.)
An EXACT replica (right down to the titanium and aluminium hardware) of the car Masami Hirosaka used to win the 1993 IFMAR World Championships. A real departure from the earlier Works '91/'93 models and famously sported the white G.R.P. shock towers and upper deck. First Yokomo to sport a true carbon fiber chassis (as opposed to graphite) and did not use the Magnesium/Aluminium front bulkhead as on previous models instead had a new design nylon front bulkhead. New design chunky front and rear arms and front upper link. Also included the troublesome 2mm fine pitch belts because that is what Masami had on his car. This model had to be reserved/special ordered (deposit put down in full) and it was only ever released in very small numbers. Definitely one of the rarest and most sought after Yokomo's ever produced.

Early 1994: Yokomo YZ10 Super Dog Fighter
For the majority of people that missed out or could not afford the World Championship Special, Yokomo released the YZ10. Quite similar in design to the W.C.S. but a lot of 'special' parts were omitted to save costs and make the YZ10 more user friendly compared to the one-off W.C.S. Like the W.C.S., the YZ10 was a completely different in design to the earlier Works models and this made it very popular in the mid 1990's as it was a very durable car. At one point the majority of racers (pro through to novice) used only this car.

1996: Yokomo YZ10 World Champion Special aka 'Mark Pavidis Edition'
A replica of the car that Mark Pavidis used to win the 1995 IFMAR World Championships. This model came with most of the options included in the box and with the purchase/addition of a few more option parts, the owner could indeed have a formidable replica of the same car Pavidis used. Based on the 1994 YZ10, the Worlds Edition came with a new lightweight milled chassis with improved battery location (cells could be shifted back and forth on the left hand side of the car), different upper deck mounting location, 15 Tooth Aluminium front one-way pulley (no slipper clutch though), lightweight milled front and rear A-arms, new carbon fiber upper deck and front and rear shock towers (same geometry as the YZ10 but different design), Team Associated hard anodised shocks and a new carbon fiber rear camber mount. Again a very popular car in the mid 1990's but the Team Losi XX4 wasn't to far away.

Mid 1996: Yokomo Hot Dog
I was not sure whether to include the Yokomo Hot Dog in this timeline as it utilized the chassis from the on-road YR-4 car but uses the suspension from the Works '93. I believe the Hot Dog was more of a fun car than anything else. It was pretty low specd. (bushings, stick pack configuration only) compared to the other off-road Yokomo (see above) that was released just before but it done the job it was intended to do which was to just play around. Included a body identical to the one used on the 1988 YZ10 but unfortunately for some collectors had 2 raised dimples on the front of the body which meant you could tell that it wasn't an original Protech 4 body.

Mid 1997: Upperdeck and Shock Tower conversion kit for the YZ10/Worlds Edition.
Not a complete kit but these 2 parts combined allowed Pavidis/Worlds Edition owners to convert their cars to a similar specification as the one Masami Hirosaka used to win the 1997 IFMAR Worlds Warm-Up at the Ranch Pit Stop. The 'Sky Scraper' Shock Towers and Spring Set-up Upperdeck were a stepping stone for the design of the 1997 Worlds Winning MX-4 and later became standard features on the production version of the MX-4.

1998: Yokomo MX-4
Yokomo promised that the production version of the MX-4 would be identical to the one that Masami Hirosaka used to win the 1997 IFMAR World Championships. Customers and fans were disappointed to find out that the production MX-4 although similar in appearance to the one Masami used, lacked most of the custom hand made parts that were on Masami's car. This was done to make the MX-4 more user friendly to the public but even so, the production MX-4 was still a difficult car to maintain properly.

2000: Yokomo Miracle Products MX-4 Millenium Conversion Kit
Designed by Masaki and Masami Hirosaka, this conversion kit allowed MX-4 owners to convert their cars to a mid motor set-up. Only 200 of these conversion kits were made and were very difficult to obtain outside of Japan.

If anyone has any queries about Yokomo cars, feel free to PM me or just reply to a current thread. I have left out the Yokomo MR4-BC,MR4-BCS and the MR4-BX as they are still easily found and a lot of information is available on these 3 cars on other sites.

Enjoy.

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Re: Yokomo Off-Road CarTimeline

Post by Asso_man! »

Thanks for sharing this, a truely interesting piece of info! 8)
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Re: Yokomo Off-Road CarTimeline

Post by hkp »

Great! Should be a Sticky :)

Seems about right factually. I think the 1994 car was called "New" YZ10 in the US to differentiate from the early cars.

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Re: Yokomo Off-Road CarTimeline

Post by Eau Rouge »

1985: Yokomo YZ-834B Dog Fighter

198-: Yokomo/RPS Gil Losi Jr. Dog Fighter

I think those dates are late. When I started playing with these things in 1983, the first car I ever saw was a Dogfighter (there were a lot of guys racing them at our local track in the summer of '84, including Jim Dieter). I had an issue of RC Racing News from '83/'84 with Yok ads in it, too. Hell, Gil Losi Jr. won the world champs in 1985 with a Yok, so I'm pretty sure the car was out well before that. I would put the original 834B at around '83/'84, and the RPS version right around '86. Also, in 25 years of this stuff, I've never heard the RPS SE car called the "Wonder Dogfighter," but that's just me.

World Champ, 1985:
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1986 RPS SE:
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Re: Yokomo Off-Road CarTimeline

Post by Dual »

Thanks for the comments Eau Rouge.

I am not too familiar with the Yokomo's previous to the YZ870C so I apologise for getting the year wrong for the first Yokomo YZ-834B. Thanks for correcting me.

Regarding the name Wonder Dog Fighter, I have seen pictures of it on the very informative Tamiya Club Website. Unless it is a different car from the RPS Dog Fighter, I guess I am wrong again.

Maybe you could have a look for me yourself and confirm it for us. Thank you Eau Rouge.The link for the Wonder Dog Fighter is bellow.
http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=34307&id=4901

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Re: Yokomo Off-Road CarTimeline

Post by Eau Rouge »

Yup, not the same car.

The RPS car or "Special Edition" was a U.S.-adapted car with upgrades from the stock Dogfighter kit, produced by RPS, or the company to be eventually known as Team Losi. The car was easily recognizable by the gold anodized rear shock tower bent like a staircase.

The car was different from the original Yok with a new body & wing, new slipper clutch, different front shock (Delta), hardened front axles, different front arms, new rear shocks (Delta), narrow gold anodized rear shock tower/roll bar, Losi tires and a couple of other minor differences.

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Re: Yokomo Off-Road CarTimeline

Post by RETRO R/C »

Hi guys,

Just finished an article last month on the "Wonder Dogfighter" - should hit the shelves this month some time.. It was the Japanese version of the car that Junior won the worlds with - considered a special release as well. The RPS version is different again. The original 834b came out in 83, the version below came out just after the worlds win in 85 - about the same time (just BEFORE I beleive) as the RPS version in early 86. It also had the revised slipper and a few mods - although not the gold rear tower - but the same idea done differently. Heres a pic of my NIB:

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Just started a new job - and it is late here - so will add more info as soon as I can.

Cheers

Darryn Johnson
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Re: Yokomo Off-Road CarTimeline

Post by shodog »

One chnage that I found between the original 834 and the RPS 834 is that the gears in the transmission were upgraded with metal shafts as opposed to ones with plastic nubs on the original 834

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Re: Yokomo Off-Road Car Timeline

Post by Dual »

Thanks Darryn for providing some information regarding the Yokomo Wonder Dog Fighter. I have also added it to the timeline.

A beautiful example you have of the car. I look forward to reading the review.

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Re: Yokomo Off-Road Car Timeline

Post by badhoopty »

dang good thread here!!

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Re: Yokomo Off-Road Car Timeline

Post by terry.sc »

The Drescher version was never sold as a kit. CML Distribution developed the car for Craig Drescher to improve the performance on UK tracks, it was so successful they then sold a conversion kit of parts used by the race team. Not really on general release so not many of them around.

Based on the Works 91 custom parts include a new design carbon chassis, shock mounts and new carbon top deck that extended forwards to act as a front shock mount brace. Completely unique front end with plastic gearbox housing, new shorter machined wishbones and new C hubs. Setup includes Associated teflon coated shocks and rear anti roll bar.

I'll have to research dates on it.
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Re: Yokomo Off-Road Car Timeline

Post by Dr. Robotnik »

I believe my RPS SE box says 1985 on it. I'd love to be able to check that for you...

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Re: Yokomo Off-Road Car Timeline

Post by RETRO R/C »

If it is 85 for the RPS - it would be really rather late in the year - as the car was released some time after the worlds. The Wonder Doggy was late 85 to my knowledge.

Happy to be wrong of course!!

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Re: Yokomo Off-Road Car Timeline

Post by Dual »

Time line updated.

Thanks to Darryn Johnson, Eau Rouge and Dr Robotnik for the information regarding the first Yokomo 4WD racers.

Awaiting confirmation on whether the Yokomo RPS was released late 1985 or early 1986.

Thank you also Terry.sc for the information regarding the Craig Drescher conversion/upgrade kit. I remember CML releasing the shorter front A-arms with matching front shock tower and the (MMS?) machined nylon front bulkhead. I will add the information you provided to the timeline once you have found the (circa) release date.

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Re: Yokomo Off-Road Car Timeline

Post by RETRO R/C »

What is important to note is that the Wonder Dogfighter was almost an exact replica of the car that Gil Losi Jr used to win the first 4wd world title in 1985. This model was released shortly after the worlds using production versions of the parts prototyped at the worlds.

The RPS was released later - as a US spec kit "under liscence" as such - as it used a cusom chassis, rear shock/roll bar , and other items that the Wonder did not have - nor were produced by Yokomo.

I just dont have a definative date on the RPS - I know the Wonder was late 85 though.

Fascinating stuff...........love the Yokomo product.

Cheers

Darryn Johnson
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