Associated v Losi

[kink]

Can you guys fill in the history of Losi for me please and how they fit into Associated's history? I know some of their products over the years have been similar. But I have to admit I know next to nothing about Losi's past times, how they came about, which companies products were influential, better or worse (in a friendly respectful way )

I am posting it in the RC10 section so I get a view from you Associated guys. Do some of you collect both brands?

I learned a lot the other day reading up on the MIP history and developments (in the Ebay MIP thread). So it would be good to get some similar insights here...

[Charlie don't surf]

Gil Losi Jr was teammates with Jay Halsey for AE until about 87' some kind of falling out occurred between Losi and AE, and Pops Losi started working on his own car, ultimately being the JRX-2

Yes to collecting both, they're iconic!

[kink]

Ok interesting.

I notice the Losi chassis look narrower at the front and rear. Is this because the suspension arms are mounted closer to the centre and so are longer? This would seem to be an advantage if so.

[DHood]

Pretty sure Losi Sr designed the six gear transmission.

[longboardnj]

losi was good with sk8boards and yoyos

[kaiser]

IIRC it all started when losi sr didn't get his "promised" lot of rc10's for the ranch. like other places got them first.
really rubbed sr the wrong way and he and jr went to work on the jrx2. (all the cars from the jrx2 to the xx4 were designed by jr, feaking mad scientist of rc!)

when the jrx2 was released it was game over for the short arm goldie. it was no contest. when i saw my first jrx2 i had to have it. we bought 2, one for me and one for my pops. i built them both in one night, painted the next day and raced them the following day. they were so awesome.

it seemed like the rc10 was obsolete overnight. now that wasn't the truth but it seemed like it. jrx2's dominated the local scene until the the stealth/long arms came out.
or mip/andy's equipped 10's started hitting the track.

then it seemed a few years later the world's rc10's took it back.....and kept it for the long haul.

ae is the yankees and losi was the red sox that stole the glory....for a year or so. (thats how it felt around here).

i do remember my worlds car getting so spanked by the first xx's that i gave in and went bacl to losi for a while. those xx's can still hold their own out there, that was a bad ass car too.

that's how i remember those times. it was a fun time to be in rc, very exciting and very polarizing. the losi / ae battles were epic, even on the local/club level, no one raced anything else. no kyosho's, no tamiya's, nothing but ae and losi for quite a few years.

[kink]

Geat story, thanks for sharing

[Johnboy72]

I know I returned to Upstate NY in 96 and picked up a worlds car to try to return to dirtoval. I ran into an old friend who handed over his backup XX when I was frustrated with my RC10s setup. That car was so butter smooth I bought it that night. Then when I saw my first B2, I swore they stole Losi's car!!! But I tell ya, I'll continue to rock both but I've always loved how a properly setup Losi handles. I love the shocks! Fast forward to 2012 and I returned to NY and hit up the old track with one of my old cars....I ran into the same friend and ended up buying his backup XXX-T that night. I'll keep this truck forever as it's a smooth and fast truck that gets it.

I generally stick to racing Losi these days and just collect RC10s.

[RC10resto]

IIRC it all started when losi sr didn't get his "promised" lot of rc10's for the ranch. like other places got them first.
really rubbed sr the wrong way and he and jr went to work on the jrx2.

Similar to what I have heard second hand. Part of the deal with Jr. helping develop the RC10 The Ranch would get the majority of the first batch, Pop's wanted 3000! Apparently AE didn't want one retailer / distributor to own most of the market. I'm not sure how many kits of the first batch that AE ended up selling to The Ranch. I believe the popularity of the RC10 caught almost everybody off guard.

[dldiaz]

The early Losi's (JRX-2, JRX-Pro) never really caught on down here in South Texas. I raced a lot during the mid to late 1980's,
I started with Tamiya's and graduated to RC10's...

When the JRX-2 came out, I was one of the very few racers to use one.
I raced the Jerk for a few years (until about 1990-'91),
but the heats were always made up of 90% RC10's,
with just a few hopped-up Tamiya's, Losi's,
and maybe a Kyosho here and there.

[xanadu]

I also race in Texas (north) and it was pretty much dirt oval everywhere. The Jrx2 came out and people grabbed them. It was not because it was way better, it was more because they came with ball bearings, and a graphite chassis in the box for a decent price. The rc10's stayed more popular around there because they were easier to convert to low profile dirt bodies and direct drive. The jrx2 front shock tower was just too tall. When I moved to off-road I raced a Team car and went out and tried a Jrxpro, Jrxpro SE, XXCR, (over about 3 years) and I just could not get any of them to turn well on a tight track. I felt that Quality was better on the Losi's, but I just liked how I could turn faster laps with my twitchy Rc-10. I guess as we learned since 1988, they were both awesome cars, you just had to see which one fit you better.