Topcat/Cougar vintage race car.

[Bormac]

Well it seems like Im still not over my Schumacher obsession as this last build has been on my mind for a while now.
The idea was to put together a 2WD for vintage racing here in Australia that complies closer to the age cut off than that of my previous attempts.
What I wanted to create was a Topcat that had the laydown type shocks and front end swapped out for the Cougar upright front end. Innitialy these kits were made available to Topcat owners back in the day and thats what i was aiming for.
You'll notice some extra features which add to the whole retro feel of this racer which include a Bud's bi-level rear wing, customised rear trans case side plates made from fibreglass which I hand cut and finished to recreate a WORKS transmission look a little more retro, vintage genuine decals etc...
Fitted with a RACE PREP 14x5 this thing is gunna rock!

[RedScampi]

That is one sweet looking car. The wing looks pretty tough on there.

[8rad]

I love it. Long travel front end is awesome! You should make a fiberglass front strap to match the rest of the fiberglass parts.

[m_vice]

love it,

[dangermouse]

Looks good Jason.

BITD I remember seeing a couple of Topcats for the first time at the Queensland titles. Funny things to watch go round corners, looked like the front end was having an epileptic fit. Pretty unfortunate that they didn't physically connect the suspension pushrods to the rocker arms.

My dad got a Topcat shortly afterwards. He fitted the upright suspension kit when it first became available, made a massive difference to the steering/cornering ability of the car.

[Bugle]

Nice work, just like back in the day when your front shock tower had to be as high or higher than the rear

[QuackingPlums]

Cor, that is beautiful! Bringing a tear to my eye!

[fastang]

Since you are going to race it, I assume you have a few spare front shock towers? I would even think about doubleing them up for strength.

Look great!!!

[DerbyDan]

Cor - that brings back memories..... my first proper competition car was a Top Cat, back then my racing was purely funded by my parents/pocket money so new cars were BIG christmas or birthday presents. The Top Cat my dad brought was heavily reduced in price because the Cougar had just come out..... I struggled with the TC for a while, I even fitting the front end off my previous car (a Mardave Meteor) Eventually another Christmas presented a Cougar conversion kit, but by that time the Cougar 2 was out..... so I was always behind LOL! I'll have to scan in some pictures of the old cars sometime

Love the uber-long front shocks, if you can, see if you get hold of a team Tanaplan ali tower - then you can just bend the tower back if/when it ends up on its roof. Like the fibreglass trans side plate.... i've not seen that done, using the 'Works' gearbox is pretty trick too Bet this will drive really nice

[Dirtdiver]

Very nice work. How much travel do those front shocks have?

[CNA75]

Have just seen this. What a great looking car! And what a top build!

Can I ask: did the Topcat front-end conversion originally include such long front shocks? On paper, I would have thought that they were unecessarily long and, perhaps, a little heavy for the front end? However, seeing the pictures of the car, I must say that it truly looks like it means business and, in large part as a result of the front end, will go like stink around those bends and over the bumps...

[Bormac]

Thank you for all the great comments guys. As I previously mentioned the idea was to take a true step back in time with car. While the trans is later than it's era I opted to fab some side plates from fiberglass to better suit the rest of the car.
The rediculously tall shocks were very purposefully sought after. Who remembers Masami's rc10 from the 89 worlds?

[DerbyDan]

Have just seen this. What a great looking car! And what a top build!

Can I ask: did the Topcat front-end conversion originally include such long front shocks? On paper, I would have thought that they were unecessarily long and, perhaps, a little heavy for the front end? However, seeing the pictures of the car, I must say that it truly looks like it means business and, in large part as a result of the front end, will go like stink around those bends and over the bumps...

The original Cougar & Top Cat-to-Cougar conversion kit came with a shorter front mount, utilising the same length shockers as used with the original bell crank suspension of the Top Cat. The conversion to use the long throw shocks was very popular.... though like with the Jrx Pro the extra travel was all but pointless on anything less than the bumpiest of tracks

Sometimes I think the original Cougar gets overlooked compared with the Cougar2 & Top Cat variants.... but it was probably the most successfull of the three cars - & certainly the most dependable.

[QuackingPlums]

Sometimes I think the original Cougar gets overlooked compared with the Cougar2 & Top Cat variants.... but it was probably the most successfull of the three cars - & certainly the most dependable.

I got out of the game shortly after getting my Cougar, so I don't even know what the Cougar2 brought to the table, but I do agree that the Cougar was the much needed "reliability upgrade" to the TopCat. Much as I love the TC, when those laydown shocks screwed up you were properly stuffed! The number of times I saw those things dragging their noses around the track because the levers had jammed themselves under the pivots!
I remember getting the short front tower first but quickly upgrading to the tall one - for no other reason than everybody else was doing it!!!

[Bormac]

I forgot to mention that the paint scheme came from a copule of other cars I own. This Topcat and Procat came from a well known and accomplished Australian Schumacher team driver from the 1980's. Andrew Nelson drove in the 89 and 91 worlds. These cars were both raced in the 89's and were in terrible shape when i received them. After a good clean this is how they turned out.