RC10Talk - The Net's Largest Vintage R/C Community

A little background. Raced rc10 20 years ago. Local, had fun, and ran into the whole time and money issue. Put the car away.
10 years later, get back into racing but on-road. TC3 Team. Local, had fun and ran into the family time issue. Put the car away.

So now on to the current situation. Moved to mid-missouri. Found a local track. Indoor offroad. High bite clay. Best car I currently own is a RC10 Graphite with Andys long arms and some team add-ons.

They run a 13.5 brushless stock and mod buggy. Most (if not all) are newer mid motor buggies.

So my questions are:
1) Can the Graphite be competitive? (all things being equal- driver skill, motor, battery) I dont expect to win but I want to make sure I do not become a moving obstacle on the track

2) Can the Stealth transmission hold up to a 13.5 brushless?

3) Any suggestions for tires? The locals were cordial when I asked about batteries, motors, etc. But a little vague about tires. which means "Tires win races"

4) Has anyone done a 2.4ghz conversion to their radio? Found a write up and a vendor to convert my XS3.

I hope to have the new equipment shortly after the first of the year. And then the practicing begins. Plus I have to remember how to dial in a car again.

Thanks in advance

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I guess the main question is what do you want to get out of it and what your expectations are.

A good driver with a bone stock RC10 will be pretty competative unless most everyone else is a good driver too with modern cars.

Building a "modern" RC10 will be more expensive then just buying a new kit.

The stealth is more than capable of holding up to a 13.5t motor.


If you just want to race and have fun without caring too much the RC10 will be fine.

I'm in a similar boat... trying to get back into it after many years at the local indoor high bite dirt track.

From what I've learned chatting people up at the track, on the track FB community, etc... Since the brushless revolution, the tires are the key now. No more motor/battery maintenance, it's about tire selection/maintenance/saucing.

In my own experience so far, you can get a decent radio to do the job for pretty cheap. Since you only really need one battery to race, batteries aren't the investment they used to be. I'd have to have 4-5 packs per race day per car. Now it's one per car per day with a backup (optional). A good running motor/esc combo can be had for a decent price and be very competitive.

As for cars at the local track... Obviously from the AE perspective there is the B6 and B6D. Many local folks still ran the B5/B5m. A even saw a B4. That's the joy of dirt... you can drive flawless and do well no matter what your gear is. The general rule of seeing what the locals run and what the LHS has parts for is always good advice. Nothing worse than breaking in the 1st heat and having no parts available.

Race your graphite and have fun. 95% of these parts are current and will fit your car: https://www.teamassociated.com/cars_and_trucks/RC10WC/Worlds_Car/parts_accessories/

Upgrade your battery to lipo and esc to brushless. Ask around local track on the best tires and make sure you get the right compound! If they don't tell you, go look at the winners table at what he is running and make sure you notice the dot of color on the side that determines the compound!

To run Worlds 2.2 rere wheels on your graphite, you will need wide axles on the front and may need rear cvs's depending what system you have now.

slotcarrod wrote:If they don't tell you, go look at the winners table at what he is running and make sure you notice the dot of color on the side that determines the compound!

I've dremeled the writing off the sides of tires before so nobody could tell what they were

Thanks for the replys.

I am just looking to have fun and get back into the fraternity of RC racing. Don't expect to win or be competitive just don't want to get in the way.

Back in the day I was a good off-road driver, but the new tracks are just weird. Traction compound on dirt? Makes my head hurt

Going to do a thorough inventory of what parts are on the car and what spares I have.

I have already priced out and decided on everything but the radio. The feel is so important.

Might stop at the track and see if some of the racers will let me hold their radios.

Well I would say if you want to race the graphite, why not? Keep in mind that all the RC10 classic parts will fit so stock up on some parts and go race!

As was already mentioned, definitely upgrade to brushless and lipo as well as newer radio and receiver equipment. You don't need to spend a fortune on any of that though - check out Hobbyking stuff or the Flysky stuff. I was supremely skeptical but the radio and receivers are really good and robust. They may not have as much fancy stuff on them but range is the same or better than my Spektrum stuff.

As for can it be competitive? I would say YES! The tires are easily upgraded - there was a site that sells 2.2 inch wheels (can't recall now) but you can swap over the Worlds wheels or B4 stuff and that will also work once you swap the axles. Read the 'What's Old is New' thread or try searching. I've upgraded all my old buggies to new gear and they are just as much fun as my B5M or T4. It does take a bit more fiddling with the suspension setups but you can make it work if you are patient.

Good luck!

I got a flysky radio for < $50. You than pick up a decent servo for whatever best fits your need. Biggest complaint I heard was people burning up receivers. But when you can get a spare for $6, I picked up a few for other cars and a spare. The hobbywing combo was also highly recommended by the LHS and local drivers.

I would like to try my world's ReRe and compare it to my B6D once I get on the track again.

As others have said above, the Graphite is well capable of getting you back into it. There are even setup sheets for use on modern tracks here http://site.petitrc.com/setup/associated/SetupSheetsAssociatedRC10WC.html with links to the manuals on there as well.

I still race my RC10CE, using lipo and brushless means sticking a whole load of weight up front to keep the chassis balanced.

OK. I now have a plan. I am going to update and race my RC10 Graphite in our local 13.5 class.

I am going to be selling most of my RC10 and other vintage equipment over the next month in order to finance the acquisition of modern electronics. The RC10 will be offered here first.

I posted an album a while back, but never did a proper inventory of what I have. Just going through my tool box is taking a while.

A few things I won't need with a brushless system. Plus some really old shock oil and the CA is solid as a rock.