So......um, Traxxas

[Saito]

I just want echo the previous kudos to the fact we are indeed having intelligent discussion on a topic that all to often goes off the deep end. I am in complete agreement that there is no need to wipe Traxxas from the history books. Good or bad, the Bullet, Radicator, Sledgehammer etc. are all cool vintage vehicles that deserve their place.

I also concede that the engineers (that probably care about what they're doing) are not the business-types doing all the suing and such. Traxxas today isn't the Traxxas back in the day, but then again what company is? I have an old used Emaxx just because I had to see what the fuss was about. I have a Stampede because from the outset it was a good design that just got tweaked over the years. It's dated as hell, but still does what it aims to do. The problem is the products become avatars (rightly or wrongly) for the company and that company isn't doing the industry any favors now.

[Basher67]

I agree. I wasn't trying to turn this into a traxxas vs tamiya argument. In my opinion they are in two different places in the market anyway. The direction of this thread has given me an idea though. We should start a vintage benchracing thread. We pick a year, class of vehicle and everyone can chime in with their favorite offerings of the time with pros, cons, which was better, etc. Clodbuster vs USA-1 vs whatever,etc. I think that would be a great feather ruffling debate. I'm sure more than a few of us have strong opinions of different brands and models available at any particular time. Sort of an apples to apples comparison throughout rc history.

[RC10th]

Say what ?

[RC10th]

Team Associated doesn't even support trucks that they made 5 years ago. That does not show me that they care for me as a hobbyist.

This never was the case as AE was one of the few brands that would support a 10+ year old car. They supported everythink up until the company was bough out by thunder tiger and stock ran out.

[Lonestar]

as for modern racing Tamiya TRF does quite well so does traxxas. Tamiya is of course much more expensive pound for pound and modern parts are hard and expensive to get from tamiya japan.
which is why they are rare and not seen much in the united states.

TRF is dead... And in my 20+ years of racing, i have NEVER seen a Traxxas in races, except trx-1 in vintage classes, and slashes pre-SC10...

Very confused...

[tamiyadan]

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[klavy69]

And while I'm ranting, why doesn't everyone cut the s%#t and stop bagging on T-Maxx's They were awesome when they came out and we all wanted one.

true, when they first came out. Once I seen my first savage I realized just how flawed the t-maxx platform is and now hate working on it...specifically the front end. Don't get me wrong...I still have one but only because one of the locals has one and I got one to run with him.

I'll run my savage any day of the week before that t-maxx

Todd

[klavy69]

i have NEVER seen a Traxxas in races, except trx-1 in vintage classes, and slashes pre-SC10...

maybe because of your area of the world there Paul? Like some places run mostly AE or some places run mostly kyosho. I dunno really why you haven't seen them more but for me looking back at old race videos I see SRT, trx1, trx3, LS2, etc. In the vintage classes of today I agree...trx1 is the dominant one of the ones I mentioned but I think that is mostly due to the fact they were produced in numbers significantly bigger than the others along the fact that the trx1 placed in races more. No body that raced that I personally knew locally bought what never placed on the podium when they went out to try and win.

Yeah, bashfest away at my traxxas taste but I still like what I like. I won't be going out to buy a nitro rustler because a bunch of locals are running them again on wednesday nights at the LHS. I'll either put together a nitrohawk or pull out one of my tried and true rc10gt

Todd

[RC10th]

i have NEVER seen a Traxxas in races, except trx-1 in vintage classes, and slashes pre-SC10...

I'll pull out one of my tried and true rc10gt

Todd

Now that's the spirit, Go Todd !!!

[Lonestar]

i have NEVER seen a Traxxas in races, except trx-1 in vintage classes, and slashes pre-SC10...

maybe because of your area of the world there Paul? Like some places run mostly AE or some places run mostly kyosho. I dunno really why you haven't seen them more but for me looking back at old race videos I see SRT, trx1, trx3, LS2, etc. In the vintage classes of today I agree...trx1 is the dominant one of the ones I mentioned but I think that is mostly due to the fact they were produced in numbers significantly bigger than the others along the fact that the trx1 placed in races more. No body that raced that I personally knew locally bought what never placed on the podium when they went out to try and win.

Hi Todd,

fair point, and sorry if I was unclear - I was speaking of racing TRX's nowadays - I thought this is what Dan was referring to as he was mentionning TRF also. At the beginning of the SC class in 2008-2009, I agree - only slashes were racing, for a good reason: they were the only SC available on the market... As soon as Losi and AE released theirs, there were no more Slashes to be seen at the racetrack in my part of the world, and from the race reports I've seen from the US, not many there either.

For the record, I was racing in Texas from 1998 to 2000 - 10th scale DTM and offroad. The only trx's I ever saw then at the track there were the LHS's rental 4-tecs (which were not bad, to be honest!) and decked-out T-maxxes, but the latter ones weren't really racing, more participating to demo/"fun" classes (thank God )

Now - don't get me wrong. I'm no Traxxas fanboi, still I have a special fondness for their 90's designs. At home I have a Bullet, a Rad, many TRX-1's, a TRX-3 shelfer, a NiB TRX-3 ( ), an LSII... I also respect a lot their commercial savvyness to be honest - they are really smart. But like a lot of us I have mixed emotions about what positives they've brought to the hobby (they've saved it twice in two decades, first with the T-maxx, second with the Slash), and about what negatives they've brought, too (RTR's, focus on speed at the expense of anything else, silly hopping-up market, populist marketing -that works!!!-, patent trolling, etc...).

[Lonestar]

"TRF is dead"

not in japan. also they are used in TCS competitions all over the world because there is a class for them and you are required to use tamiya products.
I have 503 and 201 buggies. the 503 is cool cause it comes in 2 flavors, belt drive or shaft drive. there are also like yearly revision kits that come out for them.
they are special order. they have version changes to the bodies also. I believe i have V2 bodies.

http://www.redrc.net/2017/01/tamiya-usa-clarify-future-of-the-trf-brand/

TRF stands (stood?) for Tamiya Racing Factory.

"By the end of 2016, all contracts with top drivers will expire. [...]a new direction is needed to put the TRF brand to better use. Namely, the TRF brand will help Tamiya expand its main business moving forward, which is the beginner and the middle level hobbyist"

Net - One can forget the R in TRF. I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) the last kit they released is the 419X touring car in late 2016, which is like an eternity for a brand that would sometimes release two versions of the 41whatever the same year, and in the current most competitive class of them all, where it won 5 world championships (4x Reinhard, 1x Grosskamp). The brand now is just a marketing gimmick that helps sell mainstream kits, without a race team. Reminds me of when Hobbico acquired Durango, from one day to another, no more race team, and no more grassroots racers within one year or so.

(and even worse now... covered on another thread...)

so, yes, I stand by my earlier post - TRF as we used to know it is dead

[tamiyadan]

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