R12L Still Competitive?

[MotoObscura]

I know nothing about pan cars. I'm an offroad guy who dabbles in rubber tire touring cars.
On the surface, it looks like modern pan cars aren't much different than they were 25 years ago

My track wants to start a rubber tire 12th scale class and it has peaked my interest. If I buy an early 90's 12L, added a typical ROAR legal 1S lipo and the spec brushless motor for the class, would I be at a significant disadvantage than those using a more modern chassis, say an RC12R6?

[matt1ptkn]

From my limited experience, the rubber tires are a great equalizer. Plus, if you fit some rear shocks and have some knowledge on tuning said shocks and pan cars in general, you should able to be quite competitive. Good luck if you decide to pull the trigger!

[Hauptmann6]

Buy modern. The early 90s cars have fixed camber and are really hard on front tires. And the performance ceiling is much lower. I say this as a driver of an early 90s RC10L. (Same design, just upsized.)

[rraeford]

You may have trouble fitting a brushless motor in a 12l. It was packed pretty tight before.

[Coelacanth]

You may have trouble fitting a brushless motor in a 12l. It was packed pretty tight before.

I'm not sure how much is different from a 12L and a 12L3, here's mine with a brushless 17.5T motor installed; full build topic here:

https://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=35541





The challenge with resto-modding these is far more to do with mounting a modern battery, as the old-school T-bar linking the rear pod gets in the way. The motor was hardly an issue at all. Fabricating a battery holder was where most of the resto-mod work was needed.

[rraeford]

The rear bulkheads are different starting with the 12LC (12L3 followed). This allows a lot more room and makes the motor installation and wiring easier.

[Coelacanth]

Ahh, that's good to know... I found that there's over a decade separating the first RC12L and 12L3.

[MotoObscura]

Very cool, thanks for sharing!