Many years ago you would have a limited choice when it came to gifts at Christmas in the radio controlled car sector. You would have Tamiya, the largest manufacturer at the time, and other high end produces like Team Associated, Schumacher and Kyosho. Tamiya where the most accessible to most people, especially for beginners and casual drivers alike. The other brands where more specialised and less likely to appeal to the novice racer purely because they tended to have higher price ranges and didnt have the fun element that Tamiya always provides. So, a couple of hundred pounds back in the late 1980s would see you with your first decent RC car set up, ready with fast charger and batteries. The lower end of the market was populated with cheap, badly made and poor performing cars, mainly indoor types that would manage to make there way across the carpet but not much further. Most would run on AA batteries and at the time, the cost of rechargeable batteries meant that you would spend a fortune on replacing these batteries in these very underpowered cars.
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There has been a gap therefore in the middle for ready to run cars and buggies that offer a better driving experience but don't come with the hefty price tag. Its been a difficult market to fill and in the past it has been attempted by many companies. The company that perhaps came closest to getting it right was Nikko. Their RC ready to run cars would have simple suspension, differentials, pneumatic tyres and decent rechargeable battery packs. They where then, the closest to taking Tamiya's tried and tested formula and offering it to the masses. They never quite though, managed to break out of the "Toy" market into the "Hobby" market, two very different things indeed. Perhaps they where too similar to Tamiya kits and therefore people would think "For a little more money, I could have a Grasshopper". Who knows. In the past few years Nikko disappeared but have recently made a come back and we shall see what effect this has on the marketplace.
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Currently there are a new batch of companies trying to achieve what Nikko did in years past. One of the most recent is Carrera. Famous for their quality slot racing pedigree, Carrera have released a range of RC cars that bring something else to the party. They have brilliant battery packs that offer short charge times and exceptionally long run times. They include features like, lights and sirens, suspension and differentials and even a working water cannon on one of their models. They are very much still in the "Toy" market with the exception maybe of the Dune Jumper. This 1:12 scale buggy comes with independent suspension, proportional steering and speed control and an even better battery pack that offer a brilliant top speed and long run times that havent really been seen before in the market place. It's a ready to run buggy that could compete with the likes of a Tamiya Grasshopper or Hornet but has a lot lower entry price. The rest of the range don't have the proportional steering which is conceivably one of the only features that distances them from models like the Lunchbox and Bigfoot. These two Tamiya icons are still in a league of their own compared to most of the Carrera range, but they come with a price premium. There is a lot less difference between them than there has been in years past, and now these Carrera trucks, many costing a third of a complete working Tamiya set up offer a real alternative in the "Toy" marketplace. And, maybe in the near future, Carrera will include the same steering, speed controllers and powerful battery packs they have given to the Dune Jumper and put them in their whole range. If they did, they could really mix things up in the RC market and this will benefit us, the consumers no end.
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