You are so right on this. If we compared the old vintage Tamiya cars to newer cars and trucks we would all be saying the older cars drive badly. But I'm not going to do that because Ido understand that. I've got myself a Hornet rerelease plus 2 Grasshoppers candy green. I've only built the Hornet yet and I put a 15 turn motor and 2 S lipo battery. It was too much for the Hornet. Then I used the same parts in a Fox rerelease ( Nova fox )and its only 1140 grams compared to 874 grams for the hornets weight, yet it drives so much better. I returned the original Tamiya silver can motor ( 27 turn 540 ) to the Hornet and it drives so much nicer. Poor little Hornet went from looking fresh built and beautiful to looking old and abused just because it was too light weight for that 15 turn motor. So now I've brought new decals and just waiting on a bodyshell. In around 5-6 battery cycles ( charged 5-6 times ) I rolled that Hornet at least 25 times. Plus I had changed the rear wheels because I wanted to preserve the original Tamiya Hornet tyres. As you are aware here in Australia Tamiya parts are hard to come by. I ran some Louise Spider tyres and wheels and also some Louise phantom wheels and tyres. Both didn't do much for vehicle stability because they narrowed the rear track width. If only I had of driven the Hornet on grass like a footy field like I'm doing now with the Nova Fox. Yep I love my Hornet and Grasshopper too👌👍
I had a 50 mph kraton and lost interest in it. I bought a tamiya tt02 car to try a kit car and loved it. I gave that one away with the kraton to a friend in need. i now have a grass hopper coming in and your video basically sums up my feelings about the grass hopper and its history. All the tamiya stuff was before my time really and I missed it in the late 90s and 00's just too expensive for my parents. After I do up the grass hoper I want to do a clod buster and lunch box maybe even the kong. I want the more toy like tamiyas. I did have a car from radio shack called the flame thrower it was bright red with neon yellow wheels buggy and the sound from it is kind of similar the grasshopper. I dont care about owning a huge collection i just want a few key models from tamiya. I think I honestly enjoy the build more than actually running them lol. That may change with the grass hopper.
OMG! that was my first RC car. the grasshopper started it all for me and a Hornet , then ............The Hole Shot I think? chain drive 4x4 buggy, I can't remember , but then it was on to a HPI RS4 and a few HPI Salvages and T-Maxx's with a couple revos , jatos, MGT 8.0, couple HoBao / Ofna hyper 7s and Hyper STs. Lsi aftershock, 2 5B and a 5Bss, 8ight t 2.0 and 8ight T 4.0 , brushless slash and a brushless buggy of some cheap obscure company ( but still put my in top 3 frequently at the track countless other boats ,planes, helis and M/Ts. defiantly an addiction that got out of control lol, any ways I commented on one of your RC Sparks comments without reading all of your comment, and well to me a jet and a gas turbine were the same thing from what you wrote it sounds like they may be 2 different things. Are they?
The grasshopper is always a great first and last car to have. It is my favourite car in my 80 odd collection, it never fails to put a smile on my face. I do like Traxxas now as well but very much dislike their electronics. I always upgrade the servos and esc/motor then they are perfect.
Appreciate the opinion about the good old Grasshopper. Got a rere and a vintage hopper. Got a Traxxas Titan 12t and XL-5 ESC in the rere. Pushing it, yes I know. Had to put the spiked rear tires from the Hornet to cut down on the uncontrolled wheel spin. Also put Hornet dampers on back. It’s a beast.
