The World's FASTEST Tamiya Sand Scorcher 

My first venture into RC. Was back in the 80’s when I bought and built the OG Tamiya holiday buggy!thrashed it around with a friend who bought the same model.. I’ve had a couple of nitro traxxas trucks in more recent times. I then decided build my own chassis and suspension set up and modified some tamiya clodbuster axles to create an AWD 4 wheel steer fully articulated suspension rock crawler ! It was a beast, I was proud of my achievement as I’d never build anything from scratch before.. now watching your videos recently I’m thinking I may want to get back into RC ..! Thanks for resurrecting my RC flame! 😆

What fun ! Brings back memories of good times with the original Tamiya beetle and the Fox. No LiPo back then, was brushed sprint car motors and 8 cell NiCd 'hump pack" batteries with good old PCB and wiper speed controllers.Took a lot of pfaffing but eventually ended up getting the Fox to over 40 MPH, did not quite manage it wit the beetle as it had an encounter with a real full size taxi and the taxi won. The remains of the destroyed beetle were hung up in the shed in a string bag for years. We ended up wiping out the Fox after fitting two Jet-X sold fuel rocket motors to it, no idea how fast it went as on its first test run in the park it smacked into a tree and got scattered over the footy field, didn't reach the timing gate. The crazy things we did for fun . Keep up the good work, always a high fun factor when You decide to make it Go Faster. I'm off to the forest to go slow with heavily modified FTX Ravine (same as Danchee Ridgerock in the USA) to tackle rocks, roots and mud after a whole night of heavy rain. I wonder how fast You could make a Ravine go with Your 'make it faster' upgrades? Fastest MOA crawler would be bonkers.Just a thought.

I think your the only RC youtuber doing high speed runs on sand like the full size cars it look awesome

Omg. I got one of those for Xmas when they first came out. From beaties in Newcastle. Was still at school and took me a while to build my first one. But then I was hooked. Brilliant 😂😂

I think the open diff is hurting you. It's letting power overwhelm one tire and cause the car to pull to one side when one tire effectively stops pushing forward. I think with a locked rear you'd be able to use more power for longer before traction was overwhelmed. I think that's why you did better on pavement. At least in my brain that all made sense.

Man oh man the sound of those crashes break my heart a little but are highly entertaining! Thanks for the great video and congrats on the 55mph!

My goodness - a 55mph Sand Scorcher! Congratulations, While - that's an astonishing result. I love Sand Scorchers. I've watched "Fast as Funk at Shell Island" more times than I can remember - they're a milestone in RC development and an undisputed design classic. Part of their appeal lies in Tamiya's determination to take scale realism to new heights, even when designing the suspension systems. They're just like the real ones. The trouble is that the real ones were designed ninety years ago, for a very different set of requirements. You can see in the on-board footage how hard the front setup is working on that dreadful surface - and what a good job it's doing. Props to Ferdinand Porsche's design crew, there. And the wheelbase of the Scorcher is fantastically short. So, with all that lot conspiring against you, I reckon you did well on the beach. You were knocking on the door of 40mph with your wheels slamming up and down like jackhammers! And didn't it track well (for a Sand Scorcher) on those low-profile foams?

That Beatties bag brought back some memories. I remember 4-5 of us jumping on a bus to High Holborn to the shop and watching the Tamiya Frog advert for ages. Me and my brother got one each for Christmas that year, so did half a dozen mates. We had be careful running all together because of the crystals in the radios. Great times.

I love seeing Tamiya cars go FAST! Great video

The grin on the little guys face in the buggy haha.

I’m certain I know why you’re having problems on these speed runs Phil. When you do a speed run you have to say, “Track, Read…Stop”. I thought all RU-vidrs knew that. 😂😂😂

That was an interesting journey to reach your goal. When you were doing all the modifications to get the motor in and you used all those different tools, I thought a chainsaw would be next. It looked great on the beach. I realized as I was watching one of the reasons your videos are popular is the way you talk to the camera. It's like your talking with a friend explaining what you'd did or are doing.

Another great video! It's awesome to see someone use these cars like they are meant to be used, and not just make them shelf queens. So much fun!!!

It still blows my mind that Traxxash patented a waterproof reciever box.! If every manufacturer just went ahead & fitted them, I wonder if Traxxash would try suing them all.?.. What am I talking about, of course they bloody would.!😉 😉 😂 😂

WOW 55mph! That's crazy! You had me cringing with every tumble!

Oh my, Sand Scorcher on a beach! Takes me back to the early 80s! Only had an RS540 black motor to upgrade to back in those days but man it was fun! Thanks for the memories!👍👏👏👏♥️

Foresight. I immediately said to my better half, "He's hitting that fence and destroying the car", as soon as I saw where you were driving it. Knowing how it veers off to the side watching the full speed runs on the sand.

First time iv not heard you laughing after you've crashed something 🤣🤣 the silence when it wiped out

between this and richard hammond, we should probably all agree to ignore that inner urge for 'one last pass'

I've still got an original 80's one. It was still working last time I tried it. Best present my folks ever bought me!

You should run that bbx on the beach for sure… you got it all hooked up. Get some front tires that you fancy and get that thing to the beach…

Really good to watch, imagine, 40 years back, that one day we would be making videos like this 👍

The sand scorcher is the vehicle that sparked my interest in radio control, some 50 years later, and still loving it.

That was fast! My first RC was a used Scorcher and by used I mean it was used up. The tired motor and pathetic ni-cad batteries were so weak but I had no idea what to expect and had the time of my life. I cut off pieces and modified the steering until it was unrecognizable. I installed lights in the Tamia headlight buckets and it looked so realistic with beams of light shooting out. My second car was a new kit (RC10 Gold Tub A chassis) and I used the tired servos and reciever to continue using the grey box and again had the time of my life. Several cars followed that ran stock motors and cheap servos. Eventually I went overboard and went ultra high speed.

Congrats on 200K Subscribers Tomley RC🎉

Amazing!! Love this looking forward to part 5

I always wanted a Sand Scorcher...always seemed a little more than I wanted to spend, though. I did finally get a FAV a few years back which more or less satisfied my need for a Tamiya buggy with independent suspension! I don't think I could bring myself to beat it like the Sand Scorcher in your video, though. Lol. Crazy. Every single time my friends and I went for insane speed runs in the past, it ALWAYS ended in carnage.

If I was on the beach and saw the surf that far out I would run for the hills. That's what it looks like when a Tsunami is coming in 😳😂. Great video 👍🏼

love this video, always loved the look of rc beetles after driving <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="61">1:1</a> beetles. Going have to get a sand scorcher now, looks so much fun

This is what RC is about. Awesome video. It's impressive that a 1970 rc car can hold up to 55mph. Highly entertaining video 👍👏

An RC ripping through flat, clean sand, that never gets old. 😍

Oooof... when you have to answer "Yes" to "which side of the fence is your car on?", you know it's not good!

this video is super cool. Im not sure ive seen other youtubers have taken their rc cars on the sand like this. Can you also do rc car durabilty tests? We would also like to see more comparisons of rc cars like the xmaxx vs kraton 8s. Would be super cool to see drag races, handling tests. Lap times etc. thanks for all your hard work Phil!

Very good. The car camera shows how rough... the smooth surface actually is at the sandy beach.

Alex kowaliuk here, I really enjoy seeing these cars because they are so well built even today that level of quality metal work is rare in the rc world yes you have scorched parts and others but those are very performance minded soulless hardware not like the stuff on the sand scorcher or the Ford pickup you have.

Awesomeness! Felt it in the pit of my stomach as it hit the post at the end!

Oooh I really want one of those now, I love the look and the simplicity

You need to teach your daughter another saying. "Quit whilst you're ahead..." 😉

It may be time to put electronics in my shelf queen scorcher and see what shes capable of. This video inspired me.

55 jeez!!!! Sorry the speed runs didn’t work out on the sand Phil, but it looked bloody cool as ripping about. ✌🏻

So much potential for more stability once you get into the suspension. 🎉

Thanks for the video Phil. I love doing speed runs with random unusual cars, just trying to get the most out of them. Trying to get a car that did 15-20mph standard to reliably go 50+ is a callenge. I'm currently waiting on parts for the Worlds Fastest FTX Tracer.

Nice! A little shoe goo, drywall tape, and a coat of new paint will have that body back together in no time. Metal bits just need a little JB weld

For the BBX, look into Jconcepts rib front tires. They almost 5 different designs that may suit what you need in 1.9 and 2.0 and 2.2.

Thank you for this video, must have been a ton of time editing, and costly damage, but that was a hoot!

like 15 years ago i had a mamba 7700kv 2s also in a losi xxx-s touring car, it was bonkers fast and smooth. Loved that car

You, Sir, are the Richard Noble of the 1/10th scale electric RC car world. 55mph for a Tamiya Sand Scorcher is incredible!

Great video & I love the bug.. I hope you’ll be able to repair the body shell

I had the original Sand Scorcher back in '84 when I was 16, it was my dream RC car and still one of the best looking ever! So sad to see it smashed up at the end, but impressive speed run nonetheless.

Fantastic job, Phil! It's fast as heck!!! 😃 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

That suspension is working real good

Oh no, the poor Sand Scorcher!!! Bad Man!

Just 1 more run ! I feel much better now , cheers

Good attitude, good narration, I enjoyed the video, thank you

It’s always that one more pass…😂 Yet we all do it!!! Great top speed of 55mph that’s awesome I live by the beach myself and find a lot of my 2wd Tamiya’s perform great on sand. I look forward to the rebuild and re-run. 😎👍

It just looks dead frikkin cool in that environment. Bonus that you didn't hit any dog land mines :)

That was awesome! Totally worth the wait.

Wow! But a bit of rebuilding ahead...Love that you took the pain so I don't do something dumb with my rere Kyosho Tomahawk...

I reckon that a bit more weight at the front might give it better steering? The new motor and electronics must be adding some weight at the rear and taking pressure off the front tyres.

I used to race RC starting in the early 80’s with a rough rider and there was an American company called Thorpe that made the first Difs for them and they were limited slip and cost £30 which back then was pretty expensive. We used to do a lot of mods to them mainly to reduce the weight down to 3lbs which back then was the legal minimum racing weight.

Awesome! What a brave spot for a wayward speed runner!

Definitely destroyed the poor sand scorcher lol but didn't disappoint Phil. Loved it mate

RIP Scorcher 😢.. think I had my eyes closed through a lot of that as the SS is probably my all time favourite rc. 😂

love the looks of that car

Fun to watch, get rid of those paddle tires for the sand…..aggressive block tread will keep it tracking better

Holy crap, 55mph with a Sand Scorcher?!?! Nice one dude!!

That's tougher than I thought. My one and only tamiya I'm afraid to even run a lipo. Lock the diff!

Crack up vid.Scorcher was my first proper rc. Thank you.

Crash.!.. Bang.!!.. Wallop.!!!.. What a video.!😉 😉

That’s insane with a design that old and a suspension set up like that. I did this with my brat on the dunes at OC Maryland with a 2cell and a castle creations set up.

Those rooster tails just bring a smile to my face. 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

The beach photos look awesome

Love the sand speed runs.. would be Cool to have a series! Not a lot of room for error on the concrete speed run spot😅

I'd like to see another go at it with a fortified body and parts that all still fit within the "theme" of the original car ... restomod time!

The driver seems to be keeping quite calm under those catastrofic circumstances!

That was awesome! I also tried high speed test with 3S lipo and 5900kV motor on a touring car cahssis and body at asphalt road. With 2S it could already hit 50 mph. Even such better condition, as I punched the throttle, the front nose of my car lifted up, then uncontrollablly spun. Luckily it did not roll over so no mechanical damage there.... I gave up on the test right there before I met certain doom. Never thought such aerodynamically stable body still can go crazy like the CLK at Le Man🤣 The recorded speed was coincidentally 55mph like yours. Thus I was impressed by your record. Although it ended up in suboptimal way....

I think lowering the rear suspension would help too, to take out some of that positive camber. As the suspension deflects, the huge camber change causes the rear end to 'walk' from side to side.

Man that is a badass VW kit I love it I want one

ohhh and love the slow mo suspension stuff

No, No, No-say it ain't so Tomley please!!! I imagined that would be a no. 1 shelf queen but it runs like an absolute BAD-ASS!!!

Maybe 550 MPH scale speed is all the Tamiya Sand Scorcher can take ... pretty good for a 40 yr old design though , Nice job Philly ! It's all about having FUN with RCs. 🫡😃

I made a Sand Scorcher copy with a RC-10 chassis and a bug body painted almost like yours… I did this in 1993… ahhh. Memories 😎… lol. I use to think it was fast, ha ha. Had a runaway right into the pool

Them 7700kvs are fun, got 1 in my BBX as well, beyond my driving skill on only 2s

This is the toy we all wanted when we were kids, you're a jammy sod 😂❤✌️ I'm not jealous, honest 🤔🤭🤝

That was amazing brother thank you for sharing and I’m sorry that you broke it

Haha, i remember that. Neve had one unfortunately. And now i dont really have the space to just collect them and have them standing around. Would love to have a Wild Willy too.

👍 nice 👍. Loved it when you were just under the record then BAM!! Beat it by a mile 🤘🤘🤘

I had this exact model 35 years ago! I can't believe how slow was the evolution for it... So sad!

My first RC car! back in 1981!

any tamiya going that fast is impressive

Would a lose diff have helped keep it straight , longer run up though . Thank you for all your hard work and content 👍

Awesome acomplishment mate!!!! I love vintage ( even the lookers only😂) cars... 55 is crazy fast on that wind catching buggy!!!❤ Love the vid as always, best regards from the netherlands😊

That thing rips I love Baha bugs awesome video

poor little buggy. He didn't deserve the fence post xD

Awesome! I had a tamiya frog, was my first rc. Fun times back then, my buddy had an rc 10 when they were new, he was the high roller with it back then..lol 😂😂😂😂 The ol RS540 that came on everything. I had a big bear monster truck as well, old school cool!!!

Well driven, my vintage brushless holiday buggy is uncontrollable at high speeds but there is a little play on the steering 😂,

thanks for the vid......love the vintage stuff

I'm sad!! That was like a cute little puppy that got killed!!! Lol! Great video my man!!!

that old aerial gave me the fizzies

Mine (re-release) is maybe a quarter built since last year. Really need to try to get it finished this year.