Yokomo Off-Road Car Timeline

[shodog]

The front of the box says 1985 world champions but I suspect it was a bit after that the kit was released.

[mrlexan]

Dual, A request please sir. Can you edit your first post to include a picture of each of the boxes with or without vehicles in front (like Darryn's) underneath the description that you wrote. If you are missing pics, use the ones in this thread or I can send you pics of each (I don't have them all, but most of them). I would do it for you, but I am not a mod (not sure it would be right anyway to hijack the post). Maybe I could use that a reason to request being a mod.

Also, I can't remember who is was, but someone asked me about a post I made long ago about the rarest Yokomo every made... this was the one I was referring to: November 1993: Yokomo World Championship Special (W.C.S.). I have seen one on an auction site in Japan, thought I saved the pics, but it appears I did not. I can't remember the details, but I want to say it was like $5000 USD or something crazy like that.

[badhoopty]

dual, you ever get your picture problem fixed?

[Dual]

Badhoopty, PM sent to you.

[badhoopty]

dual i think the images arent showing because tamiyaclub doesnt allow hotlinking.

you could always drag the image to your desktop and then just use the boards attachment feature and upload the images that way. i could also load them onto my picture host for ya.

maybe the other dudes have an easier way to get around the tamiyaclub image thing...

[Asso_man!]

just upload them on Imageshack, I think it works good

[templeofspeed]

Maybe sticky this?

[Scoobster]

Would love to see a photo of the Miracle Products MX-4 Millenium Conversion Kit if anyone has any or knows where i could buy one now that would be nice

[Dual]

Hi Del,

Bellow are some pictures of my YMP MX-4 Millenium Conversion Kit. These kits were hard to come by and were only released in Japan (200 limited edition pieces only). It took me a while to convince the previous owner to let go of this YMP kit and I am glad he did so although as Mcbain famously said in an episode of the Simpsons "My Ferrari! I had to do awful things to pay for her".

I don't think I will be assembling it anytime soon (I have a couple of MX-4's NIB) simply because it is a rare item and if I ever decide to sell it, I am sure the new owner would prefer it in unassembled form.

Enjoy the photo's.

Vin

[Lastenfield]

Hi,

Bellow is a Yokomo Timeline of all the Yokomo Off-Road cars that I am aware of. I have heard of other versions (not listed below) such as the 'Craig Dresher' Version but I cannot personally confirm the release of such models. Maybe there is someone out there that can add to the list I have provided.

1983: Yokomo YZ-834B Dog Fighter

Late 1985: Yokomo Wonder Dog Fighter

1986: Yokomo/RPS Gil Losi Jr. Dog Fighter

Late 1987: Yokomo YZ870C Super Dog Fighter
For me the first true competition 4WD car released by Yokomo although I am sure there are others that would disagree (hint: YZ-834B). Set the standard (along with the Schumacher Cat) for the future development of 4WD Competition Racers in terms of belt drive drive train and chassis/battery layout set-up. Not released in the U.S.A.

1988: Yokomo YZ10 (U.S. release version ofthe YZ870C)
Identical to the YZ870C but with some cosmetic changes such as white rims (as opposed to pink rims on the YZ-870C) and a more box-shaped Protech 4 Body to make the car more appealing to the U.S. market. Also minor running changes such as slightly (and I stress slightly) improved shock absorbers.

198-: Yokomo YZ870C Custom
I am not sure about the specification of this car other than it was a YZ-870C kit with some upgrades and included a Yokomo Esprit motor.

Early 1991: Yokomo Works '91
This model incorporated many modifications that Masami Hirosaka used on his 1989 IFMAR World Championship Winning YZ-870C. Features included a new graphite chassis with different battery lay-out, an upper deck stiffener, the infamous 2mm fine pitch drive belts, centre one-way layshaft with dual ball bearings (an expensive option part), aluminium front and rear bulkheads (replacing the fragile magnesium versions on the YZ870C), new design shock absorbers with matching shock towers, new longer front and rear A-arms, titanium turnbuckles, slotted bulkhead holes to allow adjustment of rear belt tension and the 'Squashed Bug' polycarbonate body that let everyone know what car you were driving. The Works '91 was never released in the U.S.

Early to Mid 1992: Yokomo Works '92 Spec.
Identical in design to the Works '91 but included changes such a redesigned front and rear shock towers (offering improved shock geometry), redesigned front and rear hub carriers (offering improved strength over the originals) and softer 3mm pitch drive belts to replace the problematical 2mm fine pitch belts on the Works '91.

Early 1993: Yokomo Works '93
A personal favourite of mine and was released World-Wide. Designed to replicate to a certain extent the 1991 IFMAR World Championship winning car driven by Cliff Lett. Quite expensive (359.99 U.S.) for the time but did come with a lot of option parts such as titanium turnbuckles, Traction Control System (T.C.S.), softer kevlar 3mm pitch drive belts (Works '93 exclusive), lightened differentials and a new design upper deck. It was the first Yokomo to sport the coloured plastic wings and cloured wheel discs (2 very popular items for a few years).

November 1993: Yokomo World Championship Special (W.C.S.)
An EXACT replica (right down to the titanium and aluminium hardware) of the car Masami Hirosaka used to win the 1993 IFMAR World Championships. A real departure from the earlier Works '91/'93 models and famously sported the white G.R.P. shock towers and upper deck. First Yokomo to sport a true carbon fibre chassis (as opposed to graphite) and did not use the Magnesium/Aluminium front bulkhead as on previous models instead had a new design nylon front bulkhead. New design chunky front and rear arms and front upper link. Also included the troublesome 2mm fine pitch belts because that is what Masami had on his car. This model had to be reserved/special ordered (deposit put down in full) and it was only ever released in very small numbers. Definately one of the rarest and most sought after Yokomo's ever produced.

Early 1994: Yokomo YZ10 Super Dog Fighter
For the majority of people that missed out or could not afford the World Championship Special, Yokomo released the YZ10. Quite similar in design the W.C.S. but a lot of 'special' parts were ommited to save costs and make the YZ10 more user friendly compared to the one-off W.C.S. Like the W.C.S., the YZ10 was a completely different in design to the earlier Works models and this made it very popular in the mid 1990's as it was a very durable car. At one point the majority of racers (pro through to novice) used only this car.

1996: Yokomo YZ10 Worlds Car 'Mark Pavidis Edition'
A replica of the car that Mark Pavidis used to win the 1995 IFMAR World Championships. This model came with most of the options included in the box and with the purchase/addition of a few more option parts, the owner could indeed have a formidable replica of the same car Pavidis used. Based on the 1994 YZ10, the Worlds Edition came with a new lightweight milled chassis with improved battery location (cells could be shifted back and forth on the left hand side of the car), different upper deck mounting location, 15 Tooth Aluminium front one-way pulley (no slipper clutch though), lightweigh milled front and rear A-arms, new carbon fibre upper deck and front and rear shock towers (same geometry as the YZ10 but different design), Team Associated hard anodised shocks and a new carbon fibre rear camber mount. Again a very popular car in the mid 1990's but the Team Losi XX4 wasn't to far away.

Mid 1996: Yokomo Hot Dog
I was not sure whether to include the Yokomo Hot Dog in this timeline as it utilised the chassis from the on-road YR-4 car but uses the suspension from the Works '93. I believe the Hot Dog was more of a fun car than anything else. It was pretty low specd. (bushings, stick pack configuration only) compared to the other off-road Yokomo (see above) that was released just before but it done the job it was intented to do which was to just play around. Included a body identical to the one used on the 1988 YZ10 but unfortunately for some collectors had 2 raised dimples on the front of the body which meant you could tell that it wasn't an original Protech 4 body.

Mid 1997: Upperdeck and Shock Tower conversion kit for the YZ10/Worlds Edition.
Not a complete kit but these 2 parts combined allowed YZ10/Worlds Edition owners to convert their cars to a similar specifiation as the one Masami Hirosaka used to win the 1997 IFMAR Worlds Warm-Up at the Ranch Pit Stop. The 'Sky Scraper' Shock Towers and Spring Set-up Upperdeck were a stepping stone for the design of the 1997 Worlds Winning MX-4 and later became standard features on the production version of the MX-4.

1998: Yokomo MX-4
Yokomo promised that the production version of the MX-4 would be identical to the one that Masami Hirosaka used to win the 1997 IFMAR World Championships. Customers and fans were dissapointed to find out that the production MX-4 although similar in appearance to the one Masami used, lacked most of the custom hand made parts that were on Masami's car. This was done to make the MX-4 more user friendly to the public but even so, the production MX-4 was still a difficult car to maintain properly.

2000: Yokomo Miracle Products MX-4 Millenium Conversion Kit
Designed by Masaki and Masami Hirosaka, this conversion kit allowed MX-4 owners to convert their cars to a mid motor set-up. Only 200 of these conversion kits were made and were very difficult to obtain outside of Japan.

If anyone has any queries about Yokomo cars, feel free to PM me or just reply to a current thread. I have left out the Yokomo MR4-BC,MR4-BCS and the MR4-BX as they are still easily found and a lot of information is available on these 3 cars on other sites.

Enjoy.

Early to Mid 1992: Yokomo Works '92 Spec.
Identical in design to the Works '91 but included changes such a redesigned front and rear shock towers (offering improved shock geometry), redesigned front and rear hub carriers (offering improved strength over the originals) and softer 3mm pitch drive belts to replace the problematical 2mm fine pitch belts on the Works '91.

Hi,
Would like to know what problem on the 2mm fine pitch belts?

Thanks

[Dual]

Hi there,

In response to your question 'Would like to know what problem on 2mm fine pitch belts', the 2mm pitch belts as opposed to the 3mm pitch belts were quite tricky to set up. The front and rear belt had to be perfectly tensioned or they would strip very quickly. After every 4-5 minute run, they had to be re-checked and re-tensioned. Most drivers that I knew did not enjoy the extra maintenance involved and I even know of a prominent Australian driver (Reece Birtles) that eventually had to change over to the 3mm pitch belts because he could not get the fine pitch belts to run consistently. A lot of patience and trial and error (no problem for Masami and Lett) was needed to get the fine pitch belts to run properly and to enjoy the benefits of running this system but for most racers, the disadvantages outweighed the advantages of running fine pitch belts in their Yokomo's.

Hope this answers your question.

Vin

[Lastenfield]

Hi there,

In response to your question 'Would like to know what problem on 2mm fine pitch belts', the 2mm pitch belts as opposed to the 3mm pitch belts were quite tricky to set up. The front and rear belt had to be perfectly tensioned or they would strip very quickly. After every 4-5 minute run, they had to be re-checked and re-tensioned. Most drivers that I knew did not enjoy the extra maintenance involved and I even know of a prominent Australian driver (Reece Birtles) that eventually had to change over to the 3mm pitch belts because he could not get the fine pitch belts to run consistently. A lot of patience and trial and error (no problem for Masami and Lett) was needed to get the fine pitch belts to run properly and to enjoy the benefits of running this system but for most racers, the disadvantages outweighed the advantages of running fine pitch belts in their Yokomo's.

Hope this answers your question.

Vin

Thanks very much!:)

[Scoobster]

(I have a couple of MX-4's NIB)

Would you sell one of the NIB MX-4's you have or i have a few cars for sale would you be interested in a trade for one of them?

Worth a try

[Scoobster]

Found a small photo of an MX-4 with the YMP conversion i thought some of you might like to see



I guess you can see where the MR4BX came from

[mrlexan]

Scoob, you need to post of pics of your collection, I know you are sitting on some nice stuff (I tried to buy some of them..... damn US dollar value )