JK Racing wrote:I've been reading quite a bit on the Traxxas "race" cars and havent found why the TRX1 was superior to the TRX3 or TCP.
Anyone have thoughts on that? Wasnt the TCP billed as "Total Competition Package", or something along those lines?
The TRX-1 was the first competition buggy Traxxas put out. Circa 1991-92. It had it's flaws though,
1. the wheelbase was too long for american tracks, it was pretty good on high bite Euro tracks though.
2. the front suspension arms were shared with the blue eagle ls and were just too long compared to the rear end, it made for a very pushy race car.
3. the graphite plate cars were proving to be inconsistent on the race track, Losi moved away from plate chassis cars because of the cost and race performace of new materials.
The TRX-3 was the next evolution of the Traxxas racing buggy. They took the time to really get a refined design. That is why they skipped the TRX-2, Traxxas made so many prototypes and improvements that they felt they had skipped to the next number on the evolution of the car.
The TCP or Total Competition Package was really an amazing way to offer a race buggy. During all the testing of the TRX3 Traxxas tried different length front shocks, 3 different length front arms, slider VS universal-joint dogbone driveshafts and several other things. Obviously some things that work well on a loamy topsoil track don't work as well as on a hard packed clay track. The original TRX-3 was a compromise to work well on most tracks. The TCP put all those extras in one box.
To compete with the more mainstream companies with an established racing pedigree Traxxas knew they would have to step up and offer the racers something more for choosing a car other than AE or Losi. So they came up with the TCP, put all these extra tuning parts in the kit and let the racers build it the way they want.
If my memory serves me right the TCP included:
*2 pair of fr suspension arms, long and short
*2 pair of fr shocks long and medium length
*the option of uj driveshafts or the traxxas sliders
*2 sets of wheels, this was when 2.2" tires were new, so they included the conventional 2.0" rear and 2.1" front wheels, as well as a set of 2.2" wheels
It was really a new way of looking at how to market a kit to hardcore racers, This was around the same time Losi came out with the CR kit. The movement was to make a car race worthy out of the box. Before that when you bought a kit you almost immediatly had to purchase a few hop ups for just about every car to make them durable and competitive.
That's about all I can remember right now, I hope that sheds some light on the short lived racing history of Traxxas' racing buggy's. The trucks are a whole different chapter. People love to bash on Traxxas for being a cheap toy company, but there was a time when they were giving Losi and AE a run for their money. The racing scene faded a little and they moved to RTR's and sport racers. But most of the engineering is still seen on the cars they still offer. A little outdated now, but still Traxxas puts out fun, durable cars.