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Ok i want to know what are other opinions are on which was a better racer in its day.

I had to make this decession back in 85 or 86..
I chose the Turbo Optima. I thought it was a better quality kit back than.
As i now have both as runners and shelf Queens i look back on my decession and now think it was not the best choice for these reasons. Firstly i was new to racing but a back yard basher for 3 yrs before that so was not really new to the R/C game.

The Turbo was and is a better buggy in some ways but not all.
This what i thought was better with the T/Optima.

1. Better Shocks
2. Better steering and almost no Bump steer.
3. Stonger built.
4. Easy to do a x tall change

Not Good Points.

1. Chain drive gave me troubles ( snapped in Mod ) Not very efficant.
2. Reduction drives and geabox wore out quickly.
3. Bolts always came loose due to mostly metal chasis.
4. No way to bolt on a wing at the time.
5. Short wheel base. (twitchy)

The Super Shot Good points.

1. Shaft drive was more efficant than was really credit for.
2. Well sealed tranny.
3. Didnt fall apart ( fastners)
4. Built in Wing and large.
5. Light weight plastics'
6. Long wheel base

The Bad.

1. Pain in the butt to due a x tall change.
2. Limted steerind and massive Bump steer.
3. Limted suspension at the front
4. Plastic componets.

Both came with good motors and bearing kit as standard.

So to me i think as a beginner the Super Shot was better and the Turbo was better with a experiance racer.

Has anyone got any comments or owend race both????

It was a decision I had to make BITD as well....it was around 85-86 during the Christmas period in Singapore all the shops were out of Supershots and Bigwigs. I went to the Kyosho agent unknowingly and he showed me the Turbo Optima. Not knowing anything about Kyosho but Tamiya from my plastic modeling days I turned him down. Eventually I found myself a Supershot and was pretty happy. After returning to Australia I went to my first off-road rc race and saw this guy with a Turbo Optima (running 7 cells, Trinity mod and esc) I was totally blown away.

Turbo Optima was definitely a better racer; it was lighter, had better plastic, was more adjustable and had better shocks. If I were to know I was going to go racing I would have chosen the Turbo Optima. However, no regrets as the original intention was to get a Tamiya and it was regarded as one of the better buggies around then.

Interesting write up, I think this is the first looking back comparison I've seen. Good stuff, thanks for taking the time.

One thing though, about the screws falling out of the metal Optima parts, I always use some Tamiya threadlock on nearly everything on my cars.

Thanks for replys guys.

I forgot to say which would have made a big differance is my Turbo Kit came with Jap instructions and at the age of 15 to build the Optima was a dauting task.

Might have explained why it fell apart all the time.


Both Buggys to me are awsome with a totally different approach to the design.

I think a lot of your statements are true. Some of the issues you mentioned can be addressed without spending a ton of money.

For example:

Thorp made a hardened final pinion gear to replace the soft aluminum one that came stock on the optima. The chain drive did require some attention becasue the chain would stretch over time...so this was more of a maintenance issue which at times would require you to take apart the drivetrain.

For the Supershot, depending on how your received was placed, you could always put a hole in the chassis so that you can pull the crystal out...you can then use some tape to cover the hole. The bump steer is tricky (due to the steering setup), but you may be able to minimize of by using washers to either raise or lower the pivot point.

These are just a couple of simple things that you can do with a fairly stock car to eliminate/address some of the design flaws....and of course, you can also spend a ton on money on each. In my opinion, wether stock or fully modified, I'd go with the turbo optima.

Regards,
highwayracer

What I remember from my boomerang as 2nd weakest point was the massive wear out of the front suspension: the brass balls would get egg-shaped in no time and introduced play which then would wear out the plastic housing of those balls.

The worst thing was I couldn't manage to keep it running for the 5 minutes it was supposed to go in off-road races. Either the batteries were cooking or something came apart.

When I bought my ultima I couldn't believe how much better the plastic (glassfiber reinforced nylon) was in comparison and I finally started finishing heats; even though I was still using the same moters and ESC, batteries I had in the boomerang. Plus it wouldn't do the Tamiya signature scream