If you follow my blog, maybe you found my little passion about the Yokomo 870C. I made many different variants of this car. But it seems, I did not play through the hole game.
With some luck we all can hold the Yokomo 870C re-release in our hands until christmas. That let me think about my little fleet. I missed a true 1987 vintage class 870C for racing!
My other variants are all made for the 1989 vintage class. And I am sure, the re-release 870C will sell good and brings fresh air into the dusty and Kyosho dominated 1987 vintage racing class! So I need a proper weapon for racing!
To build a 870C was always an expensive game. But the good thing is, it is easier to get parts today!
But before we start, let´s enjoy some body-on pictures.
My idea was, how could it look back in the days. With parts from that time of 1987.
What else happend 1987, when I was 16 years old (and raced a Tamiya Super Shot)? A look in the music charts helps a lot!
Starship – Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.
Bee Gees – You Win Again.
Pet Shop Boys – It's a Sin.
Genesis – In Too Deep.
George Michael – I Want Your Sex.
If you ask me, all titles are made for this particular buggy project! Even the number 1 movie hit has the title Dirty Dancing!
Apple was the first company who made a colour screen computer, Germany still got it´s wall and we had a global finance crisis. In other words, most of us were teenagers and we had a pretty good time!
What else happend this year? Oh, a young man from Japan became IFMAR World Champion! Masami Hirosaka´s first strike! With a Schumacher buggy from England!
Masami´s main sponsor was ODS - the japanese Schumacher distributor and at the 1987 IFMAR Worlds in Romsey/England, Yokomo only had a 870C prototype car made by the Losi family.
A picture of Jay Halsey wrenching his Yokomo.
An very early stage of the Yokomo 870C. Very interesting!
Now we learned, Masami Hirosaka came after winning the Worlds to Yokomo. His and his father Masaaki´s new home for the next 30 years. The start of the most exciting and most successful RC career ever a human made. Masami was the first and only super star in the whole rc business! A true legend!
There is only one god. And his name is Masami Hirosaka.
And now back to my unworthy little Yokomo project. Since we know, Masami raced his first Yokomo after the Worlds, we can be sure, Masaaki´s jigsaw started glowing for the next decades to make the buggies better and more epic, than any other brand did.
For my project, I took the already existing Lipo battery chassis with a top deck - instead of the original Yokomo backbone chassis. Back in time it helped for sure on the bumpy and slippery racing tracks. But for today´s racing, it is too soft on our high grip tracks.
The chassis also features the 1989 Worlds spec wheelbase.
The front arms are rear arms - the rear arms are rear arms. I produced these arms from Delrin. The Team Associated RC10 gold shocks cost me an arm and one leg. They have the lenght of 0.71 front and 1.02 at the rear.
A Nosram HD speedo and a Reedy Sonic 10.5T motor doing the power management!
I installed a fan in front of the motor.
You also can see the fantastic motor mount from Arpisith Supatakulrat from Thailand! Excellent work, mate!
A piece of art!
Rear view. Many parts came from FAN RC. The CNC aluminium bulkheads, the Slipper unit, the ball cups and ball studs, the hinge pins, the steering bell cranks. FAN RC is a great source for Yokomo and Team Associated parts with a great quality and price!
Of course I am not supported by any rc company! But I am open for all kind of support. Only this website itself costs me a lot of money each year.
The steering unit.
As always, I use Kyosho Optima c-hubs and Xray T4 aluminium front knuckles.
Front end. To reduce play at the king pin srew, I use Yeah Racing brass bushings.
The rear knuckle is from the Kyosho re-release Ultima, where you can adjust toe-in with inserts. They fit very good and have the correct offset. Toe-in is a must!
The total width front and rear is about 24 - 24.5mm
JC Racing Yokomo deep dish rims with JConcepts Fuzz Bite tires.
Rear view.
Bottom view.
One more in my collection - what do you like most?
Lets hope, the re-release kit will be good!
Get a kit, get your arse from your couch and go racing!
Meet other elderly ex-drivers and feel the Adrenaline, Dopamin, Oxytocin and all the other great stuff in your venes, what you missed all the years! Feel young for a damn weekend!