Jumpstarting Brunei's offroad RC scene

I decided to take a break from racing on-road following my issues with the Sakura XI. I had just returned the car and was looking for a something new to drive when my cousin expressed interest in the hobby.

I immediately encouraged it but he wasn't keen on driving on-road. The speed of the cars and the discipline needed to set up and drive them intimidated him. He just wanted to bash so we settled on getting off-road RCs.

We checked out Guan Hock Lee, the local hobby shop, to see what were the active off-road classes at the time. It was quite sad to find out the the off-road RC scene in Brunei was practically dead. The only off-road RC track had not been maintained and the last race held was years ago. This wasn't all bad news though as it meant that we had no need for race spec'd vehicles which are often more expensive and less durable.

I wanted to get another Traxxas Stampede but they did not have any in stock. My cousin settled on a Traxxas E-revo and I went with the more conservative route and got the Kyosho DBX Ve.

 

The DBX was a fun car and a good introduction into Kyosho's offroad offerings. By the end of its run, mine was equipped with MP777 shocks and proper 1/8 tyres. It lacked straight line speed but the lighter chassis and 2S battery set up saw it outperform many 1/8 scale buggies on our makeshift track.

The DBX ve was my first kyosho off-road vehicle and it is responsible for my love affair with the brand til this day. It was fast and drove well. It used pillow ball knuckles so it was an ease to change the set up of the car. The pillow balls do suffer from stripping issues but they were easily fixed with loctite. The car also used soft and flexible parts as it was not designed to race so parts usually just flexed or popped off instead of breaking.

We were running our cars on a beach and this took a huge toll on the cars. The wide area meant we were basically overheating the cars every run and the sand and salty air really punished the drivetrain and everything metal on the vehicles. Still they held up well and we ran them for months with minor issues.

There were only three of us when we first started driving on the beach but we extended the invitation on Facebook and our group grew to twenty cars within weeks. It was clear there was an interest in off-road RCs in Brunei.

The DBX looked beat on paper but it did surprisingly well against its 1/8 scale opponents. I ran it as it was intended with a 2S battery set up. This meant I was slower than all the other cars but it was lighter and more nimble. It was also easier to drive. This saw me consistently top the other drivers and cars when we held small races on the makeshift tracks.

A few months later, tragedy struck my DBX as it got ran over by a truck. The driver was busy talking on the phone and failed to see our makeshift track. There were about eight cars running and mine had to be the one to get run over.

I took this opportunity to go up in scale. I got the gigantic Kyosho Mad Force VE.... and its performance just blew everything I've had in the past out of the water.

My Madforce on the right pictured with my cousin's E-Revo. You can see me trying to fix my issues with the Madforce by trying to fabricate a makeshift diffcasing/arm housing for the car.

Our small group of RC enthusiast grew exponentially within months

The car had its issues though. It was big and heavy and, for some reason, Kyosho designed it with a diff case that was held in place by small plastic joints and screws. I would break these everytime the car had a bad landing. I went through the cases like a hot knife through butter... I was breaking it every run.

It got so bad that I eventually gave up and ordered aluminium parts online. This fixed the issue and made the car practically unbreakable.

Unfortunately within a year and a half, our beach RC endeavours came to a halt as more cars were getting run-over. There was also a pack of stray dogs which appeared overnight and they took joy in attacking our cars when given the chance.

It was time to do something about the abandoned track.

The aluminium diff housing from RC4wd cost as much as the car itself... but it truly made the car unbreakable...

Baby steps into RC

I've been a fan of RCs for as long as I can remember. My dad used to have a red Tamiya buggy, whose name eludes the both of us, when I was about four or five. That's when I caught the bug.

I owned a lot of toy RCs growing up but my first foray into hobby grade RCs was a Traxxas Nitro4Tec in 2000. I did well for my exam the year before and my dad surprised me with a visit to the hobby store. I lacked knowledge at the time, all I knew was I wanted something nitro and it should come with a pistol grip.

I settled with the nitro4tec because of its looks and the colours on the boxes. I brought it home and followed the instructions to break in the engine. It ran great for a few weeks... and then I started running into tuning issues. The Trx.12 engine back then was a notoriously hard to tune... especially for someone still in highschool. I also struggled to set the car up properly. My dream of owning my first RC turned into a nightmare and the car was sold about a year later. Unfortunately I do not have a single picture of the car... as this was before digital cameras were a thing.

My next attempt at getting into RCs came in 2006 (based on dates on photos). I was now studying at Murdoch College in Perth. My schoolmates and I came across a hobby shop one day and we decided to check out the place. I was struggling with living alone in a foreign place at the time and just needed something to entertain me and take my mind off things. We (three of us) pooled our money and picked up a couple of Team Losi Mini Ts. These things were great but I'm guessing the technology wasn't there at the time or it could have been as popular as the Kyosho Mini Zs of today.

I don't have pictures of the Mini Ts either but my schoolmates wanted to keep the cars when we graduated college so they bought my share off me. By now I was again bitten by the RC bug and I used the money to get my second Traxxas. The mighty Stampede.

The awesome Pede in all its blue glory.

I loved this car and decked in out with upgrades as time went on. I bought all the RPM parts I could find and beefed up the drivetrain and electronics. It drove great and was plenty of fun. This Stampede was one of the few cars I regret selling. I loved it so much that I decided to get its racier brother, the Rustler just as I was entering Uni.

The Pede's not so awesome but still pretty cool brother...

I also gave the Rustler all the RPM upgrades I could get my hands on but it wasn't as fun as the Stampede. It was around this time when an on-road track opened near my area. I checked it out and got interested in racing. The cheapest way to start racing at the time was the Tamiya TT01 class so I got a used car. It was a car that was already racing in said class so I was assured the car was competitive... the driver was another story.

I wasn't good at driving yet so I struggled to keep pace and this bummed me out, to the point where I never mustered up the courage to join any of the races. I would show up at the track and waited until everyone left before putting my car on the track. I could have really benefited from some help back then but I did not get any, which is why I am so keen to help newcomers to the hobby nowadays.

Looks good but the pilot lacked the skills needed to drive this Tamiya TT01 properly.

In the end, I never once raced my TT01 but I made a promise to improve my driving and upgrade to a better car next season. It was at this time (2008) where I invested in my first 'proper' competition RC car, the Hot Bodies Cyclone Sport.

My romance with the HB brand was short lived.

I built the car up and gave it the electronics designated for my race class but once again I couldn't get the car running right. I had no idea on how the car had to be set up and no one was around to guide or teach me. Looking back, I can definitely say the car wasn't built right and suffered from horrible chassis tweak. It wouldn't drive straight no matter what I tried.

I shelved it and sold all my cars about a year later - including the awesome Stampede - when it came time for me to return to Brunei.