Info on Front-wheel drive off road buggy

[djcady94]

Anyone know the manufacturer of a front-wheel drive 1/10th scale off road buggy made a looong time ago? Let me know.

[KIWIRCGUY]

Hi the only one I know of was the Kyosho Maxxima. I dont think its around any more, as they had to be run the 4wd class any way.

[jeepinator]

I believe it was called the Maxxum, not Maxxima.
Other than this, I have no further info. Sorry
:p

[WhoKnowsWho]

In the tower hobbies ad in the April 1989 RCCA, the Kyosho Maxxum was slated as the first front wheel drive buggy, came with a LeMans 240ST motor, MSC, and "adjustable rear suspension" :) That's the only FWD car I know that was ever made, unless you count the FWD dragger in the new issue of Touring Cars.

[Nairb]

Tamiya made some FWD on-road cars, but I've never seen FWD off-road, besides an HPI RS4 MT with a broken rear belt. :)

[Rick Hohwart]

I believe Yokomo has recently made a front wheel drive vehicle. I think it is off road but I may be wrong - could be sedan.

[RichieRich]

I have a picture of a Kyosho Maxxum. It's in seriously bad shape though. I'll try and post the picture later. (Saved it from someone's ebay auction a while back.)

Also, Kyosho made two fwd cars that were direct drive (pinion/spur only) back in the late 80s. They had an independent front suspension. I think one was a Honda CRX and the other was a Pugeot 206.

[TeeGeeRacer]

loooooooooong ago, even before the Maxxum, there was a buggy called the Spirit FF that was FWD.
I forget who made it though. Marui? Royal?

[djcady94]

I believe it was Nichimo(sp?)

[RichieRich]

Yeah, I remember Nichimo having a front wheel drive buggy. Royal had one too. Anyways, here's a picture of a really beat up Kyosho Maxum. I think someone tried to add a proline truck body mount set to it.

http://www.mindspring.com/~christianeelin/rccar/km2.jpg

[prime]

That thing looks like a cross between a Kyosho Optima Mid and an Ultima. I didn't know that Kyosho ever even went to production with the design.

Thanks for the pic!

[RichieRich]

Found this completed auction on an old FWD Kyosho Peugeot 205. Good pictures of late 80s FWD technology.

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=584935729

[ZenLosi]

If I remember right, the Maxxum didn't perform well: it couldn't jump or handle as well as the rear wheel drive or 4wd cars of the time. Too much weight on the front end, it just plain didn't work well.

I'm sure they make for a much better on road car.

-Zen

[ 05-18-2001: Message edited by: ZenLosi ]

[jeepinator]

The other innovation the Maxxum added was 4 wheel steering. This, from what I saw, was the main reason it handled so crappy.
The rear steering was easily disabled though, and this made it steer a little more predictably.
I would sure like to have one of these now !
Dang that would be fun to mess with ...

BTW, look at the pic above to see the 4 wheel steering hardware.

[ 05-19-2001: Message edited by: jeepinator ]

[R_C_MAN]

What ever happened to those companies, Royal, Marui, and Nichimo?

[gubbs3]

Yea, I hate how the best companies always go out of business.

[Nairb]

Just think about it, the car loses all power delivery as soon as the front wheels leave a jump. Sure, it's only for a fraction of a second, but it could add up and make a difference. Then again, you could argue that it could put on the power sooner when landing on the downslope of a jump...

One thing's for sure. When my Friend Murph-Dawg raced his RS4MT with a broken rear belt, it sucked. He had a major lack of power delivery and couldn't make the jumps at all.