Mini4wd History
According to the latest information, the earliest mini four-wheel drive was invented by the American Adolph Goldfarb in 1980 and manufactured by the toy manufacturer Schaper. The name at the time was “Stomper 4×4”. The appearance is based on the common Pick-up Truck in the United States. It is the same as the mini four-wheel drive (Mini4wd) vehicle invented by the Tamiya model in Japan that powered by two AA batteries. However, due to piracy and litigation issues, Stomper 4×4 sales declined.
In 1982, Tosaku Tamiya, the president of Tamiya Model at the time, was conceiving a “machine that children can build easily”. They thought of making “a four-wheel drive power model that can walk well anywhere.” The Tamiya model is based on “a model that can be easily bought by elementary school students for hundreds of yen. A large number of redundant parts are reduced, as simple as possible, and no chemical adhesive combination is required.” The steering and remote control, which are essential of a R/C car, are removed to develop a mini four-wheel drive.
With the Animation and official tournament hosted by Tamiya Inc., the Mini4wd entered the first and second frame in the 1990s. After 1990, three international Mini4wd competitions have been held successively in Japan. In addition to the birthplace of Japan, participants are from South Korea, the United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries or regions. In 2000, the 12th (1988-1999) mini 4WD national competition “Japan Cup” ceased to be held. Until 2005, the newly designed mid-mounted with double-shaft motor – chassis MS was launched, and gradually began the third craze. The World Championships also resumed in 2007.
In Hong Kong, Mini4wd was very popular during the 1990s-2000s as a result of the Mini4wd animation from Japan and big boost from the media and hobby shops. TV show related to Min4iwd was produced, large-scale events were held. After early 2000, the craze was dropped and there was no related activity until 2006 when Hong Kong Mini4wd Association was found. Besides, Empress Speedway, the first Mini4wd Track Station in Hong Kong was open in 2007. In 2012, the Hong Kong Cup was held again by Waigo Hobby. The winner Mr. Yip Tam represented Hong Kong to take part in the World Challenge in Shizuoka, Japan. In 2012, Mr. Jun Poon achieved the 2nd-runner up in the World Challenge, the best record of Hong Kong Mini4wd Racers so far.
Other manufacturers also caught the craze of Mini4wd and released similar products, such as Geki-drive from Bandai, Technical 4wd from Aoshima (based on the model in the animation “Future GPX Cyber Formula”), etc.
With the passage of time, STEM courses have become more popular, and mini four-wheel drive has also been included in the courses. With the rapid development of science and technology, the use of 3D printing to make parts, professional modification tools, and even remote-controlled four-wheel drive (the actual operation is two-wheel drive, front-wheel steering) has also been born, including the Mabeee battery pack that can control the speed of the four-wheel drive, and the modification tools that are produced by 324Object, the XC324 series of mini remote control car from Xotik that is compatible with Tamiya Mini4wd parts.
Xotik – Mini R/C XC324 series