Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Motor, guide wheel, and the most classic "leading Phoenix tail", these terms that can evoke memories after 8090 belong to the same kind of toy-four-wheel drive.

After 2000, with the introduction of a number of four-wheel drive theme animations and the promotion of "Audi double Diamond", "four-wheel drive" has changed from a simple toy to a "national sport" popular among primary and secondary school students.

In an era when the network was underdeveloped and the exchange of information was relatively closed, you could see four-wheel drive tracks in the activity rooms of the Children's Palace in almost any province:

It is precisely because of the osmosis of four-wheel drive that although children of that era knew nothing about the principle of mechanical transmission, they were able to solemnly analyze the quality of motors, gears and bearings.

Unfortunately, times are always changing. With the popularity of the Internet and the emergence of more novel games and entertainment, four-wheel drive has gradually disappeared into the social circle of children.

But what is ignored by most people is that the four-wheel drive, which is free to disassemble and replace parts, is actually a complex movement that requires players to have knowledge of modification, materials and mechanical transmission. After gradually withdrawing from the public's sight, it did not disappear. With the modification of professional drivers and the blessing of modern technology, four-wheel drive is moving in the direction of "higher, faster and more stable".

1 four-wheel drive cars were originally movable racing models with a scale of 1:32 produced by Japan's Tamiya Model Company. these cars are powered by batteries, drive on the track with the help of guide wheels and walls, and can achieve four-wheel drive with the help of transmission gears, so they are also called "mini four-wheel drive". Whether it is animation or reality, the highest appearance rate is this form of four-wheel drive.

However, with the evolution of equipment and play, in addition to the traditional form of racing, raider buggy has also developed several branches such as "unrestricted racing", "street running" and so on.

The so-called "unlimited racing", as the name implies, is to take "speed" as the ultimate goal, and all vehicles are modified to allow raider buggies to run at a faster speed.

Under such a premise, racing cars that meet the entry conditions are often modified beyond recognition, which is very different from the traditional four-wheel drive. For example, in order to reduce the load on the vehicle, racers tend to remove the useless shell, and even fix the battery from plastic buckle to duct tape, in order to gain a slight advantage in the "arms race" of this mode.

In this mode of pursuit of extreme speed, the effective speed record of unrestricted four-wheel drive cars has reached 116km / h and the instantaneous speed has exceeded 118km / h in the 2014 National Rail car Unrestricted Open. At this speed, the human eye can only see a "remnant" of the raider buggy:

The four-wheel drive in this picture has run at least two laps if you use another real-life analogy, unlimited speed is like "Formula one", using the best engine to run the fastest speed on the track.

Like F1, this pursuit of extreme play will also bring a very high threshold. Players participating in unlimited racing not only need to have basic knowledge of four-wheel drive, but also need to master the ability to design body and parts, because contestants need to draw their own drawings to design racing vehicles, and the parts and materials used by racing cars must also be adjusted according to the conditions of the track.

Under such conditions, four-wheel drive cars are often disposable consumables, first, because ultra-high speed will cause serious load and wear on the car; second, these cars are usually "tailor-made" according to the track, after the end of the race, there is naturally no need to continue to use the car.

And another kind of raider buggy branch, "street running", is relatively close to the people.

The biggest feature of "street running" is that there is no track, and the runners need to adjust the direction of the car through a special guide bar. on the other hand, the speed of the vehicle is also adjusted to a range that human beings can catch up with.

As there are no specific terrain requirements for field running, the stability and adaptability of the car are the most important parameters for runners. Four-wheel drive cars that take part in street racing often use large-caliber tires and improve their stability by increasing the distance between tires.

This kind of "street version" of four-wheel drive first appeared in Italy in the 1990s and gradually spread all over the world in recent years. In the early years, in the animation "four-wheel drive boy", there was a four-wheel drive similar to wild running:

Unlike unrestricted racing, street running requires the use of four-wheel-drive cars and spare parts made by Tamiya in Japan, and there are no too many restrictions on the venue, so it is more popular abroad.

In the official field race held in Italy in 2021, compared with unrestricted speed and street running, the most popular race mode for Chinese players in the past and now has always been the traditional four-wheel drive mode-contestants put adjusted vehicles into a special track for lap racing, which is also known as the "Tamiya rule".

2UP master "he er who doesn't fly" is an old four-wheel-drive player who focuses on the rules of Tamiya. In 2019, a video of he er introducing the system and strategy of four-wheel drive successfully went out of the circle and was broadcast more than 2 million on station b.

Most of the people who clicked in are old viewers who played with four-wheel drive in their childhood, but most people's impression of it still stays in the animation "four-wheel drive brothers"-a magical toy that can be voice-activated, deformed, and even fly at any time.

Although it is not as exaggerated as in the animation, with the development of the track and rules, today's raider buggy has also undergone great changes compared with 20 years ago.

Compared with the past, the biggest change of a new four-wheel drive in Tamiya is from simply seeking speed to gradually becoming "seeking speed in the midst of stability".

The traditional four-wheel drive method is called "Tamiya rule" because it refers to the rules laid down by Tamiya, the model manufacturer who invented the four-wheel drive car, which uses battery-powered model cars to race on special tracks, whether it's cars or modified parts. must use Tamiya's manufactured products.

It is precisely because of the "Tamiya rule" that the threshold for four-wheel drive cars has been greatly lowered. Because contestants are only allowed to purchase parts produced by Tamiya, there will be no "arms race" for crazy magic changes to vehicles, and the prices of spare parts produced by Tamiya are also relatively close to the people, so there will be no "Pay to win" situation.

In the case of limiting the specifications and parts of the motor, how to make the competition more exciting and have a higher technical content?

The answer is: ramps.

Before 2000, Japanese races were mainly flat straight, although there were large-angle bends, but they were basically on the same plane, and there was no need for raider buggies to climb vertically.

Because there was no ramp in the 1999 JCUP race in Japan, the raider buggy could turn at a higher speed, so the race paid more attention to the performance of the motor and transmission system at that time.

In such a track, contestants only need to consider how to make their cars faster, without worrying about the balance of vehicles, resulting in a relatively simple form of racing vehicles and modification, but also lost a certain degree of appreciation.

Because of this, in the four-wheel drive race held after 2012, the organizers made certain adjustments to the track, and one of the important changes is the frequent addition of the "saddle road", which makes the vehicle move longitudinally.

In addition, in the horizontal direction, more difficulties that may cause vehicles to fly off the runway have been added, such as the following U-shaped bend with edges and corners:

In some of the more fancy tracks, there will also be an elastic pick known as the "hand of God". If the raider buggy is not modified for the terrain, it will lose its balance and fly off the track a little bit:

With the transformation of the four-wheel drive race from fast to stable, there have been some changes in the modification direction and shape of the four-wheel drive car. First of all, the chassis has changed from the original overall structure to a detachable three-stage type, and the damping performance of the vehicle is enhanced by adding springs.

The most intuitive change is that the shell of the raider buggy has changed from the original fixed type to a movable "lifting shell":

Modern four-wheel drive cars often only fix the front end of the shell on the chassis, and the rear end can swing freely. On the undulating track, the swinging shell plays a role in maintaining the balance of the vehicle. Drivers only need to add weight on the lifting shell as needed to further improve the stability of the vehicle.

It can be said that in modern four-wheel drive races, the test is the runners' ability to observe the track and adjust the vehicle according to the actual situation. Therefore, the changes in the race will eventually lead to the innovative direction of the four-wheel drive, while the highest level of the four-wheel-drive movement is the "Mini 4WD Japan Cup" hosted by Tamiya, Japan.

3 "Mini 4WD Japan Cup" (JCup) is a major race founded in 1988 by four-wheel drive manufacturer Tamiya, and now more than 1 million 4x4 enthusiasts have participated in the race. As the highest standard of four-wheel drive in the world, JCup also well embodies the core of four-wheel drive-modification.

After JCup resumed racing in 2012, it added a new rule called "surprise track". Some of the tracks are hidden in advance and not fully made public until the official race begins, and this hidden track is often mixed with a number of difficulties, including "saddle jumping platform".

At the 2021 JCup race track, the red circle is marked as a "surprise track". Therefore, in a world-class race, in addition to the modification of the vehicle, the runner's on-the-spot adaptability and the ability to understand the new track are also important. In such a difficult race, eggplant, a Chinese four-wheel drive driver, successfully won a title from Japan in 2014.

In the past, Japanese players maintained absolute dominance over the event, and in addition to local fighting and a stronger four-wheel drive culture, the competition arrangement was often slightly advantageous to them. In such an atmosphere, it is particularly rare for Chinese players to finally win the championship.

However, compared with professional drivers, the sport of four-wheel drive still accounts for the majority of enthusiasts like the master of UP. Since he joined the pit in 2016, he has studied the modified four-wheel drive for six years, but also because the four-wheel drive has made many friends in the local area. However, he did not get much real honor and reward through the four-wheel drive.

In China, if you want to enter the raider buggy or organize related races, you need to buy corresponding parts and outside the car, and the venue and track is also a large expense. After entering the raider buggy, he er rented a car park with several local enthusiasts and occasionally organized small-scale competitions.

It is also their happiest thing to put their own debugged four-wheel drive on the track at the end of the day:

He er and the track he er and their team use feel that they have persisted in "using love to generate electricity" so far, and it is really difficult for them to get a return based on the current audience size of the four-wheel drive in China.

In 2019, after the video introducing the four-wheel drive on station b went viral, a large number of viewers came to ask questions, but he thought the video was "quite water". On the contrary, he er later had more practical information, and even the disclosure of "secrets" led to peer protests, but did not pay much attention to them.

In he er's popular science video, many viewers who were attracted by the title also questioned that compared to the four-wheel drive is just "better than the motor, the specific speed"-- this is also the common problem faced by the four-wheel drive and even more minority hobbies.

On the one hand, insiders try their best to make these unpopular movements more popular, so they try to summarize some content in easy-to-understand words, but when it really breaks out, they will face the argument that people rashly attribute it to "this is not XXX" and "it is just XXX".

But he er himself doesn't care very much about whether he can get a real return through the four-wheel drive. He always thinks that the four-wheel drive is still a "person" to the end, and that four-wheel drive is just an opportunity, and the most important thing is to get friends with the same hobbies together.

It's like 20 years ago, whether they were friends in the neighborhood or classmates in the next class, they could use the four-wheel drive to talk and maybe make new friends.

At this point, the raider buggy has not changed.

This article is from the official account of Wechat: game Research Society (ID:yysaag).

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