Schumacher Racing Products


Schumacher Racing Products is a British manufacturer of radio-controlled cars and accessories with a primary focus on high-end racing products.

History

Foundation

The founder, Cecil Schumacher, was a Cosworth transmission engineer who was recruited from Borg Warner to lead the design team to adapt the Hobbs transmission to handle the Cosworth DFV's power. Cecil spotted his workmates driving radio-controlled cars on the company's helipad and decided it needed a ball differential after noticing the cars skittered. He soon started noticing large areas that these early primitive cars could be improved. Having noticed high tyre wear he introduced the ball differential to radio-controlled cars.
These ball differentials were used by his son Robin then his friends then local model shop requested to stock it and soon international orders followed. It came to the point that Cecil Schumacher was making more money from this side business than through his employer. So in 1981 Schumacher Racing Products was formed in Northampton, England.
The company has always operated out of Northampton but sourced some components from China like most other successful RC companies; however, the majority of manufacturing remains in England and Schumacher remains very much an English company. Cecil Schumacher's son Robin Schumacher took over the business in 2001.

1980s

The first car to be produced by Schumacher was the XL Lexan chassis pan car in 1981 which had intentionally highly flexible chassis suitable for indoor racing. This was followed in 1983 by the "C" car which was made out of fibreglass reinforced epoxy resin sheet and designed specifically for racing on carpet. It included many features that are still around on every modern 1/12-scale car; race wins include the euros in 1985 and 1988.
In the latter half of the 1980s, off-road RC cars increased in popularity. In 1986 the first 4WD was launched, called the SWB CAT. This launched the CAT brand for Schumacher. This first variant SWB 4WD car was an instant success with serious RC fans with its popularity cemented into history when Masami Hirosaka won the 1987 IFMAR off-road RC World Championships having been lent a works car after Schumacher scouts noted his driving form during practice sessions.

1990s

Following the success of the first generation of off-road CATs, Schumacher continued to produce many successful off and on-road electric cars. The popularity of the touring car class seriously affected the off-road world during the 1990s. Schumacher stepped down the development of this class through the 1990s. Schumacher was then starting to dominate a niche in the "fun" car sector, with high-power/speed nitro-powered models capable of real speeds in excess of 80 mph.

2000s

Over the turn of this century the Schumacher product line-up became quite familiar with the "fun" cars with increasing number of nitro products; however it remained in the 1/10 competition touring cars market.

2010s

The flood of cheap high-volume low-margin ready to run cars produced in Asia meant the company no longer produce a nitro car or fun car. Schumacher now concentrate on the high level 1/10-scale electrical competitive market. Alongside their Mi touring car range the company re-entered the off-road scene with the CAT SX and Cougar SV. Vintage racing of older designed cars became popular with Schumacher re-releasing the CAT XLS in 2017 and then the Top Cat. In the mid 2010s a move was made to help the sport grow with the introduction of a number of lower priced competition cars. The Mi1 touring car was introduced alongside the ever evolving top spec version. And then a move was made to re-establish 1/12th electric carpet racing with the launch of the Supastock and Eclipse range. It also increased its distrution business of other none competing RC products.

2020s

In January 2020 Schumacher won IFMAR 1/12 World Championships held in Milton Keynes

Racing Success

IFMAR World Championships

European Championships

1985 - Andy Dobson 1:12
1988 - Phil Davies 1:12
1988 - Jürgen Lauterbach, 3rd 1:12

ROAR National Championships

BRCA Nationals

National Manufacturer Series

Great Britain See Schumacher BTCC

Competition cars

1/10-scale 4WD off-road buggies

1/10-scale 2WD off-road buggies

Apr 2019–presentCougar LaydownK180 KitEvolution design for carpet, Astro and Clay
Feb 2017–presentCougar KCK170 KitEvolution of the KF2 design for carpet and Astro
Jan 2017–presentCougar KDK170 KitEvolution of the KF2 design for Dirt
Jan 2015 – 2019Cougar KF2K155 Kit
K156 Assembled		Evolution of the KF
Nov 2013 – 2015Cougar KFK143 Kit
K144 Assembled		Mid-motored belt drive using a lot of CAT K1 ideas for high grip such as astro turf
Sept 2013–presentCougar KRK139 Kit
K140 Assembled		Rear motored for dirt
2012 April – Nov 2013Cougar SVRK133 Kit
K134 Assembled		Developed from the Cougar SV but for dirt and low traction surfaces.
2012–presentCougar SV2K123 Kit
K124 Assembled		Launched at the Nurnberg Toy Fair in Feb 2012
2010–2012Cougar SVK111 Pro CF – Kit
K112 Pro CF – Assembled
K113 Race S1 – Kit
K114 Race S1 – Assembled		There was a "2011 Spec" edition that had some upgrades.
2002Fireblade EVO mk.2KO15TChassis mods for strength, new frt & rear towers, larger rr whl bearings
1999Fireblade EVO mk.1KO15TEvolution of Cougar 2000 series
1998Fireblade USAU424GUpright shock angles, 7 cell slots, new motor position
1997Fireblade 2000U407L
1995Club10 Mk 2 CougarU441T
1995Cougar '95 TeamU499Z
1995Cougar 2000 '95 specU474AAlso known as "XPC" spec with narrow chassis, SACs
1994Cougar 2000 '94 specU457JAs per 1993 car, but now with Co-Axial driveshafts & diff to match
1993Cougar 2000U457JDouble deck composite chassis, geared drivetrain
1992Cougar 2 WorksU452E
U453F
1992Cougar Club 10U441T"Sport" version of Cougar. 540 motor + MSC
1991Cougar 2 TeamU431JRoller d/shafts, fully ballraced inc. steering
1991Cougar 2 RacingU430ISlipper, 10 sealed ballraces, full spring set
1991Cougar 2 SportU429HHybrid 23 mm diff, varishocks but no slipper and not fully ballraced
1990CougarU415T
1988TopcatU404JF1 style lay down suspension
1987CAT XL 2wdT402

1/10 4WD electric touring car

1/12 2WD Electric Pan Car

1/12 GT12 circuit and 1/12 oval

DateNameKit and launchDetails
2012 April – 2014SupaStoxK131 – Four-cell NiMh/1S Lipo
K132 – 6 cell NiMh/2S Saddle
K141 – 1S with Hotrod Oval Body
K142 – 2S with Saloonstox body
2014 NovSupaStox GTK154 – S1/Diff
K157 – C/F
2016 Jan - 2019SupaStox ATOMK163 – Sport with fixed rear axle with no diff, no side dampers, old style SupaStox rear wheels
K164 – Pro with C/F Pro diff, side dampers, left rear wheel clamp, new Atom GT12 wheels		-
2019 Sep - PresentATOM 2K179 S2 GT12 Kit Alloy
K184 S2 GT12 Kit Carbon Fibre

Other Cars

DateScalePowerDriveTypeNameKit #Notes
20101/10thNitro4WDFun Touring CarFusion 28 TurboK106 – Red/Silver – RTR
K105 – Blue/Silver – RTR
20081/8thElectric4WDTouring CarMenace GTReBased on the Nitro car but with a three-speed gearbox and disc brake
20051/8thNitro4WDTouring CarMenace GTR
20041/10thNitro4WDFun Touring CarFusion R12K037

R12 Team Spec
– K042		The Fusion R12 is developed from the SST Mission electric car
20021/10thNitro4WDFun Touring CarFusion 21 K028 + BMW 3 Touring Body
K029 + Subaru Rally Body
K030 + F155 Truck Body
K033 RTR + BMW 3 Touring Body
K034 RTR + Subaru Rally Body
K035 RTR + F155 Truck Body
K050 + Skyline Body
K051 RTR + Skyline Body
2000s1/6 thElectric2WDTrack CarBig 6 Lotus Elise SportS996
2000s1/6 thNitro2WDTrack CarBig 6 Lotus Elise SportS1020
19951/10thElectric2wdTouring Car Club10 mk.2U439R – Cosworth Touring
U475B – Alfa Romeo 155 Touring
U476C – Opel Calibra Touring
U477D – Mercedes C-Class
U478E – Ford Mondeo Touring
19951/10thElectric2wdTouring Car911 turbo SEBased on the Cougar mk1
1992NitroPan CarDaytona
1990s and 2000sN/AElectric2WDFun CarWILDCAT-
19921/10thNitro2WDPan CarDaytona-
1990s1/10thElectric4WDRallycrossRS 4x4Based on the Procat
19951/10thElectric2WDOffroad TruckClub 10 mk.2 Storm truck U443VCougar Mk2 based
19911/10thElectric2WDOffroad TruckShotgun truckU419XCougar based
1/10thNitro4WDFun Touring CarFusion 28K077 Skyline; Red/Silver – RTR
K083 ARR – No Body
K084 No Body – RTR
K075 Skyline; Blue-Silver – RTR
NitroTruckRiot 2
NitroTruckRiotS1174
1/10thNitro2WDTruckNitro 10190 Evaluation
911 Sport		Based on the Club 10
1/16thNitro2WDMicro TruckRascal 2
NitroNitro 21 XT-R 3E
NitroOffroad BuggyStorm 2000
NitroOffroad BuggyNitro 10 Panther
NitroOffroad Monster TruckNitro 10 Racing Truck
NitroOffroad Monster TruckMenace
1/8thNitro4WDOffroad BuggySwift-
1/8thNitro4WDOffroad BuggySwift 2
1/8thTwin Nitro4WDMonster TruckManic
1/8thNitro2WDStunt TruckHavoc-
1/10thElectric2WDTouring CarAlfa Romeo 155U492S – Alfa Romeo 155 TouringWildcat Chassis

Footnotes

Works cited