Coming Soon: Review and Restoration of;

1990s: Nikko Road Chaser Radio Control Road Racing Set.

2000s: Nikko Radio Control Racing Set

These 2 sets were Nikko's attempt at making a Slot car racing Set.

         The 1990s Version used a limited inductive guidance system similar to the Worlds of wonder Gt Super Screamers for the 1990s version.This System Lacked the on board guidance system and simply used the track inductive guidance as a primitive remote control system with very limited range. The limited range forced you to use the track system to drive the cars since taking them off the track to drive on the floor rendered them inoperative.The system could only support 2 player cars plus a separate battery operated Drone or Jam car to add challenge to the system. both player cars used rechargeable Ni-cad Batteries 50Milliamps at 4.8 volts. an on-board Thermal shutdown system was needed to keep the batteries from exploding from constant recharging. the cars would run about 5-6 minutes at a time and require a recharge from 30 seconds to 1 minutes depending on drain. Because of the battery recharging system these cars were severely limited and self destructed very quickly.The cars used an electromagnetic guide pin that would retract when ever the steering input was used. the guide pin would then drop down after steering input was stopped locking the car into a new lane on the track surface. This is what made the cars act like a slotted car.

         The Track system was limited to an Oval with 2 types of curves a banked section and a flat section. A pit area was incorporated to allow the player to pull into the pit and attach the recharging jacks to the cars. 

         The 2000s Version embraced Radio control on standard 49mhz and 27mhz, channels it was possible to expand the system with more radio channels. The system was only sold in Europe. Nikko really tried to make it a fully expandable system they had expanded track sections in the manual just like a regular slotted car track system. The system got rid of the battery bottleneck and used 2.5V 3.3F super Capacitors for on board power and incorporated on track recharging. With proper technique it is possible to go past one hour of continuous driving. a working pit lane and Track lap counter were designed into the system as well. The cars could run for about 1  minutes without a recharge from the track this was enough for about 25 feet of track with out needing a charge booster section of track. The tracks sections were also fully compatible with the 1990s version of the system. The cars where similar in design to the original system using an electromagnetic guide pin. The system also had a Jam car with the same super capacitor system allowing indefinite play and recharging.

both systems were also fully portable and ran off either a wall plug or ob-board 12volt and 9.6 battery systems.

It had the makings of a very serious TCR system but suffered from Horrible quality control and Very cheap radio gear that was very sub-par.

These 2 sets Failed for Various reasons but can show the future of TCR racing if the will is there.

Nikko America Closed it's doors in 2006 so finding Nikko parts is very difficult in my part of the world.

Update: it appears that the Nikko system concept has been taken up by DMX

http://dmxslots.com/index.php?route=common/home

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