The Lazer came out at the wrong time I think. It was the transition from loose dirt, to tighter hard pack tracks. It wasn’t as competitive on the hard pack, and the Mids dominated in the loose dirt. The Lazer was on the precipice of becoming great, but it got beaten out by the Cats. To me the ZX-5 never felt like a continuation of the ZX-R. But then the Mid is a completely different car from the original Optima. Some feel the Lazer was the Mid successor too. In short we never got enough of the Lazer line. If Kyosho did a re-re Lazer (original) I would be one of the first in line! I absolutely love my ZX-Sport, and plan on building a “neo-retro” version sometime.
I have a fond memory of this car. I used to sit in my room looking at the ad for it in radio race car, and adding up my money to try and afford one. I remember even asking my parents to give me my pocket money in a lump sum to go with the £60 birthday and Christmas money. It never added up lol. Thanks for sharing this
Just watching your lazer zx running vid again i am glad you mentioned something about the spur gear being a bit tight they are pretty fiddly to get right but when you do they are so rewarding to drive there smooth as butter
It looks good now so it will really look awesome once you are done with it! I don't know a lot about these, I saw them in the magazines and catalogs but nobody I knew had one so I never paid them much attention. It looks like it would be a really good running buggy especially back when it came out!!
Oh man love ZX! I got Pargu to do me up a gold chassis and pepper pot wheels at the same time so they color match for a special custom restore. Awesome run great watching her stretch her legs thank you.
I’ve never had a Lazer but it handled great on the tarmac. It did awesome on the dirt. I hate that the steering came loose but appreciate that things just sometimes happen. And now all of us are reminded how important thread lock is. Looking forward to seeing it restored to full glory.
G'day Keith mate I had a couple of them back in the day my favourite race car of all times lol I wish I still had them in my collection. Great video mate I enjoyed seeing the old girl again took me back 👍
Hello Keith.This was my 1st "race car" after several Tamiya cars. Having the saddle packs over the common stick packs was very cool,i learned to solder once this car came along. i prefered the build and quality over tamiya. My friend then always had to out-do me so soon bought a Vanquish,regretted that and even quicker bought a schumacchaer procat if i recall,i was still happy with the Lazer ,i bought a ZX-R
The zx and zx-r where 2 cars i never had back in the day, but really do love the look of them, one day i may get one, or both. Who knows ? Nice to see it out running 👍
I a Lazer ZXR after I sold my Optima mid se, I regret selling both compared to the crap today. I just bought a Optima mid rereleased model, so nice to have one again!
Beautiful buggy but Keith you need to take a mini tool kit with a few spare screws etc with you! Haha I alway do on a beach trip! This looked a joy to drive! Cheers pal.
I have always had a love hate for the Lazer ZX. I raced an Avante and later a Top-Force Evolution. had a lot of looks at the Lazer ZX which was a really good race car and easy to set up. On the outdoor tracks and indoors on felt mats that we raced on in Sweden at the time the Top-Force was doing at least as well
@@rcicons4915 Top-Force Evolution is my favorite too. I still have my original car and take it off the shelf and drive it from time to time at the local track. It is not a shelf queen but a worn racing car.
If you haven’t noticed yet Lazer runs two belts vs 1 for the optima mid and laser essentially uses the front diff from the optima front and rear I don’t remember if it comes this way but the center one way on my Lazer ZX is adjustable so you can completely lock out the one way and adjust it’s action I got my Lazer used in the early 90’s and I raced it side by side with my Jrx2 and later JRx-Pro Se until my local track closed and everything was on road from there on
Cool buggy, nice score. I like the ZX that came out a bit further on, ZX-5 I think it's called. Another buggy that seems hard to find. Great vid as always.
The Hot Laps tyres are vintage Yokomo tyres. If they are the same tyres as in the various Yokomo Works kits they are worth quite a bit when new for Yokomo restorations.
A major difference is that the Optimas have a gear 3 gear transmission to the rear while the Lazer uses a belt to drive the rear diff making it a 2 belt system. The transmission has a pinion and spur gear and gear diffs but the rest are pulleys and belts
Nice looking car . I agree about the blue, looks great. It would be really cool if you could find a local bit of a dirt track with some bumps and jumps to test the cars because it’s hard to gauge what the car can do just driving on the flat. Hope you don’t mind the suggestion. Some of my favourite videos of Glenns were going round the “Tamiya legends arena”
For me, there is no better apart from the ZX-R (essentially the same with some refinements and a better body shape). It drove extremely well, with the after-market alloy braces was robust, and would go like stink with the right set-up. At the club I "raced" at, this and the Pro Cat were the only cars we'd aspire to have, everything else was fodder or too expensive/fragile. Listening to her, there's something not quite right and I think it's the mesh as you say, it's too squealy and with too much high-end whine. That acceleration noise though...👌
I agree.. The ZX-R had some significant improvements over the ZX. How freely the drivelines spin on these is quite remarkable. I finally have all the parts to restore my ZX-R(which wasn't easy!)...just gotta get it back on the bench.
Hey Keith, does the ZX body fit a Optima MID Re-Re or does it need to be a custom special. or would I need a custom special chassis kit and shorter belt.
It does fit on a long wheelbase Mid, so won't fit on the rerelease unless you fit a long wheelbase chassis conversion. You can get the long wheelbase chassis and top deck from Fibre-lyte or Pukka Parts, but you would have to source the longer drive belt yourself as you can't use an original Mid belt in the rerelease. Or you can wait until Kyosho release a long wheelbase Mid.
Doesn’t the zx handle sweet its a totally different feel to the mids i miss mine from the 90s was set up for club racing with the novak esc i think it had the futaba 5030 servo with a 17 double it was smooth as butter.
If I remember it was a parma cyclone II super modified it might of even been the 16 Double it had a orange sticker it was perfectly balanced with the stock spur and a 17 tooth pinion man i miss that buggy 👍🏻
My first 4wd racing buggy from back in the day!
The Lazer came out at the wrong time I think. It was the transition from loose dirt, to tighter hard pack tracks. It wasn’t as competitive on the hard pack, and the Mids dominated in the loose dirt. The Lazer was on the precipice of becoming great, but it got beaten out by the Cats. To me the ZX-5 never felt like a continuation of the ZX-R. But then the Mid is a completely different car from the original Optima. Some feel the Lazer was the Mid successor too. In short we never got enough of the Lazer line. If Kyosho did a re-re Lazer (original) I would be one of the first in line! I absolutely love my ZX-Sport, and plan on building a “neo-retro” version sometime.
I have a fond memory of this car. I used to sit in my room looking at the ad for it in radio race car, and adding up my money to try and afford one. I remember even asking my parents to give me my pocket money in a lump sum to go with the £60 birthday and Christmas money. It never added up lol. Thanks for sharing this
It is all about the memories. They are still priced high. Would love to see Kyosho do a rere Lazer of some sort.
@@rcicons4915 I hope they do as well. Back in 1990 it was all so exciting. It still is. Really good to see it run.
Back in the day, I didn’t like the look of these, but now I think they’re just of the era and look awesome.
Funny how that works. Cars I hated purely on looks back then are now some of my favs.
Best rc Buggies ever made.Had a ZX and later the ZX-R in the early 90"s.....👌
I had a Lazer ZX and a ZX-R.
Awesome runners.
👍👍
One of my favourite cars of all time
I absolutely love the lazers.
Ok yes
Man now I’m in my ancient years these cars just speak to me I was a junior in high school during this cars years but man what a beauty!!
The ZX was a seriously cool release back in the late 80's. A definite step up from the Mid
Just watching your lazer zx running vid again i am glad you mentioned something about the spur gear being a bit tight they are pretty fiddly to get right but when you do they are so rewarding to drive there smooth as butter
A great looking buggy in the traditional sense. Totally of it's era. Good to see it running.
Thanks George
It looks good now so it will really look awesome once you are done with it! I don't know a lot about these, I saw them in the magazines and catalogs but nobody I knew had one so I never paid them much attention. It looks like it would be a really good running buggy especially back when it came out!!
Thanks Addam.
It did well with following the mids. They were a contender on the trap in the same time period as the procat.
Oh man love ZX! I got Pargu to do me up a gold chassis and pepper pot wheels at the same time so they color match for a special custom restore. Awesome run great watching her stretch her legs thank you.
Raced mine back in the 80s and early 90s....won a lot of trophies and beat the infamous Pro Cats that everyone raved about.
I just built one of these a year ago. I also did the triumph! Two very cool cars!
Very nice. I am doing a zxr and triumph both from nib at some point. Looking forward to them.
Good running car. Hard to imagine the newer cars run better. That's up for debate.
I think these are some of the best runners regardless.
I’ve never had a Lazer but it handled great on the tarmac. It did awesome on the dirt. I hate that the steering came loose but appreciate that things just sometimes happen. And now all of us are reminded how important thread lock is.
Looking forward to seeing it restored to full glory.
Thanks Trey
G'day Keith mate I had a couple of them back in the day my favourite race car of all times lol I wish I still had them in my collection. Great video mate I enjoyed seeing the old girl again took me back 👍
Hello Keith.This was my 1st "race car" after several Tamiya cars. Having the saddle packs over the common stick packs was very cool,i learned to solder once this car came along. i prefered the build and quality over tamiya. My friend then always had to out-do me so soon bought a Vanquish,regretted that and even quicker bought a schumacchaer procat if i recall,i was still happy with the Lazer ,i bought a ZX-R
Awesome. I love the laser more then the procat myself. Looking forward to building my zxr.
They need to bring back the lazers.
Great video Keith, cool looking car idk crap about Kyosho.
Lol, neither did I until I started buying them and reading.
The zx and zx-r where 2 cars i never had back in the day, but really do love the look of them, one day i may get one, or both. Who knows ? Nice to see it out running 👍
I a Lazer ZXR after I sold my Optima mid se, I regret selling both compared to the crap today. I just bought a Optima mid rereleased model, so nice to have one again!
Beautiful buggy but Keith you need to take a mini tool kit with a few spare screws etc with you! Haha I alway do on a beach trip!
This looked a joy to drive!
Cheers pal.
Thank you,
Yes, 46 and still learning my lessons. Lol
@@rcicons4915 Haha 49 and it just gets worse 😆
Stunning car, I hope Kyosho re re this one 😇🙏🏻🙏🏻
Great looking car, l have never seen one run and Wow! Cheers mate, from China, awesome vid as always!
Thank you. Hope China is well. We just got buried in snow here.
Beautiful car Keith, really love the color.
Box art is gorgeous on this one.
@@rcicons4915 One of the nicest IMO. That Blue really does this car the justice it deserves.
I have always had a love hate for the Lazer ZX. I raced an Avante and later a Top-Force Evolution. had a lot of looks at the Lazer ZX which was a really good race car and easy to set up. On the outdoor tracks and indoors on felt mats that we raced on in Sweden at the time the Top-Force was doing at least as well
Evolution is my favorite Tamiya car ever.
The ZX is nice but the evo still takes it for me.
@@rcicons4915 Top-Force Evolution is my favorite too. I still have my original car and take it off the shelf and drive it from time to time at the local track. It is not a shelf queen but a worn racing car.
What a great looking buggy!! Another great video Keith. Have a great rest of your week
Thank you Thad.
Been a hard one so far. 16” of heavy wet snow Monday.
@@rcicons4915 wow. We got 2 inches over the weekend and another 2 over night..
If you haven’t noticed yet Lazer runs two belts vs 1 for the optima mid and laser essentially uses the front diff from the optima front and rear I don’t remember if it comes this way but the center one way on my Lazer ZX is adjustable so you can completely lock out the one way and adjust it’s action I got my Lazer used in the early 90’s and I raced it side by side with my Jrx2 and later JRx-Pro Se until my local track closed and everything was on road from there on
Really enjoying these videos Keith 👍👍
Thank you Owen.
Cool buggy, nice score. I like the ZX that came out a bit further on, ZX-5 I think it's called. Another buggy that seems hard to find. Great vid as always.
Thank you.
They did a zxr, zx5,6,7 Lazer 2000 and an alpha Lazer. Last 2 were plastic chassis.
The 5 is my favorite.
The Hot Laps tyres are vintage Yokomo tyres. If they are the same tyres as in the various Yokomo Works kits they are worth quite a bit when new for Yokomo restorations.
A major difference is that the Optimas have a gear 3 gear transmission to the rear while the Lazer uses a belt to drive the rear diff making it a 2 belt system. The transmission has a pinion and spur gear and gear diffs but the rest are pulleys and belts
Nice looking car . I agree about the blue, looks great. It would be really cool if you could find a local bit of a dirt track with some bumps and jumps to test the cars because it’s hard to gauge what the car can do just driving on the flat. Hope you don’t mind the suggestion. Some of my favourite videos of Glenns were going round the “Tamiya legends arena”
Super Cool Car Heith👍
Keith I think the Lazer hd dual belt also where the mid had belt for front drive and gears for rear drive
Yet again another fantastic vid brother 👍
Hare Krishna 🙏🙂🙃
Now I have to get a new plate for the other car.
Bought it before I took the other out of the box. Just didn’t want to wait for shipping.
For me, there is no better apart from the ZX-R (essentially the same with some refinements and a better body shape). It drove extremely well, with the after-market alloy braces was robust, and would go like stink with the right set-up. At the club I "raced" at, this and the Pro Cat were the only cars we'd aspire to have, everything else was fodder or too expensive/fragile.
Listening to her, there's something not quite right and I think it's the mesh as you say, it's too squealy and with too much high-end whine. That acceleration noise though...👌
Definitely.
This car will get a complete rebuild.
I agree.. The ZX-R had some significant improvements over the ZX. How freely the drivelines spin on these is quite remarkable. I finally have all the parts to restore my ZX-R(which wasn't easy!)...just gotta get it back on the bench.
That looks a very capable car it was eating that dirt shame the guy forgot his loctite 😅😅😅
Hey Keith, does the ZX body fit a Optima MID Re-Re or does it need to be a custom special. or would I need a custom special chassis kit and shorter belt.
I would need to check. I know the rere mid is a shorter wheelbase then the Lazer for sure. Body might still fit though.
It does fit on a long wheelbase Mid, so won't fit on the rerelease unless you fit a long wheelbase chassis conversion. You can get the long wheelbase chassis and top deck from Fibre-lyte or Pukka Parts, but you would have to source the longer drive belt yourself as you can't use an original Mid belt in the rerelease. Or you can wait until Kyosho release a long wheelbase Mid.
With the mesh kind of the way it is it sounds like it's yelling.
Any idea where to find spare parts for these ?
Factory Works has a bunch of plate/chassis parts. eBay is a wealth of parts, but it usually helps to know part numbers.
Doesn’t the zx handle sweet its a totally different feel to the mids i miss mine from the 90s was set up for club racing with the novak esc i think it had the futaba 5030 servo with a 17 double it was smooth as butter.
Awesome.
I was running a 17x2 in this.
If I remember it was a parma cyclone II super modified it might of even been the 16 Double it had a orange sticker it was perfectly balanced with the stock spur and a 17 tooth pinion man i miss that buggy 👍🏻
Are you going to get the ultimate dirt master from kyosho it's based on the rb5?
Probably not. Just finished building an rb5 nib kit. Video comes out in march. Just before they start selling the dirt master.
great car man, one loose bolt no biggy hapens to every rc guy , the drive was long in of to get impression i think 👍
Thank you.
No belt protector?
There is a belt guard
He lost it lost control. 😂
Oh that mesh sound!! 😢
Nice huh? lol. If you ever had a mid or Lazer you know how hard it is to get the mesh correct. Huge pain in the ass. Epic car though.
@@rcicons4915 I have not. But I absolutely believe you.
Lasers had twin belts also where the mids didn't
The wing looks not straight.
Because it isn’t. Run it as it is, then store it for the shelf.