EXCLUSIVE! Mardave Mini 50th Anniversary 1 Of Only 50 Sold! British Vintage RC Car Rerelease.

[@Rob_NABS]

I had one in 1990 when I was doing work placement at Ford design centre. Everyone in the modelling department had RC cars in their lockers for lunchtime. We laid out an old fire house in the car park in between all the mules and brand new R&D cars for lunch time racing! So much fun. The Mini shredded the foam tyres in no time but couldn't keep up with the Tamiya lads. Until I lost it on a curve and just hit reverse. The car was quicker backwards! A few mods and I switched the body around so my rear wheel steer 540 motor Mardave was caning them all :D I think I still have the parts in a box somewhere and I've even been looking at the new Mini they have. Cheap as chips and bags of fun!

[@stuartleckie]

Super cool. I still have mine from BITD, even still have the box. We raced these with 6 cell Ni-Cd, 540 silver cans, and stock (no diff) axles. My lap record over 5 minutes of indoor carpet racing was 72 laps. You would start to get dizzy around the 4 minute mark 😆 That’s where I learned how to deal with traffic, as 6 car heats and that many laps, you had to make a ton of passes. Some of the best racing we ever did. Thanks Mardave indeed 😃

[@TD16V]

That steering gear looks a lot more advanced than the bent welding wire in my original mardave! Real blast from the past!

[@TheMdavis07]

Oh man am I jealous I never even thought of a Mini Cooper body until now and I love those cars. You guys in the UK have good taste what can I say we need more of this flavor in the US. Thanks RC kicks for keeping it unique. That's why I watch the channel cuz all your builds are not the norm mainstream. My favorite in your collection is your Clod Buster.

[@mrmagoo.3678]

2 Years later... Have You seen these in Person yet?.. bought one? (they're really "cheap" tbh) or did You get a Clod Buster Yet? :)

[@tomellingham8627]

😃 Looking forward to you building this one. Great to see the Mardave Mini again. It's designed for, racing, shoving and bashing other Minis around. It's a proper little RC stock car!

[@PemboCycling]

In the early 00s we (TRCC) set up a mardave class. Escs were allowed but other than that everything was stock. Was such a great entry class on a budget. After a 15yr pause on racing I popped back to my local track and was saddened to see its become dominated by the big budget racers, the latest lipo, brushless and carbon chassis cars that no one in the current economy can really get into

[@mikegelson6092]

Just love the mini . A design classic , both real and from Mardave !

[@garymurphy5133]

about 5 of us had these in early 80`s our Tamiyas did not get a look in,thses were tremendous fun,on 4 cell if i recall

[@dannyseville2543]

Whenever you say the name Mardave I always think the mini. It reminds me of a magazine I had as a kid after my dad bought a hornet.

[@andygrace3825]

Carpet raced these in the mid 80's, brilliant fun, made lots of mods within regs to make it cope with a few bumps :-), 4 cells was enough

[@mrcduzthelotthelot]

My first ever RC . Then the Marauder lol

[@andyrobinsonrc2480]

My first hobby grade RC car, loved it !

[@nickrobertson2450]

Well I just ordered a Mini Assassin from Mardave.

[@hubertwalkenhaus8933]

Cool long long time ago we bought one similar Mini

[@JeepsCafe]

That's cool, I love mini's I wish Tamiya would bring back the mini bodies.

[@Cheezsoup]

I had a Mardave back in the early 80s . However it was a Marauder not a Mini. Lots of fun with the Marauder; no brakes ,two wheel drive, Nitro powered (never did get a consistent tune, constantly fiddling with the needles [mind you that was a 'feature' of Nitro engines the tune varied from minute to minute never mind day to day]). Nowadays for the speed of a nitro, a brushless/LiPo setup fits the bill. Several battery packs give you the extended runtimes Nitro gave Do Mardave do the Marauder as some sort of limited edition collectors kit or is the only option E-bay and silly money?

[@stephenmanley4097]

I remember having one of those, great fun.

[@strexttp]

Nice video 👍😌

[@duncanmcgregor7946]

Love it 🤩🤩🤩

[@kootenaymtb]

I was just thinking about my old Mardave Mini the other day. Such a basic car, was fun racing on carpet.

[@mrmagoo.3678]

Oh sweet!..the ministock...I had one..wish i still had it..is there any alternative mini-stock type cars out there.. I'd love to make a brushless speed demon!

[@tonywright8294]

No it became against the law !

[@mrmagoo.3678]

@@tonywright8294 They'll have to Find Me first! Mwahahaha :D

[@patricksadler3587]

Never had carbon when I raced one nice wish I could of got one fun times back in the day 👍

[@lotuselise4432]

First RC car I ever owned was the Mardave 312 Ferrari, just bought myself the Beetle ;o))))

[@carlbModels]

I had one and hated it. Wish I'd kept it, looking back. With a nice electronic speed controller and a gyro, it would make sense now. I was using 6 cells and it was an uncontrollable nightmare. I smashed it into a kerb, broke bits, then stamped on it. Bought a Meteor and that was awesome, had a lot more fun with it, better handling, better over bumps, and just way more fun. For nostalgia I'd love another Mini, but back in the day I thought it was a waste of money. Nice enthusiastic video though.

[@tonywright8294]

You were /are a bit of a wanker !

[@alexr129]

i remember these but i had the marauder

[@OliversAviationvideo]

Looking nice. I may restore my one some time. When is the eclipse being built?

[@RCKickschannel]

Sorry I had to sell it on NIB as the channel needed the money.

[@OliversAviationvideo]

@@RCKickschannel no worries, these things happen.

[@davidturner2365]

I had one the first time round lol

[@leehurst6922]

Not sure why they only done 50. If the tooling is knackered they must have made them from something, unless it was just all the stock they still had lying around. Don't like when companies do this as only a few privileged can get their hands on them. I had one back in the day and ran a technigold and 8.4. The fastest RC i have ever seen.

[@SANDSCORCHER]

Spot on Lee. 👍🏻 I can’t help thinking that even 5000 probably wouldn’t have been enough examples to deal with demand for such a popular little car.. It’s hard to imagine a sensible enough reason why the folks at Mardave would do such a limited run of such a simple and basic car. I’ve thought for many years that Mardave should reissue both the Ministock & the Marauder. Especially as examples of both cars sell as soon as listed on eBay, year round and regardless of condition.

[@danielwooster5063]

Has taken me a while to pluck up the courage to write this as I hate being so negative..... But...as both a great British manufacturer & a brand so close to my heart from an early age, I desperately want the brand to succeed.... which, i'm glad to see, seem to be doing well given the current climate/global situation. But I just feel frustrated that I feel Mardave are missing the mood of the vintage R/C scene & the original philosophy of Mardave as a whole. Mardave was all about R/C cars available for everyone, not limited-run special editions available to those in the 'clique'. Both this & the Cobra EVO seem like missed opportunities, The Cobra should have been a 100% re-release of the original 'TQ' rather than the mid-motor car which doesn't really appeal to either the vintage fan or the modern racer. The Ministock would sell in its droves given a proper production run - just look at the comments below; so many people's first R/C experiences involved the humble Mardave Mini..... it has that rare property of having an appeal that transcends beyond the confines of the vintage - or any R/C scene.... surely sales that would be worth investing in new tooling for..... if indeed that is the issue? But now a limited edition run of the car (though not 100% the same as an original) has been released it has kind of sealed closed the door on ever being able to release the Mini again in the future?

[@tonywright8294]

Well said.

[@toddbertram6556]

It is a shame that the bumpers are so 'toy' looking. I don't quite understand that detail.

[@RCKickschannel]

Carbon options are coming 🤫

[@Stikbomz]

It's a stockcar/banger. Those bumpers are for protection and in no way should be thought of as weapons.......honest......

[@gasflange]

They are there to help slower cars around the track

[@tobywan12]

I can assure you it isnt carbon. Might have a carbion weave look but carbon it aint

[@RCKickschannel]

Why do you say that?

[@tobywan12]

@@RCKickschannel I race many Mardave cars and the carbon weave is just a look. Its just a layer over the GRP plate. Cut into one of their chassis or sand it down and see for yourself. I persoanlly know Chris (Mardave CEO) and I can say with confidence they dont use real carbon fibre. Still great cars thou