Tamiya SAZ

TAMIYA HISTORY

In 1980, a mini 4WD series of vehicles called Stomper 4x4, were invented by Adolph Goldfarb and produced by Schaper. A multitude of replicas produced by other companies led to lengthy lawsuits, and eventually the company sold the product to Tyco, after which, sales declined.
In 1982, 4WD Mini Racer (ミニ四駆) was produced by the Japanese company Tamiya as a powered variant of their plastic automobile model kits. Since then racing and tuning up mini 4WD cars have become a hobby for people across the world.
Beginning in 1982, Tamiya mini 4WD kits were sold by Model Rectifier Corp (MRC), the exclusive U.S. Distributor of Tamiya. The kits were manufactured in Japan while the boxes were printed in Canada. The kit parts were then packaged into the boxes in Edison, New Jersey, USA. MRC continued to sell Mini 4WD kits until at least 1990, which may be the year their Tamiya license expired.
In 1989, Tamiya commissioned Shogakukan, a Japanese publishing company, to produce two anime TV series based on the Mini 4WD cars: Dash! Yonkuro by Zaurus Tokuda, Bakusō Kyōdai Let's & Go!!, Bakusou Kyoudai Let's & Go WGP in 1996, Bakusou Kyoudai Let's & Go MAX, and finally Let's & Go!! Tamiya, The Movie.
Also in 1989, Tamiya America was established in the United States and replaced MRC as the officially licensed distributor for Tamiya, in that country. Headquartered in Irvine, California, Tamiya in the United States holds USA Mini 4WD Championships at Marukai Corporation U.S.A. in Gardena, California.
In 1999, Tamiya Japan temporarily suspended the Great Japan Cup world championships for Mini 4WD racers.
By the 2000s, at least twenty-eight (28) other companies had ventured into the Mini 4WD market, and famously included Tokyo Marui, Kyosho, Academy, Auldey Animation and Toys, Circuit no Ōkami, Aoshima Bunka Kyozai, Matchbox (brand), Revell, Hot Wheels, Tonka, Hasbro, and Bandai. Many of them introduced their own lines of mini cars, while some produce counterfeit replicas of Tamiya cars.
Beginning again in 2006, Japan holds National Mini 4WD Championships in Spring, Summer and Autumn each year and by 2012 Mini 4WD is popular in more countries including Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Canada, Germany, Russia, India and China.
Guinness Book of World Records now shows the longest mini 4wd track in the world was set in Japan in October 2010 at 523.61 meters which record was quickly broken in Thailand in March 2011 at 1,074.5 meters at the Central World Mall sponsored by Panasonic. Three years later, on 1 February 2014, a new record was created at 1,188.67 m (3,899 ft 10.03 in), at Omiya Elementary School in Hitachioomiya, Ibaraki, Japan.