{"id":7078,"date":"2025-07-16T00:27:48","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T00:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rcpress.com\/wp\/?p=7078"},"modified":"2026-01-19T02:07:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T02:07:07","slug":"7078","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rcpress.com\/wp\/?p=7078","title":{"rendered":"Yokomo Dog Fighter 834B in action"},"content":{"rendered":"

Man, seeing the Dog Fighter 834B come back in a re-release is like stepping into a time machine. Back in the mid-80s, this buggy was the<\/em> car to have if you were serious about racing. It was exotic, chain-driven, and just looked mean sitting on the grid. For a lot of us, it was the one we drooled over in the magazines but couldn\u2019t afford at the time. Now Yokomo has brought it back, and honestly, just opening the box feels like Christmas morning 40 years late.<\/p>\n

Of course, the big question is: can it hang with today\u2019s cars? Well, not really in the pure performance sense. Modern buggies are lighter, sharper, and infinitely more tunable. The Dog Fighter feels vintage the moment you put it on the track\u2014the chain drive has a certain charm, the suspension geometry feels \u201cold school,\u201d and the monoshock setup is nothing like what\u2019s out there today. But that\u2019s kind of the point, isn\u2019t it? You don\u2019t buy this thing expecting it to go door-to-door with a B6.4 or an XB2. You buy it because you want to relive a golden era of RC.<\/p>\n

That said, Yokomo was smart with the updates. They swapped the fragile magnesium parts for aluminum, added a slipper clutch, and gave it a proper gear diff, so you can run modern electronics without grenading the drivetrain. It\u2019s still got that quirky 80s feel, but it\u2019s not a shelf queen unless you want it to be\u2014it can absolutely be driven, and driven hard, without falling apart.<\/p>\n

For me, it\u2019s less about \u201cholding up\u201d in the modern racing scene, and more about holding onto that sense of nostalgia. When you run it at a track, people stop and watch. The chain whirrs, the stance looks different from everything else, and it just oozes character. You\u2019re not winning mains with it, but you are<\/em> winning smiles, stories, and probably a couple of \u201cI had one of those back in the day\u201d conversations in the pits.<\/p>\n

So yeah, in the cold light of 2025, the Dog Fighter isn\u2019t a \u201cserious\u201d racer anymore. But in terms of fun, history, and that warm fuzzy hobbyist glow? It holds up better than ever.<\/p>\n

The vids show a 834b with a silver can. The drive train is surprisingly efficient.<\/p>\n