iHobby Expo 2005 report
October 20-23, 2005
Set in the huge South Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center, the 2005 iHobby Expo had over 350 display booths from hobby companies all over the world. The largest booths were from Kyosho, Tamiya and MRC. In the slot racing segment, Scalextric, Ninco, Parma, REH and TSR had large booths with Ninco having an extra large layout for potential customers to play with. Scalextric had their digital layout set up with Matt running the show, and the little Porsche Boxsters ran extremely well all week.
The TSR booth had a Carrera layout, as much as could be set over a 4' X 8' table, bordered by flexible railing. In spite of the railing, a few imprudent drivers catapulted their cars over it, overshooting by several nearby booths and crashing in displays, causing havoc as well as amusement.
Two views of the ample and airy TSR booth, allowing a clear display of the product as well as visitor driving participation.
Talented kids had a field day rocketing around with the stable vehicles, that can be driven hard without the constant and usual crashes at every corner encountered with competitive product. These two were instantly able to race competitively in spite of hardly ever having touched a controller. The TSR cars offer a sure feeling of leach-like handling allowing enthusiasts to really race hard, something that was never true to that level with previous products.
Ninco Bob was on hand as well as Ninco's Albert Fox to demonstrate the Spanish company's new products including the magnificent 10-year anniversary book set that includes a reproduction of their first model, the Renault Clio.
TSR enthusiast supreme Ridge Ellis points to his favorite racing car, while former Model Car Science writer and club raceway owner Chris Chan poses for the camera.
Tiffany Ortega races with mobile track owner/operator and expert racer John Emmons. Note that Tiffany is leading...
The demonstration of both the 1/24 and 1/32 scale TSR-equipped cars amply proved their on-track superiority for speed and handling over virtually any competitive vehicles on the market to everyone present including bemused representatives of other leading companies. An ample supply of cars from other manufacturers, fitted with identical bodies were on deck for immediate comparison, and there was no contest. Some of the TSR cars were run with no traction magnet, showing their clean and precise handling on the Carrera track even versus magnet-fitted cars.
Show attendance was a bit disappointing overall, but TSR did great business, with new retailers enthusiastically signing up, while hundreds of onlookers were utterly amazed by the speed and handling of the cars.
A cooperative agreement of product support was struck between Excel Hobby Blade Corporation and TSR. Indeed, Excel has the kind of quality and service that TSR is proud to be associated with. Other agreements were reached that cannot be discussed at this time, but expect an important announcement in the very near future.