Racers -- Technic or not Technic?

[The_Tinkerer]

I just acquired set 8649 Nitro Menace a wanted to ask everyone, Are these old Racers sets Technically Technic? Obviously the brick-built ones aren't, but the larger ones are built very similarly to the Technic sets of the time, just without as many functions.

Picture for good measure

Edited March 19, 2024 by The_Tinkerer

[heyitsdisty]

Strictly speaking, Racers is a separate theme to Technic. 

But themes are essentially just product marketing. That set is like 99% Technic parts. It's a Technic set, innit?

 

[SNIPE]

47 minutes ago, heyitsdisty said:

Strictly speaking, Racers is a separate theme to Technic. 

But themes are essentially just product marketing. That set is like 99% Technic parts. It's a Technic set, innit?

 

But remember that some racers set had almost no technic parts. So its a little weird indeed but no different to say, lego city in some ways

[icm]

Racers was an umbrella theme that had all kinds of builds as long as they were, well, race cars. Don't think too hard about it.

[The_Tinkerer]

To muddy the waters further...

[icm]

They're clearly pretty much the same build, just labeled differently. Like I said, don't think too hard about it. Some Racers builds are Technic builds, some aren't. End of story.

[williamyzfr1]

I own one of these and have always considered it "Technic"

8674

[Maaboo the Witch]

8353 Slammer Rhino has a Technic function that adjusts the ride height, involving a shock absorber.

Meanwhile, 8472 has the pretty cool directional control system that's governed by a linkage depending on which bumper hits something. The B-model is also reminiscent of the 4WD X-Track set, with gears that can be rearranged to customize its performance.

Oh, and the Power Crusher and Slammer Raptor sets have the  rubber band-driven ejection feature, though whether or not those are Technic is pretty much up to you.

Edited March 20, 2024 by Maaboo the Witch

[Toastie]

As I like building across all themes: It's all LEGO.

Best,
Thorsten

[deehtha]

Not any different than the current Space theme, it has sets in Technic, Friends, Duplo, and City. 

 

Those can be both Technic and Racers.

[TeriXeri]

I think this is as much Technic as Bionicle would be, 2001 still labeled Bionicle as Technic , but 2002 did not, and that's also the year those technic-like Racers appeared. 

[paul_delahaye]

In my collection it has to say Technic on the box for it to be a Technic set, it rules out many racers sets otherwise the collection will get even more out of hand 

[LvdH]

To be completely honest they are as much technic as the recent 1:10 scale empty shells of supercars that they put out. 

[Erik Leppen]

7 hours ago, LvdH said:

To be completely honest they are as much technic as the recent 1:10 scale empty shells of supercars that they put out. 

Exactly what I was thinking.

[langko]

13 hours ago, LvdH said:

To be completely honest they are as much technic as the recent 1:10 scale empty shells of supercars that they put out. 

And there are also system sets that have better technical functions than said supercar sets…