Milestones

THE FIRST ENGINE
The first steps were some kind of born out of necessity. Jürgen E. Lautenbach used to attend electric races, but he was short on money and didn't have any sponsors. Therefore, he decided to begin designing his own equipment. The first project was an electric competition motor.

Jürgen E. Lautenbach was 17 years old and still at school.He had studied all literature on electric motors, the rest was lots of testing. First, he tried to modify existing motors, but soon he began to develop totally own ones. Jürgen E. Lautenbach tested these motors himself in the tough competition of the races. This rapidly led to a consistent improvement of the motors, resulting in a growing interest of the other drivers. Therefore, Jürgen E. Lautenbach decided to take this opportunity to sell the motors under his own brand name - the birth of LRP electronic (LRP = Lautenbach Racing Products).

THE LRP MYTH - LRP CONTROL
Consequently, Jürgen E. Lautenbach spent more and more time in developing new motors and batteries as well as in racing. He decided to leave the university in order to concentrate on racing and the LRP products. In 1989, the project LRP speed control started - one of the key factors that contributed to the LRP myth.

Lautenbach's main motivation to develop an own speedo was to optimise the drive train in his own car. The speed control is the decisive component in electric racing. After having discussed with the leading speedo manufacturers of that time without considerable success, the decision was to develop a high-end LRP speed control that would be the best possible addition to the LRP competition motor.

With the help of friends, the project started. In the laundry room of his parent's house, the first ever LRP speed control was hand-made from components that were procured at the electronics shop down the street. It took some months to get a functional sample and until then many different designs had been scrapped. In the end, persistency prevailed. The speed control was ready for its debut under toughest competition conditions at the Reedy Race 1990 in Lyon/France.At that time, this race was the most important and prestigious offroad event in Europe. Jürgen E. Lautenbach finished second behind World Champion Jay Halsey, resulting in much attention for LRP. Many racers asked for the new LRP speedo. But the course for serial production wasn’t set yet.

So, it was time to work on releasing a saleable product. Its development process was accompanied by testing under toughest competition conditions again. The racing debut of the serial product was extremely successful: Jürgen E. Lautenbach won 3 out of 4 European Championship titles (1/12, 1/10 onroad, 2WD offroad) with LRP speed control, LRP motor and LRP batteries in 1990. After taking TQ in 4WD offroad, he was also close to title number 4 of the year. It was an incredible year and the final breakthrough for LRP on the R/C market. In addition, it was the birth of the legendary LRP LE 25 AMS speed control.

THE WAY IN TODAY
Blue is Better! Today, most fans and racers connect the company and its products to this slogan. From a present-day perspective, LRP's brand presence was kind of fancy at the beginning. Corresponding to the spirit of the time, the logo consisted of a big pink-coloured star with LRP lettering and the slogan "The Ultimate Choice". "Blue is Better" wasn't in sight yet.

This was to change, the more the diversification of the LRP product portfolio was proceeding. In 1997, there was the decision to reflect the character of the high-end products and the worldwide racing success also in the appearance of the brand. The blue colour was the most obvious choice. Blue is connected to technology and quality in most people's mind. In addition, a homogeneous colouration made the identification of the components in the R/C car easier. The still valid slogan "Blue is Better" consequently supports this idea. It stands not only for racing success and unique team spirit in R/C sports, but also for high-end products with top-performance.

PICTURES OF THE MILESTONES
The first engine LPR, the first LPR Control - this still has one on the screen. But what came still from 1987 till this day after in products LRP and did the scene RC revolutionise over and over again? And not only products, also numerous runnings and events were in the last decades - here we have picked out for you some highlights. Also LRP has adapted itself in his appearance of the time what we have also documented... a lot of fun with rummage and in recollections indulge themselves.