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THE "RULES" AS THEY STAND AT PRESENT: The postal races were started in order to give us something fun to do while the Coronapocalypse keeps us from our usual RC activities, and as such have very few rules as we want them to be as inclusive as possible. However since there have been a few procedural modifications, revisions and clarifications since this all started, and we have welcomed several new entrants since Round 1, I thought it might be helpful to summarise how it all works at present, in order to avoid the need to trawl through the following pages to figure it all out. So, at the suggestion of @El Gecko, I have edited the first post to show how things have developed over the last few rounds. Here goes: 1. Each round starts with a fresh track layout. Check this thread to see the layout for the current round. (You may need to go back a couple of pages to see it.) 2. Measure and mark out the track layout on the surface of your choice, using the markers of your choice. You can set up the track anywhere you like, as long as it is safe and legal of course. 3. Choose the car(s) that you are going to run. You can enter as many different cars as you wish. You can run any combination of chassis, motor and battery you like, as well as any body style, but please run with a body of some description rather than a naked chassis. This is a family-friendly forum after all! 4. Run your car(s) around the track for 5 minutes while counting your laps, and when the 5 minutes have elapsed, finish the lap you are on and count that too. Optionally, you can also measure and submit your fastest lap time. Keep these to yourself - don''t share them on the forum while the round is in progress. At the end of the round, the results will be collated and posted in this thread. 5. Once you have recorded your best lap total for each car that you want to enter for the current round, submit your results by means of the Google Form found at https://forms.gle/1xzhEZAPsWDeez6D8, including the following details for each entry: lap count forum username chassis (and shell if you wish) motor battery track surface running weight (optional) fastest lap (optional) 6. The person with the highest lap count wins the honour of choosing the next round's track layout. This can be one of their own design, or one suggested by another entrant. (Everyone is encouraged to suggest a track layout if they wish, and the winner does not have to design a layout if they don't want to.) When the track layout has been decided, the next round begins and we do it all over again! During the round, you are encouraged to share experiences, advice, photos, etc, but please remember not to give away your lap counts or times before the Grand Reveal at the end of each round. Also, feel free to invite and/or challenge others to join in the fun. The more the merrier!

Hey folks! This is just a placeholder for now. In 25 minutes I will be setting off for Round 1 of the Iconic Cup at my "local" circuit, Mendip RC Raceway, which is about 90 minutes drive away. This weekend I'll be doing both days - Saturday practice and Sunday racing - although for most of them I'll only be doing the Sunday. This year we've got rounds in South Hants, West London, Broxtowe, Halifax, and Carlisle. Provided I can get phone signal down at the track, I will be updating a few pics and reports as I go. Stay tuned for updates!

I thought I would share quickly my latest TT-02 iteration. The idea was to have a fully adjustable chassis that uses standard - rather than type S - TT-02 parts. Also I wanted to make sure the original parts would not require complex modifications and that the number of custom parts would be reduced to an absolute minimum. The result is also mechanically "clean" in that there is no unwanted change in caster as the suspension compress. The extra holes on the plate allow adjusting roll center when using type-S shock towers. So here it is! I am quite happy with how it turned out. I can now dial in camber, caster, bump steer and Ackerman.

Started racing these this year. Painted some body shells 10th scale buggy 8th scale buggy

By now anyone who is interested will have seen my Hotshot custom chassis build, which I'm planning to race at Revival in just under 6 weeks time, however as there could potentially be issues with legality, plus the risk of breakage, or it being a total flop on track, and also me wanting a wet car because the custom chassis isn't enclosed, I decided to build this Supershot that I've had lying around NIB since Revival 2019. This won't be a full ground-up build thread since I can't be bothered to take worse versions of pictures you've all already seen. Instead this focusses on the highlights, such as, the box build with the new Etronix servo and Photon brushless combo, plus my old Turnigy GT5 radio that had only just been fixed with a new steering potentiometer at this time. This is what the box looks like inside:

Hi all. I race my Egress in my club's "Vintage" Class which allows pre-95 models restricted to 2s Lipo, with the motor of choice being Kyosho G2X (20T) - we are NOT permitted brushless. Does anyone know a) what the current/stock pinion spec is? 22T? what pitch? b) how big of a pinion can I have with this brushed setup? [teeth and pitch please] The other vintage cars are burning me off down the straights by several car lengths. I'm a noob to the tamiya world, not so much for buggy racing. Thanks

First, let me set the scene Way back in 2005 TamiyaUSA was trying hard to get into Monster Truck racing. Earlier that year, Jimmy Jacobson and David Jun finished 1st and 2nd place at the 5th Annual Pro-Line Maxx Challenge Race respectively in the Small-Block class and then for the second year in a row they also finished 1st and 2nd at the Monster Madness race. Once again, a one two sweep of the podium and five laps over third place. The truly remarkable occurred when the two TRF drivers also finished 1st and 2nd in the big-block class, four laps ahead of third, using the same trucks and the same engines! The TNX dominated both classes in 2005 with good chassis tuning and some new option parts that Tamiya subsequently released. The 43508X and its racing experience also formed direction for the TNX 5.2R and the modifications that kit saw. TamiyaUSA released its own version of the TNX labelled as kit number 43508X and it came with a pack of option parts so the user could modify the truck. The main additions were Proline Powerstroke shocks, Proline tyres and wheels and a revised heatsink head. The aim of this build is to create a replica of the racing truck that David Jun used and make it from a 43508X kit.. The race modifications were: Futaba S9451 Digital servos Pro-Line Bowtie Tyres and Velocity wheels Ofna HD Servo Saver Ofna engine starting Back Plate MIP Driveshafts Modified TNX body with a lexan wing Relocation of the RX and battery boxes Tamiya Fuel filter Proline Powerstroke 6025 bypass shock set A lexan wing on the back of the bodyshell First I had to get a 43508X kit! Not sold in the UK I chanced upon one back in 2017 and snapped it up. Very rough but the basics were there. The Proline Powerstroke shock set is expensive and hard to come by. Used sets make £140 on Ebay so I was glad this one was complete. You can also see the modified heatsink head. The body, wheels and tyres (rotten) were scrapped and the car went in storage. Since 2017 I have been collecting all the extra parts I need, tyres, wheels, servos, a new body, OFNA servo saver, MIP drive cups and the OFNA engine backplate. With that now done the TNX has made it to the top of the list for rebuild. Another Race car replica build has started! It's time to get dirty and strip it down!

Hi Guys! Wondering if some of you might be able to help me out here as I am new to the exciting world of RC. A quick briefing: I am looking into getting a TT02 for a project and came across the Eagle Racing TT02 GRT AWD CS Drift Chassis, which I fell in love with as it comes fully carbon & blue bling goodness. Question is, can a CS Drift chassis be run as a Touring Spec Chassis? How will CS differential affect track handling? And would Swapping the CS from front to rear make handling better as power bias would be f75/r35 (roughly) through the drivetrain? Also, are drift chassis more fragile than their Touring brothers? Many Thanks!

I had a late start to my Iconic Cup prep this year, as I'd been focussing on other things, having a non-RC weekend break and doing some crawler events. I ran a couple of CWICs rounds in the winter (see this thread) and performed woefully, achieving the bottom spot in the first 3 events, missing the next because my wife booked me a birthday meal, and deciding not to bother with the last one at all. In fact, it was the Weds before the race weekend when I dragged my battered old M03 out of the box and started putting on all the bits that I'd taken off to make the M05 run last year. This car originally came to me from another TC member over 10 years ago, stock apart from bearings and an Acto Pink motor. Originally it was a Suzuki Wagon RR, but that body (and the NIB one that came with it) have been sold on. For a long time I raced this in the local clubman M-chassis class, which only permitted bearings, oil shocks and tyres, so apart from a lovely set of alloy shocks (can't actually remember if they're TRF or 3Racing) and a Tamiya spring set, it's bone stock, and has always been so. Last year I added a set of toe-in rear hubs off my FF02, which are a big improvement on cooler outdoor tracks, and after speaking to a local M-chassis champeen I decided I would pack the diff with Blu-Tac to stiffen it right up ready for practice day on Saturday. Now, those who followed my Yaris thread will know I had an issue with running the wrong tyres. For a quick recap: When I raced at my local carpet club, I bought a set of Sweep tyres. As far as I recall, they were just Sweep tyres - nobody said anything about the temperature / compound. I raced them for years, but after a few Iconic Cup rounds on tarmac, the fronts wore right down to the foam. In 2019 (or possibly earlier, I forget) I bought a new set of Sweeps, and didn't bother to check the compound / temp. I knew they were 25s as that's what I wrote on the inside of them, but I don't think I knew why I bought 25s or why it mattered. I tried them on the car during some tarmac Iconic Cup rounds, but always went back to the old tyres, as the new ones just wouldn't work for me. I put the new ones on last winter to race at CWICs, and (after a whole day of uncontrollable spinning) I learned that I needed 33s front and 25s rear, so I fitted the old, worn set of 33s up front and went out to drive an acceptable race (albeit too late to qualify for any points). Next time out at CWICs I decided I wouldn't fit the worn, foam-showing 33s I had at the previous meet, instead I'd put the old rears on, which I had bought at the same time and must, therefore, also be 33s. I had a horrible time with carpet pickup, pretty much had a miserable, miserable day spinning around at the back of the field, and went home wishing I hadn't bothered in the first place. Fast-forward to last Weds, when I pulled the Yaris out of the box to take the tyres and shocks off. It was then that I spotted something: an old, faded, red felt tip marking inside the old tyres: 25. So, in actual fact, I had been running 33/25 all along. I have absolutely no recollection of having bought 2 sets of tyres (or even a mixed bag of 2 pairs), but obviously I must have done, otherwise they wouldn't have different numbers in them. It's possible that the club bought and split the bags to keep starting costs down (in those days Mini was the entry-level class, although most of us Mini competitors had been racing touring for a while and got fed up with it). I must even have known about it, otherwise it was blind luck what corner each tyre would end up on - but again, I have no recollection of this. So - this left me with only one pair of 33s which were long past their best. A quick order from Racecraft R/C with the message "for collection at Iconic Cup, Mendip" and I was assured of the right tyres for the big event. Or so I thought.

I was running my df03 on a carpet track for the first time and melted the rear diff on it during a run. Is there a gear diff that will work in the rear of it?

Tamiya ***ULTIMATE TRF TOOL BUNDLE*** All Included. All BRAND NEW & UNOPENED Also available - Tamiya TRF419XR - 42316 **ULTIMATE BUNDLE** See my other listings for this, plus a load of brand new, unused and very high end equipment up for sale. Why I’m selling: Returning to a 90 hour a week job has left me with no time, so I’m selling an extensive and, in some cases, extremely rare, collection of tools that took a year to source. Some had to be shipped to other countries prior to the UK to enable purchase. As such, what you see took hours of obsessive work to collect. Although anyone can buy and use, the collection is primarily for a Tamiya collector or someone looking for a complete collection. Knowing how hard it was to gather this collection reassures me that any value lies in keeping it complete. As such, to split the bundle will damage it’s value, for me and anyone buying it, so I’m sorry to say, I will not be willing to do so. Anyway, here’s what’s included: Tamiya: 42149 - 7mm Box Wrench 42148 - 5.5mm Box Wrench 42147 - 2.5mm Hex Wrench Screwdriver 42146 - 2mm Hex Wrench Screwdriver 42145 - 1.5mm Hex Wrench Screwdriver 42150 - Ballpoint Hex Wrench Screwdriver 42161 - (-) M Screwdriver 53649 - (+) L Screwdriver 53648 - (+) M screwdriver 42186 - Wrench for 5mm Reinforced Adjusters 42260 - Body Reamer 42276 - Damper Pliers 42122 - Wrench for Blue Titanium Turnbuckle Shaft 42236 - Wrench for Aluminium Turnbuckles 54635 - Aluminium Canberra Gauge Post 42255 - Droop Gauge 42256 - Droop Gauge Block 42199 - Ground Clearance Gauge 53862 - Touring Car Height & Droop Gauge 53861 - Camber Gauge 42241 - Pinion Gear Holder (12) 42371 - R/C car Maintenance Stand (Tamiya Blue) 42335 - Aluminium TRF Tool Stand (got to have somewhere to put this lot) 42292 - Aluminium Parts Tray 42302 - TRF parts Storage Box x3 (8 compartments per case)

I no longer live in my home town of Bury St Edmunds, having moved to away to go to university 25 years ago and mostly lived elsewhere ever since. I still visit my parents there as often as I can and whenever I do I always try and visit Model Junction, the excellent Local Model Shop, even if it's only for a chat. My Dad still visits there regularly, though, as he is building a model railway in his retirement. On a recent visit, David the co-proprietor said he had something for him. David has been working in the shop since I was racing regularly back in my teens and my Dad was my mechanic, and lo and behold, he had a picture from those days which showed me and some other racers at a charity presentation. It is dated 9th September 1992 and is taken in the area where we usually held our races, a stretch of open grass wedged between the local sports centre (out of shot to the right), the sports centre 5-a-side football pitches (behind the photographer here) and the sports centre car park (on the other side of the hedge behind the caravan). I am the ungainly youth in the light-coloured shirt with the no 87 Mid kneeling in the front row. I don't remember the names of most of the other people in the shot except the chap holding the Toyota pick-up, who was David's predecessor as Model Junction's owner and who I think was called Colin. Next to him with the moustache is Ian, the race controller from our Saturday morning meetings. He started out doing race control exclusively, as it was a very intensive process involving a lot of manual counters, and totalling of laps and compilation of finals by hand. Later he trusted some of the rest of us with race control duties and was able to take a race off every round to have a go himself with a demilitarised Fast Attack Vehicle. I cannot be sure, but I think the embarrassed-looking chap in the back row with the black sweater and the red Cat may be William Mitcham, the Bury Buggy Club driver who ended up reaching the final of one of the IFMAR Worlds. The BBC was a separate entity to the MJ Saturday meetings. They were a proper club with organised membership, computer race control and a permanent circuit in the village of Shimpling just outside Bury, where they raced on Sunday mornings. There was some crossover and a lot of the MJ Saturday crowd were also BBC members, as shown by the fact that the 87 on my car is my BBC racing number – Ian would have made me cover up one of the digits for Saturday racing so it just said 7 or 8, as 87 had too many syllables to be shouted constantly by the manual counters. There was no membership as such for the Model Junction club, and anyone could walk up on the day, pay a small fee and race. The weekly results were compiled up dilligently by Ian, though, and two championships were awarded per year: the summer off-road series and a winter tarmac series which took place on the car park when the weather made racing every week on the grass impossible. I was lucky enough to win the summer series twice (89 and 92), but never really got the hang of the rough tarmac in the cold car park. The track for the Model Junction meetings was made up anew early every Saturday morning by Ian out of rubber pipe, rope, tyres and whatever else came to hand (for a while the off-road circuit regularly featured a jump on the main straight made out of an old road sign). The fact that it was dreamed up by Ian every week meant that you never knew when you arrived what the track layout was going to be or whether the potholes (which remained static) would be in the middle of the main straight or on the apex of a hairpin. Its portability also meant that it could be packed up and used in different locations, which was a great promotional tool for the shop. As a result we frequently found ourselves racing at village fetes and similar events, including on one memorable occasion on the lawn of Gedding Hall, the country house of former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman. We ripped it up quite badly, as I recall, but he seemed alright about it. Our prizes that day were presented by car transporter magnate and former F1 proprietor Ted Toleman. I am not sure what the presentation here was for. The fact that William Mitcham is there means that it might have been related to a charity non-stop 24hr team race which Model Junction organised and supplied the equipment for – stock Tamiya Falcons – and which he legendarily won almost single-handed. One of the cars involved remained on display in the shop for some time, complete with war wounds and patina, as an example of the durability of Tamiya's products. We weren't really involved with that, though, so it may have been something entirely different. The fact that Mr Mitcham might be in the shot means it was probably something special, though, as he was normally a bit good for our meetings. Happy days.

This thread charts the conversion of my Blitzer Beetle from bone-stock basher to vintage racer. The story begins back in late 2011 when I placed an order for a Blitzer Beetle re-release. I honestly can't remember what shop I ordered it from, if I got it from overseas or a UK-shop or the local shop or even in a trade on here. Usually there's at least some vague recollection of where and when I ordered things, but this particular model escapes me. I can't even remember why I ordered it. I had previously owned a Stadium Thunder, which I bought new-built from someone on here and I ran for a while before selling it on, but I had never really fully 'got' the stadium truck thing. While it was a lot of fun, and the Thunder body is IMO one of the finest most aggressive-looking trucks to come from the Tamiya stable, I didn't feel the need to keep hold of it. I sold a fair bit of stuff around that time, so it was probably a victim of one of my random clear-outs. I do recall that I intended to build this model to mark the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012. I had made a plan with some friends for an NYE Build-Off. My wife (then my girlfriend) and I would head over to our friends' place with a pile of NIB kits and a keg of locally-brewed ale and we would sit and build as the night went on and (hopefully) celebrate the new year with some freshly built Tamiya goodness. My intended kit was the Blitzer Beetle, I honestly can't remember what my wife had - possibly a TT01 that I wanted built for something, as I'd already built a few and she'd never built a car before. Alas, it was not to be. The sudden onset of flu-like symptoms in the destination household put an end to planned festivities, so my wife and I stayed home and watched Star Wars instead, setting a tradition that has become less often our fallback and more often our default state in the NYE celebrations that have followed. The Blitzer Beetle was not forgotten, however. It remained NIB until April of 2012, when it was slowly built over a period of lazy evenings and mated to the stadium truck body from a HPI Firestorm. And the Blitzer Storm was born. Here it is in all its glory, freshly-built and resting on the sofa in my old flat. This was back before I bothered to take half-decent pictures of anything. A year later the trusty Blitzer Storm accompanied me to a local beauty spot for a light bash. The wheel fell off.

All BRAND NEW & UNOPENED. Why I’m selling: Returning to a 90 hour a week job has left me with no time, so I’m selling my TRF419XR as well an extensive and, in some cases, extremely rare, collection of upgrades that took months to source. What you see includes some almost unavailable and therefore very rare items that took hours of obsessive work to collect. Knowing how hard it was to gather this collection means it’s for someone who wants all options available for the amazing TRF419XR, so I’m sorry to say, I will not be willing to split it. I wish to return around 80% of what it all cost me, so any purchaser is not only benefiting a reduction in retail price, but also from the reduced purchase hose prices from buying abroad, which I had to do to finish this collection but from the hours and hours it took to gather everything. Moving on: The main upgrade included in the bundle is the TRF420 Suspension upgrade. To prove how extensive the bundle is, it also comes with the rear Toe Control Rear Suspension Set for the TRF420. Also included is the correct 3mm TRF drill bit to ream out the arms, and I even managed to find the unique carbon fibre alternative arm connectors that are only available with the actual TRF420 kit! That wasn’t easy. Before we get to the collection: I’m also selling a complete (and I mean complete) TRF Tool Set to go with it, as well as some top line professional equipment, please see my other listings for full details. However, to wet your appetite, here’s a few of them so you get the idea as to the level of what else is for sale: **THE FOLLOWING ITEMS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS BUNDLE BUT AVAILABLE SEPARATELY. HOWEVER, THEY WERE BOUGHT TO GO WITH THIS KIT SO I WILL DISCOUNT ANYTHING BELOW BY 20% IF BOUGHT BY WHOEVER BUYS THIS BUNDLE** - A Complete Tamiya TRF tool set - - Futaba T7XC Transmitter - - Futaba HPS-CB700 Brushless Servo - - Team Orion Vortex R10.1Brushless ESC - - Team Orion Vortex DSB-R Program Box - - SkyRC T200 Duo AC/DC 12A Charger - - Intellect LiPo LiHV 2S 1000mAh 7.6v Batteries (2 available) - - TRF Trolly Bag - + more..... ** THE ABOVE ITEMS ARE AVAILABLE SEPARATELY. ** I WILL DISCOUNT ANYTHING ABOVE BY 20% IF BOUGHT BY WHOEVER BUYS THIS BUNDLE** (Please see my other listings for full details) AGAIN THESE ITEMS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS BUNDLE Finally, here’s the list of what’s included in this rather unique bundle: **TO BE CLEAR, THE FOLLOWING IS EXACTLY WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS BUNDLE: TAMIYA: - 42316 - TRF419XR Racing Chassis - 54886 - TRF420 Suspension Upgrade Set - 54887 - TRF420 Toe Control Rear Suspension Set - 1980322 - (unique) Carbon Fibre Arm Connectors - 42303 - TRF 3mm Straight Reamer - 54413 - Aluminium High-Efficiency Roll Damper - 42325 - Aluminium Gear Differential Case - 42310 - 37T Aluminium Differential Pulley - 42309 - 37T Aluminium One-Way Pulley - 3454938 - Drive Pulley Assy (Blue) - 3454936 - Main T-Pulley (Blue) - 53906 - 5x5mm Alumium Hex Head Ball Connectors X2 - 53907 - 5x8mm Aluminium Hex Head Ball Connectors X3 - 54648 - Flurine Coated Stabilizer Ball Connector Set - 42327 - 5x 3x6mm Hi-Grade Aluminium Hex Head Screws (Blue) X5 - NAR-306TB - 3x 3x6mm Hi-Grade Aluminium Hex Head Screws (blue) (by SQUARE) X3 - 42329 - 5x 2x8mm Hi-Grade Aluminium Hex Head Screws (Blue) X3 - 42330 - 5x 3x8mm Hi Grade Alu C/Sunk Hex Head Screws (Blue) X3 - 42328 - 5x 3x6mm Hi Grade Alu C/sunk Hex Head Screws (Blue) X3 - 53773 - 5x 3x10mm C/sunk Hex Head Screw (Blue) X1 Moody Fools: - 1509786741 - 6x 3x8mm C/sunk TITANIUM Hex Head Screws - 1509786741 - 38x 3x6mm C/sunk TITANIUM Hex Head screws Back to Tamiya: - 53646 - Wheel Spacer (Blue) X3 - 54863 - Aluminium Hi-Torque Servo Saver Cap (Blue) - 42248 - Aluminium Direct Servo Horn (Tamiya/Futaba) (Blue) - 54862 - 4x Aluminium Servo Screws (Blue) - 42224 - 04 Module Hard Coated Alu Pinion Gear (25T) - 42229 - 04 Module Hard Coated Alu Pinion Gear (30T) - 42269 - 04 Module Hard Coated Alu Pinion Gear (39T) - 42201 - Glass Tape (15mm x 50m) (Blue) 3RACING: - M04M-07/LB Aluminium Motor Heatsink With Cooling Fan (Blue) TOTAL COST TO ME £ 1,420.00 The following items are FREE: - 42250 - Maintenance Mat (1250x600mm) Black with TRF logo (opened to be used in my photos, but unused otherwise. - DTDR01001B - Hobbt Details Aluminum Magnetic Body Mount Set for 1/10 Drifting Cars Set A Type Black DTDR01001 Aluminium (Blue) - Aluminium Adjustable Magnetic head for Body Mount (Blue) - Velcro in Blue to match Tamiya Blue - Zip Ties in Blue to match Tamiya Blue - A4 Carbon Fibre Self Adhesive Sticker Sheet (it is in the image, but hidden under all the parts in the top right of the image) The FREE items cost me around £50 Dispatched with Hermes Tracked.

So I've got myself a Super Astute for a bit of vintage racing this year. I don't race hard and I'm not competitive but I'd like to know in advance if there's any weak points or serious flaws that I should know about before I arrive trackside. I wouldn't want to go out in practice and break a part and be sidelined all day (been there, done that - I'll have a Bear Hawk as a class-legal spare car but that's a big change from a Super Astute). I see the kit comes with oil dampers. Assuming these are CVA type, I guess they're fine for racing and there's no need to track down a set of hi-caps or modern alloy shocks. I've added bearings to the order. I understand the kit has bearings for the transmission but not for the hubs / wheels, so that's taken care of. As I understand the kit transmission has been updated for reliability, so I don't need to hunt down a vintage aftermarket diff or gear set. Am I right, and will I be OK running a mid-spec brushless system or 17 turn brushed motor? I haven't decided on a power system yet, recommendations gladly accepted. Any other areas that could benefit from hop-ups to make it a reasonable vintage track racer? Some racing will be on dirt and grass, some on outdoor astro. Should I stock up on spares? I'm not into buying a whole second kit for spares, I'd rather buy one or two trees of the parts that are likely to break. Any tips on build for a more robust car? Shock tower bracing, longer screws, etc? Thanks

Hi, I am looking for some advice on the best Tamiya chassis to look to obtain for racing on tarmac. I have been around RC for a while, however only been running brushed(sport tuned) and Nimh. Have a Stadium Thunder and a Blitzer Beetle both modded. So there is an RC club near my house I found the other day, track is open for the public.I have not had a chance yet to go on a race night to see what the members are running there, they have a 21.5T,13.5T & Euro truck classes. I am looking for some advice on a chassis to firstly get me into tarmac track as I have been only dirt bashing and crawling & secondly, what hop-ups, motors, esc`s, batteries should I be looking for to be competitive, apologies for all the newb questions. Have attached a pic of the track I would be racing\learning at, look forward to your input.

I've posted a few Back to the Track series in the past, each time documenting my return to the wonderful world of indoor club racing, each time starting full of enthusiasm and delight and, as often as not, ending a few months later in apathy and boredom when I hit my plateau and get bored of getting nowhere, declare that I don't really enjoy racing and pack it all in for another year or two. Will this time be any different? Who knows! But this has been something I've wanted to do for a little while, so here's a nice and typically long opening post to get us all started. TL;DR: I went back racing. Continue to the next post if you don't care about my epic ramblings on the state of my life I haven't been a regular racer since I retired my M03 a few years back. We raced to Clubman rules, with a Saturn 20 control motor, Sweep control tyres, and bearings and oil shocks and springs being the only allowed hop-ups. By that time everybody was using the M05, and no matter how hard I raced I could never quite get on the back of the top racers. It might have been my skill, it might have been my setup, it might have been the deficit of the M03 against the M05; more likely it was all of them, in various measure. Either way, I got bored of having to pick up 3rd place whenever somebody else didn't show. I got frustrated that my hopes for a podium finish in the championship hinged not on my success but everybody else's failure. I shouldn't really race for the trophy but there's got to be a goal, otherwise it wouldn't be racing, it would be bashing, and I felt (rightly or wrongly) that my laptimes were as good as they were ever going to get. So, why am I going back again? Well, various reason. 1. My 2018 Revival Failure. I went to the 2018 Iconic Revival full of enthusiasm and confidence. I had a great car (a vintage Top Force with vintage hop-ups) which had done me well the previous year, I'd raced well at the opening round of the Iconic Cup that spring (unfortunately I couldn't make any other rounds, as that turned out to be the highlight of my RC year), the weather had been fantastic and we were all looking forward to a dry weekend. The reality was different. I'd failed to properly prepare the Top Force and it punished me for it in every race - loose screws, seized suspension, the lot. I let the red mist descend when I couldn't get it to drive straight, and ruined most of my heats with bad driving. The weather turned the day before the event, treating us to three days of downpour, and the pit shop didn't have any wet tyres in stock. I, as an infrequent off-road racer, didn't have any wet tyres either. To top it all off, I was taken ill and spent half the weekend in the toilet tent. My wife came down with the same virus but owing to a medical condition, she was taken into hospital on the Sunday morning, having to leave our 18-month old daughter in the care of friends. As a good father I should have aborted my race weekend and made the 4 hour drive home, but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you see it) my camper was at the very back of the camping field and blocked in by at least 5 other tents and caravans, so there was no way I was getting off site until the end of the day. Plus, given heavy winds, a lot of gazebos had been damaged so I'd offered my awning to some other racers - leaving early would have left them and their kit out in the rain again. Despite all that, I managed to get 2nd place by the first corner of the C final and was all set to hold the position - until the timing system failed and the race was aborted. I started badly in the re-start, was plum last after the first lap, and two laps in the car became impossible to drive. In a proper example of racetrack bad manners, I stormed off the rostrum after a huge head-on crash with a wooden post, to discover the Top Force had lost a kingpin from the front hub. No wonder I couldn't drive it. Why is this relevant? Well, the Revival is usually the highlight of my year. Bad weather and ill health can't be helped, but I could have done a lot better if I'd prepared and practised. I underestimated how much prep the Top Force needed and overestimated my ability as a driver. Taking a hiatus from racing had not just affected my laptimes, it had affected my judgement, and my enjoyment of a rare weekend away. I left the venue determined to do better next year. 2. My 2019 Iconic Success I only managed two races in 2019: the first round of the Iconic Cup at Mendip RC Raceway in April, and the Iconic Revival at Bingham Model Raceway in July. First change I made from 2018 was downgrading my ability rating from 5/10 to 3/10. Less expectation on myself and less embarrassment if I had a bad day. I never expected success at Mendip because my TL01-LA didn't have the speed tuned gear set, and was up against much newer chassis in the Super Stock class (the LA isn't eligible for the Stock class). Mendip is fast, so the speed tuned gear set is pretty essential. Even with the biggest pinion, I was being slaughtered on the back straight - it didn't matter how much corner speed I could carry (and as a 3/10 driver with limited tyre and spring options and an older chassis, I was never going to run rings around the class leaders) I couldn't get close to the FTD. But that didn't matter. I focused on small setting changes and improving my technique. I found a setting that kept oversteer to a minimum out of the tight hairpin and, as temps came up, learnt to drive around the grip-roll that started to occur there. Despite having a(nother) upset stomach all day (who would believe it..?) I had a really enjoyable time, improved every race and went home feeling happy. I wouldn't race again until the Revival in July, where I campaigned a new-built Novafox and my fully-restored Top Force. It was almost a disaster - my older MRT transponders don't work with BMR's new timing system - but tireless Revival organiser John Weston loaned me his spare, saving my weekend. The new pit shop (local heroes and new friends Racecraft RC) had a great supply of wet weather tyres, so even the anticipated downpours couldn't spoil my challenge. The Fox was epic. Properly prepared with a rebuilt Super Stock BZ, it had just the right amount of speed for the wet weather. Like at the Cup, I didn't expect to get on the podium - but I went out to enjoy my racing and improve every heat, and that's just what I did. Top day. The Top Force was almost a failure - a brand new Alturn high-speed race servo (a model I've been using for a long time) turned out to be slower than a slow thing on national slow day. I've now had a couple of really slow Alturns - I won't be buying any more. Adie from Racecraft had a spare race servo lying around which wast just perfect. Disaster averted, the Top Force was an absolute dream. I didn't go out to win - I went out to improve, and that's what I did. I qualified 3rd in the C final, with a qualifying time that was miles away from either 2nd or 4th, and I figured if I stayed out of trouble I'd take home the 3rd place trophy. I got tangled in an incident in the first corner and was last, but I kept my cool, reeled in my competitors, made neat, careful passes and - thanks to the mechanical breakdowns of my closes rivals - finished in 2nd. For the first time in ages, I genuinely felt like I'd earned my trophy. Why is this relevant? Because I really enjoyed racing. For the first time in an age, it wasn't just about getting drunk with mates, talking nonsense about toy cars, eating fried food and camping out in the rain. It was about racing, as well. I really got my money's worth that weekend. So I figured - if I'm seeing results from my racing just by being patient and taking time to learn, how much more would I see if I did that every week? Is it time to go back to the club? And how much better will I race at the Revival next year if I get in some regular practice? 3. My 2019 Rut OK, so the whiny and self-absorbed bit now - outside of RC, I've really struggled to find a happy place this year. With a 2.5 year old in the house it's hard to be anything but Dad. Being Dad is OK (it's not every day I can even bring myself to say that), sometimes it's the best thing in the world (I really mean that) but it's so hard to being anything else. Once the bedtime story is read and the toys are tidied up there's precious little evening left. Add to that the exhaustion of disrupted sleep and interrupted downtime, and once my duties are over, all I can do is flop into the sofa. The things that my life used to be about have fallen away. It's hard to write good music in a brain that's cluttered with nursery rhymes and kid's TV theme tunes. It's hard to write good fiction when you're used to tempering every thought for toddler ears. So I figured I could either sit on the sofa, feeling miserable and yearning for that one weekend every month when I can pack up the camper with toy cars and head off for a couple of days of freedom, or I can use the time I've got to go out and have fun. So really, that's it. WWMCC races on Monday nights, and Monday is my night off. I get Fridays off, too. I'm allowed to go do whatever I want on those nights (provided it's legal and compatible with continued marriage). So instead of locking myself in my studio and feeling sorry for myself, I decided I'd get out and actually do something. So... Let's go racing!

Looking for a box art Golf Racing Grp 2, 58025. Just the model, doesn't need the box, manual etc. Tidy condition though. Looking to get one of these back in my collection after selling mine a long time back. Cheers, Darren

Bit of a random one here - and don't think I'm taking this all too seriously, because I'm really not, I just like preparing things properly I've entered my SRB in this years Iconic Revival, but it looks like I'm the only SRB entry. Since there's a few other Frog entries in the '77 - '83 class, I'm considering swapping my entry to my Frog so I can play with the other Frogs. I can't find much about good, functional mods make to a Frog for racing. Way back in the day I made a new upright front shock mount for my Frog which kinda works, but I need to tune the shocks with softer springs. Other than that, is there anything worth doing? I'm prepared to go totally mental, I haven't run the Frog in stock trim in a very long time and found it to be way too tail-happy with a Super Stock BZ installed. It's a re-re and it suffers the famous issue of the front stub axles popping out. Besides carrying a drawer full of spares, is there a known fix? Any other fragile areas worth taking spares for? I'm guessing spike tyres will be best on astroturf. Not sure what fronts to run. For aesthetic purposes I'd love to run Brat wheels and tyres and a Brat shell (it's actually technically a Brat, but I used the shell for something else and always ran it with Scorcher tyres and Baja body) but I guess the Brat tyres will be wrong for an astro track. Again - don't think I'm taking it seriously, I just want it to be as well-behaved as possible, we tried to run the SRB on astro with the Rough Rider tyres for last year's enduro and it was almost undriveable until we switched to spikes.

At the last ETS in Germany, Marc Reinhard announced he would part ways with Tamiya. It will be interesting to see where he's going to go next. Maybe Xray, to battle it out with fellow German Ronald Völker? Or will one of the smaller teams like Infinity snatch him up? And more to the point for us, what does the departure of 'our' front man mean for the future of TRF? Tamiya quietly pulled out of off-road racing a few years ago when they decided to stop updating their offers, and I have a feeling that this could very well mean the end of Tamiya Europe's racing ambitions. In Japan I'm sure Akio Sobue and Naoto Matsukara will continue to be a force to be reckoned with on track, but Tamiya Japan is very much a different company from Tamiya Europe and Tamiya USA. On his last race, Marc sported a classy black-and-white variant of his usual paint job. All I can say, as a fellow racer and fan of TC, is thank you Marc, and the best of luck to wherever you decide to go next. Source The RC Racer

So over the last weekend racing I noticed my car developing more and more play all over, so I've decided to give it a good rebuild and cleaning. Of course, I'll take you guys along. What this car has done since the last time I spent some time with it on my desk: - about 100 batteries of practice - 4 qualifiers - 3 mains - setting a lap record for 17.5t touring on my home track - wore out 2 sets of tires - wore out a body shell The list of complains: - The rear diff leaked like a sieve. It stopped last weekend, probably because it is now empty - Play in the steering system - Wobble in the spur gear - stripped screw in the layshaft after it disassembled itself spontaneously last race - the locating peg on one of the rear body posts broke off, so every time I do something with the body shell I have to realign it - .... it's disgusting So yeah, a good cleaning was due. The willing victim, spread out on my desk, ready to go. Seems pretty clean from the outside, right? I'll leave the electronics in. The ESC is barely a few races old, and the receiver is perfectly placed where it is. I quickly took off the shocks, and removed all the easily disassembled sections like the front bumper and the upper deck. Race on carpet they said, your car will remain spotless they said.... The ball nuts are all rather damaged too. I'll get a new set to place these. If you're gonna do it, do it right! Also, the diff blades on the universal ends are worn out, I've got a set around somewhere, so that's one thing less I need to buy. On the left one of the C-hubs I took off the car. On the right a new C-hub. Aluminum things don't break, they bend.... Right steering knuckle assembly. It seemed fine, but the bearings are gritty and the C-hub is bent as well. The motor mount. The escaping layshaft did quite a bit of damage to the surface, but it's still straight and therefor, it goes back in after a deep cleaning. Other layshaft upright. You can see where the pulley nicked it on the way out. The pulley in question. 20 minutes of wrenching later the shock towers, diffs, front and rear hubs and stabilizer rods are gone. The bare chassis, pre-cleaning. I love carbon fiber, and how it changes appearance depending on the angle you look at it. The previous owner of this car was a bit of a klutz. The top deck was originall shoved in there, tweaking the bottom plate. Apparently he spilt some super glue on the rear part as well. It's on a fairly invisible spot (below the rear lower arm, near the droop screw) so I'll leave it be. My TRF's a working girl, not a shelf queen. Stay tuned for more teardowning. We've still got the diffs to do, shocks to rebuild (my least favorite part), clean the whole thing, get the replacement parts, and then screw the whole thing back together. The shopping list thus far: - 51253 TA05 (I think) B-parts for the rear body posts - New C-hubs. Plastic Tamiya ones are out, though maybe the TA07 ones are stronger, so a good set of Yeah Racing hubs, or Square if I can find them somewhere - 53640 Ball Connector nuts - 19804777 CS 2.6mm x 8mm screws to secure the layshaft. One is bent, and the other one I stripped accidentally. - 53601 5mm adjusters. I'm replacing all of them, just to be sure.

Hi all I'm looking to start a regular indoor meet in Wakefield West Yorkshire (2 miles from the Junction of M1 and M62). The purpose of this is to provide a fun race venue for all kinds of RC (A kind of bashing racing league - Think of the video game re-volt). I will invest in carpet and can even get hold of timing gear but i want to know if there would be enough interest out there for such a venue? My initial thoughts are this would be a Sunday afternoon session to start with. About four hours with half being about fun and the rest a bit of a mini cup - different classes / different races). Please send me your input guys Many thanks

I am selling two sets of classic tamiya Piaa Accord VTEC wheels and Celica GT-Four racing radial tires 50724 and 50419. Both wheels and tires are 26mm and the wheels have +2mm offset and use 12mm hexes. Wheels also include wheel nuts. Tires come without inserts. I am missing the label for the second set of wheels. Nice combo for rally and drift applications.These wheels are not aceton friendly.I am asking for 30€ for everything but items can be also sold seperately for 7€ for a single tire set and 8€ for the single wheels set. I am also willing to take offers. These need to go! Might consider trading these for a set of HPI 26mm wheels or a set of x-pattern tires. Shipping is free for Europe.

So the summer season is now upon us, and Chippenham Model Car Club (CMCC) are venturing out from the safety of the school sports hall for the first time in 2016. All over the county, people are dusting off their buggies and charging up their grass-stained hardcase lipos ready to hit the turf. And, in true English fashion, the good weather of the weekend had broken, the clouds are rolling in and the forecast is for rain! I've spent the winter racing indoors at West Wilds Model Car Club (WWMCC), but Chippenham is only another 15 minutes up the road and it's much nicer to be out in the fresh air than stuck inside a windowless civic hall. So last night, much to the annoyance of my wife, I passed up on a round at WWMCC so I could drag my B4.1 Factory Team down out of the loft and make sure it still works. It's been a couple of years at least since it was last run, maybe longer. It was put back in the box after the last race and, apart from taking out the receiver and transponder, not touched since. I was surprised (and obviously pleased) to find everything pretty much as I left it. Nothing has rusted or seized, everything turns smoothly and there weren't any forgotten breakages. With a bit of Walking The Himalayas to add some white noise to the background, I grabbed a spare receiver and transponder and got it all wired up ready to go. First thing to find was my hardcase stick packs, expensive Turnigy Nano-Tech 5.3s that I bought some while ago and didn't use much. Imagine my dismay at seeing them both slightly bulging - naturally I stored them with full capacity, expecting to use them again, and because they don't fit my Tamiya bashers, I never did. They've had a few top-ups since they were stored but I haven't cycled them in probably over a year. Anyway, they both read near-full charge and the Core RC charger topped them off without making them explode, so they can't be too far gone yet. While they were sitting in the corner doing their ticking timebomb thing, I set to sorting the car's electrics. I actually went through 3 new (unopened) ORX receivers before I got one to bind - for some reason they were all on strike but eventually (after switching from the Etronix brushless speedo to the Probe WP in my M03) I got a signal out of one of them. Transferring it quickly to my B4 before it could unbind itself, I had some action. I threw in a charged pack and went for a test-run. I don't have any grass in my house and the nearest green space (only 5 mins walk away) is too overgrown for a 1:10 buggy, so I had a very careful run up and down the tarmac. I think I should get some tarmac tyres for the B4 so I can run it on the lane behind my house, just for setting up. Those tyres (I'm pretty sure they're the super-soft Prolines that we use for the final race, after the temperatures drops below the dewpoint) will shred themselves in seconds on tarmac. It's a pity I didn't think of getting the buddy out earlier, as I'd have liked to have my 2016 paint scheme on the shell instead of the crappy one I have (a personal favourite design of mine, but I accidentally picked up the "dull ruddy orange" instead of the "fluorescent red" when putting on the final colour so it looks totally lame), but there just wasn't time to get a new body ordered and painted in time. In other news, the wife was terribly upset that I interrupted her plans by staying home last night, so I promised I'd be out late tonight to give her plenty of space to do whatever it was she was planning on doing. This was before the weather reports started forecasting rain, so there's every chance I'll be looking for a pub to sit in for a few hours if the race is called off... Rain is just starting to hit the windows here! Anyway, fancy paint jobs don't win races, and I haven't raced buggies in some time, so I'll probably be back to basics in the slow heat and challenging to relearn my car. Watch this space for updates of "yay! racing outdoors is brilliant!" or "boo, it rained all night!" or "I broke my car again" soon

So it's been a fair few years since I did any kind of racing blog. In fact, it's been a while since I've raced at all. Apart from a few friendly one-day events in the summer, my RC life has been about custom projects and open bashing, but I've spent the last few Mondays hanging around at the local track chatting to some friends in the pits, and I figured, if I'm going to go to the effort of going to the track, I might as well take my Mini along and do some racing. My local club (WWMCC) has recently opened a new Mini class called Mini Clubman. It's designed to pull the Mini class back and stop it from becoming Touring Cars in 1:12 scale; when I gave up racing about a year ago, the M05 arms race was starting to get crazy and my ageing M03 was getting left behind. And if anyone turned up with an M06, well... it was game over for everybody else! So the open Mini category still exists (M-chassis size, front or rear wheel drive, Saturn 20 motor, otherwise totally unlimited), but the new Mini Clubman category is much more proscriptive: Standard M03 or M05 stock chassis Ball bearings Saturn 20 motor Sweep tyres Tamiya TRF shocks Open diff Otherwise, everything must be totally stock - no toe-in uprights or fancy adjustable turnbuckles or rigid alloy components. It's had quite an impact on laptimes, and it's changed everyone's driving style - especially going back to open diffs. It's interesting to see people going into corners on neutral throttle and powering out hard, whereas previously they were going in under throttle and staying on all the way round. Thinking that this sounds like a good way of passing my Monday evenings, I figured I'd clean up my old M03 and get "back to the track" I dimly remembered that my M03 was handling like a pig last time I raced it. I knew I wasn't far from taking a short-term retirement from racing anyway, and I'd probably come back with a new car when I returned, so I never bothered to look into it. Since then the car's shocks got borrowed for my wedding truck and it's been sat on the shelf looking very sorry for itself. So it was time for a bit of TLC. The shell isn't looking too bad for a car that completed a winter season and a one-day championship, and I didn't have time to cut and paint another, so I gave it a quick dust-over and thumbed off some rubber marks. I like to have a new shell every season but I've left it a bit late this year. Next I pulled the shocks off Project Ringpull. I don't have anything to replace them with, so Project Ringpull is now resting its transmission plate on a TLT tyre until I can get around to making some leaf springs. I'd adjusted the shocks out totally for Project Ringpull, but it only took half a minute to set them back to base for an M03 carpet racer (full soft on the rear, full hard on the front). Then I turned my attention to the M03 itself. It was clear to see that both front arms and one rear arm weren't moving smoothly. This is actually a very old M03, a rare gunmetal chassis traded from a member in Belgium and originally sitting under a Suzuki Wagon RR. I had a problem with seized arms before, after running it outside in the rain and then leaving it on the shelf for a year. All the arms came off and got washed - carpet racing makes for a real mess! The CVDs up front (not sure if they're legal in the Clubman class but they're all I've got) are looking the worse for wear, as are the outdrives, so once I've confirmed the rules I'll be ordering replacements. The stiffness problem in the arms was, again, down to rusted hinge pins. I got the worst of the rust off with some fine abrasive and then hand-polished then with a finishing compound - not a perfect solution but my machine shop is currently full of furniture (we're having some work done on our house) and I can't get to any of the power tools. I couldn't find any Tamiya assembly grease but I did find a pot of AW grease, which is sticky enough to coat the pins and gives a nice fluid feel to the suspension. Everything was reassembled and checked for smooth motion without binding before the shocks and wheels went back on. Here I can vent a matter of annoyance - I'd had a set of alloy locking wheel hexes in my Ebay watchlist for months, and last month I finally took the plunge and ordered 10 packs. There's few things more annoying than a hex getting stuck in a wheel and a drive pin falling out under the bench somewhere... Except these cheap hexes appear to have lock screws made of cheese, which are nowhere near strong enough to clamp the hex down over the pin before the head of the screw gets chewed up. Rant rant rant rant rant, worse than it was before, rant, should have gone with Tamiya, rant, waste of money, rant, waited for those for two weeks, rant, been on my watch list since February, rant... Anyway... I'd previously raced with a cheap Acoms servo, the ubiquitous comes-with-a-radio-set servo. Recently a batch of cheap servos arrived from HobbyKing, and I was pleased with the Trackstar servo in my TT02D, so I lobbed one into the M03. Must be better than the Acoms, although I'll probably have to dial in some expo as it's about 6 times as fast Still running with an ancient ESC (it actually came with the car years back), no LiPo cutoff but that's OK because I know my packs will last 3 rounds. All I have to do now is find my transponder and go racing another ridiculously long-winded post to follow tomorrow morning after my return to the track is done