Which M chassis?

[gresh2811 0]

Me and my son want to race with the tamiya M chassis at Sheffield Don Valley Stadium, but we're not sure whether to go with the M-03 or the M-05.

Any advice on the two chassis would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Craig

[Blacque Jacque 4]

Having raced both recently, my advice would be to go for an M05. Not that the M03 is a bad chassis, far from it, but the 05 is better.

The 05 corners flatter, allowing you to carry a little more corner speed & get the power on earlier. It also doesn't suffer from the bump steer or excess negative camber of the 03 when the suspension is compressed.

It does suffer from a left side weight bias, but the 03 has that too. It can be corrected with a little ingenuity.

A ball bearing kit for it is a must, unless you buy the M05 Pro version (which also comes with oil shocks).

Kit shocks in the standard M05 are pretty poor, basically the same friction shocks as with the TT01. A set of super mini CVA's will be an improvement.

Tyre choice depends on club rules, running surface etc etc.

Find out what the majority use at the club & go with those, if they work for everyone else, they'll work for you.

[digitrc 0]

I would certainly go with the M-05 over the M-03 - mainly because it is the car that is getting developments.

HOWEVER bear in mind that a straight-out-of-the-box standard M-05 has some issues with the steering design which makes it very wandery on the straights. The out-of-the-box M-03 doesn't suffer in the same way. You can solve the M-05's steering issues with some well chosen hop-ups and shimming, but if you are not keen on spending time and money on the car, and M-03 might be a bit easier to get along with.

[djmcnz 754]

I've read up on this specific topic recently actually and the short answer is that I'd get an M03 to start with as a beginner. Much if what I offer below is garnered from this thread on RCTech (start with the last 10/20 pages).

You need to at least change the dampers and add bearings with either chassis. The M03 is apparently more stable out of the box and easier to tune at silver can level. The M05 is getting the modern enhancements.

If I were you and could plan ahead 9-12 months; I'd get an M03 now, bearings, dampers and perhaps steering Hop-Ups, run with a silver or black can and get used to it then after a while grab a M05 Pro chassis kit, swap over your wheels, electrics and body and go for it!

[TenzoR 62]

Shameless plug, but I do have both for sale

As for which one is better, well to be honest, it's 5% car, and 95% driving skill.