F103 hints, tips and advice please

[Superba 4]

I am in the middle of building the Tyrell p34. As a kid it always caught my imagination and recently I have had incredible fun racing M05’s with a friend on a tarmac race course. Now I have an excuse to try this, but just wanted to know mostly about suspension settings, tyres and motors. The suspension and damping is unusual for me. The friction damper instructions say to put a little damper oil on them which to me makes them frictionless! Do I need to tighten it much or does it really make a difference? The model I had came with foam tyres which feel very grippy, advice on if there is better out there! Also it has a torque tuned and I will certainly get used to the car first with that but I assume it is worth upgrading in time. Lastly is the pinion, I assume we can increase this for higher top speed? The course I race on is for up to 1/5 so it is relatively quick for this vehicle. Thoughts and advice always welcome.

[Jonathon Gillham 4605]

I'm by no means an expert but have a TRF102 and F103 which I've taken racing and mucked around with a few things.

Friction damper - no idea.  I don't know if it matters what you do with it. Mine have normal oil filled dampers and i make them soft for more rear grip.

I have been running Pit Shimizu rubber tyres, soft rears and medium fronts, in both F103 and F104 size (I swap front end on my TRF102 depending on surface). I find them really good but they may have shut up shop now so could be unavailable.

Motor - I run 21.5T brushless as per class rules in my TRF102. This is plenty fast enough and can easily make the car switch ends. I run an FDR around 2.5ish with a 21.5T motor. My son has a silver can and stock gearing in his F103 and its really easy to drive, no traction issues at all but not a rocketship. You could run a faster motor but really 21.5T is a nice balance for the chassis, I suspect much faster and you would want a gyro

[TurnipJF 9180]

The Tyrell P34 with its 6 wheels is a bit unusual even by f103 standards. You can get rubber tires for the front that were supplied with the earlier Tyrell P34 releases, however they are quite rare and don't grip particularly well. You would probably be better off sticking with foams. If the Tamiya ones start getting rare, you can also look at front wheels and tyres used on Mardaves and GT12s, which I gather can be persuaded to fit.

The friction damper doesn't make a huge amount of difference to the cards handling. Your primary means of tuning for grip is tyre choice. For example, on my mate's f-104, the spring adjuster fell off mid-race and so did several other parts of the friction damper, rendering it totally ineffective. However he noticed no difference to the handling. The first time he realised something was amiss was when he took the shell off to change the battery after the race. (This reminds me: It is worth putting a small o-ring on the top of the friction damper post to stop the adjuster and springs from going their separate ways.)

Most clubs use the 21.5 turn brushless standard for F1 racing, and this is a good fit for the chassis. However if you want to keep it old school, a sport tuned would be an upgrade relative to the torque tuned, without being too fast for the chassis.

[Superba 4]

Thanks all. Puzzled on the instructions to fit the rear wheels. Is number 26 on the instruction for the left wheel and then 27 and 28 for the right rear? Not sure which side the thrust bearing should go on I guess I use a wheel hub on both sides even though it does not say to do so? Is it me or has Tamiya let themselves down for once on the instructions?

[Superba 4]

Ignore my last question, I had a senior moment.....