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NobbySideways

This one will divide the forum... best handling buggy....

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So this is aimed at the people who have a few Tamiya buggies and can do a direct comparison. Which of your buggies is the grippiest at speed? Which one do you think would be subjecting the "driver" to the most G force?

I love watching the straight line speed trials people are doing but for my own fun you can't beat a buggy that can corner like a house fly whilst going at a rate of knots.

For clarity I'm talking more at the hobby end of the market rather than the TRF racing kit etc.

Any opinions?

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Best handling Tamiya buggies will of coures be the TRF kits. Well that's pretty obvious.

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Handling on tarmac? Rough? Sand? Grass?

surely we rule out any 2wd buggies straight away? More fun but better handling?Ā 
Ā 

if we apply 1:1 principlesĀ 

even distribution of weight over wheelsĀ (so rules out motor at the back)

wide track

short wheel base

4WDĀ 

JJ

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Best Tamiya buggy I ever drove was the Astute. That thing was low and tight and gripped like badword.Ā 

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Give me any Tamiya buggy and Iā€™ll roll it in a few seconds!

I can still hear the sound my newĀ Porsche 959 shell made (upside down sliding) on tarmac during its maiden voyage inĀ 1988!

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"best handling" and "grippiest" are not necessarily the same thing.Ā  With the right tyres and a set of oil shocks, on a good surface most buggies will generate more grip than gravity.Ā  There's no point in throwing a buggy flat-out into a hairpin if it will understeer into the barrier or spin the back end out under power, but equally there's no point throwing it into a hairpin if the tyres dig in and flip it upside down.

Out of the box, and set up as per kit instructions, it will really depend on the track surface.Ā  IME Tamiya pinspikes (Top Force etc) tyres grip well enough to turn the car over on a grippy surface like astroturf.Ā  When matching tyres and setup to conditions, you're not just trying to maximise grip - you're trying to balance traction, side bite andĀ consistency.Ā  Better to have a car that predictably understeers than a car which will oversteer on tight corners and grip-roll on wide ones.

So, in answer to the question, the car with the best grip is the one with the grippiest tyres fitted ;)

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3 minutes ago, A-Baum said:

Best Tamiya buggy I ever drove was the Astute. That thing was low and tight and gripped like badword.Ā 

I agree. I loved mine. I wishĀ I never gave it away.

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2 minutes ago, Nicadraus said:

I agree. I loved mine. I wishĀ I never gave it away.

I just found old old old emails from ebay where I sold off my childhood RC car collection in the early 2000s.Ā  Killing me.Ā  Blackfoot, monster beetle, fox, astute, fire dragon. Like $75 a car too. Would love to punch my 23 year old self in the face.

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I have a grasshopper, super astute, terra scorcher, vanquish and an egress.

Easiest to get round a track fast, in order from best to worst

Vanquish

Terra scorcher

Super astute

Egress

Grasshopper

The 4wd's have had tyres swapped between them so ive tried them all on the same tyres.

Egress obviously needs more set up!

However, they are all eclipsed by my procat which has a habit of just doing exactly what you want it to whenever you tell it to do it. But its not tamiya, so lets just forget it exists šŸ˜‚

Ā 

Edit to say, apart from the grasshopper and the rears on the super astute, they all have schumacher tyres though. Ive sort of given up on tamiya tyres.

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51 minutes ago, Nicadraus said:

Best handling Tamiya buggies will of coures be the TRF kits. Well that's pretty obvious.

Ā 

1 hour ago, NobbySideways said:

For clarity I'm talking more at the hobby end of the market rather than the TRF racing kit etc.

Ā 

It's an interesting little debate, as I suspected it would be. I agree handling and all out grip are not really the same thing, maybe I should have said "Which is the most agile chassis?" as that more clearly represents what I mean.

As a side point, I am also aware that the best cars to drive are not always the most fun....Ā Ā ;)

Ā 

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57 minutes ago, jameswrx said:

Give me any Tamiya buggy and Iā€™ll roll it in a few seconds!

I can still hear the sound my newĀ Porsche 959 shell made (upside down sliding) on tarmac during its maiden voyage inĀ 1988!

My mates 959 spent a badword of a lot of time sliding down the road on its roof haha

JJ

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17 minutes ago, NobbySideways said:

Ā 

Ā 

It's an interesting little debate, as I suspected it would be. I agree handling and all out grip are not really the same thing, maybe I should have said "Which is the most agile chassis?" as that more clearly represents what I mean.

As a side point, I am also aware that the best cars to drive are not always the most fun....Ā Ā ;)

Ā 

This is true. The best cars are always well behavedĀ on and off the track. The most fun are the ones you can do a lot of bashing and drive them crazily the way you want them to behave or be wild.

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I don't know about "best" (which is subjective anyway), but I can tell you which one I found most surprising: Fast Attack Vehicle. It's nice and neutral, and turns in tighter than I expected, and is very hard to flip.

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Don't laugh: TTG GB01 with the right hop ups (dampers/motor/tires). A few years back I could match 1/10 standard 540 powered buggy's.Ā 

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2 hours ago, markbt73 said:

one I found most surprising: Fast Attack Vehicle

I second that.Ā  It was released right after Hornet in 1984.Ā  It is clunky for sure, when compared to 21st century buggies.Ā  But it's surprisingly well balanced.Ā Ā 

I haven't thought to put 1 way bearing in DF01, but @MadInventor's got something, because I've heard that Manta Ray with one-way treatment is superb too.Ā Ā 

On that note, I nominate Manta Ray too.Ā Ā 

Ā 

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Assuming that anything TRF is out, then I suspect that DN01 and DB01 would win here, but I have driven neither.

From my experience the earlier buggies up to Manta Ray are out, while they look great they just don't perform as well.Ā  This leaves the Top Force vs TT02B, and ofĀ  course the answer is "it depends".Ā  I think on tarmac a TT02B would probably be a bit quicker as its really a touring car with long arms.Ā  The Top Force would be the best as a buggy though as it jumps really well.Ā  The sideways battery makes a big difference, as does the greater ground clearance.Ā  It could be set up better for tarmac too, so the Top Force gets my vote.

I can't think of anything else that would fit the bill - was the DF03 much of an improvement over the DF01?Ā  Thats probably the only outlier in there.

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Neo Scorcher.Ā  Short wheelbase, and low center of gravity and 4wd.Ā  I've never had a fancy TRF but I think for the money the Neo Scorcher handles great.Ā 

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6 hours ago, 78Triumph said:

Neo Scorcher.Ā  Short wheelbase, and low center of gravity and 4wd.Ā  I've never had a fancy TRF but I think for the money the Neo Scorcher handles great.Ā 

Thatā€™s good to hear. Iā€™ll be getting the rere soon šŸ¤©

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8 hours ago, 78Triumph said:

Neo Scorcher.Ā  Short wheelbase, and low center of gravity and 4wd.Ā  I've never had a fancy TRF but I think for the money the Neo Scorcher handles great.Ā 

Given my current experience (not much - recently drove a mate's Dirt Thrasher - love the name - and another mate's Hornet) I agree on the Neo Scorcher. I have a set of drift wheels for it and it's great fun on concrete; with the stock tyres it ran really well on the outdoor astroturf track at St.Ives. It pretty much goes where you point it, and was nice and predictable through corners. Not it's not going to win any champsionships but I liked how it handled

As for fun (not necessarily the best handling) the Hornet beats it. Then there's the Frog but I have to build that first!

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