Tamiya

Agree with Lunchbox.

Straight forward to build, fairly robust and cheap to repair should they crash it.

When the time comes, you can upgrade it quite a bit to get measured improvement in how it drives.

Loads of people seem to love the Konghead. Looks like a fun and original build as well.

I can vouch for the Monster Beetle.

Mine is over 30 years old...

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…cheap?

Happy to be guided, what’s the cheapest I can get something that’s reasonably robust and fixable?

Speed/performance not a factor at all.

Generally 'cheap' means integrated. Like Nikko etc.

So when one part breaks u have to replace everything.

Tamiya like Kyosho / Associated / Losi / Traxxas etc is generally modular.

But u will have to 'invest' up front. Or the Second hand route.

EBay have some good deals imo.

Kits often require a few extras to get them running, servos for steering, transmitter (controller) and receiver (bit on the car it pairs to) paint, sometimes motors and ESCs are separate too, so costs can rack up.

This is my Lunchbox - I’ve added wishbone front steering/suspension assembly, oil-dampened shocks, and a brushless motor setup.

Arguably a bit OTT!

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Made it out to West London Racing Centre. Great fun. Feel like I need a fast as fuck touring car now.

Not a Tamiya then…

And is WLRC the one out near/in Hillingdon?

Had a lot of fun building a Tamiya rising fighter with my lad. Pretty easy build, used a dumbo rc tx/rx off amazon and servo/speed controller from hobby king. Seems pretty robust. Kit was about 75 but the electronics batteries and charger add up.

TRF 421's are very competitive.

The cost though.!

Harsh…..

I think my comments are fair. For a competitive Tamiya Touring Car, you’ll need a TRF which will be ludicrously expensive. Or something more friendly on the wallet, but then with loads of upgrades.

Companies like Associated, HPI and XRay offer much more bang for buck, if you’re looking for a racing kit.

Not a Tamiya then…

Wouldn’t be adverse to a TC-01 or TB5. I wouldn’t race it, would just like something like a TT01 that doesn’t eat itself on anything hotter than a silver can.

Also a TC-01 would complete the inboard suspension trilogy

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I bought a TA07 second hand with a a load of hop ups that is pretty fast and I reckon would be pretty competitive at club level.

Maybe I should just mod my XV01 - it was hilarious fun on the onroad track. Body roll was amazing realistic. Shame it thermalled after five mins.

Does have a £15 speedo and motor running on 3s though

I know this is the Tamiya thread, but if I was going to race I'd find a club that was circuit racing Mardave minis and have loads of fun for no money.

Me too, tbh. Or Kamtecs. Or any budget pan car. They’re fantastic fun.

Fair on value, not on competitiveness.

Yes thats pedantic, but.. well…this is lfgss

My local club does a lot of that. And used to run the TT01 truck class which is the most fun you can have racing.

Wouldn’t be adverse

/eye twitch

Averse

I have an old TL01 I’m going to tidy up for my son, doesn’t have to be anything special but is there any good options to effectively space the wheels out to suit a 200mm body better?

I was thinking of 3D printing my own hex drive spacer with an extra ~5mm just make the wheels sit with the 200mm body we already have

You can get cheapish aluminium hexes with 5mm offsets. Just you may need longer axles however. You can also get offset rims, which takeaway the risk of needing longer axles.

Hmm yes good point, tarting about with axle lengths etc is a bit out of the scope of this project (mostly because i have too many projects)

I could alternatively look for a 190mm body, which might be easier