Tamiya TRF414MII

Radio Control Car Action, Sep 2002 by Pond, Steve

We test Tamiya's world championship winner

DURING A CONVERSATION I HAD A FEW YEARS AGO with a prominent RC manufacturer, we discussed what the result would be if a company such as Tamiya ever decided to fully develop a race car. Sure, Tamiya had introduced "race" cars in the past, but what we speculated about was the kind of vehicle that could be produced if Tamiya focused its considerable resources on the full development of a competition car. Tamiya products have a reputation for exceptional quality. The company is a master of molding composites, and that's a critical element of a modern competition touring car's construction. We agreed that Tamiya would be very tough competition if it ever set its sights on the racing market. Well. guess what? Tamiya went racing!

The TRF414MII is the latest in a generation of competition touring cars that was begun four years ago. The genesis of the program was the TRF404X; it was followed by the limited-production TRF414X that mostly went to team drivers. Subsequent versions were the TRF414, the TRF414X and, most recently, the 414M. During four years of testing and R&D, Tamiya engineers have continued to refine the machine, and the latest version is the TRF414MII; this is the car that recently earned the title of IFMAR world champion!

VEHICLE TYPE Belt-drive 1/10-scale competition touring car

BEST BUYER Experienced racer

KIT RATINGS (poor, satisfactory, good, very good, excellent)

Instructions Good

Parts fit and finish Excellent

Durability Good

Overall performance Excellent

MANUFACTURER Tamiya

MODEL TRF414MII

DISTRIBUTED BY Tamiya USA

SCALE 1/10

PRICE $425

(Price varies with dealer)

DIMENSIONS

Wheelbase 10.24 in. (260mm)

Width 7.44 in. (189mm)

WEIGHT

Total, as tested 52.5 oz. (1,488g)

CHASSIS

Type Double-deck plate

Material 2mm woven-graphite plate with alloy bulkheads

DRIVE TRAIN

Type Dual belt

Primary 30T pinion/128T spur

Transmission ratio 15T/32T pulleys; 2.13:1

Final drive ratio, as tested 9.10:1

Drive shafts Constant Velocity

Differentials (F/R) Ball type with Delrin outdrives/center and front one-ways

Bearing type Metal-shielded

SUSPENSION

Type Molded-graphite lower H-arms with steel turnbuckle camber upper links

Shocks Threaded aluminum body with Teflon shaft guides and bladder seal

WHEELS

Type Tamiya medium-narrow blue, dish wheels with zero offset

TIRES

Type Sorex 36R competition belted rubber

KIT FEATURES

CHASSIS. The MII includes a woven-graphite, double-deck chassis, and both decks are 2mm thick. It forms a very solid backbone once all the components have been assembled. The lower plate supports two battery configurations: stick and saddle pack. In the U.S., it seems odd to accommodate stick packs for a high-end race car, but RC racing rules in Japan require a stick pack.

Signature blue-anodized aluminum bulkheads connect the chassis plates. The blue hardware is available only on the MII; it's also a visible characteristic that distinguishes the M from the MII.

DRIVE TRAIN. The 414MII's drive train is all business; it was designed for racing-nothing but racing. The spur gear is sandwiched between a blue-- anodized hub and a graphite plate, and that helps keep the gear running straight. Three spur gears are included in the kit: 112-, 120- and 128-tooth.

The spur gear is attached to the upper shaft, which has a solidly mounted pulley that drives the rear belt and a one-way pulley for the front belt. A solid front drive pulley isn't included, but a flat has been ground into the layshaft for an optional pulley that could be mounted in place of the front layshaft one-way.

A well-made ball differential with an assembled, high-quality thrust washer, indexed diff rings and lightweight Delrin outdrives with retainer rings is installed in the rear. The front of the car is equipped with one-way bearings, and that makes the MII a double one-way rig right out of the box.

Constant Velocity (CV) drive shafts connect the diffs to the axles. Each is fitted with an aluminum 12mm hex hub, and steel pins held in place with O-ring retainers index the nice-looking hubs to the CV drive shafts.

SUSPENSION AND STEERING. As with its predecessors, the Ml's suspension comprises molded lower H-arms with adjustable upper links; however, the arms are molded from a very rigid graphite composite, and that is a dramatic departure from the more flexible materials typically used in Tamiya kits.

Each arm has adjustable down-travel, but the shocks are the only uptravel limiters. The suspension arms are affixed to the chassis with aluminum mounts that are separate from the bulkheads. This allows a very wide range of roll-center, anti-squat and anti-dive adjustments, all of which the world champ used to his advantage to win the most coveted title.

Two of the six included swaybars are installed-one at each end of the car. Steel turnbuckle upper links are found at each corner; I'm glad that turnbuckles are included, but I would prefer them to be titanium. Each graphite shock tower has six camber-link mounting positions, but Tamiya extended the inside of the upper links to the aluminum bulkheads instead.