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The graphite chassis
setup on this Yokomo is interesting enough, but
look closely at it: doesn't it look like these
only 4 cells? At first I thought it was a 4 +
2 arrangement, but now I think it's only 4 cells.
A 6 cell version of the chassis would be cool
though, like the Penguuin kit.
I'm not sure if this
is a super pro version of the MR4TC for Yokomo's
lastest IFMAR title, as the site where this came
from was completely in Japanese, but that's my
best guess. The car seems to have several of the
upper plate crossbraces milled out...
Daisuke Yoshioka's 5th
place HPI Pro2, the only HPI in the A at the Worlds.
Looks like there's a lot of aluminum stuff on
his car, rumor has it that the team drivers used
many prototype parts. Some called it the Pro2.5.
The new Honda Prelude
body from HPI, Looks like its a 200mm job for
all you gas racers out there.
Here's a bigger picture
of the Team X-Ray car from the News page. The
car looks a little cleaner than the C4, hopefully
it will be at the Chicago show so we can get a
better look at it. It also has more battery slots
on the left so you can change the weight bias,
as well as the same pivot ball type suspension
as the C4/Serpent Impulse. Team
X-Ray
What the hell is this?
A 1/24 scale shaft driven 4WD! ABC Hobby of Japan
makes this crazy ride. Now you too can lay it
down upon your friends Tripmates and Tamtechs
with 4wd POWAAAHH!
Speaking of funky rides,
Hpi brings us this contraption, the Suzuki Grand
Vitara Super Nitro Rally. Gran Turismo kooks know
about the insane Susuki hill climber from that
game, and this appears to be the next generation.
Is it just me or is
this bizarro stuff not ending? This is the Kyosho
KX1. I've heard people talking about designing
cars like this, but the only thing I've seen that
was close was the Xpress BCCK conversion, but
that used saddle packs. Must be fun mounting electronics
on this guy.
This shot of the KX1's
rear end is sort of interesting. Could this car
have just one belt? It looks like diff is trapped
by the two grapite side plates of the car. suppose
the vertical orientation of the side plates is
supposed to keep fore/aft flex to a minimum, sort
of like the Kawada's VOLT chassis.
On the more conventional tip, here's the Kyosho
V-One R. Everybody and their brother has a 1/8
scale style touring car these days, and since
Kyosho wants back into the competition scene,
they are no exception. The design here looks similar
to the Serpent/Mugen/Yokomo/OFNA setup. With IFMAR
getting ready to implement rules for 1/10 .12
tourng car competition, those who are not rethinking
their car's design are not going to be competetive.
Anybody notice that the Associated Nitro TC3 that
was supposed to come out after the electric car
stil isn't here? Cliff Lett is no dummy, you may
see a car closer to this that the electric that's
out now.
This is the underside shot of the V-One R. Once
again Kyosho has taken the road most travelled,
and gone with the narrow 1/8 scale style aluminum
chassis. The car also has the threaded shocks,
2 speed, centered gas tank, etc. .12 Nitro TC
should start to get very interesting this year.
It won't be long before you start seeing whole
A mains of pro drivers at National events.
Hey, it's some new Tamiya F1 cars! Looks like
Tamiya couldn't get the rights to the Ferrari
car, but it's pretty obvious what it is. It's
really too bad they don't make a CLK-GTR on a
F103 that can shoot up into the air and do flips
and cartwheels when you use the third channel
on your radio.
Tamiya is showing a TA04 tub on this car, but
i'm not sure why. They already have a FRP stick
pack chassis standard on the '04, and most people
want a graphite saddle pack chassis. Like I said
before, the site where this came from was entirely
in Japanese, so if you know,or can read Japanese,
let
me know
The long awaited TB01 Evolution, in the flesh.
It would be kind of weird for Tamiya to have 2
competitive cars out at once, but I see reports
on the Internet about TB01s doing well at the
races. Usually they have about $500 worth of options
in the car, but that's what the Evolution eliminates.
Of course we still have to see what the car will
cost in the US.
Here's your TB01 kit laid out for inspection.
Looks like you get the new threaded shocks, the
long arms, universals, some good tires...
For all of you Tamiya fanatics who did buy a TB01
and spend $500 bucks getting it working, here's
the next thing you need: the long suspension arm
set. One thing you can always count on Tamiya
for, and that's option parts. Anyways, it looks
like it's a total bolt on kit, nothing extra to
buy if the box contains everything in the picture.
I hear all you Yokomo and Associated drivers snickering
out there, but how much did the graphite chassis,
threaded shocks, lite outdrives, etc.etc.etc.
cost? I thought so...
It's back, the Tyrell 6 wheeled F1. Tamiya is
reissueing one of the most rare early r/c models,
but with a modified F103 chassis under the body.
There's a lot of scouring of Ebay for the original
car, so it looks like Tamiya gave in and brought
the 6 wheeler out again. The nutty part is that
the full size cars were actually raced in competition.
It would be kind of neat to see these cars running
at the Tamiya Nats though.
That's it for the latest batch of pilfered Japanese
r/c photos. The website can be found
here, good luck figuring out what's up if
you don't read the language. I'm hoping some of
this stuff shows up at the Chicago Show so I can
find out more. I'll pas along any good stuff on
the website.
Rob
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