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Old 23-11-2011
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sim sim is offline
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When it comes to racing, Tamiya sticks to what works, which is why TRF buggies have a pretty boring design once you've seen their older cousins from as JConcepts, Yokomo and Associated.

When it comes to their low to mid range kits, they let their engineers have some fun. This time, they wanted to try out a sideways motor, a sideways battery and shafts, so they did. This buggy should have a high moment of inertia along an axis through the length of its chassis, but a low moment of inertia perpendicular to that (i.e. when viewed sideways). From past cars, we can guess that it will handle bumps well but will be slow in sideway transitions. I'm thinking it's also going to lean to the left a lot when it jumps.

They could have done the transmission Awesomatix style to simplify things...

... but I think they wanted the spur and layshaft to be as solidly mounted as possible on the far side since the spur side will be taken up by a slipper clutch option later.

It's new and different which is what is significant. Will it drive better than a 502 or even a DB01? I seriously doubt it. Will it sell? Who knows? Some people will buy the car thinking a new design will solve all their driving problems. Some people will buy the car to be different from their friends at the track. Some people will buy the car to put on a shelf.

Although I agree that the overall buggy itself is not a step forward in design evolution, but this transmission might actually be ahead of its time. If motors get smaller/more powerful, I don't see why we wouldn't use this complicated contraption. I for one would put a custom build together to see it work.

Hmm...
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