I have been racig off r0ad 5 weeks straight due to work schedule. Gave me time to work on my setup some more, the car works well, but to me it has a small push on power and slow rotation in the middle of the turn. Note: only in the stock class 17.5 non timing, in mod the car works fine I think because of the speed and momentum. I have tried all the the different set up angles and positions the car allows without extending the chassis. I believe that modifing the car structure and making  parts fit from other manufactures other then springs  is not in the best interest for  Tamiya and their customers. Small modifications using Tamiya parts are fine, because a customer may not buy a kit due to all the modification they see done and believe they need to do so the car works, in the other hand, small modifications using Tamiya parts can be seen as hop-ups or as replacement part when their original parts wear out. They do not need special tools or pay to get them done.
   Sorry, (off track for a minute) back to the CVD mod. I came to this conclusion  after looking at a B4 and noticing that their CVD had a retainer over the pin and no set screw. I know the TRF714 and TRF801 have the same design, on the 417 not having set screw in the CVD makes a big and noticeable difference in steering, with the set screw the car pushes going in chaters in the middle and pushes out the turn, with out the set screw chattering is eliminated car rotates free and no more push, I belive it has the same effect on the TRF201.
  You will need Tamiya parts  51444 TRF cross joint set, 54016 DB01 assembly universal shaft (rear), drill and a dremmil with a cutting wheel.





  Step 1:  Chuck the axle on the drill, spining it slowly, take the dremmil and scare a straight line across the pin holes of the axle as shown in the picture. Note: you do not need to cut, just scare the metal to hold the retainer.



  Step 2:   Test fit retainer, make sure it does not move left or right from the pin holes.



  Step 3:   Assemble the universal.



  Step 4:   Install on TRF 201 






    I have practiced and raced with this CVD five times, twice in mod and three times in stock with no problems. In stock my lap times improved by two tenths and 90% of my push is gone.

   
  

Hello Team:

Since I didn't wish anybody Merry Christmas, I would like to wish you and your families,
Happy New Years...enjoy it!! and I hope to see you at the local tracks supporting your team.

 On December 17th & 18th, the KO PROPO Off- Road Championship will take place at West Coast R/C raceway.  I'd like to take this opportunity to invite everybody to attend, race, and support KO PROPO and its drivers.

There will have a few professional drivers in attendence as well as other manufacturers and their drivers, this is a great opportunity to bring the RC community together and have some fun at the same time.
Sign up in advance at West Coast or online at rcsignup.com, you can also sign up at the event.

Make sure all you Tamiya fans and drivers attend as well to support your brand of high quality off road RC products.

See you at the race!

   Turing car racing at West Coast has improved, now that we have a new race director, we are up to seven heats of mini, intermidiate, sportman, and expert. 
   We have a large Tamiya mini class, some times up to three full heats. We need more Tamiya turing cars to come and race. It seams that I am the only one most of the time.
    There is no Mod class so I have been racing the 17.5 non timing class with my TA 05 MS with 417 suspension, at first Igot the car because it looks cool and something to play with, but it works well so I started to race it. I hope to see more Tamiyas at the track!

Hello Racers
    I want  call out all the on road racers to come out and race Tuesday night at West Coast Raceway. First, to revive our hobby and second to support the local tracks.
   I do not understand why we have three local tracks and no racing. I hear just complains: the curbs are to high, traction is high, etc. We are human, our nature is to complain. If we had nothing to complain about, it will be a perfect world, last I checked it is not so. But the thing I really do not understand is that when life throws you a curve, you complain, vent, and deal with it. You can not stop paying attention, because you will have bigger problem. Same thing should apply at the track. I bet if you ask a professional car racer about the track, their in at the time, they will have something to say and they still race.
  I went to Cal Raceway last Saturday. I was told a lot of people were going to race, and only eight showed up so we did not race. The only normal thing at the track was the complains: track is dirty, no traction, the bump on the straight. They forgot about the board on the straight sticking out, which I hit and broke my car and body. That is the  best example and experience we have on dealing the tracks and their conditions.  That will not prevent me racing there again, the only thing that keeps me from going back is a small thing called work. That is why you hardly see me club racing on weekends. 
  Two days after my awesome wreck I received a phone call from one of the races asking me about my car and how I felt with a small "haha" after. I told him, everything was fine, he ask me if I will race on Sunday I told him "no, because I work", He replied "are you sure? or because of your  experience that day?". It was just a caster block that broke along with the body, nothing major but sometimes this things happen.    Remember, this is a hobby, we do for fun to forget about the real problems. So come on and support the local tracks before we loose them. 
 

Hi
  Last month was hard work with RC X, Toyota Gran Prix, X Ray challenge and this thing called work with a littel bit of life get in the way racing.
  It has bin about two months that I got the 417 and the 201. I have raced them and tried different setups. I was told to post a setup when I first got the cars but I did not want to post just to post, so, after a lot of club racing, I got something. For the 201 I got some good feeedback from two Pros and some local drivers, for the 417 I got two diffrent setups one for Solara tires and another for the X Ray Challenge Sweep tires.
  I hope these setups works for whoever wants to try them.

Hello
     I received my 201 on a Sunday pulled a all nighter and some of Monday night putting it together I have to say it went together well.     I went to West Coast on Tuesday to race some on road and see if I had time to run the 201 but the body was not painted,  no electronics. Luckily not a lot of people showed up to race, so my race began to get the 201 ready to run , I got it painted and electronics in with 30 minutes before closing, I  put it on the trak did not even take of the window masking off.
    To tell you the truth, I was not expecting much because I heard that the car pushes off the track going in and coming out of turns, but to my surprise the car felt fine, yes, it had some push (under steer) only on high speed turning in, I ran out the battery and it was time to close, so I went home with the feeling that I didn't have enough time to ran the car. So I went back on Thrusday night practice. 
  A couple of weeks ago I got to drive a 2 wheel buggy from a pro (will keep him nameless) and the car felt almost the same the 201 did have a little more push going into the turns than the other buggy. One of the guys from West Coast (Chet) help me change the set up on the car and just by changing front and rear position the car was good.
  The next day I was looking throug the manual for part numbers to place an order when I noticed that I put the  shock pistons in the wrong place, the book calls for 1.3 in the front and 1.4 in the rear I had them backwards, I do not know if that is the reason my car feels good or driving style.
   Finally I do not understand all the complaint, the car is very good out the box, the only thing to look into would be getting the 25degree caster blocks. And with that said I was IMPRESSED.

Hello
     Last week I got to run my 417. I ran the box setup, it was not that bad but we started running modified, the car had some push (under steer) entering and exiting the turn. I slowly when back to my 416X set up and the car works just fine. I was able to put down some decent lap times and qualified fifth was not able to finishied the race due to a caution on the track. Going racing today, see you there....

Thank you Sean for the warm welcome. Also, thanks to Tamiya USA (Fred) for let me officially be on the team.

I received my new 417 and I already put it together. I am very anxious to try it on Tuesday night.