After a season of on-road racing with my TB-03 in the RCGT series, I was ready to take a break and try something else.  I've been racing off-road on and off for the past year, and had decent success at the local club race scene.  However, I mostly did 2WD off-road trucks and short course trucks, I didn't want to start off with 4WD as I really wanted to learn a good trigger finger by driving 2WD first before jumping into 4WD.

With the RCGT series on break, I decided to pick up a TRF511, Tamiya's top of the line 4WD buggy.  In the process of building this vehicle you can see the immense amount of quality that Tamiya has put into the TRF511.  All the graphite and aluminum parts just look imaculate (almost too good to get dirty).  In fact, I think there were more machined parts than molded parts on the car.  While at first glance, the TRF511 looks very similar to its predecessor the TRF501x, the 511 is a complete redesign on many components.  From the aluminum bulkheads, to the suspension components, everything has been refined.

I spent a good amount of time making sure that my first 4WD buggy was put together precisely and it really pays off at the track when you take the time off the track to put together your car/truck correctly.  I had a great first few outing of practice with the TRF511.   The TRF511 responded very well to changes.  The buggy shows you what the changes you made is doing on the track and allows you to fine tune very quickly. 

The TRF511 is also a very durable buggy.  With very little experience in 4WD buggy, it was quite a learning experience at first jumping and landing and getting used to how the power come on for the 4WD buggy.  So I had my share of nasty tumbles, and I'm happy to say that the TRF511 took it all without breaking a sweat.  The only thing I broke during my two full days of practice was a front A-arm and a front C-hub split due to a full speed encounter with a pipe down the straight-away. 

In my next blog entry I will share my first race with the TRF511 at the final round of JBRL electric series.

Steve W.

After racing/practicing my TB03 for several months in the competitive RCGT 17.5 class, it is safe to say that the TB-03 shaft drive has proven to be a great platform in this class of competition.  In fact, in the local RCGT series, the top two cars in contention for the overall series in are both shaft cars.  One piloted by the extremely fast TRF driver Jimmy Wright and one by Jeffrey Lin of OFNA (their new shaft car).  Upon close inspection of the expert class drivers, quite a few of them select the shaft cars to be their vehicle of choice in RCGT. One of the reason for shaft cars and their slight edge in 17.5 class have to do with the efficiency of the shaft drive, which in the 17.5 motor application it delivery the least amount of power loss to the wheels with the efficiency of the simple and smooth shaft drive.  Sometimes with my TB-03 I have to be careful if I set the car on a slightly angled table, it'll just roll off the table (even with the motor/pinion gear installed). 
In the recent round 4 of RCGT series at Speed Tech R/C's parking lot track, I decided to compete in the expert class with my TB-03.  While I definitely don't have the pace of the top 2 contender of the series, I was happy to qualify 4th into the A-main on a track that I have never raced on before.  And I was right on pace with 3rd qualifier (and 3rd place in the series) Paul Dabao, who put the only belt car in the top 4.  What I noticed throughout the qualifiers on this tight track is how quickly the TB-03 can accelerate out of the corner.  The burst of acceleration is incredible, and in comparison to some of the belt cars on the track coming out of the same corners, the TB-03 can easily pull 4-5 feet out of the turn.  The tricky part about shaft cars is usually in the setup in regards to approach into the turns as shaft cars often carries a lot more momentum and speed into the turn due to the smooth/simple drivetrain not causing much drag.  Especially now with brushless motors, the shaft cars really rolls free while running.  But a bit of drag brake and a bit more time with setup, I'm confident that I could have gotten my TB-03 more dialed in.
TRF driver Jimmy Wright's car ran awsome all day and he took the TQ position after two rounds of qualifying proving that he was the man to beat that day.  In the main event, 10 cars on a small tight track makes for some intense racing/passing/fender banging/and door rubbin.  I'm not sure what exactly happened, but Jeffrey Lin finished 1st just ahead of Jimmy.  But the shaft cars proved their worth as the top 2 cars were again shaft cars, in fact, 4 out of the top 6 cars were all shaft cars (with myself in 5th unfortunately after a really bad crash at the start). 
So the TB-03 definitely proving to be a solid platform for competition in 17.5/RCGT racing.   We'll see what happens next with just 2 more rounds of RCGT racing left in the series :)

Steve Wang

After a long weekend of 100+ degrees weather, another TCS Nationals was in the books.  As with every year, we saw great competition in all the classes, and this year especially in the trip to Japan class of GT-2 and Mini.  Congrats to the winners:  Lee, Timmy, Michael, and good luck in Japan.  Is it me or the winner of each year's TCS gets younger and younger??

TCS National was also my first ever F1 race and it was definitely a huge learning experience.  I had a great car during Friday practice and was easily able to put the car anywhere I wanted on the track and ran with competitive speeds as other F103 and F104 on the track.  However, came Saturday it seems like I had a completely different car.  I knew something was wrong with the car, but I just can't seem to find it.  I struggled through 3 rounds of dismal qualifying with a car that hooks going left and pushes going right.  Needless to say I was baffled all day through qualifying until after the final round I saw the problem that was causing this mysterious tweak in my car:  The capacitor that I installed for the 32T motor was hanging up on the F1 body thus allowing the T-plate to twist only to one side (which explained the hooking left pushing right problem).  Now I've checked the T-plate during the day along with other components of the car, but that was all done with the body off.  The problem only occurs with the body installed.  Quickly I took a pair of pliers to snip off the capacitor and took a few more laps before the track was closed.  Instantly the car felt more balanced (even with the slightly dirty tires).  Saturday night I tore down the entire car down to the nuts and bolts and rebuilt it over night in preparation for final round of qualifying on Sunday.  Lesson learned:  Make sure you check for tweaks on your F1 car with the body on at some point as well. Final round of qualifying Sunday the car was back to its old self like Friday practice, and I was able to put in a good mid-field pack time.  Lining up 8th on the grid with the likes of past Champion Rod Canare, TRF Driver Dave Jun is certainly intimidating, but I knew I had a car that was working much better.  I actually got off to a good start for the 8 minute main and found myself up a few positions after lap 1, but a brain fade mistake on lap 2 at turn 1 dropped me down to near last place (and unfortunately taking out past champion Mark Dawson in the process).  But it's a long race, and I knew I had a good car underneath me, I just need to drive it.

Top 5 from the Expert A-main goes into the F1 grudge match at the end of the day (where top 5 sportsman F1 go head to head with Top 5 expert F1).  Towards the end of the 8 minute main, I was in 6th place with one more place to go to make it to the grudge match.  With two laps to go I see the 5th place car in sight, and as he exit the sweeper, he spun loose and I was able to squeez by underneath.  On the final lap, the only thing I have to worry about was the hard charging past TCS GT-1 Champion Mark Dawson, who looks to be about a straight away and a half behind, so as long as I don't make a huge mistake, I should make the grudge match.  Crossing the line for the final time I was relieved when Fred Medel read off the top 5 finish and I squeezed in for the final 5th position.  The grudge match was definitely owned by the top Sportsman F1 driver Austin Brumbley (this kid is amazing!).  He destroyed the field putting all expert driver almost 1 lap down.  In fact, the top 5 from sportsman F1 can definitely give all the expert F1 guys a run for their money as there was definitely no shortage of talent in the sportsman class.  I made a good start in the grudge match, but before competition of lap 1 I made a big mistake before going into the esses and flip my F1.  The tires got dirty with the off-line dust and it took a few good laps in the groove to clean off the tires.  With a fast group like this, they pull away quickly.  I also realize I was no match for some of these veteran F1 racers and finished 8th overall in the grudge match.  All in all, not too shabby for my first F1 race, and just making into the grudge match with all the fast F1 guys felt like an achievement all in itself.

A big thank you to the Tamiya staff for yet another well ran and enjoyable TCS National. special thanks to Fred Medel for coming through with the much needed foam tire combination.  I'm definitely looking forward to the next F1 race!

Steve W.

One of the best event (and one of my favorite) in R/C is definitely the TCS Nationals.  It's a close competitive racing with level playing field rules.  It also have one of the best racing atmosphere where every year at the national it feels like a big family gathering.  It's definitely an event worth checking out, especially if you own a Tamiya on-road vehicle.  If you don't, come check it out anyway, it might just convince you to get one :)

I'll be competing in the F1 class, which is mounting a huge come back this year with the F104 and the F103 15th anniversary edition kit.  The F1 class is wildly popular in Japan and it is definitely catching on here again in the US.  Although this would be my first F1 race, I'm lumped together with the TRF group at this event.  My goal is to at least stay on a competitive pace with the group and with no less than 5 previous pass TCS champions and Tamiya's own David Jun himself, staying on pace would be an achievement in itself.

Feel free to stop by my pit area if you want to check out the F1 cars, have questions, or need someone to take your car through tech, I'll do what I can to help.

See you guys this weekend!

Steve Wang

Hello Everyone,

My name is Steve Wang and welcome to my blog.  I've been a long time fan of Tamiya products and it's a great opportunity now to be a part of team TRF.  My function at the track is a bit different than the other team TRF members.  My primary goal is to provide help at the track to any Tamiya vehicle owners, and also help promote and provide information on new products.  At the moment I'm mostly engaged in the fun class of RCGT and F1.  I also try to help out other racers at TCS events as well.  So if you see me at the track, don't hesitate to stop by and say hi or if you have any questions regarding Tamiya products.  I will do what I can to help!

See you at the races!

Steve Wang