New preliminary show pics

The 2013 Shizuoka Hobby show begins today. Dealers from all over the world are here to see what new Tamiya product are on hand. Many of the items were announced in previous weeks, but for many the show will be the first time to actually see the new product in person.

The highly anticipated 1/32 Corsair is a model that is mind blowing. The attention to detail is typical of what we've come to expect of our model designers. The wings may be built in either closed or open position, but for those who are wondering...they're not movable.

Next up for our R/C racing fans we have two new additions to the racing line up from TRF. We have the new TRF 101 F1 car and the highly anticipated update package to the TRF 201 off-road 2WD buggy.

Images from the show floor and more details to follow....

Stay tuned for updated info from the show!

 

If you haven't seen the new & improved TamiyaUSA website, go check it out! 

 

www.TamiyaUSA.com 

Just got the new scheme mounted on my new whip. Thank you to Eric Albano of Top Notch Paints / Factory AE for the cherry paint job!

Been testing for a couple weeks now; looking forward to running this year's race and hopefully meeting some fellow TRFers in the process!

Decided to run some 2wd buggy this evening at San Diego Raceway. The current layout is mid-motor friendly as  a lot of people are having pretty good success running their cars this way. There are a lot of high speed corners and traction has been pretty good. None the less, I qualified second behind a mid-motor Durango. In the main, I took an early lead and had a bobble in the middle of the race dropping down to fourth. Managed to work back to second but ran out of time to catch first. 

The 201 worked really well, looking forward to the next race...

Saw some cool new Tamiya items for the TRF201x floating around the net and I thought I would share:

 

 

Hi Team!

I am still around.  I have been very busy the last six months and haven't been able to get caught up on my blogs.  I have been racing as much as possible including TC, 1/10 and 1/8.  Racing here in Arizona has really picked up with some kind of "event" at least every weekend with multiple events some weekends.

I'll get some reports and testing results out in the next few weeks from the 2012 Southwest Indoor Grand Prix (SIGP) at my home track of Competition Hobbies (www.competitionhobbies.net) and The Dirt Nitro Challenge.  I was also able to make it to spectate the Reedy Off-Road Race of Champions at West Coast RC in LaMirada, CA and The Pro-line Cactus Classic at Scottsdale RC Speedway. 

It continues to look like a great year for TRF.

I'd like to thank Tamiya USA, Pro-Line, Speed Passion, Trakpower/O.S./Futaba, Stickit1 Graphics and LMR for support so far this season!

Saturday, April 13 was my 3^rd time to Dirt Heaven in the last roughly 6-8 weeks and the guys there just put in a new layout for the race.  One big jump was created on the far side of the track, which made wall rides and broken suspension arms frequent!  2wd mod buggy had 32 of the 71 total entries, so competition was high as usual.  The program consisted of two quals and single mains and after both rounds, I would have a fair placement of 15^th.  7 cars to the A and 7 cars to the B meant I was CQ (top qualifier for the C Main) and looking to redeem myself for some average qualifying.  The main was exciting and my fastest pace of the day!  Local racer Justin Bouchonville followed me most of the race until I crashed on the big jump with about two minutes to go.  Desperately trying to keep pace with Justin, HE made a mistake entering the big jump allowing me to roll by and take the C Main win after 5 minutes.  A strong 23 lap race (albeit a short first lap) was a great feeling after a 21/5:05 best qualifying pace.  

17 4wd buggy entries was great to see and after both rounds were finished, I squeaked into the A main (7 cars), beating the 8^th qualifier by .58 seconds!  I was disappointed by my 4wd pace (1 1/3 lap down from TQ Cole Tollard) and hoped we were running a 3^rd qualifier.  But, getting into the A was encouraging as my 4wd felt WAY better than my 2wd.  Main pace was not real strong as I finished 6^th (just ahead of 7^th due to a retired car).  

Both my TRF201 and TRF511 felt great.  Looking forward to installing the TRF511 update kit very soon!  Thanks to everyone at TamiyaUSA for the continued support!

 

This sunday was our TCS race at my local track R/C Madness. I ran Mini class and F1. We just had some new pavement put down so the track was fresh for the event. This was my first time running a mini. I wrapped up installing the electronics that came with the kit in the morning and hit the track. The car handled really well for the first time out. I did add the TRF works shocks to the car. I ended up running yellow springs with 45 weight shock oil and 2-hole pistions in the front and 3-hole pistons, pink springs and 40 weight oil in the rear. I think the car can use some more tweaking, but for today it was working great! I finished 4th. My F1 was another story! Going from carpet to asphalt is two totally different driving styles! My F1 I think was handling good but it was my aggressive driving that was hurting me. I did get a 3rd place finish! I have a lot of work ahead of me with the F1!

This past weekend Tamiya USA converged on the LBGP in grand style once again this year bigger and better than the last. Over the course of three days the Tamiya USA staff and a hand full of TRF drivers displayed, built, demonstrated and conversed with thousands of fans and race attendees from ages 4 to 84!

    My "job" was not only to answer questions about Tamiya's products but mainly to drive the R/C demonstration vehicles ranging from the 1/12 RM-01 to the 1/8 scale sized TXT-2 Agrios, 1/10 touring cars, the mini's, Formula 1, Drift cars, the "Wheelies" as well as Tamiya's awesome line of R/C battle tanks and 1/14 scale 18 wheelers! How much more fun could I have?!! 

   During our break periods we would walk out to the GP course and watch what was currently running. I was able to witness first hand the Celebrity/Pro event, Robby Gordon's Stadium Super Truck exhibition, the ALMS race, qualifying for the Indy cars as well as the World Challenge cars. All in all a very exciting weekend!

 

 A huge thank you to the Tamiya USA staff and the TRF drivers who made this weekend not only a success in my eyes but also in the eyes of the patrons of the LBGP !

For those of you who have picked up, or are thinking of picking up either the 84309 or 84308 parts organizers, I have a helpful tip for you to keep your screw/nuts/bolts/etc. organized and easily accessible!  Unfortunately, these do not come with labels straight from the factory, however Avery does make labels that work great for these small compartments.  Avery multi-use label #5418 is the perfect size for these.  Check out my labeled box below to see what the finished product looks like!

 

84309 Box Link- http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/item.php?product-id=84309 

84308 Box Link- http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/item.php?product-id=84308