Jimmyd

Yes, the F103 can be competitive with pro10s especially when the surface is lower in traction. Mounted properly, a gtp body shouldnt lose you any steering. If you experience a lost of steering thats maybe because your front wheels are rubbing on the wheel arches when cornering. Try to make the arch bigger and mount the body higher to clear trhe front wheels.

A modern pro10 such as a RC10L2 with light weight hubs and screws actually weighs about the same as an F103 with gtp body. My RC10L2 weighs 1120g.

TimPotter

iTrader: (15)

Nige, I agree with ya, the Black Can sport tuned last a good long time. I ran mine for a year before the brush gave out on me.

psycho

Jimmyd

I guess I didn't state that very well. I have to run green fronts (on asphalt) with the GTP body. With greens, the car has plenty of steering. BTW, it's not hard to get an F103 down around 1000g

Jimmyd

Thats what i found too. The stock RD foam tyres are very similar to green compounds and using them all round will give very good steering. But how did you get green donuts to fit? Are there green tyres made for F1? And how do you shave 100 grams from a F103.

Coxy

Wooo HOooo I 103 thread. These cars are the best. I actually used this class to improve my driving on Touring cars and now it has taken me to the Tamiya worlds althought we had to use the F201. I still love driving it, our home track it a very low traction concrete and we use F1 Acto motors. Let me tell you it's a hand full and to get the thing to rear wheel drift is fun and fast.

I hope the parts will be around for a while as I still like the car the best. I am sure if we used the 103 at the worlds mt result would of been alot higher than 11th.

Keep these things going it will improve you driving.

Coxy.

psycho

Actually, if you do a google search for team Joybox, they have some very interesting tips on how to save weight on the F103. That's what I used to put my car in a diet. I run the Tamiya T94 Lola rear rims (without the spoke cover thingy) and the Tamiya dish front rim. They are very light and almost the same diameter as a 1/10 scale rim. I use 1/10 scale donuts so I can use all the good compunds. Another advantage is I can get the exact same rollout as an RC10! You can also shim the rear axle to add some track width, but you will never get it as wide as a 10L. The majority of the weight savings comes from the rims, small electrics and other little things like lightweight screws and tierods and not running the battery "cups." I glass tape the battery in place. I run the CF axle and lightweight Tamiya hubs and the FRP lower and long upper deck. I also use the plastic rear pod instead of the alum motor mount plate. That's about all the things I can think of, but they add up to quite a bit of weight savings when you combine them together.

Jimmyd

Thanks. Too bad I cant get those rims anymore.

KiwiKid

Hi all,

I originally posted this pic on the Singapore Racers Forum before finding this thread.

Just finished painted a C12 Sauber body in the MP4/7 Mclaren Honda livery with the legend, Aryton Senna at the wheel.

Does anyone have the Tamiya MP4/6 RC Kit - would love to see pictures of it.

By the way ... Merry Christmas everyone.

SMcpot

iTrader: (22)

Thought I'd bring this one back from the dead

Just picked one of these up on Ebay, along with a NIB FW18 body..... anyone still running these in the Socal area, by any chance? Seems like Tamiya still carries a good amount of spares, so I know that all you Socal F103 die-hards are out there somewhere

Hawk6

iTrader: (52)

Diggin' very deep to pull this thread to the top.

Anyone have these anymore, or remember anything about them???

I got one super-cheap on E-Bay a couple weeks ago (Sauber C12) to give my son and I a renovation project while we're waiting for our local track to open. We're not going to race it, just have it for a shelf queen or to run between rounds or at practices.

Anyway, we'll dis-assemble it, and clean it up. I'm planning on putting Duratrax Indy foam tires on it.

What about set-up? What should the back end feel like? How much play and how much force to move: up and down, side to side, twisting, etc.? What's a good starting point?

I've never had a T-plate car before so I don't have a clue what it should feel like. Right now, it takes very little effort to "bend" the chassis side to side (when viewed from above) if that makes sense. Is that the way it's supposed to be?

Thanks to anyone that can help out.

nagatahawk

i have one of these i used to run at the Tamiya TCS races. probably the most important is the choice of tires. I used to run purple front and white rears. Adjust ments to the friction dampers are by the thickness of fluid. You probably can use diff fluid 1000 thru 5000. the thinner for quicker steerting thicker for less steering. there are optional front springs I think we used the stiff springs.
adjust the ride height with the rear axle height adjusters. as the tires wear down raise rear ride height, keep it even or higher than the front.

the middle shock you can adust by springs and fluid. start with 30 wt. and medium spring. softer for more forward bite and harder for less. also more spring tension can make the car steer more.

I used the optional softer t plate. I hope it is still available.

stock motore gearing start at about 3.5 to 1 to 4 to 1.

I hope this helps, my memory of the set up has dissolved into many years of tamiya model, class and rule changes.

I will be bringing the f103 back for some renewed races at Tamiya America. I will have to convert it to the gt103 rubber tire specs.

Let me know how your car is coming along.

cheers

Hawk6

iTrader: (52)

Thanks for the input.

Anyone else?

The F103 I have now "bends" very easy side to side. Is that normal?

I guess I'll just re-build it per the instructions and start from there (plus the comments above).

Thanks again.

nagatahawk

Can you describe "bends" ? The rear pod should swivel side to side. if the pods is bending toward the front of the chassis you may have loose screws attaching the t Plate to the chassis or worn wholes in the t plate. Yes take it apart down to the bare chassis and rebuild it from the ground up and replce any and all worn items. including bearings and bent and rusty screws.

Hawk6

iTrader: (52)

By "bend", I was talking about when viewed from above, with all 4 wheels staying on the ground, if the nose of the car is pointing to a 12 on the clock, and the rear wing is pointing to the 6 on a clock, I can easily move the rear end of the car to point from "6 o'clock" to "5 o'clock" or "7 o'clock". Does that make sense??

In other words, it almost acts like a truck towing a trailer. Forgive my ignorance on this type of chassis. This may be absolutely normal, but coming from tub chassis touring cars, this thing is alien to me.

Thanks for your help.

nagatahawk

Ok, sound like the t plate area to check out. it shouldn't do that.

you should replace the t plate and everything that attaches to the t plate to be safe.