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Old 01-13-2009, 01:43 PM
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TryHard
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Originally Posted by STLNLST
Tamiya diehards- I have a few serious questions for you guys if you don't mind. We have quite a few racers that have run Tamiya for years out here and when the 416 was released they got it and suddenly fell off pace. I'm sure the same set up's that worked on the 415 might not have carried over to the 416. Needless to say after a few weeks most of them went back to their 415's. After the worlds the 416WE is released and certain changes seem to have taken place. The biggest Tamiya supporter in our area says that it looks like they made the changes that should have been done to the original 416 before releasing it to the public but had such a bad experience with the car that he's not willing to try it. He's running a 415MSXX which he says is hands down the best Tamiya car (in his opinion) He said that the only adjustment needed is shaving the bulk head to get the 5000 lipo to fit. I don't want to do this but if I have to I will shave it. I know that the 416 won't require any modifications. The two fastest Tamiya racer's in my area both run the 415. No one runs the 416 that I know of around my area that has done well with it. With the re-release of the 416WE I'm sure more will show up at the track and may have a better showing the second time around. I know it just won the worlds but if it doesn't work in the hands of regular club racers then what good is it? You open yourself up to biased opinions when you ask which is better but I've been racing long enough to weed thru the BS so if you guys don't mind sharing your thoughts on running the 415 and then running the 416 I'm all ears. Please be detailed and if you don't mind typing a book....I won't mind reading it... Thanks in advance for taking the time to answer any of my questions.
Hopefully I can help here, I ran a 415 for a long time (before the '04 worlds!), and ran through a number of iterations of it (415, MS, MSX, and MSX MRE) and hands down, with the right setup, the 416 is faster, turns in better, but is also smoother to drive!

In simple, the 416 requires a completely different setup philosophy to the 415. A setup for the 416 really won't transfer over. The 415 liked some arm sweep on the front, with narrower blocks, and the wider arms seemed to be prefered on asphalt. It also could get away with being softer sprung and damped.

The kit setup on the original 416 was well off of what is being run now (and what won the worlds), which is probably where the issues came in. A wider front end, shorter arms, 3mm different rear wheelbase, stiffer springs etc get the car performing better and faster. I never actually tried the car with the kit settings, so can't comment, but with thoose changes it was great from the get go. (A better summary of the parts changed etc can be found here http://www.thard.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=29)

As for the WE... well it comes with all the recomended bits in the box already, plus a few other extras to gain more speed (one piece top deck, new belts etc)

In short, if they have a standard 416, have a look at that link and the setups being run... or get a WE kit with all the bits already in

HiH
Ed
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