Wasn't there an exemption if you plugged the hole afterwards? Besides, building the clear plastic kit shocks doesn't make it seem likely he's going TCS racing anyway.

Jim I'm almost positive that Bob (granpa) even got busted at a TCS event
for doing that
So I think the following disclaimer should apply
Do this mod at your own risk!

...and people say the Aluminum TRF shocks dont make a difference in performance for the mini...

let this be difference #1

Yeah, but he was allowed to plug the hole after building the shocks. The guy asking is in Canada, the land that Tamiya forgot.

You mean like a bumpstop? I don't use it unless I'm driving my cars outdoors and want to prevent bottoming out hard.

Those work fine with the black large bore pistons for sure. I'm not fond of the tiny hole pistons. They sucked big time on my m-chassis.

i was surprised how 'soft' the guys in Japan were running their M-chassis... i should have stuck to my original plan..

oh well, live and learn...

im certain they were drilling pistons too... if not oil weight down into the 25-30 range...

You know, you're right!
He was allowed to lug it up and continue. My bad!

From my experiments these cars run best at a super soft setting borderline bouncy. Like the black cheapo 3 piston large hole we talked about earlier with yellow Tamiya damper oil. The only 2 hole black cheapo pistons I run is on my M-Four (54000) running the stiffest short spring on the rear. All others are 3 hole on my dampers.


The moment I ran the 54000 with its tiny piston holes on my V2 I was like WTF, how are people actually liking these dampers?! I swapped out to the cheapo 3 hole pistons and walla.

I've had decent results running a soft setup. My car is an M05 V2, running the following;

-3 Racing alloy dampers, 3 hole pistons and 35wt oil.
-Medium and soft springs, no anti roll bars.

This is also when using Ride inch up tyres, MC38 and SC32 front and rear.

considering i dont race carpet much (at all) but coming with the viewpoint of "when there is more grip you need a firmer setup" i hardly expected to see that many soft setups on the rug... let alone as soft as they were running them.

overall balance was a bit different that it felt on the local carpet track that i practiced on beforehand.

i was told that last year the majority were running a bit firmer (which is how i set my car up in preparation)

after walking thru the pits and talking to a few people i was surprised..

a good experience tho..

I must admit I was suprised when I heard about the same thing from TITC a couple of years ago. Many drivers going to a soft setup to help prevent traction roll, which flies in the face of conventional setup.

But come to think of it, who ever said mini was in any way conventional..?

Traction roll has more to do with sidewall roll/bite and ride height than spring stiffness.

Hello oSherman, fist off let me congratulate you on the win at the nationals and trip to Japan. Could you share your mini setup and what what you would have ran in Japan if you had the time to change. Thanks

After my experience with a Xray T3, and continual grip flipping, I had to rethink that same theory, stiffer springs when the grip comes up. I spoke to the distributor up here in Canada about the car, explaining the stiffer I went on the front springs, the worse it got, he said you have to keep the front springs soft when you have a lot of grip. It still rings true for my Tamiya TC cars also, so I'm not surprised that its the same for a mini. Allowing the car chassis to roll and transfer weight was crucial, stiffening up the car, the weight went hard to the outside tire, rolled the tire and flipped the car.

The CA does a lot to help this, these days on carpet, we play a balancing act, by making as much front grip as possible to turn the car hard and fast, and using CA on the outside edge to not allow the tire to keep gripping once the car starts to lift the inside tires. I know you cant use CA at a TCS event, but a lot of people use less camber to let the tire roll off the tread in those situations.