Sorry - it wasn't actually directed at you, more a general, "first post read in the morning" brain fart about the whole 102 on carpet thing... I should stop myself posting anything until after midday

F1 noob here...

does this kit come with a body?

if not, which one seems to be most popular for medium traction outdoor?

For tamiya racing the f-60 body is the most popular. For non tcs racing I like the type-j body best.

The TRF102 does not come with a body.

Bodies from Protoform, Tamiya, Mon-Tech and Bittydesign are popular.

I've been using the Protoform bodies on low to medium grip but the body is probably less important than the wings these days, especially the rear wing.. quite a few people are changing over to the spec ETS wings

Surprising, because no one up here really likes the ETS wings and gone back to whatever wing they were running before.

I only relay what I am seeing and reading, other people may have different experiences - personally I am still running Tamiya wings because they aren't broken and sourcing anything else is a major PITA... Before that I was quite a fan of the 3Racing wings (lexan front and plastic rear).

I know of one guy that doesn't use a front wing at all - just uses the straight bit of plastic that goes under the lexan wings for them to mount on - hasn't stopped him being competitive at his home track but I am not going to say that's what everyone should do and I am certainly not going to criticize him for it

Hey guys. Just got this TRF102 in and assambled.

Using ETS rules on this one, so ETS wings front and back, protoform F1-Fifthteen body and SpeedPassion 21.5T motor and justoc esc. Got the RIDE wheels and are now "ready" to set up my car.
I have not really any former experience with F1, but I race a bit Touring Stock (13.5T).
I got this local track with tarmac and medium grip (i think...)

The other guys there run FDR prox 2.5. So now to ALL the questions....

In the kit there soft, medium and hard front springs, I got medium on right now, For no other reason than that is was shiny....
I got 450 oil in the rear damper and the original spring. I use the 1.8 T-bar. Not sure if any of this is any good on the track. But I have no idea what to put in the friction damper.

Any hints in the "right" direction would be appriciated

You can use the Tamiya friction damper grease and there are three to choose:
soft 53174, medium 53175, hard 53176. These are pretty good and stay consistent for quite some time since they are designed for this application.

You can also use thick silicon gear diff oil in 30K to 1million range in most cases to achieve pretty good result. They will need to be rebuilt more often because these are newtonian fluid basically and despite being very viscus they flow out of the damper given enough time unlike the grease. But you can go in much finer increments in weight.

But from limited experience it is very hard to build these friction dampers very very consistently (compared to touring car style shocks). The amount of air in the damper really does change damping a lot. if you can do a good job making the air content consistent you will get a consistent damper. Grease is a little less sensitive than the oil but they are both affected.

In general the thicker the roll damper the lazier the car is until you really get into the too much over dampen range which will do the opposite. But from some experience that usually doesn't happen unless you go crazy stiff. 1.8 T bar is good for higher traction and should work for you. 102 is a decent carpet car but probably not the best out there. It is a great asphalt car though.

Thanks for reply.
Not going for carpet just yet, so asphalt it is. ok will try the hard friction grease. I dont want it too lazy ether.... like me.... lol

Need to resolder motor and ESC to make the wiring a bit better.

I have had good results with a very light side damper oil which has resulted in better rear grip on a medium to good traction asphalt track here.

I was running thicker damper grease back in the day, like everyone else until one day my car was much better than it had been.
When I pulled my car off the track I found that the side damper had come loose on one end so I was running with no damper.

The car was great everywhere except in a switchback "kink" section where it was very uncontrollable. It would oversteer back and forth.

I put the damper back on and hated the way it handled, same as it had been before, loose out of turns and loose in the quick "kink" section but not oversteering back and forth, just looser in whichever direction I first turned it.

So I started playing with lighter and lighter damper oils until I found the best balance between oversteering back and forth (lube too light) and just loose in one direction (lube too heavy).
I now have a car that is very very good through the kink and excellent coming out of corners.

My TRF 102 has 3000wt gear diff lube in it right now.

That's my experience with side damper lubes.

The front of my car is stiff with black springs to kill steering also and needs to be turned with braking.
When it's right it's been very good like this.

Thanks man.
I am almost ready now.
Found 5k differential gear grease for my friction damper.
Using medium spring up front first.

But I need some help.
This is my first Tamiya TRF kit and I need some more bling....
Does these part fit?

F104 Alum Upper Sus Mount
Hi Torque Servo Saver Horn - F104 Aluminum/Blue

And are there any "blue" damper retainers for my damper?
What set of center springs is good to have with this car? Any TRF damper set or??

This is my TRF102 now

Both of those items will fit. However I recommend the use of X-ray servo saver instead.

Bling is all good but IMO it still has to improve the car's performance/tune-ability as well... I'd spend (and have) the money on the Exotek upper arms - lets you adjust camber and castor almost infinitely; and a better servo saver - my choice is the Kimborough Medium, just need to adjust some spacers as its a lower profile than the original Tamiya.

A range of springs is always helpful but I've found I rarely need to use anything outside of the Touring Car Tuned Spring Set (the fluro ones) or the softer springs in the On-road Tuned Hard Spring Set.



* Disclaimer - My experiences may be different to others so this information is offered as a guide only. Please don't form a religion based on it