Spare parts F1

I mentioned a few times that I sold my Tamiya F101 a while back. Every time I look at The Wheely King I used some of the money for I realize who much I regret selling the car.

When I thought about it I realized I had most of the parts to build another F1 minus a few oddsand ends. Well, he other day I decided to see just how close I was. I know, I should have taken pictures of the pile of parts, but as I sat there doing an inventory stuff just began to get assembled. Not cleaned mind you, just put together. I am closer than I thought!

As it became more car looking I realized the coolest part, All of the spares were from my original car! They were the parts that either got upgraded or replaced for appearance. By selling the "good" car, I ended up getting most of my first real RC race car back.

Its got a long way to go but I drove it today and it runs great. Not nearly as fast as the racer...its got the original Tamiya silver can motor and an ancient receiver/esc. I have the font tires/wheels with the original rubber (yes rubber, not foam). The paint is peeling but since it was originally painted with a rattle can sometime in the 80's. I need to find a way to re-stick the decals that are peeling around the edges, and the body was badly trimmed (I wanted more airflow at the time so I cut extra wide behind the front tires...but without the mod motor I doubt that I'll need that air. I'm going to do my best to save the body since new ones are really rare and the couple I've found were around $100 just for the unpainted shell.

So now I need to find a few odds and ends; some screws, bolts, and washers. That should be easy. the hard stuff will be the rear wing...I've probably searched for eight to ten hours so far trying to track down an original. I'd also like to find some of the Tamiya rubber tires for the rear (and some spares for the front), I may have that handled since a guy on the F1-Rc board said they use them in England as a spec tire. I tracked down an F1 club there and am waiting to see if he's right.

Anyways, here's some composite pictures I took...and yes, it really needs cleaned. Like I said, the parts came straight out of box that's been sitting collecting dust for years.





BTW, if anybody has or knows where I can get the rear wing please let me know.

how fast and is it a good carpet car

dang that's alot o' spares

the lug

Check ebay for the wing sidewinder

Yeah I've been watching... I lost one auction, it went for $28 + 15 shipping. I had a bid of $22 in. The F102, F103 and F203 wings pop up every now and then.

Its a decent carpet car... it works best on glass smooth asphault. This car with the stock motor does mid twenty mph I'm guessing. The moded on I sold with the 10T mod motor, and CF chassis would do between 40 and 60 depending on the gearing. I think with a brushless I've seen the F101's get into the high 60, low 70mph range, which isn't too bad for a car that's been racing since the mid to late 1980's.

If you like the F1 styling Tamiya just discontinued there F203 wich was a way better car for racing. It has AWD, a chassis that makes it handel better than just about anything I've ever run, and with a brushless and lipo there was one guy up in Sandusky who was tuning his for the next rc top speed shootout. He was able to rip off high 90mph runs without losing control too often. If you believe him he's git some sort of real ground-effects that he molded from CF. The newer F203's are going pretty cheap on ebay now, just know that you need really smooth pavement since you can set the ride height as low as 3mm.

I seen one of those at leisure hours, I'm pretty sure it was an f103(the 80's one if I'm right)
and it must've hit 40 in two seconds. It was like the real thing, a rocket!

Whoa thats cool

Thats awesome, I love older RC cars, nothing better than driving a piece of history. I'll be on the look out for a wing.

Just don't sell this one

Sadly with the older cars I have a bad problem of fixing them up, then someone makes me an offer I can't refuse and its gone before I know it

Yeah, they are fun. If you run across a wing it would be great since I can only find one company that makes a pretty close replica... $25+ $40 shipping from Japan.

They are fast, the newer awd cars are faster but they don't have the top speed and run time. These are like nothing else you've ever driven. The coolest part is if you set them up right the front starts to slide first(under-steer), and then with a throttle the back comes lose (over-steer). With some practice and a gentle touch you can get all four wheels sliding at the same time (4 wheel drift)! It is so cool! The awd cars that everyone runs now grip great but once they begin to slide they just spin out...these you can drive through the corners...if you're good. If not, well, you'll be replacing lots of parts.