The Tamiya TT-01 is a great entry level R/C car for those on a budget. Many people believe that the more expensive the chassis, the better it will drift. Not true. The winner of the GroovyDrift drift meet at D1GP at Englishtown, NJ was using a TT-01.

The average price for a Tamiya TT-01 kit is between $79.99-$124.99. You can also purchase the TT-01R, or TT-01D - both of which come with hop-ups that most TT-01 owners buy anyway. The TT-01R is 134.99 as a kit only on www.towerhobbies.com and the TT-01D is $134.99 for a kit all the way up to $279.99 for a Ready to Run.

The Tamiya TT-01 is a great drifter out of the box, but there are a few hop ups that most TT-01 Drifters would consider necessary to get the most of the chassis, and Why: (note none of the below items are needed to drift your TT-01, these are just recommendations to make your tt-01 better.)

Aluminum Center Drive Shaft
The stock plastic driveshaft is VERY flexible and doesn’t do a very good job putting power to the ground, upgrading to an aluminum piece provides you with more predictable acceleration, as well as allowing you to upgrade to lower Turn motors.

Aluminum Motor Mount
The stock plastic motor mount can melt when using lower turn motors.

Adjustable Upper Arm Set
Not necessary if you run ABS, but with Yokomo Single rings, the adjusable upper arms are a must so you can adjust your camber angle to take advantage of the tires.

Ball Bearing Set
Ball bearings replace the stock plastic bushings, that support your driveshafts and differentials, they allow your car to go accelerate faster as well as let you have a higher top speed.

Motor Heat Sink
A motor heat sink is not a neccesity, however the cooler your motor is, the longer you can run. If you run anything other than the silver can motor, I would upgrade to a motor heat sink as well.

Aluminum Lower Arms
Many Tamiya TT-01 owners say these are purely for "bling", and to a point they are. However if you are very hard on your car, or you run into a lot of stuff while learning, you can break the stock arms, causing down time and headaches. But other drifters say it is better to break and replace cheap plastic parts than bend expensive aluminum parts.

Aluminum Steering
The aluminum steering is stronger and allows much less slop than the plastic stock pieces.

Adustable Turnnbuckles The adjustable turnbuckles allow you to adjust your front toe settings.

Tamiya TRF Shocks
There’s still debate whether or not a good set of oil filled shocks is necessary for drifting. On one side, people say that friction shocks will do the job whereas others say that you need good shocks for your car to have consistent rc drift performance. RS4’s winning TT-01 didn’t have oil-filled shocks when he won the GroovyDrift RC Drift meet at D1GP. So it seems as though oil filled shocks aren’t a necessity.

Titanium or hardened stainless steel screw kit
The Stock Screws strip out very easily, and can be a real pain to remove once stripped. If you plan on keeping your TT-01 for a long time, this is a must.

These are the most common TT-01 hop ups. There are many others on the market. However they aren’t necessary unless you want to have a Shiny Blinged out half aluminum TT-01 (like mine). To make your TT-01 durable enough to last for hours upon hours of RC Drift fun, I recommend highly to at least get the aluminum driveshaft and ball bearings

Places to buy the Tamiya TT-01
First and Foremost you should ALWAYS support your Local Hobby Shop (LHS), even if the prices are generally higher. I know that sometimes it’s not practical, but you should at least try to buy from your LHS if you have one before ordering online. You local hobby shop will give you building tips, help fix your car and can quickly replace parts without the wait. A few of these places do not carry The TT-01 or even specific parts for the TT-01, but are good places to buy other R/C products. (wheels, bodies, etc)

www.towerhobbies.com
www.ebay.com
www.rcmart.com
www.genkidoridori.com
www.cws-mart.com
www.ultimatehobbies.com
www.rc-mushroom.com
www.tamiyausa.com

Author: A31slyder
Date: April 2007