One of my hobbies is playing with RC Cars; in particular Drift Style RC racing. One of the best beginner’s drift car chassis to work on is the Tamiya TT-01 body which has a high level of customisation and upgrade kits available. I started out with an off the shelf Tamiya Nismo S15 Coppermix which has the TT-01D body with a lower chassis and a set of drift tyres.
To make it a better drift car I will upgrade most of the drive and steering components to improve the performance and responsiveness. Parts were order online from RC Mart. Parts used in this upgrade are:
Parts | Image |
|---|---|
| Tamiya (#54026) TT-01 Alu.Prop.Joint Shaft - The Aluminium drive shaft provides more power, durability and less flex compared to the stock plastic shaft. |  |
| Tamiya (#53672) Carbon Upper Frame For TT01 - Increases the rigidity of the frame, improving the control during a drift |  |
| Yeah Racing (TT02-006BU) Aluminum Front Knuckle Arm - Increase the durability of the wheel frame |  |
| Yeah Racing Alloy Bearing Steering Set - Reduces friction along the drive shafts |  |
| 3Racing (TT01-26/LB AL) Front One Way Tube - Installed in the front diff it prevents the front wheels rolling backwards and acts like hand brake causing the rear to fly out when acceleration is removed |  |
| 3Racing (TT01-01/V2) Swing Shaft - Long steering swing shafts increase the front turning angles and allows sharper turns |  |
| Eagle Racing (3579-LBL) Aluminium Shock Set 55mm Springs - More durable shocks than the stock plastic with softer springs to ride lower |  |
| Tamiya (TLU-02) LED Light Control Unit - Purely Cosmetic LED brake and indicator light linked to the radio controller commands |  |
Started out with the Drive Shaft upgrade ensuring the props line up with the bearings on the ends.
Next step was to replaced the entire front diff with the Front One Way Tube. For the rear diff I opened it up and filled it with Blu-Tack to completely lock it up. This way the rear tires won’t be able to spin independently and will cause the back to slide instead of turn.
Adding the Carbon Fibre Upper Frame greatly increased the rigidity of the frame from flexing (and bouncing) when the drive shaft is running at full power.
The steering set, swing swing shafts and front knuckles were upgraded all in one go to increase durability from small rocks and sticks catching with the mechanics. Additional turning angle was increased to allow sharper turning.
Finally the shocks were upgraded and filled with low wt damper oil. The original Tamiya springs were reused on this as it provided a better suspension resistance when drifting compared to the ones supplied with the shocks.
With the internals done the final component was adding in the LED Light Controller to the shell of the car. The wiring required some carefully placed electrical tape and cabling to fix within the body.
The build is completed. For drifting the best surfaces are usually flat smoother surfaces such as car park concrete, tile or wooden floors. Try to avoid areas with a lot of small debris as i will gunk up your gears and wreck your internals.
For more info on Drift RC racing check out Drift Mission.