Tip number one is a concept that regular readers of my articles have heard before: drivetrain efficiency. You won’t always have the best batteries or the fastest motor, but you can make sure that your car is as fast as possible by maximizing the efficiency of the entire operating package. That means the gearboxes should rotate freely: no snags when the gears mesh or power-robbing drag caused by binding within the geartrain. On TA02 models, you can check this by removing the shaft that connects the front and rear gearboxes. Spin the wheels on each end of the rolling chassis and see how long they continue to rotate. They should keep rolling for four or five seconds. If they don’t, it’s time to start looking for drag in the drivetrain. You may find that a bearing has started to go bad, a shaft or axle is misaligned, or something has been bent during assembly. If you’re rebuilding an older car, you may also discover that the accident you were involved in during the last lap of last year’s last race -you know, the one that turned into an off-track excursion- resulted in previously hidden damage.

If you’re finding it difficult to locate the exact source of any binding, don’t lose patience. Good things come to those who take the time to attend to details. Disassemble the gearbox one component at a time and continue to check it for free running. For example, you can hold each end of the shaft that the individual gears ride on and spin them to see if a bearing or bushing has gone bad. Check the spur, countershaft, and bevel gears one at a time to make sure that the small plastic cap on the end of the shaft isn’t rubbing against the gear face. Continue to replace one gear and shaft at a time until you’ve got things back in order and all lined up. If everything is fine when the gear case is open, but the shafts slow down appreciably when the gearbox is sealed, it could be that you’ve got a teeny plastic nub (the ones you should have cut off of the molded parts during assembly) stuck in between two of the gears. Once in a while, it helps to back off the gearbox sealing screws a half turn or so in order to get things to spin freely. When that’s the case, I almost always find that there’s too much grease on the gears. Just a dab does the trick!

Tip number two concerns another area of the drivetrain. Dogbones are frequently a source of trouble on these early sedan designs. That’s why companies like MIP have made a fortune selling tough aftermarket constant velocity drive units to the hard-core racing crowd. It’s also why Tamiya decided to market their own CVD-type design, and they seem to hold up well under the rigors of parking lot racing. Universal shafts are most effective when installed in the front end of the car, because they dramatically increase efficiency when the wheels are turned. The wheels are normally turned at their greatest angle during a low speed turn when momentum is at its lowest, and that’s when this efficiency becomes the most apparent. However, a straight set of dogbones will still do a pretty fair job if you take the time to space them properly in the drive cups. 

Tamiya’s excellent instructions sometimes recommend that a rubber o-ring be placed in the drive cup. That works fine when you’re using the kit’s closed endbell motor and the shocks are set at full ride height. However, when you’ve slammed the ride height on your ’02 and there’s a P2K stock motor pumping some serious horsepower through the system, things can get kind of tight in there. The easiest way to check for sufficient clearance is to move the dogbones back and forth with your fingers. They should move easily back and forth in the drive cups, maybe a sixteenth of an inch or so. More than that and they’ll rattle and vibrate, eventually cutting both the drive cup and the shaft ends. Less than that and they’ll bind and bend, especially when you get into an accident where the wheel gets hit. Double-check the clearance while the front wheels are at full lock in each direction and also each corner while at full compression. Your bones will thank you for it!

I may not be the fastest guy on the track, and goodness knows I’m not the most talented driver. Chances are, however, that I’ll finish every race I enter. That’s because I follow a rigorous inspection schedule that catches broken parts before they break and loose stuff before it falls off. So here’s tip number four: check your car out after every heat and every main. Stem to stern, top to bottom, missing nothing. Do that and you’ll beat a third of the drivers who start the race.

With the TA02 cars, you need to pay special attention to the following areas:

• Gearbox case screws will eventually crack and distort around the upper case on the rear gearbox, and between the front suspension mounts up front. If you’re an exceptional driver who never hits anything, you may get a whole season out of a set, otherwise buy a spare gearbox now. They’re cheap and can be swapped out in an evening.

• Shock eyes can pull right off of the shock shafts, especially if you don’t use a front bumper. If you have this problem often, you’re either hitting too many other cars or your front ride height is set too low.

• Foam bumpers are a must. You can glue it inside your body or attach it to the front bumper with double-sided tape, but a foamie will make your bodies last a whole lot longer and save you big money on suspension parts like those blue steering spindles.

• A metal motor mount is the only way to go with these cars. The kit’s plastic mount is easily broken because of the way the stems are molded to the main plate. Plus, the motor gets way hot down in the tranny, and the plastic doesn’t like to get all steamy.

• Try a motor wrap -a 5 by 1-inch strip of chamois with the ends glued together- to keep your motor from frying. Nothing will really keep a TA02 motor cool, but this is the best thing that fits. Soak it in ice water on a hot day, but don’t be surprised if it’s almost dry when your heat is done!

• Put some rubber on the body posts. O-rings, pieces of thin foam, or even those square pieces of rubber that come with your servo will keep your body from self-destructing. They’ve all gotta go some day, but why hasten the moment?

To get around the turns without too much drama, your car has to handle well. So, here’s tip number six: take the time to set your car up properly at all four corners. That means starting out with the fit of the various suspension components, especially the spindles, carriers, and pins. The suspension arms should fall under their own weight when the wheels and shocks are removed. If there’s any binding, you’ll never get the car to take bumps without getting upset.

Set the ride height on your car so that there’s about 5mm of front clearance and a little more at the back. The car should be lower in front than in the rear; remember that if you have to crank up both ends a little on an especially bumpy track. Tamiya provides a selection of spacers that fit inside the shock under the piston to alter the shock length. Juggle these until you get the combination that works best for your track and driving style.

Different bodies will change the way your car handles. It’s hard to believe, but aerodynamics really does play an important part in the handling of these cars. I like the Alfa bodies on hot summer days, when the lot is a little greasy and I want to dial out some steering on my car. In the cooler Spring and Fall, my preference runs to the Mercedes DTM; it’s sloped nose gives me a little more steering yet handling is nicely balanced by the rear wing.

I’m a big believer in sway bars, and the one Tamiya sells for the TA02 is effective and nicely designed. You can even stop by the music wire display at Hobby Works and pick up a few lengths of wire to make alternative sway bars that will let the car roll a little more (thinner) or make it track absolutely flat through the turns (thicker). Time spent here will definitely get you around the track more quickly!