Tamiya F104 Pro v 3Racing F1-09

[Chequered Flag Racing]

pro's & con's for each model, please list

[lochness42]

Didn't run F104, but I did one race with F1'09. For first ever outing with it, ran nicely. I had to add some weight in rear to have enough traction out of corners (we had to dry track before the race a bit, so there wasn't traction at all), but that will be the same with F104. I guess F1'09 is good choice as you can get wide range of F103 wheels and tires (which are also wider than F104 wheels I belive). Oh and F1'09 is also priced very reasonable IMO.

Just to clarify things, I don't own any F1, but one guy bought 13 F1s (there are F1'09, F103, F104 and some 6wheels Tyrrells from Tamiya) and he lends them for some fee complete with electronics apart from receiver. F104 didn't make it to the track so far. As I said this was first F1'09 in my hands that made it to the track. We ran F103 before.

Oh and I hope it makes any sense.

[DCM]

F104 is probably the better car, but you are paying through the nose for it, F109, you add CRC 12th roll springs and a Tamiya yellow TC spring to the centre shock, and you are away, they have also brought out a carbon chassis, better diff and front end stuff.

[lochness42]

If I would have to choose which one to buy - 3racing would be my choice.

[qatmix]

I have both, I would honestly say that the f109 is a much better buy. The F104 pro is very nice but it is quite skittish out of the box. Although they have made a new super traction rear T-bar so that might help. Also even though its a pro kit, Tamiya doesn't include Alloy motor mounts in the kit so you will really need them.

One negative is that the tyres are not std F1 ones so you will have a more limited choice.

The F109 has lots of the essential hop-ups in the box, although you should buy the Alloy caster block and its a good idea to buy either the alloy front uprights or some Tamiya ones as the kit ones are quite soft (which makes them near indestructible but also a pain if you want to adjust camber). Also the F109 can take all f103 etc hop-ups and tyres so you can run a wide range of tyres..

We run brushless (13t) and lipos in our F1's at our club which has a small and tight circuit.

As a curve ball the Tech racing F1 is very smart, its somewhere between the F109 and the F104. One has appeared at our club and its dialed straight out of the box! (these are about £150 from rc mart)

They are all nice cars but for the price the f109 is great.. (And thats from a Tamiya fanatic)

[dubbera]

******

[dubbera]

Does anyone know if you can put the Tamiya Ferrari F1-60 body shell onto the F1-09??

[peetbee]

How about the HPI Formula Ten? That looks interesting for £95

I have to admit I would loooove to get this:


Just can't justify it for the lack of use it would get

[hashiriya]

Originally Posted by dubbera

Does anyone know if you can put the Tamiya Ferrari F1-60 body shell onto the F1-09??

You'll probably find that the 3 racing F-109 is too wide for the tamiya F60 body to fit.

[sldmodels]

Everyone I've spoken to seems to prefer (or think) the f109 is the better car (this coming from die-hard Tamiya fans too). Remember though, that the f109 is essentially a 103 with all the possible upgrades on it, and the 103 is a 15 year old car now. Having said that, theres nothing on the cnar to make you think 103. The only thing you have to remember with is to make sure the rods are spot on the right size, otherwise it will drift to one side, and apparently, the center shaft should be filled with the hardest shock oil possible, but I've never gotten mine to work properly, so going back to my 201 with the upgraded 3racing chassis.

[lochness42]

Originally Posted by peetbee

How about the HPI Formula Ten? That looks interesting for £95

Better get 3racing. Much better value you get for your money. I've built one and ran. Don't want to do so, unless I get one with ball diff, ballbearings, centre oil filled shock, foams and exotek chassis. Out of the box car is really bad and needs many hop ups. You can't really even use stock tyres - they are more suitable for drift car.

[lochness42]

Originally Posted by hashiriya

You'll probably find that the 3 racing F-109 is too wide for the tamiya F60 body to fit.

Has same battery layout so might not.

[lochness42]

Originally Posted by sldmodels

Everyone I've spoken to seems to prefer (or think) the f109 is the better car (this coming from die-hard Tamiya fans too). Remember though, that the f109 is essentially a 103 with all the possible upgrades on it, and the 103 is a 15 year old car now. Having said that, theres nothing on the cnar to make you think 103. The only thing you have to remember with is to make sure the rods are spot on the right size, otherwise it will drift to one side, and apparently, the center shaft should be filled with the hardest shock oil possible, but I've never gotten mine to work properly, so going back to my 201 with the upgraded 3racing chassis.

I'm getting slightly used F109. F103 is really hard to get and they need some upgrades out of the box anyway (I've seen guy here having to tighten motor few times a run - I had screwdriver in my pocket for that reason, due to used materials on motor mount).

[DaveG28]

Sorry to cast around for sale items like a pikey, but I had a 104 and various hopups for sale if anyone is interested, posted in for sale thread a few days ago....would happily lower prices to get rid!!

[hashiriya]

Originally Posted by lochness42

Has same battery layout so might not.

Even though they both have vertical battery mount, the F109 has much wider chassis bottom deck.

[RobW]

Thinking about getting a couple of F109s for my son and I to run at the BRCA F1/GT championships.

They look cheap - what hop ups do I really need? Going to be on carpet and probably going to be in the slower brushed motor class (as it is too wide for the brushless class) so hoping the FRP chassis will cope. From above front uprights need replacing plus not keen on friction dampers so probably look at replacing that plus some aluminum motor mounts but these are available fairly cheap.

Assume kit tyres are useless? They usually are.

Anyone run one on carpet with any advice.

Thanks

Rob

[Chequered Flag Racing]

Originally Posted by RobW

not keen on friction dampers so probably look at replacing that plus some aluminum motor mounts but these are available fairly cheap.

If your talking about the 3racing F109 it comes with a cross damper like the 12th pancars use and it has an alloy motor pod

Originally Posted by RobW

They look cheap - what hop ups do I really need?

Alloy castor bracket as the kit one breaks to easily

Originally Posted by RobW

hoping the FRP chassis will cope.

it's fine

Originally Posted by RobW

Assume kit tyres are useless? They usually are.

there OK, just use addy on the rear and a little on the front if needed just like 12th

[Chequered Flag Racing]

happy reading all

http://www.rctech.net/forum/electric...cing-f109.html

[RobW]

Cheers -thanks for info - struggling to see any real bad points about car especially considering the price.

Maybe I'll leave reading the 98 page thread until I get home though

Rob

[sldmodels]

For the price of it, you'd assume it'd be rubbish, but it's all the possibl "hop-ups" 3racing could think of for the old F103. You definitely want one of these http://os.3racing.hk/products.php?products_key=2737 and I think there's one or two other things, but I can't think of them right now. The kit tyres are actually quite good though