Lee Martins trf 201xm at the worlds

[brooksy]

Nice

[brooksy]

Body on!

[stefke]

The XM is extremely nice, but the cost is extreme to. You have to buy a TR201 kit, then the required hopups then the XR upgrade kit and lastly an XM MM conversion kit.

I love Tamiya's (my 4wd is a 502), but this is just silly.
Lets hope they bring out a TRF201XM worlds edition kit that contains all the goodies.

[MHeadling]

Or just buy the original car the XM was designed from the Vega 201

[stevenich]

I have been running the XM for 2 weeks. It's not for sale in the US yet. The car Lee is running is not even close to the XM kit we have. I expect to see a "World's" XM version soon. Different gearbox and longer chassis. Good move Tamiya, not!!

[Aussie Top Force]

I have just completed building my XM, new from the ground up. Yep it was stupid expensive for a 2wd, but it looks great! waiting on short servo and new receiver to arrive before running it.

Lee's worlds car is definitely different. looks to be longer in the chassis by about 10mm and a slightly different rear gear box configuration, as explained on Red RC. The rear arms are reversed (left to right and right to left) and sweep forwards. They appear to be 501 arms as well.

To be honest I don't think we'll ever be able to have 'the car' Lee Martin runs. he is always sporting a concept chassis. I wish Lee all the best at the worlds . It would be great to see a Tamiya TRF take top honours in off road. Maybe then Tamiya might release a worlds special to the same spec??

Regardless, I'm keen to run my XM!

[stevenich]

My XM drives great on Clay(No Sugar). Lee's car IS longer and the gear box is different. The motor now sets tucked very close to the gear box and under the top shaft. It would be nice to have the extra room on the chassis to mount ESC.

[rc_penguin]

Originally Posted by MHeadling

Or just buy the original car the XM was designed from the Vega 201

The original XM was quite different from the Vega, they ran with the wishbones the correct way round, motor quite far forwards compared to a Vega. The gearbox is remarkably similar however, it is certainly inspired.

The car Tamiya are running at the worlds however is pretty much identical in geometry to the Vega... dare I say even copied.

[xfactor]

Originally Posted by stevenich

I have been running the XM for 2 weeks. It's not for sale in the US yet. The car Lee is running is not even close to the XM kit we have. I expect to see a "World's" XM version soon. Different gearbox and longer chassis. Good move Tamiya, not!!

Now tamiya have the 2wd to match the 4wd 511 with upgrade kit, thats now changed with the new 511 pics

[Fredrik Emilsson]

Is´nt one of the nice things with this hobby to watch reports from these events and look for new cars, parts etc?

The fact that Lee constantly is testing new parts is a good sign.
They listen to his requests.

Plus, if they want to keep him as team driver, this kind of support is very important...

[Aussie Top Force]

Originally Posted by Fredrik Emilsson

Is´nt one of the nice things with this hobby to watch reports from these events and look for new cars, parts etc?

The fact that Lee constantly is testing new parts is a good sign.
They listen to his requests.

Plus, if they want to keep him as team driver, this kind of support is very important...

Have to agree with Frederick. It means TRF aren't going away anytime soon! I don't mind them running new and different parts etc. Look at what associated did in the early 1990's. They ran cars at the world titles that never made it into production. The out of box team cars remained competitive well after the worlds prototype cars came and went.

With a 2nd at the worlds, it will be interesting to see if Tamiya now releases a new 2wd kit?

[trowta]

speaking with Lee and Satoshi at the worlds the 201 is under constant development, I was surprised that the XM was released before it was finally decided on the geometry of the car. I can tell you there was 3 different XM configurations at the worlds and both Lees and Marks were AMAZING... by far the fastest and best looking 2wd at the worlds.... It was sooooooooo good!!!!!!!! The proto 511 is ready for production and is unofficially called the trf 512, we should see it early 2014.... it will be #$$$

[Lee Martin]

Hi Guys,

I would just like to try to clarify a few things regarding the new 201XM.

The one that has come up for sale is the original 201 XM that I ran at the Pre-Worlds. This car I felt needed running changes to make it as competitive as I wanted it to be, its still a good car, but I felt it could be better. The running changes were made at the worlds we had something that looks very similar, but works in a different way. The car was really, really good. The changes that TRF have made are working great, but its a little unfortunate they didn't wait a couple of months to release this version, rather than version 1.

I am sure if you have version 1 that you are already happy with it as it looks beautiful.

I am also unsure on the next steps they will take, but I hope for a XM worlds edition.

Thanks guys

Lee

[stevenich]

Thanks for posting Lee. It seems the longer chassis was already planned as they included the longer side pods in the Version 1 XM kit.

[Aussie Top Force]

Thanks Lee. The car looked really good from the video. I haven't had a chance to get my XM to track yet, but early impressions are good. Well done with 2nd BTW, what an effort! Great to see a TRF finish in the top 3 in off road.

[Kimo]

Here is my TRF201 XM/XR buggy. I m running it with a HW v3.1 and a Nosram Pure Evo2 7.5t. Mainly on carpet and indoor track.
I ve build this from scratch this late summer and for what i already driven it, it feels great and fast.
Only thing this car lacks imo is a gear diff.

[Kimo]

I do hope Tamiya isnt kicking this TRF projects off... :/