I had been hoping for another opportunity to race again whilst I was in Japan, but unfortunately the class my 415 MS qualifies for doesn't compete until October - by then my car should be packed up, sent home, unpacked by Benno, raced in the Australian TCS and honoured with victory!

Fortunately, my friend Hiroaki (king of the airbrush, Lexus owner, top class driver and all-round nice guy) spoke to me about competing with his car (TA04 S) in the N-1 class as he had just bought a new buggy and wanted to race against his mate Tadashi (king of raffle prize-winning, Skyline owner and buggy driver extraordinaire).

How could I refuse?

I didn't have the time to spray a new shell so I took the old RC Racer Xanavi,
drilled a couple of holes and used it on the TA04.
Hiro said that during the drivers briefing they remarked on how the car stood out from the pack.

Hiroaki, Tadashi and I headed down to practice about a week before the big day so that I could get used to the TA04 and Hiro could test out his new buggy. I was feeling pretty hung over from the night before and required 2 supersized kebabs with plenty of chilli sauce to calm down the old dry horrors.

The TA04 is a different beast to the 415 MS and I was soon getting the hang of it (as opposed to driving with any certain level of skill). I even had a mock race with another driver and by the end of the practice session I was pretty certain that I wouldn't embarrass myself too badly.

Yeah... right!

As happens too much for my liking Tokyo experienced a level 5 earthquake on Saturday afternoon (its epicentre measured 5.7 - near my home) and stopped all trains for 3 hours. Stranded at work I carefully weighed my options and decided that drinking a lot of beer was a great way to pass the time. Hours later I arrived home pretty sloshed, grabbed some food and went to bed. I had a pretty early start the next day.

I got up about 6 the next morning, had a shower, grabbed all my stuff and headed for Asakusa. I was feeling pretty ordinary and slept on the train. The race track was at the same place as last time - ROX3. Thankfully, Tokyo has had a very mild summer so far, the day was overcast but good t-shirt, shorts and thongs weather.

This was a pretty tight track to drive and there were a lot of drivers crunching
into the sides trying to figure out the best lines to take.

By the time I got there, Hiroaki and Tadashi had already set up. I had changed the motor on the TA04 to the GT tuned spec and swapped in my ESC and TRF suspension.

I rummaged through my paperwork and realized I left my entry form at home. At scrutineering they asked for it but Hiro explained I'd forgotten it and they were pretty cool. They also noticed that I had the wrong gearing and lent me both spur and pinion. Tamiya get some bad press in regards to scrutineering and I think it's a little undeserved. It's pretty obvious purely from a business point of view that they don't want you using a competitors product in your car and given that Tamiya makes a lot of great products I think it's pretty easy to stick to the rules (I agree that there is an argument to be made for saddlepacks). The guys at Tamiya have been nothing but nice and I know it's a bit of extra pressure for them considering I don't speak Japanese. After scrutineering I changed over the gears and headed off for practice - which didn't happen straight away because I'd soldered my motor in reverse and had to fix this before I started.

During the practice session I noticed that my car was behaving quite badly.
Turns out the the front spoiler had cracked and got caught under the car.
This is waht happens when you score your masking tape too heavily!

So... how did the ESC, TRF shocks, GT motor and new gearing affect my car? Well basically it turned into a drifter. I had to readjust camber, ride heights and swap tyres after the first race just to get the car to stop sliding.

The first race? How did I go? Basically I put in the same performance as I did in the TCS - cue Benny Hill music now.

The thing you have understand is that generally, because I can't practice all the time, well... I'm kinda crap!

Another point to add - just so that you understand my mindset - after practice I walked down to McDonalds (standard racer food) and noticed that I was wearing my shirt inside out!

Hiroaki and Tadashi's first races didn't fair so well either. They put down a few small jumps and one huge tabletop that caused grief for everyone. First race over and we were all scratching our heads.

This jump was HUGE and a lot of drivers were having problems with it.
For a small video of the action click on the picture above.

The track was a lot tighter this time round and with only 3 classes competing - N-1, Buggy and Junior - the event wasn't as big or as spectacular as the TCS. There was no active position board or even a start light. We had to rely on sound only. There were probably about 250 racers in total which is small compared to other events. The winner of each "A" class then goes on to the Tamiya Grand Prix where they compete against others from around Japan . Still, for the price of 2 stamps (about $2), Tamiya organizes a great day. It's also good to check out what equipment everyone else is using and to talk shop. I showed the guys my ever expanding box of bits for my F1 and talked about how much the MSX conversion kit is likely to cost - more on that later...

The results were on the board after the first race - Hiro was around 34th (2:16 for 8 laps) Tadashi about 46th (2:14 for 7 laps) and I , in a class of about 130 had finished about 118th - in 2 minutes and 9 seconds I had completed just 6 laps - woeful!

During the interval between races I cleaned the tyres, checked everything over and queued up to check my steering trim on a closed off portion of the track.

For the money this car is surprisingly good - given the lack of a carbon chassis.

It was also a good time to stuff some more Maccas down my throat (Japanese food tastes great but you can't beat the convenience of the golden arches).

Tadashi was first up. He'd made a lot of adjustments and he felt confident that they'd pay off. Unfortunately they didn't. For some reason he just couldn't get over the tabletop cleanly and so he lost a lot of time waiting to be turned over or placed back on the track. Needless to say that he didn't quite make it to the final. (actually, despite his less than ideal driving, Tadashi only missed out on the finals by 3 places - the first 38 were split into 4 finals - he finished in 41st) On a lighter note I did teach him how to use the word "bugger" which summed up his performance perfectly.

Hiroaki fared a lot better and really improved on previous mistakes. He came to grief a couple of times with the tabletop but put in a pretty good show. I think from memory he finished in 16th position which put him into the "B" class final. Hiro put in a lot of work both in the build and prep of his buggy and with the practice sessions - it's unfortunate that Tadashi couldn't master the big jump as I know that he put in just as much effort. Still, Hiroaki was the better driver on the day and was pretty happy he had made it to the final in a class he was only a little experienced in.

This is probably the tiniest driver that you will see in a major event.
Note the trick height adjustment spacer.

Now, if I only I could put in a performance similar to Hiroaki's.

Although my car wasn't sliding around as much as the first race it wasn't enough to qualify for the final. I was pretty happy though. I'd managed to squeeze in an extra lap in less time than my first race (7 laps in 2:03 ). I was still banging into stuff but doing it more smoothly.

Given the difficulty of the track and lack of constant practice, I was quite happy
that I'd improved on my previous race time by 1 lap and 6 seconds.

Hiro spoke to me before and after the race and offered two pieces of great advice;

1) The throttle is not an on/off switch, and

2) never take your fingers off the wheel to let the controller "snap" back to its neutral position.

Point 1 is a hard habit to break, after all, it's how I drive in Need for Speed (I've never actually finished the game - could this be the reason why?).

Point 2 was something I tried on the day and I could tell that, with a bloody lot of practice, it is a far more easier and efficient way to steer a car.

Because I wasn't racing in the final I used the time to strip down the TA04, return the gearing to the Tamiya, and pack up my gear. I'd been videotaping all of Hiro's and Tadashi's races and grabbed the camera to record his final. There was a false start because of some fault with the computer but once restarted Hiro did pretty well. He didn't finish on the podium but it was a great effort first time out.

In the N-1 class "A" final, the drivers checked out each others cars just to
make sure there wasn't anything dodgy going on.

I watched some of the other finals and noticed that the good sportsmanship I had reported on earlier still prevailed. In the "B" final I was watching two cars battling it out when one rubbed another forcing him to spin - so what did he do? He waited for the other guy and they continued racing - and this was the final!

I suppose the best way to some up the day and Japanese racing in general is that for the most part it wasn't about finishing in the top 3 because none of us did (though we hoped). It was more about friends coming together, united by a common interest. The fact I don't speak Japanese has been only a minor inconvenience - racing is the same the world over. I've been pretty lucky to meet a couple of great racing buddies in Hiro and Tadashi - who willingly gave me advice, provided me with transport, lent me a car and tools when I needed them and provided me with everything including camaraderie when I least expected it. With them my racing experience in Japan (and in general - remember that I've never raced RC cars until I came here) has been nothing less than a hugely enjoyable and fulfilling adventure.

I am meeting up with guys again for something called the "Modeller's Gallery". It's an exhibition put on by Tamiya for about 4 days in August and they are showcasing all sorts of dioramas and various Tamiya products. It's close to work so thankfully it won't cost me a fortune to get there. The best thing is that they are selling old parts, factory seconds and other stuff so I'll be giving you all a complete rundown on that.

Finally the news about the TRF 415 MSX conversion; I asked a Tamiya rep about the price and mentioned (in hushed Japanese tones) that it was going to be about 30,000 yen - which should translate to about 20,000 yen street value. True, you can buy two complete TA05's for the same money but the MSX conversion does save a lot of hassle with swapping over gearing and it does look very trick. I then asked if they were going to release it as a complete kit, given that the 415 MS is no longer available. He mentioned something about waiting to see what the sales of the conversion kit were like before they proceeded with a full kit. Then, with a quick wink he mumbled about looking out for something prior to December.

So there you have it - an RcRacer.com.au exclusive - the Tamiya TRF 415 MSX will be released in its entire glory sometime late November - price unknown but I'd be expecting something between 40 - 50,000 yen street price.

If you have any questions about this event or others, in fact any questions about the Japanese RC scene in general, Ben has started a forum here. I'd be only too happy to answer your questions - and yes, before you ask, the prices here are really that cheap!