Well on the Pro the shocks are a very brittle plastic so one knock and they will crack and break or if not brokken the oil will run out!

You need to weight up the price differences. If I can remember correctly the Pro had a couple of other bits and pieces like adjustable linkages. It also has the ali rear toe-in blocks and ali servo horn......not that the horn is neccessary.

Your best bet is to download both the standard and pro versions from the link below and study the two. Decide thereafter which route is best according to your budget. Remember that in both cases you will have to buy either plastic oil or ali shocks!
http://www.tamiya.com/english/rc/manuals.htm

The springs you get with the Pro are the short TRF white spings and you get 2 of each to fine tune your setup i.e. 6 in total.
Remember that when you purchase the ali M chassis shocks you also get six springs in the different strengths.

Hope this helps

You must add up the "extras" that the PRO contains and compare it to the std kit + buying the bits.

Much of the 'PRO' is bling - blue bits look nice but do they make you go faster

Compare std kit price to Pro. In most cases the Pro will be better value for money due to all the extras even though its more than a std kit.

Went for the pro. I think that in the end it'll cost pretty much the same (or close to) regardless of which package is bought.

The chassis is pretty much built, just need to sort out a few bits, paint the body and it's ready for a test drive.

My mini is up and running and I think it runs quite well, relatively speaking, since there were no other minis around to make a comparison.

When I was building, I thought the steering was a little sloppy so was worried I might have some trouble controlling it in a straight line, but it tracked pretty straight. Seemed to pull a little to the right on hard acceleration from stop, but it wasn't uncontrollable.

I put M-Grip radials at the front and slick on the rear. Quite happy with that although the back did slide out a few times around corners. Could have just been because the track was a bit dusty.

Now I just need more practice and can start racing.

Glad you are happy with it

I used a shim or two on the steering to get some of the slop out, 0,2mm I think. The ultimate is to go for the ali steering upgrade
but it costs nearly as much as buying a standard kit......!

The M chassis tyres are really hard. These are good for practicing and getting used to the car though!
I used them in the beginning as they were all I had. I had tones of understeer with them (sugared track) and had to tap off mid corner to bring it in.
From what I have experienced thus far with your tyre setup you could be in for alot of understeer....on a sugared track that is .
My best setup is the type A's up front with S-grips at the rear. S-grips all round is the next best thing!


Are you using the standard shocks or Ali's? If you are on a serious budget ali shocks are the only upgrade, bar tyres, you really actually need
with the pro to be very competitive......you just need to practice and fine tune your setup

If that be the case, I'll live with plastic until it breaks, then consider the ali one.



I didn't bother putting on the standard tyres, although I used the standard inners. From my past experiences with standard tyres (not only on the mini), all they did was slide around the track, so I bought replacements. Will see how it goes with the current ones. I didn't really have a problem with the cornering, apart from coming in too fast and the rear sliding out a bit with a bit too much braking.



The shocks are the standard plastic ones (oil filled transparent ones that come with the pro chassis kit). I'll most probably change them at some stage. Found that one seems to leak and I don't think they're 100% airtight.

At the moment, I'm still learning to drive. The aim is to finish a 5 minute heat regardless of what position. I started with the mini because I think it's one of those cars that let you build driving skill rather than relying on pure speed. Winning can come later

So true......I have been messing with RC cars for almost ten years now and I always thought that mini was one of those waste of time
and money classes....until I decided to give it a try

It is my favourite class now and deffinately helps to hone your driving skills.

The clear plastic shocks are made from a brittle plastic so one bump and they crack and leak....so be careful. If you do not want to fork out
for a set of ali shocks you can get the black plastic CVA shock parts and strip your current shocks down and use the shaft/piston and seals
to build them up. They will be way more durable and you can concentrate on driving instead of fixing
For a pro chassis Tamiya should have included the plastic CVA's from the word go! They tried to make the chassis look bling with the
clear shocks........or if you look at it the other way round, boost their M chassis ali shock sales........

You must have got your kit at dirt cheap prices

Just got myself one similar to this ...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Blue-alloy-ball-b ... _871wt_912

Fits perfectly and does away with nearly all the slop and at R125 !!! The only BAD THING about the one I got it is that blue is not Tamiya blue

Looks neat and not bad for the price!

I do not have the ali steering but just looking at the prices and asking others that have the Tamiya parts they are way over the top! If it has the Tamiya name on it and it is blue machined aluminium then you are deffinately going to pay through your rear end!

Unfortunately you can only use Tamiya parts in the Tamiya cup series. Club racing anything goes as you know

For Tamiya blue you could add another 80 buckses(incl. shipping) and get the original - http://www.rcmart.com/catalog/rc-tamiya ... 30362.html

Hi guys - a belated entry to the M05 chat.

I have been running the M05 at club and provincial all of this year and would comment as follows:

1. Leave the slop in the steering linkage and resist the bling hop ups or even probably shims. It is well documented on mini.net and I experienced the dreaded torque steer for a few meets with my shimmed linkage before the car car loosened up and held its heading, hands off on the straights. This is a bigger downside than folk realise.

2. Any bling is heavier and, as pointed out, the M05 is a heavy beast. A ideal sweet drive recommended for a newbie but will only come in to its own when the change to lipos comes. My half cure on the smaller track was to go back to 1900 nicad.

3. I have had my share of oopsies and the glass type shocks have proved fine - a recent shock refill suggests six months (three probably better) absolute max tween refills.

4. Was magic on the shorter tracks like Camperdown but a recent visit to a Magrate club meeting proved my M03 way, way speedier on the long hills. Definitley changing to M03 for the last Natals.

5. I stuck LWB on the M05 as that had worked for me on M03 but recently changed to MWB on the M05 and the turn in improved dramatically. The car not as locked down but still drivable. I have yet to be convinced that SWB is anything other than B Main material, as yet.

6. Thought I would be a smart ass and build another M05 from some M05 spruces plus mechanicals from a M03 Swift. A total pain the butt when one encounters the subtle mechanical differences and I heartily recommend that to nobody. I initially started with the M05 pro kit and have no regrets whatsoever.

Cheers
Dave

Has any one raced in Tamiya cup Mini class. Does one really have to use 100% Tamiya parts (eg shock oil).
Can you make your own transponder mount and place it any place.
What are you allowed to remove.

Yes everything Tamiya....that's the rulz!