I
didn't know much about the Group C chassis prior to acquiring this
model other than that it was an iconic Tamiya chassis and so I should
probably have at least one. I assumed it was effectively a touring
car chassis and therefore would be similar to the TA-01 of similar
vintage, but I was mistaken. This is a direct drive rear axle car
with a single shock and foam tires like the various F1 chassis.
The first Group C model came out in 1990 as the 58088
Mercedes Benz C-11. There would be 8 more releases on the same
chassis in the early '90s, and since then most of them have been
re-released one or more times with virtually no changes making this one
of the longest running chassis still in production. Most of the
models were, not surprisingly, Group C racing cars but there were a
handful of production road cars as well. When I started looking I
was open to any of the models, focusing mostly on what I could find that
was actually available. The 58098
Ferrari F40 was released in 1991 as one of the last of the classic
"First 100" Tamiya cars. This was re-released in 2005 as 58356
with a "finished body". This means the body has already been
trimmed and painted and stickers have been applied. This is not a
bad thing since Tamiya did a far better job of it than I would have,
although they used a less interesting red than the "Mica Red" I used on
my other Ferrari's.An example Group C chassis is shown at the right. The chassis was identical between all the different versions except that the colored parts varied in color. The original F40 used red parts but the re-release uses black. This chassis has minimal front suspension with just a tiny spring on the kingpin. The rear axle floats on a pivot with a single CVA shock for support. The motor pinion drives the spur on the rear axle directly, and there is an open differential inside the spur. This car has very low ground clearance and uses foam tires. In both cases this makes driving it up and down my road impractical. The tires wear very quickly and there isn't enough suspension to soak up the bumps on the rough surface. The body also overhangs the chassis greatly on all sides and has no support, so even a mild bump can bottom out the car and crack the body. In fact, this happened immediately. It is therefore best on a carefully groomed track or indoors on carpet. It is fast though. The kit comes with a Sport Tuned motor and those wide rear tires have plenty of traction so this thing really goes. The body is good looking but sadly, does not have light buckets or an interior.
I had some immediate problems with this car. I was incompetent at installing the foam tires for the first time and they ended up with a lot of cracks in the side wall. The front tires quickly disintegrated and had to be replaced. On asphalt, the front tires tend to "hop" instead of sliding during heavy cornering which puts a lot of forces on the steering knuckles. After the first run one had come loose and I'd lost the little suspension spring. I was able to order a set from F1 cars to replace it, then I immediately lost the one on the other side. Better tighten those set screws. Other than that, the car has been reliable and fun to drive with the restrictions on location I mentioned earlier.
Update: This model was destroyed in the 2022 fire. It has not been replaced.
 Page 1: Assembly |
 Page 2: Final Photos |