TB03 ARTA Garaiya

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JANG's Impressions

The TB02 was Tamiya's low-budget competition chassis beginning in 2003, but a half-decade later its permanent replacement was unveiled in the form of the TB03 with the ARTA Garaiya bodyshell, a replica of a car not well-known around the world. While casual hobbyists were quick to notice and oogle over the new car's laydown front shock setup, this design actually reduces performance over a conventional setup by increasing weight and raising the center of gravity. The real purpose of this configuration was to accommodate sleek, low bonnets of scale replicas of low-slung racing cars such as this Autobacs Garaiya.

The build of this car went quickly and easily, instilling confidence repeatedly along the way as I encountered a long stream of truly performance-minded, efficient part designs that practically screamed, "We know what we're doing." Structural components are keyed together. Joints are carefully aligned and ride on bushings. Suspension pins are captured. The spur & pinion are sealed away from dust. Everything seems to be done with great forethought and purpose. The end result of the assembly is a car with a very low center of gravity, light weight, good stiffness, and, like with the TB02 before it, enough tuning options to keep nearly any racer happy. Things that can be changed include:

• Toe-in
• Roll centers (nearly infinite)
• Camber link length
• Anti-squat
• Anti-dive
• Wheelbase
• Shock angle & leverage

A wide array of of hop-up options are available, including many pre-existing items that will fit from the TB02, TA04, or TB-Evolution III. Granted, there is some unneeded slop in the suspension and especially in the steering, but I think this is forgiveable given the low cost of the car and the use of plastics throughout.

On the track, even with kit tires and no tuning, the car feels very consistent under all conditions. The stock oil & spring selection is too soft, but that is easily corrected. The drivetrain runs smoothly and, for a shaft-driven sport kit, very quietly, with no perceptible lash. It was very easy to tell that this is a car that can be tuned to a track layout and driving style, which is exactly what the beginning racer needs to learn to do.

Building tips

See the whole buildup, with photos, in the Tamiya TB03 ARTA Garaiya build thread on the forum.

• At step 9, the insertion of the BB11 set screws can be a little confusing. You want to attach them to the chassis as your first step to the steering post assembly. Screw them in until about 1mm worth of the screw protrudes above the ridge around the hole, on the chassis. Then screw the actual metal posts on over these, fully.
• At step 11, note the sidebar recommendation to screw in your droop stop screws until they protrude by 2mm on the bottom.
• At step 14, you want to put a full red foam disc in the left diff outdrive, and a single half disc in the right. The "half-size is for front axles" note is very confusing. Just ignore it, use a half-disc on the right, and know that the other half you cut will be used later. Strangely, though, neither side seems to have nearly enough padding with the kit-recommended setup, as both bones can slide in & out a fair amount. There's no way to correct this with the parts included in the kit.
• At step 15, like #11, set your droop screws to 2mm.
• At step 17, be careful not to overtighten the BC3 long ball studs. They can bind up the steering slightly. Make sure the knuckles can flop about freely.

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