How to Prepare a Tamiya TT-02RR for Club Racing

I bought a TT-02RR chassis in early 2019. I briefly tried putting it on an asphalt track but I really didn’t find it fun at all. I went on to spend the whole summer racing 2wd buggy 2-3 times a week. Fast forward to late April 2020 and we’ve all been home for several weeks. I had just finished building a M-05 and another TT-02 chassis. They were easy to build and used up my spare brushed electronics. Most of all they were inexpensive. It reminded me of a Tamiya even that was held at my local track last year, the Tamiya Championship Series. I read through the rules and got me really excited about Touring Car racing. Unfortunately the TCS race for this year was rained out just before the stay at home order, so it probably won’t be returning to my backyard until 2021. But my local track holds regular club races so I decided to convert my brushed stock Tamiya TT-02RR basher to a brushless tuned club racer. That’s where this journey begins.

I’m going into this knowing that after a couple races in the Novice class, I will have to step up to race the more capable chassis like the X-Ray T4’s and TA07’s. I don’t care. If I get the bug for on-road racing, I’ll get a better car. For now, I just want to have fun preparing my humble TT-02RR with a Torque Tuned motor and HW1060 ESC.

Electronics: As I always do, I went to my spare electronics bin and dug out the Hobbywing Justock 17.5 combo I had harvested from my B5M buggy. I got so fed up with the B5M that I stripped everything out earlier this year. I know it wasn’t the buggy’s fault, it was my lack driving skills and racing against the likes of B6’s and 22 5.0’s last summer. I the Hobbywing system into the chassis to get a feel for the spacing. It turns out the XR10 Justock ESC is quite bulky with the fan attached. I decided to use a low profile servo and set the receiver on top to make ample room. I ordered a off-brand 12kg servo from eBay and waited 24 days for its arrival. It was worth the wait as the specs were impressive especially for its $15 price point. I’m keeping the Sanwa MX-6 transmitter and RX-391W receiver combo for controls. To prevent motor overheating, I’m using a Protek RC 30mm High Speed Fan. I also picked up the ProTek RC 2S Stick Pack TCS Battery. It is rated at 100C and is prescribed for use in Tamiya RC race classes.

Hop-Ups: I don’t want to just stick a brushless system into the TT-02RR and go fast. I want it to hug those corners effortlessly and dart out of the turns. I did some research and found these two blog posts that specifically talked about bringing a TT-02 to club racing spec.

TheRCRacer.com – Tamiya TT02 guide, Mods, tuning and tips for club racing

Toby’s RC Adventure – Start With Spec Novice Class Part 1 | Part 2