Tamiya TB Evo 07 first Picture details and closer look

Here is the first picture of the exciting TB Evo 07 from Tamiya. The TB evolution cars have a long history, and they have historically brought new parts to the other Tamiya onroad line of chassis. So it will be interesting to take a close look at this image to see what features this new chassis photo reveals.

As you can see there is a strikingly different motor mount position. The new middle bulkhead looks like it will be very easy to change the spur gear. Having the motor forward could help refine the handling to be a little more calm in the corners. This car is aimed for stock racing as the hoop at the looks like it will restrict using larger spur gears. This bulkhead can be moved to different positions on the chassis to allow you to have the motor at the front, mid or rear of the car.

The battery mounts are also new and it looks like they are adjustable. 

Low profile towers and shocks from the TRF419X are included. Also as you can see the shaft is connected to the gearbox with CVD's. This is a feature that Tamiya have not done before and it will increase drive train efficiency.

It's good to see the Aluminium bulkheads back on this car. You can see that the have incorporated bearings to hold the sway bars. Also the bulkheads have lexan covers to stop dirt getting in.

The steering has inverted posts mounted on the front bulkhead not the chassis. The chassis itself is aluminium (2mm) and it features a 6mm chassis centre spline (You can just see it behind the one piece floating servo mount). This will have different screws to adjust the flex.

So overall this car looks very interesting and there are some neat ideas. From my perspective as a Tamiya racer. It is great to see Tamiya has brought in a lot of new ideas, as they honour their statement that they will keep making new TRF cars despite reducing their TRF professional racing team. Now I just want to get my hands on it and try it at the track :)

Update: Here is the official info from Tamiya

• This is an R/C 1/10 scale shaft-driven 4WD chassis assembly kit. Length: 371mm, Width: 185mm, Wheelbase: 258mm.
• The chassis is based around a 2mm thick aluminum lower deck and 6mm thick center stiffener, which give a blend of rigid pitch damping and flexible roll. The number of screws used to attach the stiffener can be changed to alter chassis rigidity.
• The lack of an upper deck lowers the chassis' center of gravity.
• A largely overhauled layout includes updated motor positions and bulkhead design.
• The motor is longitudinally mounted. Users can choose from 3 layouts (front; mid; rear) to adjust performance depending upon conditions and driving style.
• Comes with TRF super short big bore dampers.
• Motor clearance can be adjusted simply from above, for quick in-pit tweaks.
• Steering linkage components are installed directly onto the bulkhead as opposed to being attached to the chassis. This removes any effect upon chassis roll.
• Highly-efficient shaft-driven 4WD is achieved with a front direct coupling and WO universal shafts, plus a rear gear differential unit and aluminum drive shafts.
• Proven TRF418 suspension arms and TRF419 rear uprights are employed.

Source tamiya