58652 Tamiya F104 Pro II Review and race report

Mark Raddenbury here with a review of the Tamiya F104 V2 for theRcRacer..

Let me begin this review with a wild disclaimer. I am not a fan of real life F1 racing, even though through my own business I connect with F1 mechanics and engineers on a daily basis. I find the racing egotistical, the drivers too up their own whatsits and whilst the technology is fantastic, the racing itself is dull. Note theRcRacer Editor disagrees.. and lives and dies F1 ;) One of my RC team mates even called me out on my previous views for RC F1 the other week. Remembering how I used to slate it and find it the worst looking of all the RC Racing out there.

Now, I will admit, I have changed! Rewinding the clock a tad before this review kicks off. I was given an F101 - older than my missus! The disclaimer for being the owner of the F101, was that I had to race it. So, I did! The Mendip round of the Iconic cup saw me finish almost plum last in every round, but boy did I have fun out there. Following on from that exciting bout of racing I ended up finding an F103 so that I could compete with the top end of the field and really live up to my supposed potential.

Of course, things never go to plan and somehow I have now ended up with an F104 (which I guess I’d better start reviewing in a second) as well as an Exotek F104 conversion kit! I’ve gone from zero interest in F1 RC, to having the biggest grin whenever I put either the F103 or the F104-converted on track and race. With the right tyres, and the right driving style, the F1 cars are absolutely mega!

The Review
First impressions - It's been a damn long while since I opened the sealed tabs of a brand new Tamiya box, probably 25+ years?! However, the child in me was super excited when the F104 arrived to me all the way from the guys and girls over at SC Models.

The artwork on any RC box is always outstanding, and the Tamiya F104 is also outstanding! 

When you open up the box you are greeted with the usual plethora of bags, and even an absolutely beautiful bodyshell (plus lots of addons to the bodywork!).

Once you’ve got over the lovely polycarbonate bodyshell, with all the extras… you can delve that little bit deeper into the box and start getting out all the bits and pieces you need. Plus, have that all important read through the instruction manual. I always, always, make sure I’ve had a good nose through the manuals online before I’ve bought a kit, but it's always a good plan to get a good look at the physical one incase there are any additions or changes not noted on the online versions. 

First Steps
First and foremost on the table and in the manual was the chassis plate. This is a lovely FRP chassis and top deck, complete with a partial floating rear pod held in place with a T-Bar type setup. The basics of F1 chassis design haven’t really changed a massive amount (certainly through the research I did) and this floating pod design seems to be the accepted design for all major brands.

The motor pod slotted together really nicely with all the screws described and needed with pictures (actual size too!) That really helps you make sure you’ve grabbed the right one and you don’t end up scrambling back through the manual later to see where you’ve mucked up. One massive plus here compared to most other Tamiya kits, Allen headed screws! Posi-drive has its place for sure, but not in a lot that's touting itself as Pro so I was glad to see the Allen headed screws. 

Something noted with the motorpod, it's plastic. So, a super hot motor is likely to cause you some driveability issues when racing if it's getting hot and flexing! There are slots on the left hand side, and even space to mount a 30-35mm fan there to aid with the cooling.

For now, I’ve popped a fairly standard 21.5t brushless motor in the car, along with the kit included spur (you get two) and pinion.

What isn’t pictured is a build up of the rear diff. Take your time with this and make sure you get those diff balls lovely and smooth. I actually spent a few minutes jumbling them up and down in a cup that had some polishing stones in just to get them super smooth and working properly as a diff. The diff itself should be smooth and free to move if you move one wheel, but it should be hard to turn the spur (but not impossible) if you hold both the wheels. If it slips, or is too hard to turn the spur, then you’ll ruin the diff balls over time and have definite traction issues when racing! It's a fine art, but once you’ve done it a few times you’ll be able to build a beautiful ball diff everytime.

Now, the front end of the car is one I have a slight gripe with. Why oh why, Tamiya, do we have to stick a servo into a car, or even trim off a tab (if you do the vertical fitment option). Surely, we can have a mount? I’ve certainly noticed in testing with the car that the servo can and will move even with the best 3M double sided tape holding it in place. (side note - I’ve got a 3D printed servo mount on the way).

Skipping ahead a few pages, you can certainly see the form of the F104 starting to take shape. I am super wary of the suspension arms and their potential to be damaged in a crash, but after speaking with others they are super strong and shouldn’t cause any issues.

The suspension itself is perfectly BRCA legal in that it uses a Kingpin style slider to actuate, with a small spring on the underneath of the lower arm to give it some suspension at the front. A really neat part that I wasn’t expecting was the use of some ball joints in the upper arms, this almost gives each side their own independent compression, so you can really lean a car into a corner.

New to me (I usually race TC) was the friction plate and solo rear shock for giving the rear pod some suspension movement. The friction plate is made from carbon, with a specific paste used to give it that sliding action when the shock is compressing. The shock was an absolute beauty to build, and I will admit to doing the touring car trick of a small 1mm hole in the top cap to make building the shock with zero rebound a lot easier. You can adjust the height of the shock front and rear, which I’m assuming acts as some form of tuning along the lines of laying down a TC shock for a smoother action (high grip) or making it more upright to give it more bite in the mid corner. I have yet to experiment with this though, so purely guessing!

For the first time in a long time, I had to glue some tyres! The standard Tamiya tyres and rims that come with this car will probably just be pawned off to the F101 (it's now a shelf queen) and I’ll be chucking on some contactRC foam or even HotRace rubber tyres for use on this car.

The rear and front wings are also fitted at this point, and both feature adjustability (which I didn’t expect) depending on if you want a low drag/low downforce approach, or high drag/high downforce setup. Certainly not something I usually consider a tuning option, but certainly one to explore when venturing outside with this car.

And here it is! Complete! Shorty lipo squeezed in and running with a very neutral setup for weight distribution. The esc and receiver can just be seen underneath the shock/friction plate.

I even grabbed some corner weight scales to check, and the car sat nicely with a 50/50 side to side, and a slightly front biassed 55/45 weight. I had been told by others that the F104 needs more front end steering, so get the weight as far forward as possible. Well, did that!

Completed it

Here it is, alongside its other siblings! From left to right, F104 - F103 - F101. When you get them all together, you can see the evolutionary changes that were made from one platform to the next. The F104 obviously being the most refined of the 3, but there are parts that do cross over on all of them which is brilliant!

First race meeting

I ran the F104 on carpet for the first time out, at my local club - Forest of Dean Radio Controlled Car Club. Running on prima-gt carpet the thing was incredible! Compared to the slightly lazy feel of the F103, this thing was absolutely on the edge for traction which made it super fast and certainly turned some quick lap times. As it was only a test night, I wasn’t full able to compare the pace of the F104 against one of our other club members F103 and as I was in the zone for getting my F103 kitted up and ready for a weekend at South Hants for the Iconic Cup, I’d have to put the F104 slightly on a back burner and wait for a proper race night to test it out.

With the limited time I had it on track though, it is an absolutely beautiful car to drive. Super smooth and just twitchy enough to keep you on your toes. I did end up fitting contactRC tyres to it, with 45S front and 28S rear. This gave a good balance of traction and turning, perfect for a small indoor track. The Wings were run in their most downforce mode, and I went to the lightest oil I could with the softest rear spring combination to help keep the back end in check when powering up the surpass 21.5t motor.

All in all, a perfect first kit for someone wanting to experience F1 racing for marginally less pounds than a real one!

Onwards and opps….

You know when you go to a race meeting and you see something shiny you want to buy? This may have happened to me. Adie Parkes of RaceCraft Rc had hinted to me that he had one of the Exotek F1 conversions for my F104 gathering dust at his shop in Bath. He so very nicely brought it with him to the Iconic meeting at South Hants for me to take a look at. Well, I did more than take a look….. I took it off his hands for an undisclosed sum of money. 

The biggest upgrade to the F104 is the carbon chassis. And the exotek conversion not only has that, but also lots of other fancy tricks up its sleeve! A full action rear pod design, with side dampers (not dissimilar to a GT12/LMP) soaks up the back end. A fully alloy rear motor pod means lighter weight and stiffer for getting the power down. A new design for the lipo locating means I can really play around with weight balances to get the most out of the car on track.

The biggest improvement over the actual F104, is that it will be race ready, and way more tuneable with the options. This will pay off greatly when/if I end up finding myself at a BRCA national with the Exotek/F104. The only components from the F104 used on this chassis - Front arms, servo mount, wishbones, diff and wings!

I wasted no time in converting the bits over for the Exotek and it was certainly a different beast to run the next time we were racing at FOD. The car felt even better on track with the new chassis and it was turning quicker and quicker lap times as the evening wore on.

Conclusions and promises.
The Tamiya F104 is an absolutely brilliant bang for buck F1 racing machine. If you want to compete nationally but you don’t have the budget for one of the all singing, all dancing other brands. Then this chassis is more than capable. The simple tuning options lend itself to the learning driver, and I personally see that it could do pretty well in a BRCA National event. Obviously, that lack of tuning could rear its head as you want to get faster and faster with the car, and that's where I’m glad of the Exotek conversion kit, this could turn a good car into a great one.

I haven’t had an opportunity to get to an outside track with the Exotek conversion, but it is totally on my list of things I must do in 2025 when the warmer weather rolls back around and we get to go race Nationally again. I’ve been using the car a lot indoors, and it really is a joy to drive. Super planted, super quick and very forgiving. One of my teammates has likened it to a slightly larger GT12, and with the foam tyres that myself and the other FOD F1 Club members use, I can totally agree with that!

When I do get outside with the car, I will absolutely bring an update. My toughest choice next year is now going to be TC and be stressed, or F1 and have a massive grin…

Until then…  Mark R