TheRcRacer Tamiya TRF421 Stiffy Brace.

Here is a part that myself and some other TRF421 racers have been using over the last few months. The RcRacer Stiffy Brace.

The Tamiya TRF421 is great out of the box, but it soon became quite evident that on really high grip carpet tracks the car would sometimes like to roll when driven on the edge. 

This brace helps reduce the likelihood of this, and also introduces more flex options for the TRF421.

Here it is in all it's glory. 

I really thought the rear stiffener bar was a great thing on most of the TRF's and was pleased that the TRF420X came with one in the box. Sadly there wasn't one included for the TRF421 so I set about designing  a new part.

Looking  at the chassis, you can see that there are five screw holes in the chassis that are suitable attachment points. So I looked at the best  way to utilise these.

Unlike some of the earlier stiffeners that we made from carbon fibre. It was soon apparent that carbon wouldn't work as to even entertain using the rear most hole attachment hole you would only be able to use 1mm carbon (You need a nut to hold it down). It would have interfered with the belt. Especially if running the differentials in the Low position. 

This meant I had to explore the possibility of making the part from aluminium. The final part is 3mm aluminium and weighs only 2.6g. Importantly this means that the holes are all threaded so you simply can  screw into the part. It makes attachment easier, provides excellent stiffness and importantly allows you to mount all 5 screws and doesn't snag the belt. 

The end result has been great. You can use shims (max 1mm height) or even o-rings and mount them in any of the positions of your choice. Using  the  three screw holes along the middle as is just mounting  the two outer holes to change twist at the rear of the chassis. 

When running on high grip carpet, such as at Micc the bar can be mounted in its stiffest setting, flat on the chassis. This made a huge impact on how the car behaved on this high grip ETS carpet and it combatted grip roll. 

I mainly used brass screws to help add weight to the car. The steel screw is 5mm, this provides good clearance, although other test drivers have been  using 6mm and not really had  any issues. 

At the moment, I'm working out how to make these available, hopefully I will  have some news soon.. But in the meantime.. I will sort out a giveaway for one of these prototypes along with some with some other RcRacer goodies (Don't worry it's not a raffle).