Review: Tamiya Team Hahn Racing MAN TGS

Bringing Big Rigs to the Big Time

Some time ago, a racing company introduced a multi-piece big-rig body designed specifically for touring cars. They looked fantastic and sparked a racing class at my local track (as well as across the country), but the problem came down to the fact that it was only the body; if you wanted to run touring car AND the big rig, you either needed two separate cars or be prepared to make many changes between races for the two classes. Most people ran it as a fad but because of the cost of a spare TC, it soon died out.

Tamiya, on the other hand, is offering up this sexy multi-piece big rig body with a TT-01 Type E chassis underneath it, so for under $200 (a lot less if you have a spare set of electronics) you can have a dedicated big rig race truck. On top of that, you not only get a killer looking (big) rig, you also get wheels and tires that finish off the overall look. Let’s take a ride down the open road and see what this Team Hahn Racing rig is all about.

Specifics
Product: Tamiya Team Hahn Racing MAN TGS
Part #: 58632
Price: $132.99
Recommended For: Beginning to advanced drivers that like big rigs

Features
Chassis
The chassis is based on Tamiya’s TT-01 tub-style Type E footprint, an entry level vehicle that is designed for easy assembly. It features internal ribbing and separate front and rear clips that support the gearboxes and bumpers. On the right side is the battery tray, molded to fit NiCd or NiMh battery packs only. This is a bit of a bummer, but with a few simple modifications it can be made to accept a LiPo pack. The electronics are located on the right side of the chassis as is the inline-style motor. A notch in the chassis is used to mount the switch, a fantastic idea since reaching into the chassis past the Team Hahn body is a bit challenging. A rigid top deck runs the length of the car and helps eliminate chassis twist. Once assembled, it’s actually a solid machine.

Suspension
The front and rear suspension use upper and lower control arms, pivoting on grease-filled inboard sockets; no separate hinge pins here. The front uses ball pivots on the steering arms while the rear utilizes traditional steel hinge pins. Friction dampers are on all 4 corners and, although they’re a bit bouncy, they do work well. Large steering blocks and rear hub carriers are used for maximum durability. The entire system is very basic, but perfect for beginning drivers.

Drivetrain
The Team Hahn Racing MAN TGS is a 4WD big rig, using a plastic driveshaft running right down the middle of the chassis. Up front, it connects to a sealed gearbox that houses a grease-filled, planetary gear differential. Thick 6mm plastic dogbones connect to the drive axles with 12mm hexes attached at the end. The same goes for the rear of the TT-01 Type E; grease-filled gear diff, 6mm dogbones and 12mm hexes. In front of the rear gearbox sits the shaft-mounted spur gear with a Mabuchi 540 brushed motor mounted just to the side. The gears are Tamiya-spec 0.6 mod pitch, so make sure you purchase 0.6 mod pitch pinions if you plan to change the gearing.

The entire drivetrain rolls on plastic bushings (oilite bushings on the diffs) and, even though it spins quite smoothly, there is a little drag caused by the build-suggested grease applied on these bushings. A full set of bearings should be your first upgrade.

Steering
The TT-01 Type E uses a dual bellcrank steering system connected to a center-point drag link. Our Futaba S3004 servo is attached on the left side of the chassis using a pair of plastic mounts, providing a nice, solid setup. Tamiya’s standard servo-mounted servo saver is included; it’s a bit on the flimsy side but, because we won’t be ripping around the track at light speed, it’s perfect for this truck. The steering blocks are designed with a lot of plastic so you shouldn’t have any durability issues, and they’ve been molded with two steering link attachment holes for tuning.

Body, Wheels and Tires
The best part of the TT-01 Type E is the stunning Team Hahn Racing MAN TGS body. It comes as a 4-piece Lexan unit that you need to trim, paint and sticker up. It’s a bit time-consuming, but the finished product is fantastic. As an added bonus, you get a plastic parts tree that holds the side mirrors and fifth wheel. The MAN TGS also comes with a new set of big rig-style racing wheels. They are molded plastic with lots of detail and come satin plated for a realistic look. Surrounding them are a set of 70mm radial tires. There are no inserts included, but the compound feels hard enough that they should hold up just fine.

Electronics
Included with the kit is a Tamiya TBLE-02S brushless ESC and Mabuchi 540 brushed motor. For steering and control, we added a Futaba S3004 analog servo and Futaba 4PLS radio system. A Duratrax 4200mAh 7.2v NiCh battery provides the juice. While not a powerhouse system, this is a good setup for the Tamiya electronics and will provide good speeds for beginning drivers. It also shouldn’t overpower the tires – we don’t want to be flipping this thing over and damaging the body!

Performance
To test the fun value of this truck, there was no other option than to take it to the one and only Tamiya Track in Aliso Viejo, California. This is the proving grounds for all things Tamiya and with the release of this truck, there have been some rumors flying around that it may become it’s own racing class soon. ‘Testing’ it there would give me a head start on my tuning (evil laugh).

Speed and Braking
The Team Hahn Racing MAN TGS is quite spunky; there’s actually a bit of wheelspin that creates a slight ‘chirp’ when mashing the throttle from a standstill. That ends, though, in about 25-30′ when it reaches maximum velocity. The gearing seems good in the infield, so the only place that I felt it could use a bit more speed was on the straight. Thankfully, the TT-01 Type E chassis does allow additional gearing options so I’ll be fiddling around with that. The brakes felt strong as well and giving them a good stab before any corner brought the MAN TGS to a quick halt. Both the throttle and brakes were consistent throughout the entire run; there were no signs of fade at all.

Steering and Handling
I was actually quite surprised with the amount of steering this truck has. Even though the tires don’t have inserts, they provided enough traction to carve a tight corner … most times. At low speeds, the truck handled great; nice tight turns with lots of on-power steering out of the corners. Going into a corner too hot, however, caused the insert-less tires to fold over – that and the added weight of the big rig body created some serious front lean that would spawn some front end hop around corners. It didn’t happen all the time and seemed very speed dependent so it could probably be cured with a little tuning – it’s just one of those quirky things. Other than that, the MAN TGS was really fun to drive. It truly looks awesome racing around the track!

Durability and Maintenance
I can’t imagine you could do much harm to this truck; the arms are thick, the tires have good wear and, well, the Team Hahn Racing body envelopes the entire chassis. You’d have to crash pretty hard and eject the body before damaging anything under it – not something I see happening with the constricted speeds it attains. I also think there’s very little maintenance required for the first couple runs. After that, I would grease up the plastic bushings and lubricate the shocks every 5 or so runs.

Tuning
The Team Hahn Racing rig is very limited on what you can tune, so don’t expect to get this car on the level of something like a TA-07. In stock form there are only a few things to tweak; ride height, Ackermann, wheelbase – that’s really about it. To yield some serious performance from this chassis, I would suggest some upgrades like a full set of bearings, good set of oil-filled shocks, adjustable steering links and perhaps a spool/ball differential setup. That should give you a good deal of tuning options to help you really get this rig dialed in.

For more information on tuning, check out our CompetitionX RC Suspension Tuning Guide.

Additional

Spec Data

Conclusion
The Team Hahn Racing MAN TGS big rig looks absolutely amazing, but what else would you expect from Tamiya – they’re a company that combines their years of model-making expertise into RC vehicles. It takes a little time to complete but the finished product is a shelf-ready masterpiece. The TT-01 Type E chassis underneath, however, is about as bare bones as you can get so don’t expect too much performance right out of the box. For a first time vehicle, a present to a big-rig lover or an additional car to your fleet, it’s a great purchase with plenty of upgrade potential to boost its capabilities. That’s why I wanted it – the potential to create a fun, all-big-rig class at my local track drew me to it. After all, RC is all about fun, right?

Features – 8
Appearance – 10
Performance – Speed & Braking – 7.5
Performance – Steering and Handling – 8.5
Performance – Durability and Maintenance – 8.5
Performance – Tuning – 7
Overall Value – 8.5

Connect
Tamiya, www.TamiyaUSA.com
Duratrax, www.Duratrax.com
Futaba, www.Futaba-RC.com

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