HPI Pro-D vs Tamiya TA03F

HPI have finally got the drop on their main drift rivals Yokomo, and come out with a ‘revolutionary’ drifting car – the HPI Pro-D. With a carbon main chassis, carbon upper deck and orange anodised aluminium bulkheads, it's a very slick design.  Only one question remains...

The HPI Pro-D 

 Why has it taken this long for a manufacturer to come out with this kind of chassis – not one that's a re-hash of another model, but a specific drift chassis? Tamiya, by shear fluke, have already created the perfect drifting chassis, and discontinued it before people even realised that you could drift RC cars – namely the Tamiya TA03F. Since the TA03F is no longer supported by Tamiya, parts and chassis’ are nigh on impossible to get hold of, so some competitive drift series have created rules specifically to ban this car.

So what made the TA03F so great at drifting? Well, good drifting is all about weight good distribution. You'll find most drifters will add a lot of weight to the front bumper so that the front tires will be pushed down and grip more than the rear, and also to give a point for the rear of the car to swing around. The TA03F was created with equal weight distribution to the left and right in mind, so the motor was moved to the front of the car to avoid the drive belts.  This in turn provided the necessary weight sitting on the front wheels. Perfect left and right weight distribution also means the battery must be placed across the chassis, rather than along side the centre line.  Take a look:

Our verdict: Currently this is only available in Japan, and at a price of 52000 yen (about $450) for just the chassis kit - only hardcore drifters need apply. Although this isn't overpriced considering the specification, the now obsolete TA03 will perform just as well, and these can be picked up reasonably cheaply on ebay. If any of you have a cousin or a brother with an old RC kicking about in the loft, go and have a look, it might just be one of these gems.

Links:

HPI Pro-D 

TA03 at Tamiya USA 

D1RC 

TA03 Resource page