History
Start of TRF - Avante 4WD -  | | TRF's world challenge started in 1988 when Tamiya released a pure racing buggy called the "Avante" (kit #58072). The Avante kit used highly sophisticated materials such as aluminum, carbon fiber, reinforced plastic and other innovative components. The kit also incorporated fully adjustable suspension with a rear trailing arm suspension design. With all of these components and innovative, if not ahead of it’s time design, the Avante was destined for pursuing racing performance. TRF was founded to be a test team for this machine.
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Entering Races - Feedback from the Racing Scene -
In 1988 TRF entered the Avante into the JMRCA Championships in Japan, the equivalent caliber of race as the U.S. ROAR Nationals. This move proved to be a great opportunity as this Japanese National Championship resulted in getting TRF ready for its first appearance at the 1/10 Electric IFMAR (International Federation of Model Auto Racing) World Championships. Tamiya ended up finishing 7th overall in its first international competition and thusly established the current TRF style of using information gathered from these races to better develop radio control products.
Entering the Touring Car Era - The Quest for a Much Desired World Title - |  | | During the 1990’s, Tamiya established a new trend to the R/C world. The trend began with the introduction of the Tamiya TA01 chassis. This chassis was a modified Manta Ray 4WD electric buggy (58087) that used short length suspension arms so that Tamiya designers could fit scale looking touring car bodies onto a reliable, independent suspension, 4WD platform. Releases such as the R32 Nissan Skyline, BMW M3 Evo, and the Mercedes Benz 190 E single handedly launched the 1990’s touring car craze. By the end of the 1990’s “Touring Cars”, or on-road R/C cars with sedan bodies, increased in popularity worldwide. Many events around the world were held for this new form of racing. David Jun of Tamiya America, racing with Tamiya’s newest car, the TA03F-Pro, won the ROAR Nationals in 1996. In 1997, he again used the TA03F-Pro to win the NORRCA U.S. Nationals the following year. With this success and opportunity, TRF started developing TRF touring cars as the market began to see more advanced machines from Tamiya’s biggest competitors. | |  | | In 1998, a prototype of TRF's first touring car called the "TRF414X" was born. The TRF414X was thrown into race competitions around the world and its development data was gathered and analyzed. A pure racing machine called the "TRF414M", developed by the data gathered from the prototype, debuted right before the IFMAR World Championship in the year 2000. The TRF414M entered the first ever Touring Car category in the IFMAR "ISTC Class". The car made the A Main and it received positive feedback from the drivers racing in the touring car class. | For the next 2 years, before the next World Championship would be held, TRF entered races around the world with the TRF414M and further developed the chassis. TRF re-entered the ISTC class at the IFMAR World Championships in 2002 with the TRF414M and won the title of World Champion. TRF had become number 1 in the world after their inception in 1988. The next IFMAR On-Road World Championships were held in Florida in the year 2004. TRF entered with a new machine called the TRF415MS, a successor of TRF414M, and again won the title and became World Champion. Tamiya R/C became number 1 in the world with its hard work and development and proved its dominance in the Touring Car world once and for all.
|  | | In subsequent years, TRF entered many On-road International races among which it has won every single important one at one time or another. These races include the International Reedy Touring Car Race of Champions, held at Tamiya America’s R&D Test Race Track, LRP Masters in Germany, the International Indoor Championships in Las Vegas and the Reedy Race of Champions in Asia. |
Revisiting the Off-road Racing Arena -
In 2006 Tamiya went back to the drawing board to develop an all new competition level 4WD electric buggy. 4WD electric off-road racing had seen a decline in recent years due to other popular forms of racing, but in 2006 many manufactures were starting to ramp up for the upcoming Off-Road IFMAR World Championships to be held in 2007 with the host company being Japan. In the span of 9 months TRF was able to develop and release the TRF501X. Since TRF gathered valuable information in regards to drive-train efficiency, they used what was learned from the TRF415 and TA-05 dual belt drive systems to put it to off-road use. The results proved to be successful as TRF driver Hupo Honigl, from Austria, made the coveted “A” main with his new TRF501X.
The labor from this racing effort proved to bring something to the masses. The TRF501X is a high end racing machine with a high end price tag, but designers in Japan took what was learned from this pure racing machine and put it into the development of a more price conscious racing machine. This machine is the DB-01 and it shares the same drive-train and suspension as the TRF501X, but is made out of molded reinforced plastic. Yet again, this demonstrates what is learned out in a race track can be implemented into mainstream R/C products.
A New Era -
 | | Tamiya TRF, whether it be in Japan or in the U.S. will never rest on its laurels. In 2006 M. Tamiya, the president of Tamiya Inc. set forth a directive to take Tamiya design development into the next phase. That phase involves direct R&D in the U.S. offices in Irvine, California. The fruits of this new directive have resulted in a brand new TRF product called the TRF801XT. This is Tamiya’s first venture into the competitive world of Nitro Off-Road racing. The TRF801XT is a competition level, 1/8 scale, racing Truggy kit and it shares the same traditions as other TRF developed products. This new era into the nitro racing world will prove yet again that Tamiya strives to bring the customer the best possible racing products. |
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