Project: Kyosho Tomahawk

When I was a boy, I remember the first promotion Photos from the Tomahawk deeply impressed me. Some pretty cool pictures from the Tomahawk was riding on the beach. The cool designed body, the metal parts everywhere and the sleek look screamed "Racing!".

At that time I was a proud owner of a Tamiya Frog, but this thing, that was clear, was made for competition! Possible, that the Tomahawk and it´s brother the Scorpion, was the best 2WD racing cars at that time. At least until a special day. I remember one of my first races, when the very first Team Associated RC10 came out in Germany. The RC10 destroyed everything else - including the Tomahawk and it´s brothers.

The old days are over and it was fantastic news that Kyosho made a re-release Tomahawk.

I saw a lot of different modified Tomahawks in the 80´s. Some with carbon fibre rail chassis, some with 4WD - the usual crazy stuff, what drivers did to go faster.

My idea was to make the Tomahawk a little more special to make it Neo Vintage for racing.

First step was to re-modeling the original parts. So I made a simple assembly with original parts on my computer (the chassis in the background on the picture). From this point I started to with my own ideas.

I wanted to lower the center of gravity first. I decided to use a low profile shorty battery withthe steering servo in front. So I made a new lower chassis plate from carbon fibre with some pods to mount the speedo and reciever. To hold the battery in place I reduced the distance between the side rails. On this way I also had to make a shorter 3D printed bumper and front plate. A big change is the different location of the servo saver. I fact, this position works much better regarding steering travel and bump steer (what is nearly zero now).

Original and modified chassis comparism.

One advantage of the more narrow chassis is, that the body fits much better on the chassis. Of course I installed the body lower! Jared Tebo paint for the win!

I use the original Kyosho re-release option shocks. They work much better, than the kit shocks and you can use standard shock springs for set-up.

The correct adjustment of the front suspension ist most important! It took a while to find the sweet spot to get perfect camber and caster. The original installation of the bar to the chassis is not perfect, because you always don´t have enough up-travel - or the ground clearance was always too much. So I installed the suspension bar to the front holes of the side rails. Now the whole suspension are placed higher and more to the front. This works much better than the original configuration. And you have some more wheelbase, what always helps!

Yes, I slammed that body down!

I use a RC10 re-release rear wing, what fits pretty nice to the car. A larger wing would look strange there.

And another nice view.

Without the body you can see the new layout of the electronic installation. Some last generation brushed Nosram Razor Evolution Speedo and Gemini FM reciever to match the red shocks. I build a Reedy Titanium 13x3 in the rear. Too much power.

To lower the body, I also lowered the upper part of the rear roll cage around the gear box.

The new chassis looks...different. But I like, what I see.

The narrow chassis and the new steering position. Everything works perfectly together now.

Lunsford turnbuckles for the win!

The front bumper is 3D printed. And it survived many runs! The original Tomahawk tires works pretty well on Astroturf tracks. The brass clamps for the suspension bar are made by hands. No CNC stuff, guys!

Every time I work on this car, I get a little colour flash. Ha!

How low can you go?

Front view. My rear wing shows some cracks from the last vintage race. I also lost the headlight on the roof somewhere on the track.

Rear view is a nice view.

At the VOREM2017 Vintage Race in Lagenfeld/Germany

And how does it drive?

First, I felt not apart on the track. Second, too much power! Third, the weight (1230g) is too low for Astro tracks. The tires worked surprisingly well on this high grip track. And I was able to make wheelies everywhere, beacause too much power. So I tried to accelerate not so hard. The suspension worked pretty awesome on this bumpy track. The handling was good, but trough the high grip track and the low weight of the car, it was very hard to drive it, without roll overs in the corners. The Tomahawk is definitely not happy on those tracks and it seems to want back on loose tracks, what we had some years ago. The only chance to calm down here is to put as many weight as possible in the car in combination with very hard shock oil. I am sure, there is a way to find a set-up for those tracks. So all I need is more practice and testing. But the fun is there with this beauty!