Tamiya Laser-Gill Super XX Chassis (Personal Custom)

Presenting MY Tamiya Laser-Gill Super XX Chassis as personally modified for competition.

Sometime in the mid-90s, the Anime "Bakuso Kyodai Let's go!" became quite popular in the Philippines. Eventually little boys started walking around with tool kits that sported the Mini4WD Tamiyas and their spare parts.

And because the Mini4WDs (Called Mini4WD by the way because all four tires were powered) were technically challenging, provided a need for speed, and required tinkering, lubing and modifying like a real car, older men - like me - started walking around with tool-kits and starting bullying out the little boys from race-pits that started popping out everywhere.

This was my racer. A Tamiya Laser-Gill Super XX Chassis Mini4WD that I recently unearthed while cleaning a storage area. I was preferential to the Laser-Gill because of it's electric blue finish which was really cool. When it competed, the stickers were never applied, but since she's in retirement, it didn't hurt.

I love this car.



To all those disapproving eyes and women out there who don't approve of the boys-with-toys, please, study the science behind the toy before hating it. Tamiya Racing is a science. It's not simply a game of keep buying parts, slap it on and you'll win. No - but that does help.

Take my Laser Gill for instance. As you can see from the original packaging, I dropped the larger wheels which gave me more acceleration in favor of the bolt on-aluminum front wheels which - while they gave me turning drag - would never fly off despite the speed in front trading the higher acceleration for higher top speed, and; the one-way tires at the back to help with the cornering  - which meant that the rear of the car had a tendency to whip (My theory is that it helped in the turning) hence the reinforced rear bumper, which added weight on the back requiring me to add weights on the front just to keep the nose down, and; instead of using smaller rollers to help in turning up front, I opted instead for a spring loaded bumper system that would assist the car in going straight and turning as well.

I of course also swapped out the rubber tires in favor of the wider sponge tires for better grip. I employed a Plasma engine - can't remember if that was my most powerful "legit" engine and over-powered rechargeable batteries to push the output to maximum. I don't remember what gear I used, but I do believe I tended towards the higher torque output to compensate for the loss of acceleration due to the change in wheels. Smaller tires also lowered her center of gravity making her more stable.

What's so nice about Tamiya Mini4WD is that you could actually spend hours debating whether or not these aforementioned modifications are optimal for racing. Then there are those who would argue that the only time you can modify or should modify your Tamiya is after you've raced them on a particular track - as all tracks are different - I tend to agree with this.

The Tamiya Laser-Gill Super XX chassis is no longer in production, nor did it ever appear in the anime. But I'm sure you could find one out there for sale from resellers, ebay and other internet stores.