I'm planning on using a really old school 1 speed NTC3 as a drifter.
Cost will be around $ 265. I will be getting a new rtr nitro TC3, 2 new engines, and a Futaba 401 CLONE Gyro from Hobby King.
I'm just curious as to how much people are spending on their electric drifters.

$265 is pretty modest.

There are afew guys here who have spent bundles on their chassis. Most of mine are close to the $1,000 range. The chassis kits were around $200-300 by themselves, but option/speed/drift parts cost a pretty penny. I also use three LiPos per chassis, which also drives up cost.

TIPut the gyro in a mini, if you have one. It will be of better use there. 1/10th scale drifters don't need them, and they can actually be a hindrance to you learning at a faster pace. If the chassis is hard to drift, balance the weight distribution of the chassis out to close to 50/50, front and rear, and that will help it drift better.

I have experience with both HPI and TC3 Nitro's but for the price brand new, yeah $265 is the best I could come up with. I'm more inclined to get a brand new TC3 and a cheapy gyro than the HPI Nitro Drift.  I certainly have deep pockets for electric as well, but I am not that techno savvy and would rather just stick with old school nitro. Eventually i'm going to take those training wheels off and learn to drift on nitro w/o it. Also does it matter if I choose to get a single speed vs a 2-speed for drifting because I know that in electric's everyone uses a single speed. Also chose the tc3 because it doesn't use belts, so again trying to mimic the experience as much as possible without buying electrics. How much of an advantage does shaft have over belts in terms of sliding the car and maintaining speed/drift.

shaft vs belt - for me none, both the same, both have pros and cons. I slid my Yokomo MR4TC (shaft) and Tamiya VDF (belt) the same. Some guys get very technical about "torque steer" in a shaft drive but that applies mostly to touring where grip is a major factor, in drifting there is no grip so there is no issue with the car slightly pulling because one wheel is getting more grip than another.

I geared both my belt and shaft to attain same final drive rpm's, in fact all in our team some running belts some shafts, geared and tuned identical and shaft and belt keep up with each other the same, no advantage one over the other, we often swap cars with each other to check out and tune - belt or shaft same to me performance wise, just that I prefer belt as it absorbes driveline vibration due to rubber as oppose to gear on gears on shaft which tend to be a bit noisy, but like I said it's personal preference mostly.

I just got my TT-01 for $115 used on Ebay. It came with ball bearings, aluminum motor mount and aluminum driveshaft, battery pack and an old skool Futaba Magnum Junior. Its my first RC car!</p>

Nice pick up. Hope youre satisfied with your purchase when it comes in. I've had nothing but lemon nitro cars won off ebay, so I've decided to buy brand new from online hobby shops. My LHS charges up the butt in prices for new rtr kits but I mean, all I go to them for is fuel anyways.

When you start getting serious about rc drifting, things can get expensive. so dont be suprised if you find yourself spending a lot more than expected. ive invested roughly 800$ into the hobby. I started out with a $180 kit but spent at least 60 more for a cheap remote and battery set, and it was still almost stock. once you get better, youll either realize that you cant grow/improve without spending $$ on mods or moving on to a better alternative. for example, my first remote was good but mycurrent one is WAYbetter. i havent had to upgrade since and probably never will (Futaba 3pm 2.4ghz) I also have enough parts to build two more chassis so to me its worth it.

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I am fully invested in the RC hobby in general, I'm just trying to find a niche that I can stick with. I've experimented with 1/16 scale nitros, 1/24 scale micro rs4's, bit charG's, and 1/10 nitro on roads and yet I still haven't found one solid category to stick with. Hopefully rc nitro drifting and possibly electric kits will be my niche. I'm planning multiple trips to Tokyo this summer and want to get into their rc drifting scene as well, are Yokomo kits a good platform to start with?

Yoks are considered one of the best. There's another drifter working up a rep- the Street Jam.

If you're going to Tokyo, and want to drift, get going now and practice! the drift guys over there are pretty good! Just about all are electric (best control) and the CS (countersteer) craze is full-on.

You've got a ways to go. Get started soon!

Spent $400 on Tamiya VDF then stuck another $200 in alloy parts, hop up CVD's, performance bearings, $400 in electronics and $125 in body, LED's and paint. Oh yeah, eating sandwiches for lunch!

Tokyo!! mad fun, like Disney land for adults if your into the nightlife scene. Hit up the hobby shops there RC champ and super RC, huge like sams club or costcos! shelves upon shelves of Yokomo stuff!

Gokemidoro is right about the drifters, these guys excel in drifting just like everything else they do! The hobby shops will tell you where they meet up, but you better bring your A game these guys are all about control, not speed demons, tandems is their game.

Goke... heard Raikou hit you up with some decals, could be mistaken, was that you?

I spent $80 (£50) on my TT01E chassis and around $100 on lipo batteries, charger and the brushless motor, my dad has lent me about $50 worth of ESC and I had the radio kit from my old Tamiya TGS, so if I had bought it all, around $280

But since then I've spent around $50 on wheels, tyres and hop-ups. I still need more stuff to be able to adjust camber, and some other parts. If I was serious about it I'd have gone with a much better platform than the TT01, my kit is all pretty rock bottom budget stuff lol

kstmRYD,

Yah, they did. Really nice set, too! Toyo full graphics set! I don't yet have a body worth putting them on, but will soon. Pics will be forthcoming when it gets finished!

Raikou didn't have to do that, because I would still recommend them, but it's nice to know you're appreciated!

I first went to Tokyo via Philippines and man what a culture shock! I mainly stayed in Narita general area and was constantly exclaiming to my Dad "why don't we have this kind of "$%#! in the US!".  Then when we reached Tokyo...MIND BLOWN... I mean really if you've got money over there, let's hope you also have some common sense and self control. I wanted to buy so many things when I was there it was craaaazy. The Japantown hobby shop in my area is awesome by itself but it has absolutely nothing on JDM...

Maybe you should talk with the owner and ask him to stock some.

I mean, if he has access to get some things you are after, and you have friends like-minded, go there and convince him!!

Me personally have spent way to much on my tt-01e.I have close to a 1,000. It hasalmosteverything you can do to it done.

I have a serious question abou a drifting Gyro,

I am running a boat on the ragged edge, I am looking into putting a 1" by 3" wide flap on the nose of the boat, and wanting to use a Gyro, to control it, as you can never count for that suddden gust of air, nor a wake,,,,is this possible, if so would someone lead me in the right direction.

I really do not want to destroy a 1500.00 boat..


I believe it will work, if what I "think I know about the drifting Gyros" but i will wait on the experts... I figure turn the gyro sideways , and when the nose wants to lift, the gyro would activate the flap wing what ever you want to call it and pop it up and down to keep the down force on the nose...''

Please help

e-mail me direct

[email protected] Thanks a bunch.

Yah, gyro should work, even mounted sideways (they're actually heli gyros). Interesting idea, not sure how well it will work, though, since the gyro acts upon an initial action, it is "reactive", and the response time is quick, but not sure if it would be fast enough for the application you want to put it in. The "lag" of the servo will have to be added into the equation, as well, making reaction time somewhat slow, for how fast the boat will be going, to make it effective, but you won't know till you try, I guess.

Still, an interesting idea!!

Nah, dude, you haven't carboned it up yet!!

Jes' Kidding! Nice ride! Is that a shelf-queen, or have you run it? Be a shame to see all that nice stuff get scratched, butit would be a shame to let it all just sit on a shelf.

Thanks Man ya there is few more things i have to do to it shock towers and a carbon upper deck and i want to do cvd's.But ya right now it is a shelf queen do to all the snow we have and i have no tracks near me but in the summer time it will be a parking lot machine

For my TT-01EIt cost about $400 with all electronics including charger, servo, transmitter, and battery.

I bought a HSP (exactly the same as HiMoto) new for AU$140. $6 ebay 15 turn motor and $30 of wheel bearings to replace the dodgy brass bushes. I use a 4500 batt instead of the 1800 it came with. Lasts around 3 times as long.

Goes killer! You can tell it's not a big $$ chassis but still very good bashing around carparks etc. Good enough not to bother upgrading- YET.