TAMIYA-THON #4: Mercedes-Benz C11

For today, the Tamiya of choice will be the rerelease of the Mercedes-Benz C11. Here's some background information about the actual car.

Wikipedia - Mercedes-Benz C11

"The Mercedes-Benz C11 was a Group C prototype race car introduced in 1990 for the World Sportscar Championship. Built by Sauber as a successor to the Sauber C9, the C11 used the same Mercedes-Benz M119 5.0L Turbocharged V8 from the C9. It was the first time that Mercedes-Benz chose to put their name on the car, instead of simply using Sauber.

Debuting at the first race of the 1990 World Sportscar Championship season, the car did not actually race, choosing instead to run only in practice while the team used the reliable C9 from the previous year. However, for the 2nd race the C11 did race, and was able to successfully come home with first and second. Throughout the rest of the season, the C11 won all but one race and easily took the team's championship for the year."

The original Tamiya release was around the end of 1990. My version, which is a rerelease of the original kit came out sometime ine '05. The chassis is really simple, it is also a tub-style chassis. The handling of this chassis is supposedly very good because of the low CG and the use of foam tires. However, these type of cars are only good to run on well prepared tracks. Because of its light weight, the "drivetrain" is direct-drive. The pinion (gear) on the motor meshes directly with the ball differential gear which drives the wheels. This is simple, effective, and efficient. Less rotating gears minimizes energy loss and failure points. As a result, even a stock "silver can" motor will make this car very fast.

Very nice Tamiya boxart once again


Side of box


This side shows the front and rear suspension, and the chassis layout



Very organized contents presentation


The kit comes with a "Pre-finished" body which is beautiful and perfect. This time, the body is polycarbonate.


Again, I have kept this kit NIB. This is because there are no local tracks (or at least close ones) to run it. But more importantly is I am afraid to damage the body because it is a limited edition, so there are no replacements. If I have more display room, I would build it just for display. However, I have heard that Tamiya have "rereleased the rerelease" recently with the only difference being the boxart which is now the newer type with the black background and different art. The following link is to Tamiya's page on the C11 for those interested.

Tamiya Mercedes-Benz C11