Trying out at the RC Car Festival!! Toyota RC School
At the “RC Car Festival in Hobby Town Shizuoka” held in conjunction with the 61st Shizuoka Hobby Show, “Try!! Toyota RC School” was held on May 13th. At this Toyota RC school, you can assemble Tamiya’s RC on-road car “1/10 RC Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT/GR Yaris Rally 1 Hybrid (TT-02 chassis)” that was just exhibited at the Shizuoka Hobby Show, and actually special The Toyota RC Car Club and Tamiya staff will support you until you run the course.
Participation qualifications are from 3rd grade elementary school to 18 years old (accompanied by a guardian) or female (no age limit). In addition to being able to quickly assemble the Yaris (13,200 yen), it also comes with a radio, a running battery and charger, and four alkaline batteries for the radio. It has the optimum configuration for those who want to purchase an RC car for the first time.
Try!! Toyota RC School classroom.Toyota RC Car Club and Tamiya staff will support assembly
When I actually looked into the site, I found that a large number of Toyota Times groups with parents and children and reporters were participating, and they were proceeding with assembly according to the instructor’s guide from the morning. People who have assembled an RC car even once can understand, but RC cars can know the basic shape of the car, such as the operation of the suspension. The TT-02 chassis is a shaft-driven 4WD, so it is close to the 4WD system of a real car, and it is easy to experience why one motor drives four wheels.
And if it is a GR Yaris, it is a 4WD racing car, so there is continuity with the actual car, and you will be able to learn the structure of the car honestly.
However, at the assembly site, rather than learning something, it was full of atmosphere of having fun assembling a car while consulting with parents and children, and there was a strong sense of the manufacturing site. Follow the instructions to find the right parts, find the right screws, and connect them by tightening them with a screwdriver. It seems like a simple task when written in letters, but the first screw tightening work is both difficult and fresh. Moreover, if it works as expected, the joy must be doubled. Try!! The Toyota RC School was a place to impress the children.
under construction.It is taking shape to some extent because of the scenery in the afternoon.
I want to increase the number of people working in the automobile industry by 5.5 million
we can # 5.5 million people driving cars
When I asked Mr. Koji Suzuki, the chairman of the TRC (Toyota RC Car Club), which hosts the Toyota RC School, about the intention of holding the event, he said, “Originally, it was to increase the number of people who love cars.” He told me that he has done it several times as a way to grow car fans.
In other words, TRC has been working on increasing the number of car users in the future, but in recent years it has changed its direction. “Right now, I’m holding this event with the hope that as many as one person can join the 5.5 million colleagues,” says Suzuki, who has a strong desire to make friends who will work with him in the future.
As the JAMA (Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association) has set out “5.5 million people who drive cars”, they are sending cheers to the 5.5 million people working in the automobile industry. However, those 5.5 million people are retiring every year, and if there are no more people who want to find a job, the number will decrease.
The left is the 1/10 RC Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT/GR Yaris Rally 1 Hybrid (TT-02 chassis) assembled this time.In addition, barnacle muffler goods and prize pit tours are lined up.
The GR Yaris Rally 1 Hybrid on display at the Tamiya booth at the Shizuoka Hobby Show. An individual that actually performed a demonstration run at the Shinshiro Rally. Continuity between the RC car and the actual car was emphasized
Although the automobile industry is Japan’s largest industry, Japan is a country with a declining birthrate and an aging population, so if nothing is done, the scale of the industry will shrink. Furthermore, it is a once-in-a-century period of great change, and while it is also an opportunity for great growth, there is also the possibility that the future will be narrowed as it is already large.
For that reason, Mr. Suzuki says, “I want as many people as possible to become car lovers and increase the number of people to 5.5 million.” By having children understand cars, including their structures, from an early age, he hopes that in the future they will have the opportunity to work in the automobile industry.
Therefore, at this year’s RC Car Festival and Try!! Toyota RC School, the emphasis is on continuity with the actual car, which was not possible in the past. Fujitsubo (Fujitsubo Giken Kogyo), Carrosse, Work, Brid, and Third have prepared hands-on content for elementary, junior high and high school students, and Kanagawa Institute of Technology is holding a technology exhibition to increase opportunities for children to touch actual vehicles. I say it because I wanted to.
Furthermore, at the Try!! Toyota RC School, a simulated race is held after the RC car is assembled, and prizes are prepared for the top finishers. In addition to presenting goods using barnacle mufflers, pit tours of Fuji 24 Hours, SUPER GT, and Super Formula are also available. After assembling the RC car, you can visit the pit of the actual car. He hopes that the RC car will lead to the development of the future automobile industry by getting people to touch real cars. “I don’t know how much I can do,” says Mr. Suzuki, but if children have that kind of impact, they will surely understand cars better.
Above all, the process of making something with your own hands and running it on the course as desired was a great experience, and it was impressive to see the children having fun running it.
