Kyosho Mini-Z: Can the MR-03 Drift?

Since I hang out on Mini-Z related facebook groups all the time, I've noticed a few very frequently asked questions. With rear wheel drive drifting becoming so popular, people naturally wonder if Kyosho's MR-03 can drift. Let's try it out today.

Here we have a stock MR-03. To help it drift, I added DS Racing's LF-4 drift tires and a MZW431 gyro, with sensitivity turned all the way up.

Here's my attempt to drift this chassis. Please note I've had quite a bit of practice in RWD drifting with a GLD chassis. I'm putting in my best effort.

The MR-03 is not drifting much at all, spinning out easily. And there are good reasons for this.

(1) MR-03 lacks the unusually steep steering angle necessary to counter steer most RWD drifts. This means a steering rack specifically designed for drifting.

(2) RWD drifting also requires a fast and accurate gyro. MZW431 is good at keeping a car drive straight on a loose surface but it's likely not spec'd for drifting.

(3) The stock MR-03 has an open rear diff and that makes the tail swing less predictable. I could have locked the gear diff with glue or putty.

MR-03 is a good track racer but unfortunately it's not capable of drifting. Mini-Z's only drift options are the MA-020 and MA-030, but they are AWD and AWD drifting follows different principles and drives differently.

Today, the best chassis for micro scale RWD drifting are the likes of DriftArt2, GLD, DRZv2, XRX, BMR-X, etc. Perhaps one day Kyosho will produce a RWD drifter too.

Okay, this is a GLD and the kind of steering angle required to RWD drift. At full lock, it almost forms a 90 degree angle.

Paired with it is the AFRC v3 gyro. It's extremely sensitive and precise. MR-03 lacks both of these important ingredients, and hence cannot drift in practice.

Since I couldn't find a lot of footage of MR-03 attempting to drift, I will leave the rest of the footage here.

This is Sammy and thanks for watching!

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