About one and a half year's ago, during a hiatus in my touring car endeavors, I sold off the last R/C car I owned, a HPI RS4, in exchange for this HPI Super F-1 that you see here. It was an epic, halfway around the world journey, courtesy of Federal Express, that saw my RS4 reach the previous owner of my HPI F-1 and vice versa. This car was received in excellent condition - it had an easy life rounding the markers on carpet over in the US, but here, I really put the car to test, on concrete, as well as normal road asphalt. Basically I am still running the car in its original condition (it's already modified, what else could I do?), but tuned to local conditions. I must admit I am still learning the ropes, but I have managed to stir up some interest in F-1s in the local R/C scene. However, I believe I have one of only two HPI F-1s in Singapore, the other belonging to the local HPI distributor. Well, here's a closer look at my F-1.

This bodyshell pictured is a Tamiya B195. With some minor persuasion, I mamaged to get it to fit the HPI F-1. I had to trim part of the front bumper wing mount in order to fit it against the front suspension. The original body that came with this car was a HPI McLaren bodyshell. That didn't look so fantastic, hence this body. I use the HPI one for bashing around with.

HPI McLaren F-1

As the Tamiya and HPI have the same mounting holes, the HPI's front suspension will fit right onto any F103 chassis.

The F103 chassis's battery box will also fit on the HPI, as can be seen above.

Anyway, the reason why I chose this car was because it was so different from the standard F103. It is much better specced than even a Tamyia F103RS, or RX, plus the cost of a bodyshell, put against the HPI's price. Then you too will realize how good value for money the HPI F-1 is. In addition, the HPI is so much technologically superior to the Tamiya, it's that "wow" factor. Admittedly, the Tamiya is easier to tune, and seems to handle better, but you can tune the HPI in ways you can't with the Tamiya.