Hedley Studios asked us to develop a complete powertrain for their Tamiya Wild One MAX – an amazing full-size recreation of the iconic Tamiya remote control car, originally launched in the 1980s to the delight of millions.
The brief was to keep the system relatively low-voltage, to ensure a lively ride and to enable the vehicle to be fully homologated as an M1 Class vehicle (passenger car) under EU Whole Vehicle Type Approval regulations. To step above the restrictions created by the (easier to pass) quadricycle regulations – the Tamiya Wild One MAX was to be a fully road-legal car.
Electrogenic specified and designed the complete powertrain from a blank sheet of paper, and supported Hedley Studios in taking it through the full testing and homologation process. The boundary scope of supply was at the drive-shafts and the dashboard.
The concept of the powertrain is simple – a single enclosure containing everything except the motor is delivered to Hedley, who simply bolt it in to the Tamiya and connect the dashboard wiring loom, the motor tails and cooling pipes. The enclosure contains everything else, including charger, two full cooling circuits (motor/inverter and battery) and of course the batteries themselves. It is a tricky shape for homologation testing, as the visual impact and the seating position of the car had to reflect the original toy, but the design proved successful when crushed in a 10-tonne press (and accelerated at 28G, set on fire from without, set on fire from within, etc.).
The powertrain was tested at the “component” level at UTAC, so it didn’t have the luxury of being protected by the rest of the vehicle in the destructive tests. The Electrogenic powertrain passed 12 destructive tests plus a raft of non-destructive tests – each one first time – and of course the vehicle itself had its own series of tests, with the powertrain installed and fully functional. A total of 41 tests were passed and the type approval certificate was issued only nine-months after starting the detailed design – something of a record!
The result? A fantastic and hilariously fun offroad buggy that is awesome offroad and fully street-legal. For Electrogenic it is a great demonstration re what we can do in a short space of time – an example of our proprietary systems quickly assimilating new tech, and our design capabilities creating a right-first-time masterpiece.
To learn more about our Powertrain Solutions, click here.
