In 1960, beginning with the Honda F1 (RA273), Tamiya dealt with many plastic models of Formula One. Because of that, the company decided to sponsor Team Lotus in . Since 1976's Tyrrell P34, they paid royalties to the teams whose cars their models were based on. Because of the excellent quality of the finished products and so forth, they built strong relations with the teams to the point where even the teams' well guarded plans (CAD data) were shown only to Tamiya and no other model makers. However, recently this sort of arrangement has petered out and models are based on things like news photographs, and the demands for the royalties by the Formula One teams have risen. Thus, it is not easy to sell a new model in recent years. Other model companies have taken over the F1 market (Model Factory Hiro) and now have the connections that Tamiya used to have with current and past F1 teams.