Xray to release 1/10th 200mm & 1/12th Pan car!
Rumours abound this time of year with manufacturers nearing their final preparations of new products for the upcoming season. Mostly rumours leak out in the form of sightings at private test sessions or team drivers informing friends or simply a case of wishful thinking. In this instance the rumours regarding Xray’s imminent release of a 1/10th 200mm gas car and 1/12th pan car has come from a number of sources and therefore I believe it to be fact.
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1/10th 200mm Gas
This class is a pretty natural direction for the Slovakian manufacturer to enter in to, as they have successfully covered almost all the electric on road classes and even gone successfully into 1/8th gas off road. This last class, along with their mini nitro range of cars has given Xray the bug and the contacts to enter gas racing at a high level, plus the knowledge that Juraj Hudy has of gas on road racing from when he used to race as well as make parts for Serpent should benefit Xray greatly in their preperations of a car for this class.
The Car
No doubt this car will be of top notch quality as we has come to expect from Xray, but I don’t see the car being radically different from the other cars on the market and I believe that they will play it safe as they have when entering both the 190mm electric class and 1/8th gas off road class. Their practice of basing their new car on a market leader in the class and then working on improving quality and increasing tuning options before releasing it would again be the approach taken.
The Team
Xray will be able to benefit greatly from their top class line-up of racers from their 190mm electric car. As Jilles Groskamp has proved, as well as other top electric racers who have made the switch over to gas, racers of this quality should have no problems adapting to the gas power and different driving style required in this class. Xray could run into difficulties where their electric team drivers would now have clashing sponsors like in the case of Ralph Burch, who runs RC America (the US Xray distributor) and who will probably have to leave Kyosho, who he just won the ROAR 1/8th Nationals with, due to this clash. Expect to see large movement in the gas driver market where Xray is involved as a sponsor on the electric side.
1/12th Pan Car
This move is another no brainer for Xray and whilst I know less about this rumour I can see the rise in popularity over the last few years of this class to be a major deciding factor for their entry into this form of racing. Also to be considered is that as a major player in the RC industry Xray could easily out promote the current batch of manufacturers in this class who, for the most case, are rather small players in the overall industry.
The Car
Prodution wise, the simplicity of the 1/12th electric pan cars shouldnt offer much in the way of a challenge for Xray to design and construct and if they follow the same approach into this class as with other classes then they could do quite well straight away.
The Team
Again their team of top class electric racers are a perfect fit with most of them actually racing this class but with a different manufacturer. When you consider that the 1/12th Worlds runs the week prior to the 1/10th 190mm Worlds at the same venue and that their team is present during both then you can see even more reasons for Xray to enter this class.
When?
We expect to see these cars announced in the run up to, or during, the Nurnberg toy fair in Germany at the end of January beginning February next year.
