Picco in Italy have announced that former German champion and multiple World and European finalist Oliver Mack has joined our racing team. The factory Shepherd driver will work closely with Edoardo Picco to race for the coming race season and get important feedback on their Torque on-road engine line. Oliver will make his competition debut with the new engines at the Florida Winternats in the middle of February.
Source: Picco [teampicco.com]
Having recently announced his departure from Kyosho, Team HB have today announced the addition of Shin Adachi to it’s ranks. Shin has been racing R/C cars since he was 3 years old and has amassed an impressive list of achievements throughout his career. He will be a valued addition to the World Championship Winning Team HB and joins the likes of Atsushi Hara, Andy Moore, Ty Tessmann & Jesse Robbers. Shin Adachi had this to say:
I am very happy and excited to join Team HB. As a team driver on this world top team, I’m confident and cannot wait to go to the races coming up this year. As I will also be a part of R&D, I would like to provide everything that I have learned and experienced from my long team professional R/C racing experience to the team. I’m very confident that the team will be even stronger with my addition. Please stay tuned for both myself and Team HB in this 2012 race season!
Source: Hot Bodies [hpiracing.com]
Balancing the tires on a 1:8 buggy or truggy is key to getting the most out of your vehicle. AKA’s hand held 1:8 Off-Road wheel balancer is the perfect tool for the job. This wheel balancer was designed by Mark Pavidis with performance, portability and function in mind. It’s compact design does not require any platform or stand that can take up precious room in your pit bag. It’s the size of a standard size wrench so it will fit right in your tool box. It’s made from billet aluminum and is hollow so it looks trick and it’s light. The integrated bearings have been lubricated with a light oil and are sealed to make sure it is very easy to find the heavy side of your tires every time. The wheel mounts to the balancer with a simple press fit adapter to make switching from tire to tire quick and easy. Will balance both 1:8 Buggy or 1:8 Truggy tires or any wheel and tire combo with a 17mm hex.
View a video on how to use the balancer here
There were 172 entries at the 7th Annual Snow Ball Championship held last weekend at the famous R/C Excitement track in Fitchburg, Mass. Most of the top drivers in the New England area turned out to challenge another great Excitement lay-out. Mike Aliberti totally dominated the 2WD Mod Short Course class with his brand new X-Factory SCX-60CF, the new carbon fiber short course Conversion Kit about to be announced. Aliberti’s slim mid-motor truck handily won both rounds of qualifying and won the A main by more than two laps.
Source: X-Factory [xfactoryrc.com]
RB distributor RMV Deutschland have released information on the RB Blast V2 limited edition set. The square stroke engine features a 7+3 port ABC liner, multi-exhaust system, 9mm composite carburettor with 7mm venture insert, turbo glow plug and a 13mm nitride hardened and coated crankshaft. The 3.5cc engine is designed for competition use in both 1/8 scale buggies and truggies and comes including an engine protection kit and EFRA 2045 exhaust.
Source: Area52 [area52.cc]
The 26th Annual Pro-Line Cactus Classic will take place on March 23-25 with the World Famous Scotty Ernst announcing the race. As always, the race will be held at Hobby Town’s Scottsdale R/C Speedway in beautiful Scottsdale Arizona. Entries are limited to 500 so if you are interested in signing up for the event be sure to visit RC Signup. For more information visit the Pro-Line site here.
The 1st annual Sweep Carpet Challenge at MRH Raceway of Baltimore Maryland pulled over 100 entries from all over the Northeast, people came from Virginia to New Hampshire to attend. They were greeted with one of the most well kept and cleanest tracks/hobby stores around. Racers didn’t have to worry about needing something that the store didn’t have, as Middle River Hobbies stocks not only hobby supplies, but also everything a racer needs to get through a big race weekend. Sweep tires graciously sponsored the event providing their spec QTS 32 tire and brought all their top drivers down from New York to do battle on the ultra high grip carpet track.
Continue reading the report here
New from Xray for their T3 chassis is this 2mm chassis which was developed to provide the best possible traction for low-traction conditions. The thinner chassis allows the car to flex more which generates more overall traction. To generate even more traction, the new 2mm chassis can be combined with the new 1.6mm top deck which was developed to increase traction and in-corner steering. With the thinner top deck, the car will flex more which generates overall more traction. The top deck is a direct replacement for standard 2mm top deck.
