November 10, 2008

Matsukura tops first Qualifier

Naoto Matsukura has made his intentions clear here in Thailand by topping the time sheets when it counted most, as qualifying for the 1:12 IFMAR World Championships got underway at the RCS in Bangkok.  The 14-year-old Yokomo star driver is running an Associated, due to Yokomo’s Japanese distribution links with AE, and put in a 39 lap run in a time 08:02.244 which was some 8 seconds faster than second placed Juho Levanen who made it a 1-2 for the RC12R5.  In the final practice Matsukura had run a 40 lapper but believes increased wind at the track made for a slower run time in the first heat.

Read the full coverage on our event site here.


November 9, 2008

Leino surprises rivals in Thailand

Teemu Leino has surprised his rivals in Thailand by recording the fastest time in controlled practice as day one of the 1:12 scale World Championships comes to a close.  The flying Finn is debuting Xray’s new XII and was the only driver to record 39 laps over 8 minutes with his closest rival being CRC driver Jilles Groskamp who just missed out on 39 laps recording 38 in a time of 8:00.644.

Read the full coverage on our event site here.


November 9, 2008

EFRA publish 2009 Race Calendar

EFRA 2008 Approved Muffler list

EFRA have published the minutes from last weekends AGM that took place in Lyon, France. Contained within is the Calendar for 2009 that sees the introduction of a new indoor 1/12th and 1/10th scale electric European Championship which will take place in Collegno, Italy in January. Other events of note are the 1/8th scale on road World Championships in Lostallo, Switzerland that will be held from the 15th to 23rd of August. Due to the 1/8th scale Worlds taking place in Europe next year, there will be no European A Championships for this class. Next years outdoor Touring car Euros will be run in Luxembourg at the beginning of August, the 1/10th 200mm European A Championships is in Gubbio, Italy at the end of July and the World Championships for EP buggy will be in the beginning of October. It looks as if we will be extremely busy in 2009.

The full EFRA AGM minutes can be viewed here.

View the full 2009 Calendar here (PDF).


November 5, 2008

Numan Wins Team Orion Invitational

This past weekend Bending Corners Raceway in Orange County, California played host to the Team Orion Invitational race which would use the Reedy Race type heads up format for the Invitational drivers. The race format used the drivers 4 best points out of the 5 rounds of racing allowing 1 round to be thrown out. Team Orion Factory Driver Josh Numan looked very fast in practice on Saturday laying down very impressive lap times especially considering it was the first time he would run LiPo power in his TC. On Sunday morning the races were set to get underway at 10:00am but unfortunately light rain showers in the morning delayed the start until 12:00pm. After all 5 rounds of racing were complete, it was Numan that took home the championship, with 3 wins and 1 second place finish for a total of 5 points, Steve Weiss took 2nd with 6 points and Lex Tyler rounded out the top 3 with 8 points.

Source: Team Orion [teamorion.com]


November 5, 2008

Ielasi & Vejrak win Picco Cup Asia 08

The first Picco Cup Asia was held last weekend at the ACO track in Hong Kong with racing for both 1/10th & 1/8th on road. The event attracted over 170 drivers from all around Asia as well as 1/10th scale World Champion Daniele Ielasi, Alberto Picco and Patrick Schaefer from Europe. After 4 rounds of qualifying it was Meen Vejrak from Thailand that took the TQ in 1/10th scale, while in 1/8th scale it was Shepherd driver Ielasi that came out on top. After 45 minutes of intense final action Daniele took the win in 1/8th scale, finishing only 5 seconds ahead of fellow countryman Alberto Picco, with Team C driver Hung in 3rd. In 1/10th scale Meen Vejrak took his Xray to victory ahead of 2nd placed Serpent driver Ts Kai Leung, while the final podium step went to Hung Cheung Hang.

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November 4, 2008

Neo 09 – Announcement

Our half sister Neo Buggy is pleased to announce the return of the Neo race in 2009 (“Neo09”). After the success of Neo08 in March this year, the event will once again be hosted at the Harper Adams facility, with DXR as the organizers. Using a similar timetable as Neo08 with some tweaks, the event will have an entry limit of 180 1/8 buggy drivers. A special ‘invite only’ 1/8 Electric Buggy class will also be run alongside the main class. The date of the event is 10-13 April 2009; 4 days over Easter, with 1 day of practice, 2 days of qualifying, and finals on Monday.

Further details will be published on the official event site here.


November 3, 2008

Köngener Indoor Masters 2008

Seen as one of the biggest indoor events in Europe, the KIM 2008 attracted over 120 drivers last weekend in Köngen, Germany. It was Team Durango/Orion driver Jörn Neumann who was setting the pace taking the TQ spot with his Durango Prototype in 4WD, while In 2WD he would start second from the grid. In 4wd it was complete domination by Jörn who won all 3 A-mains along with all 5 Qualifying rounds, while in 2WD he had some problems in qualifying but with an awesome performance he was setting the fastest lap times and could win also all 3 A-mains.


November 3, 2008

JConcepts report on SuperCup Rd6

JConcepts completed a near sweep of every class and a full sweep of the modified classes at round 6 of the SuperCup series held recently in Florida. Jason Ruona finished the year with an impressive 3 class wins with 3 very different vehicles. He was responsible for JConcepts’ results in 2wd mod, 4wd mod, and J82 Outlaw taking a combined 9 TQ’s and 8 wins along the way. RCSignUp.com and Jab Graphix front man Bobby Phillips took time out of his busy schedule to lay it down in Truck Mod, using a key TQ to take the series win. Local up and coming driver Zach Mote took 2wd Stock in spectacular fashion only missing out on one possible point when considering the best 3 of 4 round format. And finally Tim Kowal got out to a good start at the beginning of the season in J82 Stock and carried that momentum through to the end of the year. The mix of Double Dee and Goose Bump rear tires used in his campaign were so effective that he didn’t even have to run the penultimate round to take the series victory.

Source: JConcepts [jconcepts.com]