December 9, 2016

2016 Serpent Asia Cup – Report

The recent 2016 Serpent Asia Cup was run along side the season finale of the Serpent GT Cup and held at the Hong Kong based TRC track. 52 drivers signed in for GT Modified class while over 100 entries were received for the GT RTR category. The Serpent Asia Cup then added two more classes to the special event in the form of the 1/10th Nitro Touring class and 1/8th Nitro on-road class. Current 1/10th Nitro Touring World Champion, Dominic Greiner as well as former IFMAR A-main finalist Takumi Matsuda made the trip as special guest as did Serpent’s Michael Salven and Billy Easton who raced in the 1/8th on-road and GT Modified class respectively. The Asia Cup also attracted driver from America, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippine, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. With more then 100 drivers all on Serpent chassis, the races were intense with a friendly atmosphere around the pit area.

Continue reading the report here


December 9, 2016

Baldo brothers Picco-propelled

Shortly after walking away from former long-time sponsors Mugen and Modelix and signing a contract with TLR and Horizon Hobby, Spanish front runners Bryan and Oscar Baldo now also secured a new engine deal. The two will use the Italian-made Picco engines in their 2017 campaign that will include appearances at the Spanish national championship, the Euros and other major events.

Source: Picco [teampicco.com]


December 7, 2016

Serpent sign Felix Law

Serpent have announced the signing of Felix Law to their Asian team. One of the friendliest and loudest in the pits, Felix, also known as “More Powa” will be driving both on-road and off-road classes throughout Asia. With the knowledge of multi-platform racing Felix will also support all Serpent customers and stage some race clinics too. Felix has the following to say about the deal:

After a long thinkover, I have finally decided to join Team Serpent for upcoming seasons and start this exciting adventure. I have to thank Serpent and Mr. Lau for giving me the chance to work with Team Serpent to expand all of their upcoming projects and ideas.  For anyone out there, feel free I contact me on Facebook if you have any question, I will do my best to help.

Source: Serpent [serpent.com]


December 7, 2016

Ryan Lutz wins Pro Nitro Buggy at 2016 Fall Brawl

Ryan Lutz wins Pro Nitro Buggy at 2016 Fall Brawl

The 2016 edition of the popular Fall Brawl race was held this past weekend at Badlands in Myrtle Beach with over 550 entries. The track was very fast overall with lap times dipping to 21 seconds and the surface stayed very smooth. The conditions however were ever changing and the paramount tire choice was the hardest part of the racing. In Pro Nitro Buggy Mugen’s Cole Ogden would take the overall TQ from Tekno RC’s Ryan Lutz. Main day Sunday started at 7am and the program was shortened throughout with shorter mains so the organisers and driver could try to beat the incoming rain. The A-main started and Ryan Lutz crashed after shorting the first double and fell to 9th on the first lap. He quickly moved up to 4th and then both third and second let him by as he came up on them and Lutz set his sights on Ogden who was 5 seconds up. A couple laps later Cole got into a crash and Ryan just moved past him into the lead. Ogden eventually had to come in for a tire change as his was coming unglued so now Ryan worked up a 5 second lead ahead of Noah Dickerson about 7 minutes in and that seemed to be the same cushion for the next 10 minutes as Noah stayed on Ryan’s pace. After the last stop though Ryan suddenly had a 14 second lead and eventually he found himself right behind Noah on the last two laps. Lutz wanted to put him a lap down and he knew Noah wanted to stay on same lap and Dickerson fought him off hard and Lutz couldn’t get past and so Ryan Lutz came home with just under a lap victory from Noah Dickerson (Mugen) second and Griffin Hanna (Serpent) third while top qualifier, Cole Ogden had to settle for fourth overall.

Source: Ryan Lutz [facebook.com]


December 6, 2016

Baldo brothers team up with TLR & Horizon Hobby

Baldo brothers team up with TLR & Horizon Hobby

Following their departure from long-term sponsors Mugen and Modelix Racing, Bryan and Oscar Baldo have announced TLR and Horizon Hobby as their new home. The two Spanish 1/8th buggy specialists will use TLR’s 8ight buggies in their campaign and they have the following to say about the move:

We are very excited to collaborate with Horizon Hobby and we want to thank everyone who made it possible, Jerome Sartel, Kevin Gahan and Todd Hodge, besides the own company for this opportunity. After 8 years with minor changes in our brands, we face this new challenge very excited and looking forward to start the season to start racing with this great team.


December 5, 2016

Rafael Panayi wins at RCE Championship Rd5

Rafael Panayi wins at RCE Championship Rd5

The recent fifth round of the RCE Championship saw Rafael Panayi walking away with the TQ and win. Rafael would also pull the fastest lap of the day while Pantelis Makrides came in second from Rafael’s teammate Savvas Savva.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]


December 2, 2016

Jeff Hamon doubles at XRS Australia

Jeff Hamon doubles at XRS Australia

The inaugural Xray Race Series Australia race was held at Sydney’s Moorebank raceway. 57 entries were received over the three classes, 1/8th, GT and Nitro Tourer. The Saturday was open practise with three rounds of qualifying and bump-up finals on Sunday. Good weather and a well organised meet allowed all the races to be completed with everyone enjoying some close racing and friendly atmosphere. There were even some interstate competitors that flew in from across the country to join in. With the track hosting next year’s nationals it was a good opportunity to get some track time for the non-locals.

Continue reading the report here


December 2, 2016

RC Concept powers Ben Sterling through to 2018

RC Concept powers Ben Sterling through to 2018

RC Concept have announced the signing of Australian Off-road frontrunner, Ben Sterling. Ben is well known around the world and brings in some 16 years of knowledge in the industry. The 2016 Victorian State Titles holder will work together with the Australian RC Concept distributor to support all RC Concept users in Australia and he had this to say:

Firstly I would like to thank Alpha for the past 3 years. It has been an absolute pleasure working with them and evolving their company and product. Thanks so much for RC Concept for giving me this opportunity to run their great engines and also 1/8 EP electronics for the 2017/2018 seasons. I can’t wait to race this awesome package.

Source: RC Concept [rcconcept.net]