February 20, 2011

Billy Easton TQ’s both classes at Motorama

Billy Easton TQ's both classes at Motorama

We were sent an update from the Scotty Ernst run Motorama, which is taking place this weekend in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. This event has almost 500 entries in nitro off-road and 300 plus in electric off-road. Serpent chief offroad designer Billy Easton, who is making his big race debut with Novarossi engines this weekend, took the top qualifier spot in both Expert Buggy and Truggy. In the buggy class the Novarossi Plus 4 BTTS powered Cobra S811 driver TQ’d ahead of Mugen driver Travis Amezcua and Associated super star Ryan Maifield, while in Truggy Billy placed the pre production Cobra Truggy, powered by Novarossi Bonito XLBS, in front of Ryan Maifield and Losi factory racer Adam Drake. The finals are taking place today so lets see if he can carry forward that momentum and give the Serpent cars their first major US victory.

View the line up for the A-mains here


February 19, 2011

HPI Baja 5SC SS short course truck

The 1/5th scale Baja 5SC short course truck from HPI Racing have gotten the SS treatment. The Baja 5SC SS comes as an unassembled kit that you get to build from the ground up, but this is more than just a kit version, it’s packed with extra speed and a long list of option parts. The powerplant has been upgraded to the high performance Fuelie 26s engine, coupled to a high flow aluminium tuned pipe with steel tubular header. Combined with the 8,000 RPM clutch, the Baja 5SC SS has some serious grunt to help propel it to speeds in excess of 40MPH. Need to quiet things down a bit, then they’ve also included a stock can muffler just in case.

View more details here


February 18, 2011

Xray extend deal with Josh Wheeler

Xray extend deal with Josh Wheeler

Xray have announced the re-signing of front running US racer Josh Wheeler. Josh, who was the highest placed Xray at the World Championship in Pattaya, qualifying in 16th place, had this to say about the deal:

I look forward to another great year with Xray! I am constantly impressed by the knowledge and desire to win by everyone involved. I am privileged to be a part of their program and look forward to representing them at the races. I would like to thank the whole Hudy family for all the support and giving me a chance to race another season with Xray.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]


February 18, 2011

Hermann Saa & Patricio Concha win Pacific Cup

Hermann Saa & Patricio Concha win Pacific Cup

Last weekend the Pacific Cup was hosted in Lima, Peru with 60 racers from Peru, Ecuador, Chile, France, Spain and USA. The event organized by APERCAR had over 2500 spectators and it was a new experience to all foreign visitors mostly because of the crowd cheering and applauding competitors, thanks to their great facilities conveniently located next to the beach, a paradise for RC racing. Qualifying saw Rino Lino take the TQ spot in the 200mm class with a new track record while it was Patricio Concha that took the top spot in the GT class. The 1/10th A-main saw Hermann Saa from Ecuador take the win ahead of local racer Paul Aray in 2nd, with top qualifier Rino Lino ending up in 3rd. The GT class was won by Chilean Patricio Concha ahead of country man Marcelo Echevarria in 2nd and Enrique Hurtado in 3rd spot.

Source: Auto RC Peru [autorcperu.com]


February 18, 2011

Taylor James returns to Pro-Line

Taylor James returns to Pro-Line

Pro-Line have announced the return of top US driver Taylor James to their team for 2011. The Team Durango driver is back after a year away and had this to say about his new deal:

I’m very excited to be returning back to the Pro-Line team. It will be nice to be back to tires that I know very well considering I ran Pro-Line for a number of years before last year. Pro-Line has a great team from the accomplished drivers to the very professional staff behind the scenes. I look forward to having a very successful 2011 back with old friends.

Source: Pro-Line [prolineracing.com]


February 16, 2011

Teemu Leino re-signs with Team Xray

Teemu Leino re-signs with Team Xray

Following on from yesterday’s driver announcement from Xray, the Slovakian company have also confirmed that Teemu Leino will stay on their team through to the end of 2011. The Finnish driver had this to say:

Since the end of 2006 I have been racing with Xray products and will continue race them during the 2011 season. I have been happy with the quality of the Xray products and support what they have given me. Non-stop R&D work makes the Xray cars to be in top performance all the time in all categories. I would like to thank all the people at the factory and hopefully we see you soon at the races.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]


February 15, 2011

Taylor James confirmed at Durango

Taylor James confirmed at Durango

Team Durango have added Taylor James to their team, where he joins a growing list of some of the fastest, hard-working and well respected racers around. Taylor is based in Missouri USA and known as a 1/8th off road specialist where he’ll be dedicating most of his race time and pushing forward the Team Durango name.

I’m very excited to run for Team Durango this year and look forward putting in good results at all of the races. Team Durango has the philosophy of being very serious about racing and I intend to hold true to that ideal this year and beyond.

Source: Durango [team-durango.com]


February 15, 2011

JR Mitch wins Florida State Series Rd4

JR Mitch wins Florida State Series Rd4

As the Florida State Off-Road Series rolled into Lake Park for round 4, JR Mitch was looking to extend his winning ways. Making quick work of the qualifiers, JR quickly rose to the top of the field by top qualifying in both of the first 2 rounds with his JConcepts equipped Associated RC8B buggy. 3Ds in green compound proved to be the way around the unusually slick track at Lake Park in rounds 1 and 2 as JR blistered the track. As the sun peeked out on Sunday the track started to dry-out and the Lake Park blue groove heated up. JR went to his trusty Crossbow tire combination for the emerging blue groove surface and 30 minute A-main. Once the flag dropped on the A-main, JR was gone, racing out quickly to a 9,10-12 second lead ~10 minutes into the race, it looked like the race was all but over. A mid-race flame-out caused things to tighten-up but JR and pitman Walter Cruz remained calm and within minutes were back into contention. Pushing the RC8B as only a few drivers are capable of, JR made up valuable time and took the lead once again with ~4 minutes remaining. Pulling out to a significant lead with 3 minutes to go JR was back in cruise control and a commanding lead where he would cross the line taking yet another win for JConcepts / Team Associated in 2011.

View a video from the event here