July 28, 2011

Marc Fisher joins Serpent

Marc Fisher joins Serpent

Serpent have announced that top German driver Marc Fischer has joined their team. The former Corally driver made the change after testing the Serpent 411 TC car a few times and having known the S120 well from the many races with Markus Mobers in the past few years. Fischer will be racing the German Nats, EC 1/10 and 1/12, ETS races, LRP and DHI Cup, as well as the 2012 WC with Serpent cars. The former European Champion will also assist Serpent with development and testing.

Source: Serpent [serpent.com]


July 28, 2011

Fábio Ramos wins Portuguese Regional Rd4

Fábio Ramos wins Portuguese Regional Rd4

The 4th round of the Portuguese Regional championships for 1/10th 200mm took place last weekend in Lisbon. In the semi finals it was Fábio Ramos who took the win in semi-final A, having battled for the top spot all the way to the last lap with Bruno Pereira. Jorge Brito won semi-final B followed by Pedro Sousa and Filipe Rodrigues. In the final there was a big battle for the podium, with the positions changing every lap. Bruno Pereira crashed 3 minutes from the end gifting the first place to Fábio Ramos, followed by Filipe Rodrigues in second and Bruno Pereira finishing in third. The result gives Filipe Rodrigues (TeamZero) the Portuguese Regional Championship with one round still to be run.

Source: TeamZero [rcteamzero.webs.com]


July 28, 2011

Vertigo Perfomance tyres

Vertigo Perfomance tyres

Vertigo Performance tyres have been in touch to tell us about their all new line of high performance on road foam tires. Made using the highest quality foam from Japan, which is cut with water jet to eliminate pressure or heat during this process, only the centre part of the sheet is used and glued together using a new automated system for consistency. The new foam comes mounted on new ‘Titanium system’ rims which offer the right amount of stiffness and flexibility of the rim for optimum traction. Available in 1/8th and 1/10th 200mm front and rear in multiple shores.

View the 1/10th tires here


July 27, 2011

Morganti & Burch win Timezone Gran Prix

Morganti & Burch win Timezone Gran Prix

Last weekend saw over 110 racers converge on the famous Timezone Raceway Park for the 3rd annual Timezone Gran Prix, located in Battle Ground Washington. The track is located on private property and only hosts one large event a year. This year’s entries included some of the top drivers from the Northwest, along with the factory pilots Paolo Morganti and Scott Kimbrow from Serpent, the current IFMAR 10th Scale World Champion Ralph Burch, Mike Swauger and Dave Ehrlich, along with Mugen drivers Richard St. Cyr and JJ Wang from Shanghai China. This was by far the largest and most competitive race ever held at Timezone with the freshly re-sealed track surface, the lap records fell all weekend. The European style ribbon track with banked corners and grass infield presented quite a challenge to all of the drivers and it was interesting to watch the drivers tune their cars and skills to adjust to the true road course conditions. After three rounds of qualifying on Saturday, it was Paolo Morganti that took TQ honours in 1/8th Open, Scott Kimbrow in 1/10th sedan and Ryan Newbury in 1/8th scale GT. In the 1/8th scale Open class it was pole man Paolo Morganti that took the win by 2 laps ahead of Richard St.Cyr, with Mike Swauger coming home in 3rd, 2 laps further back. In the 1/10th Sedan class it was WC Ralph Burch that won by 5 seconds from Scott Kimbrow with JJ Wang in 2nd, while in the GT class Jeff Holt won ahead of Ryan Newbury and Try McKune, the top 3 all on the same lap.

Source: Time Zone Racing [timezoneracing.com] / Image: Serpent


July 27, 2011

Serpent 966 Team Edition

Serpent 966 Team Edition

Serpent have released their new 966 Team Edition, which includes all the individual parts released for the car since they made their debut at the World Championships in Miami back in April. It includes the new rear upper suspension-set, which uses a ball-link system in place of a wishbone, combined with a new carbon camber bracket improving rear end grip. Also included is the new SL8 2-speed gearbox with very low inertia and 8mm shaft, aluminium side-pulley, new brake disk and 3-pin adapter system. A carbon fibre extension set for the lower rear shock absorber mount moves the lower shock mount more outside and needs a longer lower ball-joint. New front upper suspension moves the pivot-point of the upper arm more to the outside, with a very short upper arm creating a better steering feeling and an even easier to control front end. A new split-type carbon fibre radio plate and front carbon stiffener are connected by a rod so when releasing the 2 front screws of the radio plate, the flex is thus controlled. Finally there is the new version sorter aerodynamic design bumper and updated fuel tank with improved cap, spring and seal.

View more images of the car here


July 26, 2011

Takaaki Shimo wins Japanese 1/8th Nationals

Takaaki Shimo wins Japanese 1/8th Nationals

The JMRCA Japanese 1/8th scale on road Nationals were held last weekend at the Boss Speed track in Tokyo. Qualifying went the way of Serpent driver Masao Tanaka with Keisuke Fukuda and Takaaki Shimo completing the top 3. In the finals it was a close battle for the win between Fukuda and Shimo, with the Kyosho driver Shimo just taking the victory by a second ahead of the Mugen of Fukuda, while Kyosho driver Takahata took 3rd spot a lap further back with top qualifier Tanaka taking 4th. The win for Shimo is his 10th Japanese title.

View videos of the main final here


July 26, 2011

Martin Bayer wins 2011 1/5th European title

Martin Bayer wins 2011 1/5th European title

Last weekend saw the European Championships for large scale touring cars held in Leipzig, Germany. Qualifying would see Czech driver Ales Bayer take the pole position running the prototype RS5 Rx12 chassis ahead of Lauterbacher driver Markus Feldmann, but following the semi finals, in which Ales would run out of fuel while leading, it would be the German on pole starting just ahead of Martin Bayer in 2nd. In the final Feldmann would lead but after only 10 laps engine trouble would take the reigning champion out of the race allowing BA Arnaldi from France to inherit the lead. A later battle with Martin Bayer saw the Czech driver get past and bring home the win at the end of the 30 minute main to claim the European title ahead of Croatian Dario Vesali in 2nd with Arnaldi finishing in 3rd.

Image: RS5 Modelsport [rs5-modelsport.com]