Serpent have announced that former European Championship finalist Mikael Fransson has rejoined their team for the upcoming season, having driven for Mugen most recently. The Swede will run the S120 during the cold winter months before turning his attention to the 733 and 966 in the spring time. He will compete in the Swedish Championships, the Nordic Cup as well as the European Championships for both 1/8th and 1/10th scale.
Source: Serpent [serpent.com]
Italian company Motonica have announced the signing of front running French driver Stéphane Bouche has joined their National team. A 3 time runner up in the French National Championships, last year’s Coupe de France winner hopes to finally capture the National title for his new team. Stéphane had the following to say about the deal:
Firstly, thanks a lot to team Shepherd for their support for the last 3 years. Now it’s a new challenge for me and I’m really happy to join the Motonica team and I will make my best for the next seasons in the different races. The P81 was really performing well and I’m sure that the new RS will be even better for all Motonica’s drivers.
Source: Motonica [motonica.com]
We heard some rumors about his departure from Mugen and today RCAmerica/Xray USA have announced the signing of Mike Swauger for the 2011 season. Mike is a World Champion, Multi-time World’s finalist and has many National titles also. They are very excited with what Mike brings to the table for the 2011 season. Mike will be using the NT1 WE and the all new RX8 this season along with SRC 1/10 and 1/8 tires. The first race out for Mike will be the Winternats in Fort Myers FL and he will also be attending the up and coming 1/8 World Championship in Homestead, FL. Mike had this to say about the deal:
I would like to thank Mugen for the many years of support and wish them the best. I am really looking forward to this next year with RCAmerica/Xray USA. I feel that I will fit in well on the team with follow drivers like Ralph Burch and Paul Lemieux. This will be the start of one of the strongest teams in the US and I am very happy to be part of it. I will be helping Xray USA with R&D and some team management on the West coast. Thanks to everyone that has showed me support thru the years and I am proud to let everyone know that my new home is RCAmerica/Xray USA.
Source: RC America [rcamerica.com]
The Malaysian Shepherd Cup 2010 was held recently at the Niko Race Circuit close to Johor. On Saturday heavy rain hit the track but on Sunday luckily the weather was fine and the race started at 9:30 in the morning with very traction at the beginning. After three rounds of qualifying Shepherd driver Niko Cheng claimed the third position in the grid after having some small problems lapping slower drivers. The start of the final was very smooth and Niko was able to overtake the second placed driver immediately. He chased the leader and on the third lap Niko was able to take the lead and pull away. By half way through the race he had extended his lead to two laps and slowed down a little bit for the rest of the race. After 45 min he crossed the finish line in first position, two laps in front of second placed KS Chu.
Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]
KM Racing have introduced this carbon engine heat guard plate for their H-K1 200mm chassis. To be used with the HK441V2 single piece engine block, it helps prevent the heat from the engine from affecting the receiver battery as well as the servos.
Source: KM Racing [km-rc.com]
KM Racing have announced the signing of two times European Champion Dario Balestri. The Italian will be driving the KM H-K1 in the 1/10th scale class for the 2011/12 seasons and will be attending all the major races like IFMAR World Championship, European Championship, Italian Championship & KM Asia Cup. Continuing to use Novarossi engines, the multiple World Championship finalist formerly raced for Team Magic.
Source: KM Racing [km-rc.com]
New from Mugen Seiki for their popular and successful new chassis, the MRX-5 are these new line of drive belts. Made from a softer material, compared to the standard kit belts, they will reduce friction in the drive train. Available in front, side and rear belts.
Source: Mugen [mugenseiki.com]
To gain comparable lap times and information during testing an consistent level of grip is indispensable. But when testing outside of a race weekend, an on-road asphalt track normally offers a poor level of grip at the beginning which increases lap by lap which makes a comparison of test results quite difficult. Xray/SMI team driver Dirk Wischnewski, a two-time European Champion in 1/10 scale nitro on-road racing, was facing this problem also. However he has come to a solution which makes his testing very effective. Wischnewski is using Track Max which is a special track treatment compound from Dutch based Tornado. Dirk had this to say:
For a while I have been using Track Max of Tornado on my regular test track and I am enjoying a high and unchanging level of grip all the time. It only takes a few minutes to spray Track Max on the main parts of the track where a certain amount of traction is needed. The grip level will increase rapidly to what you know from big race meetings. Especially after a long winter period Track Max is a perfect stuff to get back to reasonable conditions.
Source: SMI Motorsport [smi-motorsport.de]
