June 5, 2009

Carmine Raiola wins 1/8th Euro ‘B’ title

Carmine Raiola wins 1/8th Euro 'B' title

Last week saw the European ‘B’ Championships for 1/8th scale track, take place in Cassino, Italy. Mostly good weather greeted the drivers, along with a challenging track, and after qualifying it was local Mugen racer Carmine Raiola that took the top spot followed by veternan German driver Oliver Mack, with Stefano Pregnolato and Mattia Rinaldi claiming the final direct qualifying positions. The 45 minute main final was brought forward in the schedule due to the expected bad weather and this was a good decision as rain started to fall heavily shortly after the prize ceremony. In the race Raiola was never challenged and despite pitting earlier than his close competitors, no tire stop and skilled driving meant he could open up a one lap gap in front of Oliver Mack at the end, with Massimo Vadala, who had a race long battle with Stefano Pregnolato, taking 3rd.

Click here for photos of the track


June 4, 2009

Rain calls end to Day 1 in Turkey

Rain calls end to Day 1 in Turkey

The flood lights have been turned on at Bumod but unfortunately the pits are empty after the rain returned to Bursa bringing to an end the opening day of Turkey’s inaugural international nitro event.  With the track wet the drivers have called it a day and made their way to what has to be the most plush r/c restaurant in the world, for dinner compliments of the race organisers. Drivers did however manage to get some partially dry running on the track, with two corners falling to develop a dry line.

Check out our full event coverage here.


June 4, 2009

Bumod GP – Serpent 7XX first photo

Serpent 7xx radio tray

Red RC are at the rain affected Bumod GP in Bursa, Turkey and we were given an in depth look at the new Serpent 7xx 1/10th scale 200mm chassis. While we were able to take photos of the car, Serpent have asked us not to show them until a later time, allowing us only a photo of the bottom of the radio tray, just one of the very nice features of this well thought out car. Other new items at the event, that has attracted international racers from as far afield as Thailand and the USA, is a new Audi 200mm shell from German brand Orcan promising lots of steering and stability through the corners. Racing will begin as soon as the weather clears up, which looks to happen later this evening, given the racers a chance to run under the flood lights at the fabulous facility.

Check out our full coverage and image gallery here.


June 4, 2009

Team Cortina win PR Team Challenge race

prteamchallenge

Last Sunday, Barceloneta RC Speedway in Puerto Rico played host to the 1st Team Challenge race that saw ten teams of three racers taking part. Following 3 rounds of qualifiers, Mugen Driver Andy Báez set the pace with a 14 laps TQ. Each team member would race 40 minutes and afterwards all laps from each team were added up to get the Team Challenge Champions. Team Cortina who were racing Serpent chassis’ took the win, while Team Mugen, who won two of the 3 races, came in second by 6 laps with Team Kyosho finishing in third, 17 laps behind 2nd position.

Thanks to Zobeida Ocasio for the report.


June 3, 2009

Capricorn RC NT1 Composite diff gears

Capricorn RC NT1 Composite diff gears

Italian company Capricorn RC have released a new composite differential gears for the Xray NT1. Weighing in at only 1.9 grams, 85% less than the stock versions, using these gears gives you an overall saving of 24 grams. More power, more acceleration and speed as well as better fuel mileage.

Source: Capricorn RC [capricornrc.com]


June 3, 2009

Xray NT1 Aluminium brake post arm

Xray NT1 Aluminium brake post arm

New from Xray for the NT1 200mm chassis, is this aluminium brake post arm claimss more direct and precise braking. CNC-machined from premium Swiss 7075 T6 aluminium, its ultra-strong construction provides very long life and durability, while holes keep the weight down on this already light part.

Click here to see the arm mounted


June 2, 2009

Serpent 966 Orange drive belts

Serpent 966 Orange drive belts

Serpent have released these orange colored belts for use with their new and old 1/8th scale chassis’. Kevlar reinforced, these super strong belts are available for the front, side and rear and will be standard in the next production batch of the 966, expected to arrive in July. Sold as a set, they are also sold separately.

Source: Serpent [serpent.com]


June 1, 2009

F1 RCGP Round 5 report

F1 RCGP Round 5 report

The 5th round of the F1RCGP Championship was held recently at Pit In Stadium in Chiba. This round attracted Masayuki Mimura (former 1/8 GP national champion) from Hot Bodies with the brand new HPI Formula 10.The track being used was designed by RC legend Masami Hirosaka and father Masaaki. With no exceptions just as in round 1 and 3 the race started under heavy rain condition and drivers started to try different tires like glue spreaded sponge tires, rubber tires and tamiya tube tires. Apparently most of the drivers got experience from the previous round as most of the cars ran pretty well under rain condition and the biggest issue seemed to be how to avoid water getting into your radio. The first casualty was David Tse running in the F1 class who was in a different league on a 17lap pace but stopped in lap10 with radio failure. All the heats finished under rain condition and Yoshitsugu Takahashi took pole position for the F1 class, while for F1GP class championship leader Hiroshi Kamibayashi (Alex Racing) led the first round with a 19 laps record and eventually took the pole position.

Continue reading the report