Italian decal and design company Maugrafix have been in touch to tell us that current 1/10th 200mm World Champion Daniele Ielasi has joined their team. The deal will Daniele run the company’s decals on both his 1/8th and 1/10th scale cars throughout the year.
Source: Maugrafix [maugrafix.com]
The first race of the Puerto Rico Championship was held in Barceloneta this past weekend under perfect weather conditions. The sedan class saw the win go to Mugen Driver Andy Báez who also took the TQ, followed by Serpent driver Juan Rodríguez and Kyosho Team Driver Pedro Alvarado. The race was 40 minutes long and was exciting from the very beginning, with Andy and Juan constantly changing positions. Unfortunately later in to the race Andy lost his second gear, however quick work from his pit crew got the problem fixed and they managed to keep him in the lead. Later on in the race Juan hit problems giving Andy a comfortable lead and allowed him to take the win.
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Formula 1 racing is big again in Japan and so top Japanese racer Hideo Kitizawa organised a 10 round Championship for the class called F1 RCGP. The first round took place last weekend at the Nexter Circuit in Fukuoka and the drivers were greeted with snow, which actually prevented a lot of the racers getting to the track so instead of the 68 racers that had booked in, only 37 made it to the circuit. The series open to 2 classes, one with Mabuchi 540 (F1) motors and one with 30T motors (F1 GP), wile both classes use the control Zen F1 foam tire. Qualifying was held over 4 minute runs with the finals made up of 8 minutes and only the F1 GP class would be counting towards the final standings, with 5 from the 10 rounds counting. In the F1GP class it was Daiyu Kobayashi, who started from 2nd on the grid, who managed to cope with the wet conditions best to beat the pole man, and former Japanese 1:10 2wd buggy champion, Shinya Kimura to become the winner of the 1st round of the F1 RCGP race. Shimonabe Jyunichi took 2nd while Shinya Kimura dropped back to third by the end of the race.
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Team Orion have announced a complete new series of engines for 2009 called Alpha line. Developed by Adrien Bertin, these engines (.12, .21 & .24) represent the finalization of his previous engine projects and fulfill the market‘s request for high performance engines at a competitive price. Using standard crankshaft technology and other proven components reduces costs while maintaining high performance and reliability. Available for Off-road and On-Road cars, the Alpha Line is a straightforward range of engines, with the ABI marked engines being the top end competition versions, fitted with ceramic bearings, optimized crankshaft and ABI spec tolerances. Designed by a World Champion, produced by a World champion manufacturer and made for the next World Champion, Alpha line engines, for the cost conscious drivers that want the best performance standard technology can offer.
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Motonica, the only mainstream brand to have entered the rejuvenated 2wd Classic class have released details of their brand new P8C. This new chassis is the follow up to their Italian Championship winner and is expected to be available from the end of March in two different versions, one with ball differential or one with parallel gear differential. The new car itself uses lighter and more resistant materials, has a simplified and innovative radio plate, with the front sporting a new steering servo control mount as well as a new system for caster adjustment. Around the back there are new hubs for quick camber adjustment, new cones for the hub mounts and of course those 2 different differentials. Further CAD images can be found on the all new Motonica website (link below).
Source: Motonica [motonica.com]
Italian company Capricorn RC, whose products won the 1/10th 200mm World Championship fitted in the car of Daniele Ielasi have put their conversions skills to tackle a 1/8th scale on road electric conversion. Designed to upgrade the Serpent 960 chassis, this upcoming kit includes a new carbon fibre chassis plate and radio tray to keep weight low as well as fit the 4200mAh 25C 14.4V LiPo cell and speed controller. The car will retain its mechanical brake and also have a 2-speed gearbox, however we have heard from many sources that this may not be necessary for his class of racing. The brushless motor sits where you would expect it and is mounted to a carbon fibre mount that also acts as the chassis stiffener. Further details to follow but in the meantime check out the many CAD images below.
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Team Magic have released the 2009 version of their E4 Rubber spec touring car chassis. The new car features a host of small improvements such as a larger motor mount area, a new top deck that enables 5-cell packs to be mounted to the front or rear, a new chassis plate and battery mount as well as a new top mounted single bell crank steering system. New belts and improvements to the shock absorbers complete the upgrades.
Source: Team Magic [teammagic.com.tw]
Rumours about a possible 1/12 scale on-road car from Slovakian manufacturer Xray had been around for a while now but it was at last years on-road World Championship in Thailand when the first prototype cars hit the public road.
Pictures of the XII named car have been rare before the actual event although some spy shots floated around the internet showing that the first ever 1/12 scale car from Xray was very likely of a conventional ‘T-bar’ design with a rather large and ‘brushless-friendly’ power pod. Come the WC the secret was revealed and Xray factory driver Teemo Leino set some very impressive practice times with the orange toned XII. Information on a release date had not been given at that time but rumour had it that the pan car was due to be production ready by the beginning of 2009.
