September 14, 2023

Phend sets early 2WD practice pace

Team Losi Racing’s Dakotah Phend has set the early pace in 2WD practice at the 1:10 Offroad World Championship in Arizona.  With a new layout at Hobby Action RC Raceway for 2WD, the first of the four scheduled rounds of practice was very much about learning the track in the low traction conditions.  With drivers giving the new layout a resounding thumbs up, the times tumbled in the second free practice with Phend fastest from the prototype Schumacher of Broc Champlin and newly crowned 4WD Champion Davide Ongaro.  Cole Tollard was the only other driver to run 3-consecutive laps in under a 1-minute as he set the fourth fastest time while defending Champion Spencer Rivkin was P16 on the time sheets.

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September 14, 2023

Sobue defends All Japan Touring Car title

Akio Sobue has successfully defended his JMRCA All Japan Electric Touring Car Championship title, the Axon driver winning the title for a fourth time with victory over Yoshiyasu Yanagisawa last weekend at Green Park Speedway in Hanno City.  In qualifying, the World Championship podium finisher would secure the TQ on a tiebreaker with Zero Tribe driver Yanagisawa, both counting a TQ and P2 run as their scores.  In double A-Main finals, Sobue would lead home Yanagisawa and his Axon team-mate Hayato Ishioka in both encounters to become the 2023 Champion and that was how they would line up on the podium.  Tamiya driver Souta Goto would finish fourth on tie break with Xray’s Makoto Sawada.

Image: Zero Tribe [Facebook]


September 14, 2023

Fenix Ferrari 156/85 body

Specialist Italian RC Formula car producer Fenix Racing has added to their F1 nostalgia bodyshell collection with the release of this Ferrari 156/85.  The body fits the Fenix F1-70, Tamiya F103 and F104W chassis as well as all cars of similar layout and dimensions.  Molded from high-quality polycarbonate, the body comes supplied transparent with decals, made in photo realistic level to give a proper rendition of the parts.  1985 was a special year in F1.  Senna got his consecration and Michele Alboreto was able finish second in the Championship and it was the last Italian driver scoring a victory, driving for Ferrari.  “We owe Michele a world title” commented Enzo Ferrari, later that year.  Infact, for the first half of the season, Ferrari 156/85 was a solid contender in the Championship, until the team switch something with the turbos, collecting a series of DNF.  Last hurrah for Alboreto and his Ferrari, was the German GP 1985 were the Italian duo scored a fine victory over Alain Prost.  Fenix  Racing consider this body a sort of “homage” to a very strong driver, able to win in every class were he race, from Formula Monza, to F1, to LeMans.

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September 13, 2023

First look – New Mugen 2WD Buggy

Mugen Seiki’s new 1:10 2WD Buggy has broken cover at World Championship in Arizona, with the car’s designer and engineer Shin Adachi set to race a pre-production example of the car when the 2WD action gets underway tomorrow.  A hugely significant venture for Mugen, the yet unnamed 2WD buggy is the first from the Japanese company and has been 2-years in the making.  While there is no confirmed launch date for the kit, Adachi says he expects it to go on sale ‘soon’.  Officially a pre-production car, Adachi said the buggy is very close to what they will release with just potential for some very minor changes.  Joining Mugen in 2021, the 2WD is the first car Adachi has had sole responsibility for complete design and engineering of the project and said his design brief was to cater for the growing trend towards high traction tracks but added in testing on more ‘loose tracks’ the buggy ‘worked very well’.  Such is the occasion for Mugen Seiki, who have been a key player in the competitive 1:8 Offroad racing scene, offroad legend and face of the brand in the US Adam Drake arrived today at Hobby Action and will be on hand for the next three days of racing supporting Adachi.  With the unveiling of the 2WD, Mugen also confirmed it has a 4WD in the works with the design already complete.

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September 13, 2023

1:8 Electric Offroad IFMAR World Cup cancelled

With the date a major point of concern when the event was first announced back in March due to how close it was to the 1:10 Offroad Electric World Championship in the United States, it has been announced that the 1:8 Electric Offroad World Cup event in Portugal has been cancelled.  Due to take place from September 22-24, 2023, at the former European Championship host track in Guarda, the World Cup would have been the first step for the electric category to become a World Championship category in 2025.  With only 15 confirmed entries, while officially announced as ‘cancelled’ in the statement the organisers later described the event as being postponed to a ‘possible new date will be April 5-6-7 in 2024’ which means there is hope the event can still happen and move 1:8 Electric Buggy to World Championship status.

Read full statement here


September 13, 2023

T-Works A800R Motor Mount Weight Set | Battery Holder

Coming from T-Works and made for the Awesomatix A800R electric touring car is this brass motor mount weight set and brass battery holder.  The 3 piece set contains a main 10 gram black anodised brass weight along with a 7 and 7.5 gram weight which mount on the opposite side of the motor mount.  The brass battery holders weight 22grams each, offering another option of weigh distribution.  Supplied as set of two, the brass battery holders are also finished with a black hard anodising.

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September 13, 2023

Element RC Enduro Trail Truck Zuul Tan RTR

New from Element RC is the Enduro Trail Truck Zuul Tan RTR.  Aimed at the serious RC rock crawler enthusiast, the truck features a Gatekeeper Suspension package that consists of rear trailing arms that move the shocks forward, allowing a larger window for shock tuning and providing improved weight bias.  The trailing arms are paired with a rear anti-roll bar for a more stable and consistent suspension when crawling on the rocks. An adjustable aluminium track bar mount firmly bolted to the chassis rail gives the Enduro more reliable and responsive steering without the flex. Our shock mount inserts with multiple mounting positions allow for precise suspension tuning, whether they’re moving the shocks up, down, forward, or back. The performance doesn’t stop there. The Enduro Trail Truck, Zuul is built on our proven stamped steel C-channel Enduro chassis and retains the same awesome features as before. The behind-the-axle (BTA) steering link greatly improves approach angle and front-end clearance, making rough terrain much easier to handle. The Stealth X features the ability to adjust the rear drive ratio independently of the front drive across three levels: stock overdrives the front end 5.7% (installed in RTR), option 1 provides a one-to-one drive ratio front-to-rear (available separately), and option 2 overdrives the front end 11.83% (included with RTR).

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September 13, 2023

Ongaro is 4WD Offroad World Champion

Davide Ongaro is the new 4WD Offroad Electric World Champion, the 22-year adding the title to his back to back 1:8 Buggy World titles in a thrilling battle with Spencer Rivkin that went right to finish line.  A somewhat unexpected Top Qualifier at Hobby Action, given the much mooted ‘US home advantage’,  Ongaro took the opening A-Main in Arizona but an error filled A2 which would be won by his Team Associated team-mate Rivkin.  With second place qualifier Michal Orlowski taking second in the opening two encounters, the trio went into the A3 showdown and what a show would they deliver.  Initially the two Europeans would pull clear of the pack but once Rivkin, who started P5, got into 3rd he closed at a pace that even Ongaro said afterwards  he couldn’t believe.  A mistake from Orlowski 7-laps in put him out of the picture.  Closing the gap to his team-mate, two bobbles from Rivkin would give Ongaro short relief from the intensity behind before Rivkin was suddenly back on his rear wing.  As much as he tried almost pushing him across the line, the clock was against Rivkin with Ongaro just making it over the line for an extra lap which, once the result sunk in, he didn’t complete.  Out going Champion Bruno Coelho would end his reign with a Top 3 in the closing race but overall it was Orlowski who completed the podium repeating his feat from 4 years ago.

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