July 8, 2015

Baldo fastest, Batlle top seed

Baldo fastest, Batlle top seed

Bryan Baldo has ended Day 2 of the 1:8 Offroad European Championships in Sacile, Italy, as the fastest driver around the Ongaroring but it is fellow countryman & Mugen team-mate Robert Batlle who is the top seed as the event moves into qualifying tomorrow. Baldo put in an impressive 3-consecutive-laps in the second of the day’s two timed practice rounds with a time of 1:53.059, bettering Batlle’s TP1 topping time by over a second. Behind Baldo, Italian Alex Zanchettin posted the second fastest time of day practice with a 1:53.507 in TP2. However using EFRA’s tie-break, points awarded each round, the TLR driver is ranked 4th behind Kyosho’s Riccardo Berton.  An improved TP2 would see defending champion David Ronnefalk post the 6th fastest time which was good enough to seed the HB/HPI Racing driver 10th.

Continue reading this report here or view our full event coverage here.


July 8, 2015

JConcepts 1/10th off-road tyre sticks

JConcepts 1/10th off-road tyre sticks

JConcepts introduces the new 1/10th tyre sticks which allow a driver to neatly group sets of front and rear tyres together. With availability in blue or black colours, the tyre sticks can make an eye popping appearance in the pits or tucked away nicely in storage or racing bags. The sticks operate with two separate pieces that are designed to interlock and work together to snap and clinch into place. To use, simply slide the mounted tyres down the stick portion and position them so the last tyre has the hex facing outward. Slide the clinching retainer down the stick and align the hex into place in the wheel and pull snuggly together. As a bonus, extra stick length can be manually trimmed off for a more compact fit or finish to any clinched set of tyres.

Click here to view more photos


July 8, 2015

Tekno aluminium rear hubs

Tekno aluminium rear hubs

Tekno RC ave introduced a set of aluminium rear hubs for their line of 1/8th scale off-road vehicles. The machined hubs will add stability and strength to the vehicle and they come gun metal anodised for wear. Compatible with all EB48, NB48, ET48, and NT48 vehicles the hubs use 8x16x5mm bearings on the outside and 13x19x4mm bearings on the inside for use with CV axles. They can also utilise 8x16x5mm bearings all around for use with Tekno’s upcoming universal driveshafts. Set screws are provided to keep the hinge pin from moving inside the hub to reduce wear.

Source: Tekno [teknorc.com]


July 8, 2015

Schumacher 6-spoke short course wheels

Schumacher 6-spoke short course wheels

Schumacher have introduced new wheels for 1/10th short course trucks. The 6-spoke wheels are highly detailed and they are available in black and white. With industry standard fittings they are suitable for a whole host of vehicles they have a 12mm hex and +3mm offset.

Source: Schumacher [racing-cars.com]


July 8, 2015

Batlle quickest in first timed practice

Batlle quickest in first timed practice

As proceedings at the 1:8 Offroad European Championships got official it was Robert Batlle who would set the pace in first timed practice in Italy.  The Mugen driver topped the first of the two rounds that will be used to seed the heats for qualifying, with a three consecutive lap time of 1:54.128.  Behind the 2011 Champion it was newly crowned European B Champion Riccardo Berton who was second fastest with a time of 1:55.068 with 3-time champion Renaud Savoya third quickest.  For defending champion David Ronnefalk, who set the fastest lap time in free practice yesterday, it was not a good first round as he failed to get in three clean laps and was classified 62nd.

Continue reading this report here or view our full event coverage here.


July 8, 2015

Xray XB8 4.0mm graphite shock towers

Xray XB8 4.0mm graphite shock towers

New from Xray and made for the XB8 1/8th off-road buggy are 4mm carbon fibre shock towers. Offering a sturdy yet lightweight design the parts will  improve traction on low-grip surfaces while the standard aluminium towers are best suited for high-grip tracks. Available separately for the front and the rear of the buggy the shock towers offer multiple upper shock mounting and camber link positions.

Click here to view the rear shock tower


July 8, 2015

Schumacher BTCC Rd3 – Report

Schumacher BTCC Rd3 – Report

Round 3 of the Schumacher BTCC Touring Car series took place at the midlands based club Stafford. The Stafford club is one of the oldest in the country and pulled out all the stops to make the BTCC family of racers as welcome as possible. With some mixed weather about on the Sunday it would make for an interesting days racing with both dry cars and wet cars in use during the day. All the UK’s top modified drivers were out in force getting some valuable knowledge for the BRCA national next weekend. Olly Jefferies took TQ in the Modified class but was pushed hard by Elliott Harper. The final was run in wet conditions and the crowd were treated to an epic battle between Olly and local hot shot Zak Smith. Olly managed to hang on by just 2 tenths of a second ahead of Zack with Elliott third.

Click here to continue reading the report


July 8, 2015

Radtec T4 aluminium bearing hubs

Radtec T4 aluminium bearing hubs

New from Radtec and made for Xray’s T4 line of touring cars are aluminium bearing hubs. Made from 7075-T6 material and coming orange anodised the alloy parts are designed to replace the standard composite parts and they can improve the efficiency of the drivetrain as well as lower the operation temperature of the gear differential as the metal parts allow for heat dissipation through the alloy bulkheads. The hubs come in 2-piece sets.

Source: Radtec [radtec-rc.com]