I had an interesting conversation a few weeks ago at one of my races, which started out with a very simple question – “Are there too many ‘big races’ today?” That started a fairly long debate but, none the less, raised some things I’d never considered before.
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The Castle Creations Sidewinder 8th is a sports speed controller for vehicles of up to 5kg of weight running a maximum of 6S LiPo battery packs. The 90A rated brushless speed controller sports a 5.5V BEC system that delivers 4.5A continuous and 8A peak current, it comes with 6.5mm bullet-type connectors build into its case and measures 62.2x56x34mm. Made for sensorless motors the speed is also of a waterproof design and it comes as a combo set including castles new 1515B-2200kv brushless motor.
Source: Castle Creations [castlecreations.com]
This coming July, Cody and Paul King will visit the East Coast of the United States for an RC seminar and race. This event will be held at RC Madness hobby shop and raceway in Connecticut. Included in the event will be chassis set-up, engine tuning, driving tips, and racing Sunday afternoon. Entrants will be able to chose the Byron Fuel blend of their choice after listening to tips about fuel, oil, and nitro, and how it affects tuning. Also included is a BBQ lunch as well as many more prizes. More information is available on the flyer, or call RC Madness for more details. Cody had this to say about the event:
Kyosho and Regan LeBlanc did these types of events years ago, and when RC Madness asked us to do this, I jumped at the opportunity. We were going to do it last year, but it got too close to winter time and we had to wait. Now it’s finally here! I’m really pumped about the support from my sponsors, and it’s shaping up into a really fun weekend full of prizes, information, and racing. I really enjoy getting out there and talking to people and helping them. This is what is really fun about RC, just out talking to people having a good time and racing. We hope to see you at RC Madness in July.
Source: Cody King [codykingrc.com]
Tamiya introduce the limited edition TA06-R 4WD touring car kit. The intermediate level belt-driven car features option parts taken over from the TRF line such as the TRF418 A-arms and uprights and TRF417 front and rear driveshafts. The “R” version also received some one-off parts to make the TRF parts fit while graphite reinforced A, J, T and N parts make for higher chassis rigidity. Other options included in the kit are front and rear anti-roll bars as well as TA06MS aluminium centre pulleys. The kit is scheduled for a late March release.
Source: Tamiya [tamiya.com]
A Main Hobbies would host their 4th annual Outback Shootout at their indoor track, Outback Raceway in Chico, CA with a total of 281 entries. Qualifying would consist of 4 rounds of heads up qualifying taking your best 2 runs. 4WD Open Buggy would see Albano taking the TQ with Strange starting 2nd and Bernal 3rd. Matesa would take the TQ in Open Stadium Truck. In 2WD Open Buggy, going into the 4th round, Matesa, Strange, and Albano would all three have one win. Albano would claim the win and overall TQ with Strange 2nd, Matesa 3rd, and Bernal 4th.
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The Marty Barnes’ Pacific NW Showdown Tour made its way to Albany, Oregon last weekend. Conveniently located just off the I-5 freeway, NW Hobbies hosted round 4 of the 5 race series on an all clay, super high bite, tacky indoor race arena. Practice was held on Saturday with 1 qualifier in the evening and 2 on Sunday with mains to follow. The layout was technical yet easy, but at the same time extremely challenging. The most challenging part was deciding which tires to go with and playing with the amount of grip that was available. There was a fine line between speed and too much speed that would make the car very twitchy and edgey to drive resulting in increased chances of roll-overs and crashes. The window was very small and tire combo was definitely the key to your success.
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Maxima Fuel announce the signing of Jörn Neumann to run the company’s racing nitro fuel. Jörn joins an already successful line-up of drivers such as Jared Tebo and Eric Dankel.
Source: Maxima Fuel [maxima-fuel.com]
The first round of the 2014 Madrid Championship took place last weekend with around 80 drivers in attendance. The event was a perfect warm up race for the European Championship “B” and the Spain Nationals which will be held at the same track this Summer, therefore many of the top Spanish drivers where in attendance. During practice rain made things slippery and it was S-Workz driver Albert Garcia (S-Workz/RB/JConcepts) who was able to make the best out of the slippery conditions. Just before the main final rain started to fall again but this did not keep Alberto from taking the win in front of Juanma Guillen (JQ/Alpha/ProCircuit) and Dani Vega (Agama/Reds/Beta).
Source: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]
