Red RC

March 13, 2007

Central release the Mercedes CLK

Central Mercedes CLK

Central RC, the Japanese importers for European brands Serpent and Xray, have released pictures of their latest 1/8th scale bodyshell, the Mercedes CLK. If you recall, we showed you this car in CAD form back in the start of December when it was due for an end of year release, well its only now ready and by the looks of things it was worth the wait because this shell looks awesome. Central RC are also the people behind the new 1/8th scale Lola from Serpent and Serpent USA, which is tearing up the circuits around the world so they seem to know what they are doing.

Check out more pictures here… content

March 13, 2007

ZAC Project tire box sets by Kawahara

ZAC Project tire box sets

Not exactly revolutionary but i like what Kawahara are doing with their ZAC Project tires, which you can now buy in a box set of 5, which not only saves you money but gives you a great little tire box to use along with it. This system of packaging will be available for all their tyres including both the 1/8th and 1/10th scale versions, now i wonder if Novarossi, who import these tires into Europe, will do the box set too?

Source: Kawahara [kawahara-racing.co.jp]

March 13, 2007

Daisuke Endo wins Mugen Seiki Asian cup

Mugen Seiki Asian cup

Not much information to go on here other than the results and the fact that the race took place last weekend in Thailand and was very well attended with some top drivers present including Japanese National Champion Kenji Osaka. The buggy race was won by Mugen/OS racer Daisuke Endo from Japan with fellow Japanese Mugen racer Yoshio Otsuka in 2nd and Mugen/Ninja ace Osaka in 3rd. In the truggy class it was Yuichi Ajishi who won from pole, having also TQ’d the buggy class but ran into difficulties in that race, Yoshio Otsuka finished in 2nd place ahead of Sin Dick San in 3rd.

Source: RC Mania [teamrcmania.com]

March 13, 2007

Oscar Cabezas wins Rd1 of Spanish 1/8th Nationals

Oscar Cabezas

Last weekend saw the first round of the 2007 Spanish 1/8th scale National Championships held at the ARCA track in Madrid. The race effectively belonged to reigning Spanish National Champion Oscar Cabezas, who not only claimed pole position after qualifying, but also set the fastest lap in the heats and set a new track record in the final. On top of that the Serpent driver won the race ahead of Josue Artiles with Carlos Peracho in 3rd, getting the young SDD drivers title defense off to a perfect start.

Source: Serpent [serpent.com]

March 13, 2007

Matteo Dapporto joins Xray

Matteo Dapporto

The news that Matteo Dapporto had joined Xray first broke in mid February but only today has that announcement been made on the company website. Matteo, who is also sponsored by RB, is one of the best racers in Italy and has made multiple visits to the main final at both World and European Championships

I used to race for many RC companies and collaborate with many companies to develop new products and this is what I prefer to do most. I would like to be a part of a great team made up of people that like to help each other to grow constantly and help drivers to get the best performance
that they can.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

March 13, 2007

Bernsten & Johannessen win Norwegian Nationals

Norwegian Nationals

Last weekend saw the Norwegian Nationals take place on a large indoor track organised by the Spydeberg Motorklubb. In 19T it was young 13 year old Xray driver Adrian Berntsen who won 4 of the 5 qualifying rounds to take the TQ spot. In the race Adrien managed to carry forward his qualifying pace to win 2 finals to take the National title, despite huge pressure from fellow Xray racer Helge Johannessen who ended up 2nd with Tamiya racer Morten Bremsrud in 3rd. In the Modified class it Helge Johannessen managed to win all the qualfiying rounds to take the TQ spot ahead of Tamiya racer Eirik Andreassen and Adrian Bernsten. In the race it was even closer with Helge taking the win in final 1 with Eirik in 2nd while in final 2 these results were reversed meaning it all came down to the last final.

So in the third final Eirik and I went off with only 0.1sec between us. But I drove safely, and felt that I had full control from the start. After 2 minutes, Eirikâ€™s car broke down, and I secured the win.

Read the full report here.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

March 13, 2007

Upgrade RC Jammin CRT-5 decal set

Upgrade RC Jammin CRT-5

Another decal set from Upgrade RC, this time for the Jammin CRT-5 1/12th scale 4wd buggy that we have covered in the past. The decal is the usual deal from Upgrade RC, as in wicked looking and top quality, and will be available in blue/yellow and blue/red.

Source: Upgrade RC [upgrade-rc.com]

March 12, 2007

MickaÃ«l Pontal wins Rd1 of French 200mm Nationals

Rd1 of French 200mm Nationals

Kyosho racer MickaÃ«l Pontal has won the first round of the French 1/10th 200mm Nationals held last weekend at the Ampuis circuit, near Lyon. In Qualifying it was Picco powered Kyosho racer BA Arnaldi that took the top qualifying spot with team mate Sebastian Wartelle in 2nd and Xray racer Nicolas Bougnoteau in 3rd. In the final everything started well for Arnaldi who pulled out a strong lead but MickaÃ«l Pontal only making pit stops every 6 minutes managed to catch Arnaldi whos tires were starting to wear. Soon Pontal could take the lead and with it the win, leaving Arnaldi to come home in 2nd with Wartelle in 3rd.

As we mentioned last week, the new EFRA engine regulations were causing some conflicts with whether they should be adopted this year or not, but it was finally decided that for an engine to be legal for racing this year it must conform to the 2006 EFRA rules. This ruling, which calls for a crankshaft with a 7mm inner diameter and with maximum chamfer of 0.5mm, would cause problems for the new GRP made .12 motors, which were only made to the 2007 EFRA regualtions. Despite that ruling there were Ninja engines present at the event, so they must have been able to manufacture a different crankshaft for the motors or found some other solution.

Source: RB Products [rbproducts.com] Image: Kyosho [kyoshofrance.com]