What was many peoples pet hate with the M18’s including with the M18 Pro was that the cars only came with composite out drives which while sufficient for the job they could be better. Well now they are with Xray’s release of these CNC machined aluminium versions which also feature the new wheel mounting that was released with the M18 Pro kit.
Source: Xray [teamxray.com]
Adam Drake, as expected has won the 2006 Neo Invitational event in both buggy and Truggy classes. The class of the field all weekend, the American Team Losi racer won with ease by 3 laps over second place Crono driver Davide Tortorici in 2nd and with Greg Degani in 3rd driving for HoBao. In the truggy class it was more of the same for ‘The Drake’ but the margin was less than a lap this time over the 2nd placed CEN racer Andrew Smolnik with Graham Alsop a further 2 laps back driving a HoBao rounding off the podium.
Click more to view the A final finishing results for both classes… content
The guys at RC Pro Series sent us a mail informing us of their expansion into the Caribbean. This is the full announcement:
“RC Pro is proud to announce the formation of the new Caribbean Division for the Nitro Offroad Series. The RC Pro would like to welcome Rafael Sabatier as the Caribbean Director. Rafael is located in Puerto Rico and will be setting up the schedule, working with the tracks and officiating the RC Pro events in the Caribbean. We at RC Pro look forward to working with the existing organizations in the Caribbean to promote the hobby to the general public and give the racers and tracks more worldwide exposure. This new division will run in the points series like all divisions and receive invitations to the National Finals. As of this year racers in RC Pro can score national points in any division. Division points for a division championship can only be scored in your division though. This means you can now schedule a racing vacation in the Caribbean and still score RC Pro points!”
Read more about the RC Pro Series here.
Ofna have released a new high downforce wing for 1/8th scale buggies. Due to the wing’s design, added airflow over the wing increases the downforce for more low and high speed rear buggy traction. The wing comes in four colors white, yellow, red and black, plus side plate decals and numbers.
Source: Ofna [ofna.com]
More bodies today, this time from Pro Line, who have added yet another body to their Crowd Pleazer range. This one looks pretty hot and its for the Kyosho Mini Inferno and so is simply a scaled down version of the great performing Inferno body. It incorporates ultra-low styling, original bodylines, and functionality to bring you the latest in durability, versatility and high-performance race technology.
Source: Pro Line [prolineracing.com]
Possibly in an effort to detract the doubters that their laydown type suspension allows the Rush 2 to handle ruts and jumps as well as conventional shock mountings, Piktor have released a little interactive flash movie on their site that shows how the clearance of the car relates to compression of the shock absorbers. According to the interactive animation the Rush 2 should have no problems in that department and if you dont beleive me, have a look for yourself.
View the interactive animation here (didnt seem to work in Firefox).
Source: Piktor [piktor.fr]
Former World Champion and top international electric racer, Marc Rheinard has signed a multi year deal with Team Checkpoint and O’Donnell. Announced today, for the 2007 season Marc will run Team Checkpoints batteries and motors for his electric racing and he will also step up his nitro racing using O’Donnell products. Big news indeed for the fast German driver, who also announced an extension of his Tamiya contract, signing for 2 more years to the Japanese manufacturer. Marc leaves Team Orion and joins fellow former World Champion Atsushi Hara who signed a similar deal with Team Checkpoint earlier this year.
Marc is racing in the UK this weekend at the Neo Invitational event, driving a Hot Bodies buggy.
Source: RC World [rcworld.ch]
Top European off road racer Ellis Stafford has signed to use Nosram electrics in his cars for 2007. Having only recently signed to X-Factory, the 2005 European 4wd Champion has made a complete equipment switch for next year which will see him race the UK Nationals, Belgian GP as well as the World and European Championships.
Stafford won his first BRCA National buggy event in his first year of competition on the circuit, and took the buggy title both in 1996 and again in 2000. He has a total of 27 National wins, among the most of any active driver, placing him second on the all-time win list. He’s also won the European Championship twice in 4WD, 1992 with a Kyosho and 2005 with a Losi.
Source: Nosram [nosram.com]
