Red RC

November 17, 2006

RC Pro Series showing LiPo cells some love

RC Pro Series

Carlton over at the RC Pro series dropped us a mail to give us a heads up about the new regulations for the Electric Off road classes for their Winter series. The new rulings declare that LiPo are essentially allowed for all classes but Stock, which is cool, and whilst in the Brushless Truck Class and 1/18 Open there are no limitations in MAH, in the Mod 4wd, Mod Truck and Mod Buggy there is a cap of 4300 MAH on the cells used.

After being outlawed by ROAR it’s good to see a major race series adapt a sensible non alarmist ruling and allow the opportunity for anyone who wants to run LiPo’s to be able to do so by running in modified class.

You can read the rule changes after the jump… content

November 16, 2006

2006 Japanese EP Expert Nats – Thursday

Masami_Atsushi

Whilst the event doesnt officially start until Friday, as with all major events, practice goes on for days beforehand. Already clear at this years event is that it looks like a 2 horse race between RC titan Masami Hirosaka and pretender to his throne Atsushi Hara (what is up with his hair?). The event takes place at a narrowed Yatabe Arena which happens to be Masami’s home track, or as someone on RC Tech mention ‘his home’, so he should be pretty difficult to beat. Also at the event are World Champion Andy Moore and 2004 World champ Marc Rheinard amongst other top names.

We will inform you of the results as we get them but until then you can look at the event images here and a video of Hara in action here.

November 16, 2006

Round 1 Mini Z cup in Bethune, France

Bethune, France

Ok this isn’t so much a racing story or a report but more of a “who the hell thought it would be a good idea to race on pink carpet” type of story. The picture is from the first round of the Northern France Mini-Z cup that was held in Bethune, were there seems to be a surplus of pink carpet. Pretty wicked track though, in scale terms it must be like the old Nurbergring when you look at the amount of corners.

Check out all the images here.

Source: Automodelisme [automodelisme.com]

November 16, 2006

RB Products Fuel Consumption quiz

RB Products Quiz

RB Products have a Fuel Consumption flash based quiz on their site in order to promote their cool orange fuel gun. Putting product promotion aside, the quiz is made up of 6 questions that try to teach you about fuel consumption in your engine and corrects a few misconceptions about how to get the most out of your engine. Go take the quiz and see how you do.

You can take the quiz from RB Products home page here.

Source: RB Products [rbproducts.com]

November 16, 2006

5th Annual Karl Mackie memorial Race Against Cancer

Karl Mackie memorial Race Against Cancer

On the weekend of the 4th of November, the 5th annual Karl Mackie memorial Race Against Cancer took place in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. An event that was started as a tribute to Karl Mackie, who had died of cancer, by his son Tim and 5 other friends has grown from those initial 6 racers to over 100 racers 5 years later. The Stock Touring event was won by Rick Endler and the 19T by Louis Vanderwell but the result doesn’t matter but the coming together to support a good cause that is important here and the event was kindly helped by generous sponsors, even the track location was donated for the day.

DeGroot’s, a local greenhouse/nursery, cleared out one of their greenhouse facilities to provide a venue to set up the temporary ozite track. Classes run at the event included, TC stock, TC 19T, 1/12 scale, Open Micro on-road, and Open Micro offroad, and 4-cell oval. The oval class is a tribute to Tim’s father Karl, as he and Tim ued to race oval together.

Read the full report and view the many event pictures here.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

November 16, 2006

Protoform MazdaSpeed 6 190mm

Protoform have released the revised version of their Mazda Speed 6 190mm, one of their most successful bodies ever. The new version apparently features ‘better handling balance, increased traction and added driver-feel comfort’, all brought about through subtle changes in the bodies lines plus…

The new body features 2 lower trim lines: one for the slightly taller BRCA rules. All specifications are within the “Global Body Spec” requirements (including those specs of ROAR, EFRA, FEMCA, FAMAR and IFMAR) The add-on wing has clearly marked “slats” that when cut out will increase the wing efficiency. As usual it comes with wing hardware, window masks, decal sheet and protective film.

Source: Protoform [prolineracing.com/protoform]

November 16, 2006

ROAR offer clarification on LiPo cells

ROAR

We reported earlier this week about the decision by ROAR (US governing body) to ban all LiPo cells outright. They now offer some clarification on that decision and whilst their ruling on banning LiPo’s powering electric motors is final, they are still investigating whether or not to ban LiPo receiver cells or not on the grounds of safety.

For 2007 Lithium Polymer batteries are not permitted to compete with NiCad or NiMh batteries in electric class racing because the voltages are not equivalent nor do the pack dimensions match those currently observed by ROAR and IFMAR. This rule does not currently affect receiver packs at this time, however ROAR is concerned with the overall safety of these cells when located near or around flammable/combustible materials. ROAR will investigate this further.

So you can, for the moment, continue to use LiPo receiver cells at ROAR sanctioned events. We will keep you posted on any further developments.

Source: ROAR [roarracing.com]

November 16, 2006

Pro-Line Crime Fighter MTR

Pro Line Crime Fighter

More news from Pro-Line, this time they have announced their Crime Fighter tire, suitable for truggies and monster trucks. Extensively tested by their team riders, these new tires resist expansion thanks to inner ribbing and are more responsive thanks to a less pronounced sidewall but we’ll let Pro-Line tell you more…

Pro-Line is happy to report that the new MTR version of tire is more responsive due to its less pronounced sidewall and has an inner ribbing on the inner diameter of the tire and an inner ribbing on the sidewall of the tire; thus reducing the amount of tire expansion under acceleration and reducing the amount of sidewall flex while cornering.

Source: Pro-Line [prolineracing.com]