November 10, 2008

Mon-Tech Racing Losi 8ight XTR body

Italian company Mon-Tech Racing, have released a new body for LOSI 8ight buggy called the XTR. Made from durable 1mm thick polycarbonate, it has been designed to have the least aerodynamic resistance by utilizing a cockpit with a low tapered rear. This allows the air to flow freely over the rear wing, as well as helping to cool the motor. The body is supplied with outer protective film, window masks and a pre-cut decal sheet.

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November 10, 2008

Xenon EP Buggy ride height gauge

Japanese company Xenon, who are present at the World Championship in Thailand, showed us one of their new products designed for the electric buggy market. The clever ride height gauge has been machined from a piece of black anodised aluminium, with a hole down the centre to reduce height. It works in a similar fashion to their innovative ride height guage in that rotating the tool gives it different heights to measure. Simple and effective, it can measure ride heights from 21mm to 28mm.

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November 10, 2008

Matsukura tops first Qualifier

Naoto Matsukura has made his intentions clear here in Thailand by topping the time sheets when it counted most, as qualifying for the 1:12 IFMAR World Championships got underway at the RCS in Bangkok.  The 14-year-old Yokomo star driver is running an Associated, due to Yokomo’s Japanese distribution links with AE, and put in a 39 lap run in a time 08:02.244 which was some 8 seconds faster than second placed Juho Levanen who made it a 1-2 for the RC12R5.  In the final practice Matsukura had run a 40 lapper but believes increased wind at the track made for a slower run time in the first heat.

Read the full coverage on our event site here.


November 9, 2008

Caster Racing Pro EX-1R & Sport RTR

Caster Racing have announced the release of their Pro EX-1R and the Sport EX-1RTR. The pro kit is made with 7075 Swiss aluminum, together with lightened parts. It has heli cut gears, big bore shocks, 6 CVDs, new Caster Racing tires, aluminium battery straps and front &rear swaybars. The RTR kit is based off the Sport kit and it is made with T6 aluminium and comes supplied with the new Caster gearing, Caster Racing brushless motor (36x60x2045), Hobbywing ESC, Caster Racing steering servo, FM radio and receiver.

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November 9, 2008

Leino surprises rivals in Thailand

Teemu Leino has surprised his rivals in Thailand by recording the fastest time in controlled practice as day one of the 1:12 scale World Championships comes to a close.  The flying Finn is debuting Xray’s new XII and was the only driver to record 39 laps over 8 minutes with his closest rival being CRC driver Jilles Groskamp who just missed out on 39 laps recording 38 in a time of 8:00.644.

Read the full coverage on our event site here.


November 9, 2008

EFRA publish 2009 Race Calendar

EFRA 2008 Approved Muffler list

EFRA have published the minutes from last weekends AGM that took place in Lyon, France. Contained within is the Calendar for 2009 that sees the introduction of a new indoor 1/12th and 1/10th scale electric European Championship which will take place in Collegno, Italy in January. Other events of note are the 1/8th scale on road World Championships in Lostallo, Switzerland that will be held from the 15th to 23rd of August. Due to the 1/8th scale Worlds taking place in Europe next year, there will be no European A Championships for this class. Next years outdoor Touring car Euros will be run in Luxembourg at the beginning of August, the 1/10th 200mm European A Championships is in Gubbio, Italy at the end of July and the World Championships for EP buggy will be in the beginning of October. It looks as if we will be extremely busy in 2009.

The full EFRA AGM minutes can be viewed here.

View the full 2009 Calendar here (PDF).


November 9, 2008

LRP SXX Competition prototype ESC

Seen in the pits at the Worlds in Thailand is the new prototype ESC from LRP, called the SXX. Much smaller than the previously available Sphere TC spec ESC, the new controller uses a metal plate set into a plastic frame, to which a heatsink fan combo can be applied but currently isn’t necessary for the 4 cell 1:12th scale class. The new ESC, which is also here in Nosram colours, features a revolutionary copper core cooling technology to keep the internals at a low temperature, while the controller software now has 10 power profiles to select from for finer adjustment of power delivery. Also new is what the company calls X.Brake which provides stronger braking, and it too has 10 adjustment settings which can be set by the 2 new externally mounted buttons.

Read the full coverage on our event site here.


November 9, 2008

New in Thailand – Xray XII

As mentioned previously on our news page as well as in our 1:12th scale introduction piece, Xray are the latest manufacturer to enter the market, with the XII. We were able to get up close and personal with the LRP X12 powered example belonging to Factory Xray driver Alexander Hagberg from Sweden. Already in it’s second version, following feedback from the team after a recent test at the RCS track, the car is in appearance at least very similar to other brands on the market. Chief designer Juraj Hudy, who has limited experience of the class, says that while the car may be similar in appearance to others out there, that is more a reflection of the state of development of the class which has seen chassis design developed to a point where extra performance can only be found in small refinements. Featuring a T-bar, which some believe would be more suited to a lower traction surface, as opposed to the trailing link design seen on the CRC and Associated cars, the cars debut later today will be closely watched by all racers and manufacturers present.

Visit our event site here for XII photos from Bangkok.

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