Monday, November 20, 2006
US Magazine RC Driver goes on the offensive Categories - Industry - comments closed
We were sent an e-mail today, in which contained a statement from US magazine RC Driver that essentially accuses leading US magazine Radio Control Car Action of copying the styling of their magazine and was therefore unfairly trying to confuse potential buyers into buying RCCA. The single design element in question that they claim RC Car Action has effectively stolen from them is the red block at the top of the page in which the magazines name is displayed.
Read more… (more…)
Friday, November 17, 2006
RC Pro Series showing LiPo cells some love Categories - Electric, Events, Industry, Off Road, Racing - comments closed
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… (more…)
Thursday, November 16, 2006
ROAR offer clarification on LiPo cells Categories - Industry, Racing - comments closed
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]
Monday, November 13, 2006
ROAR bans LiPo cells in all RC classes? Categories - Electric, Industry, Products - comments closed
At last weekends ROAR (US governing body) meeting it seems a rule was passed that outlawed the use of LiPo batteries in all R/C cars that run at ROAR sanctioned events. Although not stated, the reason was probably down to the safety issues with these batteries having been known to explode if not charged and handled properly. This is unfortunate as the benefits of LiPo are clear (weight, size, longer runtime) but i think this move was more a case of covering ROAR’s ass in the event of an injury brought on by an exploding LiPo. The move however seems a bit extreme as danger is present in all forms of RC racing, particularly burns and cuts and the mis-use or bad treatment of any power sources will always result in an injury.
The ruling however does not just affect Electric class racers but also gas racers who have installed LiPo cells to power their receiver. The judgment makes no differentiation between uses of the cells, but instead just bans their usage in all classes outright.
From the minutes of the meeting:
A proposal to outlaw Lithium Polymer batteries in all r/c vehicles was discussed. This item was adopted.
You can read the full minutes of the meeting here (PDF).
Friday, November 10, 2006
‘RC Racing’ TV show now online Categories - Industry, Racing, Video - comments closedhttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8334606714181053741
You may remember that over a week ago we wrote about the new TV show called ‘RC Racing’ that was being shown on Motors TV in Europe. Well now, some nice person has placed the show online and can now be viewed right here.
If the video above doesnt work you can view it on the Google Video page direct.
Source: RC Tech [rctech.net]
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Recent EFRA IC Track rulings Categories - Industry, Racing - comments closed
As we are now all aware, the European Governing body EFRA, had their annual get together last weekend in Brussels, Belgium. At this meeting the much talked about 5 cell ruling, that i mentioned in my previous posts, was brought in. But changes took place for IC Track classes too, changes that seemed to have slipped under most peoples radars.
Read more… (more…)
Sunday, November 5, 2006
EFRA 1/8th A-list published Categories - Drivers, Industry, Racing - comments closed
Just before this weekends EFRA meeting in Brussels, Sander de Graaf of EFRA published the 30 driver A-list which is based on results from EFRA events and also IFMAR World Championship. As with the 1/10th version we mentioned before this ranking really only tells us whose not allowed race at the EFRA ‘B’ events and beyond that has little merit except perhaps braggin rights.
View the full list in ranking order… (more…)
Saturday, November 4, 2006
EFRA to run 5 cell in Touring class Categories - Industry, Racing - comments closed
European governing body EFRA, at their AGM in Brussels, has passed a Swedish proposal to reduce the cell numbers in the Touring car class from 6 to 4 cells, which was then amended to 5. With Japan having already made the change to go to 4 cells and the US, and Europe until today, on 6 cells, it was thought that the EFRA would go with 4. This makes a strange situation where the 3 main governing bodies are now using 3 different sets of rules, not to mention the headaches for manufacturers and international drivers.
In other rule changes EFRA reduced the minimum Touring car weight from 1500 to 1350 grams and also approved the use of Sintered Mags and Delta windings.
Source: RC Tech [rctech.net]
