Taiwanese firm EDAM are also present here showing off their new 980 1/10th scale 200mm chassis. A solid looking effort it doesnt bring anything new to the market in terms of features, but has the same features you would expect from most competition cars in this class.
GRP Gandini are back once again with their very orange booth, which as ever is very clean and well presented. Big things this include their new cut and glued foam inserts, which unlike their previous molded inserts, don’t compress over time, giving the tire a much more consistent handling over runs longer than around 10 minutes. The foam is cut from a sheet and then glued along a seam. This in turn is now also glued to the rim, which creates a much more stable tire laterally. GRP will also sell their wheels with these new inserts separately for racers that want to mount their own tires.
Located in the Graupner stand was the completely new brushless powered Hobao Hyper 9. Not just another BL conversion, this car has been heavily altered to fit the necessary parts into the very narrow chassis of the Hyper 9. Using the suspension from its gas brother, everything between the front and rear of the car has been made new. With the motor mounted to the rear and facing backwards, the ‘centre’ differential is now at the very back of the car, while drive to the front transmission is handled by an extremely long front drive shaft.
In our haste at the Tamiya stand earlier trying to get photographs of the 801X buggy, we missed the other important releases by the Tamiya Racing Factory on display. The most notable of which is the all new 511X, the replacement for the successful 501X platform. Essentially everything on the car is new, according to a spokesman on the stand but they didnt go into specifics, but looking at the photos in the gallery, you can work it for yourself.
Ishima Racing, who made their debut at the fair last year, have some new interesting cars on their stands. First up is the upgraded version of their flagship M1.0R, which has been given the big bore treatment, as well as a new upgraded transmission, which we are told is unbreakable.
Team Associated are present alongside their parent company Thunder Tiger and taking pride of place on the stand is their all new SC10. Based on the T4 truck platform, and so contains many interchangeable parts, it has been built ver close to scale when compared agains the real CORR series trucks. Expected to come in at a very reasonable price, the car uses some cost effective systems to keep things within budget but what Associated have created is a very capable and very realistic looking car.
LRP are here presenting their wares and most substantial of which is their new brushless system for 1/8th scale. The German company immediately looks to be on to a winner, with their new motor, the Vector 8 X12 coming in at a fraction of the size of the current batch of brushless motors. Based off their World Championship winning X12 platform, and so uses the same internals, the motor features and extended can as well as longer rotor which has also a larger diameter, as is normal to fit the large pinions of 1/8th scale. A video shown on the booth proves that this motor is quick, leaving a gas version of the S8-BX standing on a straight drag race.
Italian firm Motonica are here showing off their entire new range of cars that incorporates 3 new 1/8th scale chassis’ and their all new 1/10th scale 200mm. First up the 1/8th scale 4wd on road, the P81 has been completely redesigned and only a few parts are left over from its predecessor.
