Red RC » GRP

October 20, 2009

GRP Endurance buggy tire

MRP, makers of the GRP tire range have sent us details on their full range of buggy tires. Most you have seen before, but new from the Italian company is the Endurance (first from left, click to make bigger). This is a very rounded tire with very big and low pins, ideal on flat, clean and very blue groove surfaces. It has a plain structure which makes it very smooth and fast on high grip tracks, where with traditional tires, the car tends to roll over easily, making driving very difficult. Its very long life pins makes it an unbeatable tire for all finals, also on high wear tracks. Also suitable for use on asphalt such as on road tracks or car parks. As with all the tires they are available in a variety of compounds, with a variety of inserts.

These tires along with the complete range of GRP products are available now at their new online shop.

June 17, 2009

GRP back in business as MRP

GRP are back in business, at least as far as their tire brand is concerned, with production once again underway. Some tire ranges are available right now while others will come later in the summer and the newly name MRP S.r.l. has decided to cease its production of engines for good after the molds and machinery were destroyed. With both Gandini brothers still in charge and the staff unchanged, the tire quality will once again be top notch and they will carry through with their new pricing strategy introduced in January of this year together with sales going through their own website, expected to be online by the end of this month.

Click here to read the full statement

June 1, 2009

GRP Fire – Official Statement

Following on from last weeks fire at the GRP factory in Italy, that destroyed the company’s facilities, the Gandini brothers have released the following statement:

As you probably may have heard already last Tuesday 26th of May, our factory was completely devastated and destroyed by a serious fire. Fortunately, nobody got injured amongst any of the Gandini’s members or workers.

In the next days, as soon as we have recovered from our physical and mental shock, we will take stock of the situation from the technical point of view, to understand what we can do to rebuild ourselves and restart from this huge set-back.

In spite of our deep sadness and sorrow for what has happened, our first thought and thank goes to all those persons who in many ways have expressed and shown their sympathy and support during that horrible night and the following days.

Our will and hope is to be able to restart again soon, and we are working round the clock, if needed to make it happen and not to lose completely the work of the last 20 years. However, we will keep you updated soon on the schedule of our resumption.

In faith,
Maurizio and Stefano Gandini

May 27, 2009

GRP Gandini factory destroyed by fire

We received the terrible news out of Italy that fire has ripped through the GRP Gandini factory in Guidizzolo, Italy last night. Thick, and i’m sure toxic, smoke fueled by plastic in the building filled the air around the blaze. Needless to say this is a massive set back for the manufacturer and their employees, but thankfully it seems no one was hurt and the Gandini brothers will hopefully rebuild. We will keep you informed of any updates.

February 19, 2009

GRP 2009 product updates

Following on from our coverage of GRP at the toy fair, the Italian company has released complete details of the new updates in their product line for 2009. They now offer a bigger buggy wheel, now 83mm in diameter compare to 79mm, which improves the stiffness, while the weight has actually been reduced from 40 grams to 31 grams, a saving of 21%. A well as a new super soft compound in all their tires, GRP have also released an updated Cubic pattern to improve traction and lateral grip thanks to a new tire structure and new design and positioning of the pins. As we mentioned in our fair coverage, there is the new worked black insert which is more resistant to crushing, abrasion and heat than the orange molded version. Finally the company’s tuned engine line has received some small updates, including new internal crankcase workings, a new industrial natural diamond treatment on the crankshaft, better lubricated conrods, updated carburetor and a new rear cover. They also offer a Scuderia version of each engine which has been run in at the factory using a very specific fuel.

Click here to see the other products

February 17, 2009

Tune your GRP Engine Like a Pro

Adam Drake was in touch to give us a heads up on a great how-to article that he has written on the Losi website explaining how to ‘Tune your GRP engine like a Pro’. In the article he explains how to break in the motor, what fuel to use when doing so, as well going into detail about the operating temperature, the air filter used, amount of head shims, even explaining the influence of different weather conditions. Focusing on GRP engines, this information is also useful for racers using other makes of engines too.

Check out the article here.

Source: Losi [losi.com]

February 6, 2009

Toy Fair 2009 – GRP Gandini

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.

January 7, 2009

Worldwide GRP price reduction program

GRP have announced their Worldwide GRP price reduction program, to be launched officially this month. To help face up to the serious worldwide financial crisis which is involving all sectors their idea is to make all high quality GRP products, tires, engines, and gadget lines, available at greatly reduced prices compared with 2008. This price reduction is possible by reducing to a minimum their margins, by removing some steps in the traditional distribution chain, and by the distributors also accepting a reduction of their margins. In this way they intend to widen the range of end-users, who will be able to purchase now, at advantageous prices, their top end products.

Click more to see the main points of the GRP program… content