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.
Serpent have announced that top international electric racer Jilles Groskamp from the Netherlands, has made an agreement to test and race the company’s gas powered cars. Not a stranger to gas racing, the Tamiya Factory driver TQd last years 1/10th scale 200mm World Championships in Portugal and has competed at numerous other gas events, most recently the Dutch EFRA GP where he was a direct qualifier for the main final. As we already reported, he has tested the production prototype of the new Serpent 200mm gas car and, that along with DJ Apolaro, will run the car at the Turkish GP in Bursa next week. After that there will be a lot more test work and preparation to get ready for the European Championships for 1/10th scale that takes place in Gubbio, Italy in July. Jilles will be racing the Serpent 7XX with Max Power engines and continues to be sponsored by Xceed for tools a deal which will now include fuel and bodies.
Source: Serpent [serpent.com]
Novarossi have announced that they have 2 new off road manifolds available which have been made with a tighter bend. By doing so, the drivers who have the latest Mugen buggy can now use Novarossi manifolds without problems. The 2 new manifolds feature a similar length as their currenly available 41020 and 41021 manifolds but due to the tighter curve they are more compact. Available in short and long versions.
Source: Novarossi [novarossi.com]
From K-Factory for the Team Magic B8, comes this new one-piece engine mount. Machined from a single block of high grade aluminium, its design ensures that both wings of the engine mount are perfectly aligned to reduce any possible pressure on the engine crankcase. In addition, both upper & lower sides of the mount are leveled by CNC machine to ensure full contact with the chassis and engine, while the block’s multi-fin design helps improve heat dissipation.
Source: K-Factory [kfactoryracing.com]
New for their XB and XT series buggies and truggies, Xray have released these aluminium rear wing shims. Sold in a set of 2, these simple items provide additional support to prevent the wing from pulling away from the mounting screws in the event of an accident.
Click here to see them mounted
Xceed have released this set of lightweight and durable titanium screws for both the Serpent S120 (46 screws) and S966 (139 screws) chassis’. These screws are very strong, look great and reduce the overall weight of your car. Expect to see sets for other best selling cars to follow, as well as bags of 10 of the most common types of screws also set for a future release.
Click here to see the S966 set
Danish company RC Modifications had the idea to make a shock tower using the combination of two different materials, carbon fibre and 7075 aluminium. The idea is to avoid breakages that can happen with carbon shock towers yet retain the lightweight. They succeeded and have created this half carbon half alu shock towers for the front and rear of the Mugen MBX-6. The front tower only weighs 21grams, only 4 grams heavier than the full carbon tower, while the rear tower weighs in at 27grams. Currently only in the protoype phase, expect a release in the near future.
Source: RC Modifications [rcmodifications.com]
Following on from our exclusive first look at the new Durango DEX410, we showed you back in February, comes the first production photos of the near final buggy. Expected for release at the end of June this year, the photos show the super slim chassis, stylish production body shell and, a first for the 1/10th electric class, a ‘tuneable’ zero-slip geared differential. Companies interested in distribution or retail of Team Durango products should contact sales[at]team-durango.com
Click here to see the rest of the photos
