Red RC » Industry

March 6, 2007

Takaaki Shimo leaves Sirio

We have heard whisperings that former Japanese National Champion and World Championship Vice Champion Takaaki Shimo has left Sirio engines with immediate effect, although we have yet to receive confirmation of his new engine supplier. Shimo as we all know is a top Kyosho racer and very close to the factory and with this latest move further confirms a split between the Japanese car manufacturer and the Italian engine manufacturer, no matter how much Star Motor wants to deny it. Shimo joins fellow Kyosho racers Bertin, Collari, Cyrul who have all left Sirio with Collari choosing Novarossi and Cyrul and Bertin going for the Team Orion CRF engines to power their cars. We have talked a lot about this matter in the past and believe that there is definitely a shift within Kyosho to move away from Sirio but until we receive some official confirmation from either party we cant say for sure.

February 12, 2007

Kyosho Sirio partnership still strong says Andrea Rossi

Kyosho Sirio happy

Last week we suggested that the partnership between Kyosho and Star Motor Engineering, makers of Sirio motors, may be on the rocks following constant rumours suggesting so and the fact that their 2 World Champions had stop running their motors. In an interview with Italian website Unoadieci, Andrea Rossi set the record straight and suggested that these rumours were aimed to cause damage to the companies reputation and the partnership between itself and Kyosho and cause doubt in the market. He says that the working partnership is as strong as ever and their team will remain the same for this season as it was last season with the exception of Adrien Bertin. He also took the opportunity to state that their competition engine development continues with the release of 4 new motors for on road and off road.

UPDATE: Just when you think everything is pleasant in Sirioville, RMV Deutschland, who are heavily involved with Kyosho Europe, have issued a statement on their site stating that as of last Sunday their contract to supply Sirio ran out and that they no longer wish to continue selling their products and will instead only concentrate on RB Products. See statement here (in German).

Source: Unoadieci [unoadieci.net]

February 11, 2007

TTech Racing changes ownership

TTech Racing

According to the website of the TTech Racing, the company has changed ownership and are now owned by a company called Xtreme-RC. The company that makes the rather unique and very technical looking X10 and XRS 1/10th scale buggies will now be better promoted and will hopefully have the extra cash needed to turn it from small company to major player in the off road RC car industry.

Source: TTech Racing [ttechracing.com]

February 7, 2007

Kyosho and Sirio partnership close to an end?

Kyosho and Sirio

We have been hearing this rumour for a while now and from a number of sources, the fact that the partnership between Kyosho and Star Motor Engineering, makers of Sirio, was strained and may even be coming to an end. Things started to be mentioned when World Champion Lamberto Collari didnt renew his contract with the Italian engine manufacturer and jumped ship to Novarossi, followed relatively closely by fellow World Champion Adrien Bertin who left his job at Sirio and moved to Team Orion in Switzerland. Rumour has it that Francesco Tironi, a Collari protegÃ©, has also left his position in the company but this hasnt been confirmed as yet. All the previously mentioned racers are heavily backed by Japanese manufacturer Kyosho and seems like too much of a coincidence to be not related to their engine and car sponsors relationship going sour.

Now i dont pretend to know why this could be happening but the shift could see Team Orion and their range of CRF Wasp motors taking over the supply of motors to the Japanese teams drivers with Bertin and fellow Kyosho team driver Josh Cyrul already running these motors and the unannounced news that another top European Kyosho racer, that we havent mentioned, will also jump from Sirio to Team Orion in the coming weeks. We will watch and see how this unfolds and update you when we hear more.

January 23, 2007

Put questions to Doug McNeely on Race Talk Live

RC Pro Series

Our friends at the RC Pro Series have asked us to announce this upcoming promotional slot on Race Talk Live to promote the Homestead Miami Fuel Challenge.

Doug McNeely from Serpent USA will be the guest on the RC Pro segment of Race Talk Live Wednesday night at 8:40pm eastern time. Doug and Carlton will discuss the upcoming Homestead Miami Fuel Challenge. Call in questions are welcome and encouraged. Use the buddy name RCRadio2006 for AOL and on Yahoo Messenger. Send emails to the crew at rcradio2006@yahoo.com or call the TRD Hobbies Hot Line (1-877-899-RACE [7223]). Listen live on Wednesday night www.racetalklive.com

Doug McNeely works in Serpent USA and is also heavily involved in team matters and Carlton Eppes runs the RC Pro Series so if you have any questions please send them in, it should be an interesting discussion.

January 20, 2007

RCSetups.com – Losi 8ight setup sheet generator

RCSetups.com

The guys over at RCSetups.com dropped us a mail telling me about their setupsheet generating site and their latest addition to the cars available, the Team Losi 8ight. Its actually a pretty cool service, not only can you store and or share your setups you can easily input the data through a set web form and that in turn is then put into the original setupsheet and made available as a PDF to print, save, share and download. Pretty neat but they are only limited to 2 cars at the moment but im sure when the interest picks up they will begin to add other chassis’ too.

January 18, 2007

Yatabe Arena renew their off road track

Yatabe Arena

The world famous Yatabe Arena in Japan, that has played host to many major events throughout the years, has renewed their indoor off road track and now sports an updated layout and keeps its cool wall ride corner. Yatabe Arena also recently created a purpose built indoor drift circuit and with their every expanding and improving facilities must now be considered one of the premier RC venues in the world.

To view more pics click here.

Source: Yatabe Arena [yatabearena.com]

January 7, 2007

EFRA reschedule 1/8th buggy European Championships

EFRA

We mentioned yesterday that EFRA was considering moving the date of this years 1/8th scale Buggy European A Championships following a clash with the Tour de France. Well that has now been confirmed with EFRA publishing an important announcement on their site stating that this race has been moved to a date 1 week later to the 17th – 21st of July.

Read the full announcement here (PDF)

Source: EFRA [efra.se]