October 31, 2013

Martin Bayer wins Czech Buggy championship Rd7

Martin Bayer wins Czech Buggy championship Rd7

Round number 7 of the Czech 1/8th off-road championship was held in Dolní Bukovsko. The weather forecast looked everything but promising but at the end it stayed dry and nice all weekend to make for a worthy last race of the season. Martin Bayer (Xray) already won the championship two weeks ago and used the race to try and test a couple of new things on his XB9 buggy. Obviously they worked very well as Martin took the overall TQ for the finals but he struggled with the upcoming wind letting him drop to third after the semis. He then got everything together, took the lead in the very first lap of the A final and never looked back taking the day’s win in front of Jirka Mara (Xray) and Lukas Zeman (Xray). Fellow Xray drivers David Kukla and Stepan Silhavy ml. completed the top 5. In the overall championship David Kukla grabbed the runner-up spot behind Marting, Jirka Mara ends the season in third position.

Click here to view the final results


October 30, 2013

Novarossi Tropheo Gubbio – Report

Novarossi Tropheo Gubbio – Report

The beautiful Gubbio track hosted the 2013 edition of the famous Novarossi Trophy, a race that every year gathers some of the best on-road drivers on Italian soil. This year’s edition attracted some 106 participants and once again the race proofed to be one of the biggest classics at the end of the season. Despite a bit of fog that slowed down the start of the event, the race went on flawlessly thanks to the great job done by the Gubbio track staff, supported in the best way by Novarossi representatives. Qualifying saw Novarossi drivers De Felici and Balestri TQ’ing easily in 1/10th and 1/8th respectively, opening a good gap between them the rest of the competition. In 8th scale, Balestri went on to complete a perfect race winning the final with a comfortable 6 laps lead on Rinaldi, with Puccinelli to complete the podium. Unfortunately, during the 10th scale A-main a serious crash on the main straight involving the polesitter forced Giorgio to retire and preventing him to bring home the victory honours, that then went to former World Champion Daniele Ielasi, finishing in front of Adami and Festuccia.

Click here to view the 200mm podium


October 30, 2013

Merlin Race 2013 – Announcement

Merlin Race 2013 – Announcement

The Merlin Race 2013 for 1/8th Nitro Buggy will take place at the Fuencarral Circuit, near Madrid. The circuit has been recently renewed with a new layout designed by a famous BMX pilot, and the Merlin Race will mark the grand track re-opening. All the drivers attending the race will have the chance of winning prices in a raffle and Merlin will provide free fuel for everyone. Most of the top Spanish drivers will attend the race and some big international names will also be soon revealed. Further information can be found here.


October 30, 2013

Atsushi Kawamoto wins JMRCA 1/8th buggy nats

Atsushi Kawamoto wins JMRCA 1/8th buggy nats

This year’s JMRCA 1/8th nitro buggy nationals were held at the RC Land 23 track in Matsuzaka-city. Kyosho’s Wataru Takashiro took TQ and but at the end of the 60 minute final multi Japanese champion Atsushi Kawamoto (Kyosho) crossed the finish line as the 2013 champion some five seconds in front of Itaru Kawamoto (Kyosho) and Kazuya Tanaka (Kyosho) who was further 8 seconds down. Takuya Kimura (Kyosho) and Wataru Takashiro (Kyosho) completed the top 5.

Click here to view the top 10 result


October 30, 2013

Moller & Gaffney win at The Dual

Moller & Gaffney win at The Dual

Beside the eBuggy and 40+ class The Dual race at Pro-Line’s test track in Banning, CA and at Thunder Alley Raceway in Beaumont, CA also had an 1/8th Invitational and Expert class to offer. The Invitational was run in the Reedy Race style format that would see three 15-minute races in each class consisting of 1/8 Nitro Buggy and 1/8 Nitro Truggy on each track. The 2 best points from each class, each day would count towards the overall win using a total of 8 finishes. With one full heat of Invitational drivers, each race was very exciting. For each main the starting grid was decided by each driver picking a number out of a bowl, so completely random. The starting position did not dictate how the drivers would finish in the race due to racing incidents and pit strategy. In the start of each of the mains, it was a crap shoot as everyone was in hot pursuit of each other. Some of the races were clean and some of them were not. After day 1 at Pro-Line, Kyosho’s Drew Moller ended up with a 2-2 finish in Buggy and a 3-1 finish in Truggy that gave him a total of 8pts. This would put Drew 3rd overall going into Sunday as Ty Tessman was leading with 6pts, and Ryan Maifield in 2nd with 7pts.

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October 30, 2013

Richard Saxton wins at The Dual

Richard Saxton wins at The Dual

The Dual is an exciting new event which made its debut last weekend. Instead of the typical qualifying and main event format utilised at nitro races, racers competed head to head in six races spread out over two days on two completely different tracks. Drivers scored points for their finishing positions, with their best two finishes at each track used to determine their overall finishing position. Pro-Line Raceway in Banning, CA hosted Saturday’s action with Thunder Alley Raceway in Beaumont, CA hosting Sunday’s finale. A variety of 1:8 nitro buggy and truggy classes were offered as well as an 1:8 eBuggy class. With nitro races running 15 minutes and e-Buggy races running 10 minutes, everyone received plenty of track time and equal opportunity to gain positions on their competitors. Team Associated’s Richard Saxton has been racing his eBuggy on a regular basis and the track time really paid off at The Dual. Saxton showed off a brilliant performance with his Reedy-powered RC8.2e by finishing with a perfect score to take the overall win. Saxton was even more dominant with his RC8.2. Richard clinched the overall victory in the 40+ Nitro Buggy class with a win in round five, which meant he could slip on his flip-flops and enjoy round six as a spectator.

Click here to view the 40+ podium


October 29, 2013

Antros Lemesianos wins Cyprus off-road champs

Antros Lemesianos wins Cyprus off-road champs

The 4th and final round of the Cyprus off-road championship organised by the RCO took place at the Metal Track RC Off Road track in Limassol. Xray driver Antros Lemesianos took TQ and also went on to win the 40 minute final in front of fellow Xray driver Savvakis Milikouris who suffered from a damaged steering servo. Andreas Thrasyvoulou came in third and completed the podium. In the overall championship Antros Lemesianos took the 2013 title in front of Savvakis Milikouris and Sotiris Taifas, also driving an Xray XB9.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]


October 29, 2013

Pancho, Lucindo & Go win in Manila

Pancho, Lucindo & Go win in Manila

The Extreme Speed Alley raceway in Manila, Philippines held the first 1/8th and 1/10th nitro on-road race after nearly 20 years of absence. The molasses treated track provided perfect grip conditions for the racers who attended in the 1/8th, 1/10th 200mm and 1/8th GT classes. The race attracted some veteran racers in the form of Ricky Tangan, Clemen Pancho both driving a Serpent Viper powered by Novarossi, and Nani Tagle driving his Novarossi-powered Xray to name just a few. Laptimes in the 1/8 scale class on this track prior to the race was in the 21 seconds range with Clemen Pancho being able to pull 19’s but since the track was treated and had a good grip, laptimes dropped significantly on race day with many drivers achieving laps in the 20’s and 19’s with Serpent driver Edward Sio setting the fastest lap of the day with a 19.08.

Click here to continue reading the report