September 4, 2007

Yuya Sahashi is Japanese 1:8 Champion

Sahashi is Japanese Champion

The 2007 Japanese 1:8 Onroad Nationals took place over the weekend at the Central Racing Park track where Yuya Sahashi took the win from defending champion Keisuke Fukuda. Serpent driver Sahashi TQ’d the event ahead of younger brother Tadahiko with another Serpent driver Takahiro Terauchi and Mugen’s Fukuda the other direct qualifiers. In the Final Yuya Sahashi set the pace for the 45-minute race to win from Fukuda who managed to find a way past both Tadahiko Sahashi, who completed the podium, and Terauchi.

Click here for the final results


September 3, 2007

Van Gastel wins Dutch 1/8th Nats Rd6

Van Gastel wins Dutch 1/8th Nats Rd6

The 6th round of the Dutch 1/8th scale Nationals was held last weekend at the ultra smooth Apeldoorn track in the east of the country. The drivers were greeted with great weather and in the NK main final it was Kyosho racer Ilia Van Gastel, who won here last year in the Nomac class, that took the win from Marcel Schouten in 2nd and Danny Leeuwis in 3rd. In the Nomac class it was a win for Miquel Hereijgers ahead of Donny Blommers in 2nd with Peter van Marion claiming 3rd.

Click here for the final results…. content


August 31, 2007

Champ Car star Bourdais samples Serpent F180

Champ Car star Bourdais samples Serpent F180

Serpent have an interesting story on their site about Champ Car star and soon to be Formula One driver Sebastien Bourdais who tried out one of their F180 formula cars yesterday (Thursday) at Assen where he and his Newman Haas Lanigan Team are preparing for this weekend’s second European Champ Car World Series encounters. The reigning Champ Car Champion drove one of three F180s brought by Serpent to the 1:1 track which is situated in the north of Holland. While light rain made the temporary r/c track, which was situated right in front of the Newman Haas Lanigan Team pitbox, tricky Bourdais proved to be a natural at the controls as he and his Crew Chief Pedro raced one another. Both were impressed with the handling and speed of the 1:8 scale car as well as the strenght of the parts as they made contact on a number of occassions!!

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August 31, 2007

Former World Champ Vray wins French Cup

Former World Champ wins Vray wins French Cup

The French Cup for 1:8th Off Road took place over the weekend at the Pertuis track in the South of France where former World Champion Guillaume Vray showed he still has it by taking the victory. The event saw 123 drivers tackle the winding and very dusty track where temperatures reached as high as 35 degrees over the two days. Driving his RB powered Mugen, 2004/2005 World Champion Vray won the 45-minute final from Crono driver Jérôme Sartel with Renaud Savoya making it two Mugen’s on podium in third despite suffering radio problems

Click here to see the final results… content


August 30, 2007

Harder closes in on Danish Offroad title

Harder wins Danish 1/8th Offroad Championship encounter

Peter Harder was the man to beat in the fifth round of the Danish 1/8th Offroad Championships which took place over the weekend in Naestved, south of Copenhagen. Perfect racing conditions saw the Team Xray driver TQ the event with his XB8 EC.

After an easy win in his Semi, Harder amost saw all his good work go by the wayside in the A Main when he made a mistake at the triple jump on the opening lap which allowed CEN driver Rune Gustavsen and Xray team-mate Claus Nielsen to take up the lead battle. Recovering his composure Harder, winner of Round 3, closed in on the pair and at 8 minutes took the lead from were he never looked back.

Making it a good day for CEN, Rune Gustavsen and Steffen Culmsee completed the podium.
The 6th and penultimate round of the championship takes place in 2 weeks time when Harder has the chance to wrap up the National title.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]


August 28, 2007

Connolly and Steele take Irish Rd5 wins

Connolly and Steele take Irish Rd5 wins

The fifth round of the Irish National On-road Championship took place over the weekend at the fast St. Annes track where defending champions Clive Connolly and Chris Steele each took victory. In 1:8th scale it was Connolly that dominated with his Serpent 960 taking the TQ before going on to win the half hour A Final comfortably over Mugen driver Austin Elliot in 2nd while young charger Sean Doyle completed the podium with his Serpent in 3rd. The win is Connolly’s second straight win of the season and sees him close the gap on championship leader Darragh Fox who retired on the opening lap.

Making a return to the championship having missed the previous round, defending 1:10 200mm Champion Chris Steele used his Kyosho to good effect to claim his first win of the season ahead of the Xray of Steven Hayes who currently leads the standings with 2 wins to his credit while Serpent driver John Haugh completed the podium in 3rd. Top Qualifier in the 1:10th class Mark Gilliland, and the winner of the season opener, was forced to retire his NT1 with engine problems while in a podium position. Two more races are left to run in the Irish Championship with both titles still wide open.

Click more to see the 200mm podium… content


August 27, 2007

Mark Green wins Rd8 of UK 1/8th Nats

Rd8 of UK 1/8th Nats

The 8th round of the BRCA 1/8th scale National Championship was held last weekend on the Mendip track in the West of England. In qualifying it was Serpent driver Mark Green that claimed the TQ spot for the final ahead of Pete Hastings in 2nd and Tim Wood in 3rd. In the Final it was Mark that led from start to finish but behind him it was a close battle for 2nd place with every driver having a shot at a podium. After a little tangle down the grid on the 1st lap, Andy North and round 7 winner Neil Diver had to spend the race recovering and fighting their way back through the field. Richard Hicklin, Pete Hastings, Gareth Bell and Chris Heath were very closely matched over the first 10 mins until Hicklin had engine trouble which dropped him down the order followed by Hastings who was suffering with belt issues. Mugen racer Andy North had the misfortune to run out of fuel on numerous occasions which also ruined his chanced. At the 30 minutes, it was Mark Green with the win by over 3 laps ahead of Gareth Bell, who claimed the 2nd spot after Diver ran out of fuel near the end, this also promoted Christopher Heath up into 3rd.

Click here for the final results and some more photos… content


August 27, 2007

Guschl wins German 1/8th TT Nat Rd1

Guschl wins German 1/8th TT Nat Rd1

Last weekend saw the first round of the German National Championship for 1/8th scale buggies held at the Schietschmieter track in Bistensee. The event attracted the cream of the German off road scene and in qualifying it was Daniel Reckward that claimed the top qualifier spot ahead of Patrick Feschtschenko in 2nd and Andreas Bartels in 3rd. The Semi finals over and it was Sönke Matz that would start the final from pole position with Andreas Bartels starting from 2nd and Reckward from 3rd. With the race underway it was Bartels who was the first retirement before 10 minutes with pole man Matz retiring from the race after 20 minutes with differential problems. Reckward also had troubles with his engine which dropped him out of contention which all allowed Phillip Guschl to take the win ahead of Patrick Feschtschenko in 2nd and Dario Vita rounding out the podium in 3rd.

Click here to see the final results… content