Serpent have announced the signing of Nicolas Rodriguez to their French 1/8th off road team to drive the S811 Cobra. The former French Cup winner and European Championship runner up, will power his car with RB engines and expects to race the full line up of French races next season as well as the Euros in Germany next summer.
Source: Serpent [serpent.com]
Two weekends ago the Radio Control Car Club of Spokane, Washington held the 10th Annual Dave Mapston Memorial Race. There were 150 entries, with drivers coming from Washington, Idaho, Oregon, California and Canada. Team Venom attended for more testing, with two Gambler Short Course Trucks on hand, one driven by Venom’s own Rick McCrery and the other by Venom Team driver Jesse Munn. Both Gamblers were entered into the Mod SC class, which had 25-30 trucks. The track was 180ft x 70ft with large jump sections and a challenging surface that consisted of small ruts and minimal traction. Rick chose to run his truck in the mid motor position while Jesse took advantage of the MOR Drive System and ran his truck with the motor in the rear position. Both trucks handled great throughout qualifying and the Gamblers ended up 1st and 2nd on the starting grid, with Jesse sitting TQ and Rick right behind him in second. Triple A-mains were used and Team Venom and the Gambler captured the win by winning two of the three mains. Jesse Munn took home the win and Rick McCrery settled for third due to some unfortunate luck. Having now competed in 6 regional events, won 3 and podium spots in the other 3, the Venom Gambler Short Course Truck is proving to be very competitive in both mid motor and rear motor positions thanks to it’s MOR Drive system and race inspired chassis design.
Source: Venom [venom-group.com]
New Team Durango signing Brian Kinwald sent us this race report from the Southwest Indoor Grand Prix last weekend. “The two fastest Team Durango DEX410s were mine and Quaid Simik’s. I was the Top Qualifier and won the A main. Our cars were really good, especially over the 22 foot crossover gap that only a 4wd car could manage (yes 22 feet! – the announcer wouldn’t let us not jump the big gap … he had everyone in the building cheering every time we made it). When I say only a 4WD car could jump the gap, I mean only Quaid and I with our DEX410s could clear this monster jump. A lot of people were really impressed with the car, with its handling and durability.”
Source: Durango [team-durango.com]
The organisers of the R/C Flyers Italian GP were in touch to tell us about this year’s event which will be run from the 3rd to 5th of December in Brescia, Italy. Last year’s race attracted the likes of eventual winner Christer Andersson, Toni Rheinard and Simo Ahoniemi as well as Italian GP drivers Daniele Ielasi and Francesco Tironi. This year’s race is open to two classes, Open modified and Sport class, with both classes using a controlled tire. You can find out more information on the event by viewing the flyer here (PDF).
The Halloween Classic has become one of the premier touring car races of the year and signals the beginning of the indoor racing season. With factory drivers such as Paul Lemieux, Keven Hébert, Josh Cyrul, Drew Ellis, and Mike Blackstock competing for the victory in Open Touring Car, the fight was bound to be intense. Keven Hébert showed excellent speed in practice with his Reedy/LRP-powered TC6 and he and Paul Lemieux appeared to be the favorites going into qualifying. The schedule called for four rounds of qualifying with the single best run to count and main events would also follow this single-race format to determine each winner and the Champion. When qualifying was completed, Keven managed to secure the second position on the grid behind Lemieux. The A-Main event saw Lemieux and Hébert set off ahead of the rest of the field into a personal battle between the two. A bobble by Hébert allowed Lemieux to stretch out a small lead but Keven was able to reduce the gap and put pressure on the leader. Finally, at the three-minute mark, a mistake by Paul gave Keven Hébert the lead which he would maintain until the checkered flag.
Source: Associated [rc10.com]
This weekend saw some of Australia’s top drivers descended on one of the county’s premier electric tracks to battle out the 2010 NSW State Titles. Reviews of the newly upgraded facility were glowing and the racing was fierce across all classes. The modified class drew a number of world class drivers including multiple national champion Simon Nicholson, current national champ Ari Bakla, and Victorian state champion Ryan Maker. In qualifying it was all Maker, piloting his Hot Bodies TCX to pole position ahead of the Corally of Simon Nicholson and the Xray T3’11 of Timothy Lee. Despite the efforts of the chasing pack, the finals went all the pole sitter’s way with Ryan taking his TCX to the win in the first two finals, electing to sit out the last amain which went to Xray’s Ari Bakla. The final positions were Ryan Maker in 1st, Simon Nicholson 2nd, and Timothy Lee 3rd.
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The UK Team Associated on road team are pleased to announce the formation of a new driver development programme, the Associated Junior Academy will consist of four new drivers who work closely along side Olly Jefferies, Alan Bickerstaff, Steve Lander and Chris Slater. The team enjoyed a great deal of junior success this year helping Zak Smith to a top three place in the pro stock class of the BRCA national series. The driver programme will get underway at round one of next years BRCA touring car nationals but drivers are hoped to be announced and working with the team by early 2011. Drivers will be selected on their ability to work as a team and their potential to develop within a structured programme, part of the project will be to run a celebrity car at selected BRCA touring car national meetings, already named for the celebrity car is multiple champion Craig Drescher and CML managing director Jason Varley.
Source: CML [cmldistribution.co.uk]
Just a week ahead of the 1/8th scale buggy World Championships, Team Associated have announced that Ryan Maifield has extended his contract which sees him continue with Associated, Reedy and LRP products. Over the years, Maifield has won countless titles, including multiple ROAR National Championships in a wide variety of categories, including 1:8 Gas Buggy, 1:8 Electric Buggy, 1:8 Gas Truggy, 2WD Electric Truck, 2WD Short Course and 4WD Electric Buggy. When asked about his re-signing, Maifield had this to say:
Team Associated has been behind me since the beginning of my racing career, and during the highs and lows they have always been supportive and constructive. I have many friends at Associated that are 100% committed to me and the products they produce, so it was a no-brainer when it came to sign a new contract to stay with the company that has been there through it all. I want to thank everyone at Team Associated and all the Team Associated customers for their support. I’ll see you at the track soon with my Reedy- and LRP-powered Associated vehicles.
Team Manager, Brent Thielke, and long-time friend of Ryan, had this to say about the re-signing: “All of us here at Team Associated are excited to continue our relationship with Ryan. We look forward to supporting him as he continues to grow as a racer and ambassador for the sport we all have an unwavering passion for.”
Source: Associated [rc10.com]
