Maclan Racing have announced the signing of former IFMAR 1/8th Nitro Buggy World Champion, Robert Batlle to their factory racing team. Robert will be using Maclan electronics for his 2020 race program that will include all major European electric 1/8th scale events.
Source: Maclan Racing [maclan-racing.com]
FTX have introduced the Outback Hi-Rock, an evolution of the Outback trail chassis. As trail and crawler fans continue to crave both scale performance and scale looks, FTX have looked to address both with the Hi-Rock. Featuring a new split transmission, the motor is now mounted directly above the front axle alongside the steering servo providing extra weight up front for better traction when climbing ascents. The steering angle has been increased to a 45 degrees angle for further improved trail manoeuvrability. An adjustable drivetrain slipper can be set to protect the transmission and driveshafts in the event of a lock up, while internal axle and gearbox metal gears provide long term durability. The split transmission layout provides a much lower centre section allowing for aftermarket interiors to be mounted for added scale realism. The moulded side chassis plates have aluminium plates on the exterior while the inner plates provide protection from the elements as well as mounting receiver and Hobbywing speed control. The moulded receiver box features additional plug in ports for LED lights and aftermarket winches. The classic pick-up inspired body shell comes complete with moulded accessories such as front grill and LED light buckets, snorkel, mirrors, wipers, roll bar cage and spotlights for optional LEDs. Front and rear bumpers feature mounted LED lights and tow hooks to top off that scale look. The ready-to-run truck will hit stores in mid-February.
This past weekend was the fifth round of the very popular Worksop Series, there was once again a great entry of drivers in the main classes of 2WD and 4WD buggies, then some 2WD stadium trucks and vintage buggies also. As always it was round by round qualifying as the racing format, with the best 2 results from 4 rounds of qualifying counting towards the final position. The control tyre in the buggy classes is the Schumacher Yellow Honeycomb, this works superbly well at Worksop. Qualifying in 2WD saw a dominating performance by Neil Cragg, taking TQ in 3 out of the 4 rounds to take pole position from Richard Lowe and Tommy Hall. In 4WD it was a similar story with Neil Cragg taking TQ, ahead of Greg Williams and Tommy Hall, who lined up second and third respectively. The 2WD stadium truck class saw Joe Cockill take pole ahead of Abe Lyons and Alex Callan. The Vintage classes had Rob Fox leading the way in 4WD and Steven Pierce in 2WD.
Coming from Vigor and made for the Awesomatix A800MMX touring car is a 1-piece flex top deck. Machined from high-quality 2.0mm carbon fibre the top deck is of a 1-piece design, different from the MMX’s standard 2-piece upper deck, making for different torsional flex characteristics of the chassis construction. The asymmetrical design allows to swap the top deck without having to remove the spur gear, ensuring swift and easy setup changes.
Source: Vigor [vigorrc.com]
Ryan Maifield has claimed the Reedy Offroad Race of Champions title for a second time, the Yokomo driver becoming the 7th driver in the famed race’s history to become a multiple champion. While Maifield would set out his stall early in the event and leading the points at the end of each day, the 26th running of the event would go down to the 12th & final round of racing with Spencer Rivkin in with a stab at his first win. Needing to win the final round to keep the pressure on Maifield to perform, the World Champion was held at bay by CJ Jelin meaning Maifield’s final result didn’t matter but after a 5-year wait he wanted to regain his title in true champion style clocking up win No.6 of the weekend. Coming away with his best Reedy Race finish, Rivkin would end the event 4-points down on Maifield with the podium completed by Ryan Cavalieri who wrapped up the 2020 event with a win in the 36th & final heads up race. Maifield’s closest challenger at the completion of 4WD, former champion Dakotah Phend would claim fourth ahead of Broc Champlin, the teenager putting in some very strong showings against the establishment. For last year’s champion Jared Tebo, what had the potential to be a good day didn’t turn out that way and he dropped to 7th behind Ty Tessmann in the final standings having started the day in a fighting second.
Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.
Round 2 of the 2020 FinTrack Tour was hosted by the Kypak club in Kuusankoski this past weekend, attracting 75 entries from Finland and Russia. In the premier Touring Modified class it was Karri Salmela (Awesomatix) with a near clean sweep in the qualifiers as Pekko Iivonen came in 2nd, winning a single qualifying round. The finals then saw Karri continue to dominate, taking all three A-mains for the overall from Awesomatix pilot Georgy Chmigal in 2nd. Schumacher driver Pekko Iivonen would round out the top 3 as Leevi Martikainen and Teemu Saarinen came in 4th and 5th respectively.
Continue reading the report here
LRP have announced the soon release of their all-new Graphene 4 Competition Car LiPo high-performance LiPo battery packs. The batteries use newly developed Graphene 4 cells for higher capacity and further improved performance with Modified and Stock specific packs being available – the latter offering even more power for demanding stock racing classes. New for 2020 is also a new, darker sticker design while the iconic translucent blue cases remain the same as in 2019. The 2020 range will include three Modified specific standard-footprint packs such as the 6700mAh LCG, 5700mAh Ultra LCG and 5200mAh Hyper LCG battery. The Stock specific range includes a 9400mAh, 8100mAh, and 7400mAh standard as well as a 6100mAh LCG battery. As for the Shorty side of things LRP roll out 5900mAh and 4900mAh standard as well as a 4100mAh Stock LCG pack to which add 4600mAh and 4000mAh Modified LCG offerings. The first batch will hit stores beginning of February will full stock being expected for end of February.
View the Stock specific packs here
Coming soon from Kyosho are new drivetrain option parts for the Kyosho MP10 platform that were just announced by Kyosho’s own Yuichi Kanai on social media. The range will include new 42T differential and 12T input gears that will improve the buggy’s low speed agility. To make up for the changed internal gear ratio, Kyosho will also release a 45T main gear that will bring back top speed while also helping to settle the buggy on bumpy parts of the track, all while making for a somewhat softer characteristic at lower speeds, making the car easier to drive.
