Coming from Schumacher are a new chassis and updated top decks for the Mi6 and Mi6evo touring cars. The new 2.25mm soft weave chassis will increase the flex of the Mi6-series cars compared to the kit 2.5mm chassis, improving performance especially in lower grip conditions. It will also lower the centre of gravity, improving corner speed.
Coming from Hiro Seiko are new lightweight screw kits for the Xray X10 and X12 series of pan cars as well as the new Xpress XQ1 and the Awesomatix A800X. The X10’18 related kits come as mixed aluminium and titanium or full titanium sets that save 15.5g or 12.6g of weight respectively. The X12’18 kits also come as mixed or full titanium sets, scrubbing 15.5g or 12.2g respectively with the mixed sets including orange anodised aluminium and natural finish titanium fasteners. Swinging over to the touring car sets, the fastener kit for the XQ1 saves about 29g for the mixed and 21g for the all-titanium set while the A800X assortments scrub 23g with the mixed and 18.5g with the all-titanium kit. The mixed sets use red alloy screws for the XQ1 and gold-anodised fasteners in the mixed Awesomatix set.
View the other screw sets here
3DRC have introduced their all-new Formula Aero Wings suitable for most 1/10th formula pan cars. They mimic the now wider and lower wings used in Formula 1 and they are available with the industry-standard Tamiya-style mounting pattern or as dedicated variant for the Team Associated F6 – the latter requiring the F6’s lower wing mount. Both come with DRS mock-ups for looks and the universal wing also sports a monkey seat for even greater scale appearance. The wings are tough and durable as all of 3DRC’s 3-D-printed parts, however they are not as sturdy as moulded plastic wings and may crack as the result of very hard impacts. As usual the parts are available through 3DRC’s Shapeways store or at select model shops.
Coming from MR33 is the new aluminium on-road shock stand. Made from black anodised 7075 aluminium and sporting machined silver edge details the shock stand features 14.2mm holes to accommodate all comming touring car big bore shock absorbers and the outer diameter of 56mm allows to place the whole assembly in the popular Ride air remover tool during bleeding, storage or transportation. The shock stand is also easy to disassemble and it sports an integrated container to house small parts such as shafts, pistons, E-clips and more. Last but not least does the base also act as a mini parts tray.
The newest addition to West Coast R/C Works’ Black Carpet Edition line of parts are the servo mounting plates and short upper pod plate for the Xray X12 pan car. Starting with the servo mounting plates, these are designed to replaces the original parts and the bolt pattern of the plates ensure that the servo is mounted correctly on the chassis. The BCE plates are an addition to the already existing line of X12 servo mounting plates and the difference between the existing and the BCE version is that the new version has eleven shock mounting positions instead of only four on the original part. The additional shock mounting positions allow the shock to be moved further back on the chassis and it also allows use shocks from other manufacturers. The servo mounting plate is available with bold patterns to directly mount the Futaba 9650/9670, Futaba BLS671SV/ BLS671SVi or Sanwa SRG-HR/HS servos.
ARC Nitro Italy have announced the signing of Italy’s Tony Esposito to their team. Tony will use the remainder of the season to adapt to the new car in preparation for the 2018 European Championship that will be held on his home track in Cassino. Tony says:
I am very happy to be part of the ARC team and the commission, also I will use this end of season to prepare the best in 2018 where I will have the European championship at home, in Cassino.
Source: ARC [arc-rc.com.tw]
Fantom have introduced their FR-1 v3 Pro Spec brushless motors. Coming in a new, red-anodised aluminium can the motor utilises a redesigned stator that is made from premium-grade Kawasaki steel while maximum diameter allowed pure copper wire makes for the lowest resistance possible which results in more power and RPM and great fade resistance. The can is heavily machined to maximise heat dissipation and CNC-machined Billet T6 aluminium end plates ensure precision bearing alignment. The motor is rounded out by a newly designed rotor, gold-plated thick copper solder lugs and high-RPM precision bearings. The FR-1 v3 is available as v3R RPM and v3T torque variant to suit different needs and it comes in 10.5T, 13.5T, 17.5T, 17.5T Tour Spec, 21.5T and 25.5T winding options. All of them, except for the 17.5T Tour, are additionally available as Team Works or Team Works Plus motors including ABEC7 hybrid ceramic bearings and more.
The 2017 British Open GP took place at the Cotswolds track situated within Kemble airfield. The forecast for the whole weekend was looking very good with temperatures in excess of 23 degrees Celsius. As well as being the Open GP, the event would also double up and use its results as Rd6 of the national series. After four rounds of qualifying it was the Joe Kerry who took the TQ with 2014 World Champion Alexander Hagberg 2nd, and Alex Thurston 3rd. The final got under way with Joe pulling away very quickly at the front in the first few laps. Alex was fighting with Alexander for 2nd place which only helped Joe pull further away. When the first fuel stops had played out, Joe was able to start saving tyres whilst still increasing the gap. After 30 minutes of racing Joe Kerry (Capricorn) took the win two laps ahead of John Zottl (Serpent) who just came through to take 2nd with Alexander Hagberg (Xray) completing the podium in 3rd.
Source: Capricorn [capricornrc.com]
