Round 4 of the French 1/10th Buggy National Championship was held in Mutzig near Strasbourg. Mathieu Briere was the man to beat in the 2WD qualifying as he took four of the six rounds to secure the overall TQ. In the finals things went different though as Mathieu suffered from several mishaps, allowing Armand Lantheaume to take the overall win from Ludovoic Valtier 2nd and Jean Pierrick Sartel 3rd.
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Serpent have introduced a lightweight aluminium chassis for the Spyder SRX2 MH series of 2WD buggies. Cut from hard-coated 7075-T6 aluminium the chassis is about 15 percent lighter than the standard kit part while offering increased flex to further fine-tune the handling for various track conditions. The chassis is usable for the MH, MHT and LMT variants of the SRX2 and it is available now.
Coming from Xray and made for the XB2 and XT2 kits are narrow brass rear suspension mounts. The narrow design increased the vehicle’s rear chassis roll which can be beneficial to find more traction on low grip surfaces. The added weight of the machined brass parts further adds stability and traction and the parts use the original I.S.S. suspension inserts for quick and easy suspension geometry changes. The suspension hangers are available separately as RF and RR parts.
Redcat Racing have introduced the new 1/6th scale Shredder and 1/8th scale Landslide XTE ready-to-run monster trucks. Starting with the Shredder large scale electric truck, the kit is back after a two year hiatus and it has been update to increase performance and durability. The new version has bigger tyres, bigger shocks, and many other enhancements to make it stronger and more competitive than ever before. The 670mm long truck comes factory assembled and including an 80A Ezrun brushless system and a 2.4GHz radio. Not included are the necessary LiPo batteries and charger.
Last year, the Alabama Manufacturer Shootout made headlines with the news of the AMS having new ownership. As much as there was excitement, there was a bit of skepticism, but after the recent AMS 8.0, all doubts were laid to rest as the event was well planned, amazingly fun, and still has the AMS magic. Fortunately the drivers were blessed with perfect weather that added to the atmosphere and making the event more enjoyable overall. The track layout this year was fun and had a terrific flow that reminded of a toned down Psycho Nitro Blast in a smaller arena with dirt jumps instead of wood ramps. Many commented that the track looked “awesome”, “rad”, and “wished I was there”, claiming high praise from racers and internet viewers.
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Coming from Serpent is the Spyder SRX2 MHT Team 2WD buggy kit. The buggy was designed to excel on medium to high traction surfaces such as carpet, astro turf and prepped clay and it features a 7075 T6 aluminium main chassis plate with separate aluminium front kick-up plate, it utilises carbon fibre front and rear shock towers and a 3-gear laydown transmission. Also included are a high-torque ball differential, 3-pad slipper clutch and a cab forward body shell. The shock absorbers are of a big-bore 12mm design with hard-anodised bodies and caps and the kit can be equipped with optional 3-gear stand-up, 4-gear stand-up or 4-gear laydown gearboxes with all needed mounting holes already existing in the kit chassis plate. The Team edition kit will hit stores very soon.
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Speedmaster Japan have introduced two new exhaust sets for 1/8th off-road and on-road applications in the form of the SMJ Kabuto tuned silencer sets. Starting with the off-road specific exhaust, the silencer is based on the T2060 SC pipe and it was designed to match perfectly with the Kabuto XB2 engine. It is usable for buggy and truggy racing and comes including manifold, gaskets and mounting springs. Also new is an on-road specific set based off of the T2080 SC exhaust. It will match the Kabuto R21 engine and just like the off-road set contains a suitable manifold, gaskets and springs. Both sets are EFRA homologated and they will hit stores soon.
More new items from JConcepts for the B6 and B6D with the release of a new range of aluminium shim sets. The all aluminium machined and blue anodised components offer benefits not yet available. First, the front suspension set to alter the front roll-centre includes a .5mm and 1mm shim to give racers that all important dual option. The second option is to help when running lower ride-height such as on carpet where 15 and 16mm is very common place. Offroad vehicles are not exactly built to race with excessively low ride-height and special accommodations are being made to allow higher levels of performance. JConcepts now offers the 1mm and 2mm shim kit for the B6 vehicle which can raise the entire transmission of the vehicle to allow a more advantageous drive-shaft angle. As a driver lowers the ride-height, the bone angle drops significantly on the inside of the vehicle, compromising drive-line geometry and efficiency. These shims are sandwiched in-between suspension components and aluminium isn’t as likely to deform under load or screw force
