November 2, 2019

Salven calls time on WC career

Michael Salven has called time on his World Championship racing career, one of nitro onroad racing’s best known figures made the announcement that having made his World Championship debut in California in 1987, that the 22nd running of the IFMAR 1:8 Worlds here in Fontana, California was the right time to take a step back from racing.  The 58 year-old German, who has enjoyed all of his professional career with Serpent, a company which was instrumental in the early development of the class, Salven bowed out of the Worlds competition here this morning at Steel City RC Speedway when he failed to finish the 1/16th finals.  Asked about his decision, he said, ‘The Pro guys turn up with everything sorted. I turned up here with three engines that still needed to be run in and it turned out none of them are very good.  I will still race, I probably have a few more Euros in me, but its important I race because as the designer of our cars I need to know what’s going on’.

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November 2, 2019

Team Associated RC8B3.1 series alloy turnbuckle ball set

Team Associated have introduced the new Factory Team aluminium turnbuckle ball set for the RC8B3.1 series of kits. The set, made from durable hard-anodised 7075 aluminium, prevents rust, which minimises corrosion and promotes smooth action of the turnbuckles. The set also results in 5g weight savings over the stock steel turnbuckle balls and it fits the RC8B3.1, RC8B3.1e, RC8T3.1, and RC8T3.1e.

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November 2, 2019

Xpress GT Competition pre-glued wheel sets

Xpress have introduced their new GT Competition pre-glued wheel sets featuring 36X or 40X tyres and white multi-spoke rims. The wheels use standard 12mm wheel hexes and 0mm offset, making them suitable for nearly all 1/10th on-road touring car chassis with the multi-spoke rim design enhancing the overall looks especially in GT and FWD classes while the 36X and 40X rubber tyres ensure exceptional traction, making the pre-glued wheels a good hand-out or control tyre.

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November 1, 2019

Matsukura blitzes rivals in Super Pole

Naoto Matsukura effectively blitzed his rivals in Super Pole needing just three laps to set the fastest lap and book his direct starting position in the final alongside Infinity team-mate and Top Qualifier Dario Balestri.  Only the second time Super Pole has been held at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships, the 2nd through 5th placed qualifiers had the opportunity to avoid racing in the Semi Finals with the process comprising of a 3-minute warm up following by 6-timed laps of which each drivers fastest was counted.  With three of the drivers participants of Super Pole in France two years ago, first up was Jesse Davis with his best attempt a 14.640.  Next to go was Dominic Greiner who was making his first 1:8 Super Pole. Timing issues however meant his run was restarted and after much deliberation between officials on how he could continue the run he was forced to start his timed run from the pit lane with just a single warm-up lap.  Despite the disruption he improved on Davis’ time by 1/10th of second.  Qualifying third overall, next up was Simon Kurzbuch who pushed Greiner off the top spot by 0.003 of a second.  Last to go and knowing what he needed to do, Matsukura duly delivered a 14.449 lap to go quicker than Kurzbuch by 0.084.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.


November 1, 2019

Balestri to defend World title as Top Qualifier

Dario Balestri will defend his 1:8 Onroad World Championship title as the Top Qualifier for tomorrow’s final at Steel City RC Speedway in California.  The Infinity driver secured his fourth consecutive World Championship TQ when he topped the sixth & final round of qualifying ahead of Simon Kurzbuch and Dominic Greiner.  With the first five qualifiers seeing 4 different drivers post TQ run, the final qualifying was a four way shoot out. Running in the second fastest heat Greiner did all he could to set the provisional TQ time while the other three contenders, Balestri, Naoto Matsukura and Kurzbuch set off in reverse order in the top heat.  The first to post a second TQ run when he topped the morning’s Q5, Matsukura would unfortunately crash out at two and half minutes, leaving the battle between Balestri and Kurzbuch, their predicted pace up on the time set by Greiner.  In the end Balestri had it under control finishing with 4/10ths on Kurzbuch. Overall Matsukura qualified 2nd followed by Kurzbuch, Greiner and Jesse Davis.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.


November 1, 2019

Matsukura first to TQ for a second time at 1:8 Worlds

After an opening day of qualifying at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships yesterday that produced four different TQ drivers, this morning Naoto Matuskura became the first driver to go fastest for a second time. Having TQ’d Q1 in cool morning conditions, the Infinity driver repeated the result on what is again a cold morning at Steel City RC Speedway.  Pursuing top seed and team-mate Dario Balestri, a slight mistake from the Italian in the final minute of 4-minute run was enough for Matsukura to move to the top where he would stay to the end.  Finishing 9/10ths ahead of Balestri who held on for another P2, the Q5 result means the honour of Top Qualifier at the 22nd running of Championship is looking like a two horse race between the defending Champion Balestri and the reigning 1:10 Champion Matsukura, although former champions Simon Kurzbuch and Dominic Greiner still have a chance.  For the round, Greiner set the third fastest time followed by JJ Wang, Jesse Davis and Kurzbuch.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.


November 1, 2019

Samix Enduro aluminium front bumper mount

Following the introduction of a brass front bumper mount for the Element RC Enduro trail trucks, Samix now also offer an aluminium variant. Like the brass version the alloy part incorporates an adjustable servo mount for the use with most standard-size servos while the rigid metal construction offers increased stability for the chassis assembly. In addition the mount relocates the servo position to the front of the chassis while maintaining the correct steering geometry. The mount is available in blue or black anodising, it features machined silver edge details and laser-etched Samix logos.

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November 1, 2019

Yeah Racing 4-Tec 2.0 aluminium conversion kit

Yeah Racing have announced the release of their all-new aluminium essential conversion kit for the Traxxas Ford GT 4-Tec 2.0 on-road car. The set includes front and rear lower arms, C-hubs, steering knuckles, as well as rear hubs all made of high-quality aluminium and coming blue or black anodised. Also included are steel suspension shafts as well as steel front and rear CV-style driveshafts. While adding visual impact the parts also offer increased rigidity and a lot less flex compared to the standard moulded plastic parts. The suspension parts set is available in blue or black anodising and all parts are also up for grabs individually.

View the black colour set here