Red RC » P Off Road

September 25, 2015

All Japan Hobby Show – Tamiya

Tamiya have several bodyshell variants of their popular TT-01 Type-E and TT-02 chassis available on show at the All Japan Hobby Show such as the Petronas Tom’s RC-F, the Motul Autech GT-R or the Mazda MX-5 for the M-05 but what stands out is the re-release of the iconic Monster Beetle. The 1990’s off-road vehicle sports the same features as “back in the days” although slight modifications to the drivetrain make the kit usable with today’s more powerful motors and batteries. The kit is already available. Racing-wise there is nothing new to show in Tokyo as it seems despite the forthcoming IFMAR 1/10th Electric Buggy Worlds on home ~~soil~~ astro turf.

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September 25, 2015

All Japan Hobby Show – Carisma

The 55th edition of the All Japan Hobby Show is held this week in Tokyo, Japan with most of the important Japanese and Asian companies in attendance. First up is Carisma who have their all-new 4XS 1/10th 4WD race buggy on show. Developed in cooperation with a well-known European RC car designer the 4WD buggy is based on a carbon fibre double deck chassis, it features a shaft drivetrain with 3-disc slipper clutch and, from what is understood, the buggy can utilise both shorty and saddle pack battery configurations right from the box. Other features of Carisma’s first ever competition kit include alloy suspension mounts with composite inserts, aluminium big bore shock absorbers and a mid-cab design bodyshell with aerodynamic tuning features. The kit should become available shortly.

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September 25, 2015

Exotek heavy-duty aluminium servo horns

Exotek have introduced new heavy-duty aluminium servo horns for all Team Associated 1/10th scale vehicles. Machined from 7975 aluminium and sporting a clamp-style design the horn matches the dimensions of the stock AE servo arms and they are available in blue and black anodising and for servos with 23T and 25T spline.

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September 25, 2015

Alex Kosciuszek & Jason Ruona win at 2015 VONATS

With a little Bon Jovi playing in the background, racers gathered at Wolcott Hobbies in Waterbury, CT, for the annual Vintage Off-Road Nationals. Organized by enthusiast Erich Reichert, the event draws racers from as far as Sweden each year to battle the 2-day event with a favorite car from years past or that freshly built unique retro build. Wolcott Hobbies built a friendly layout and allowed the surface to dry in order to level the playing field and create an experience that included a little sliding where the drivers could push the limits of the older models. A wide range of vehicles makes and models were in attendance and included but not limited to Tamiya, Kyosho, Team Associated, Traxxas and Team Losi. While everyone had their favorite, it seemed the 2WD buggy, truck and 4WD classes were among the most popular.

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September 25, 2015

SMC YZ-2 brass weight kits

Coming from SMC and made for the Yokomo YZ-2 2WD buggy are two brass weights in the form of front rear pivot plate and the front motor plate brace. Designed to adapt the car to lower bite conditions the brass weights will make for a less aggressive forward weight distribution by adding weight to the rear end without harming the buggy’s mid corner speed. The front rear pivot was designed to take up all the space between the transmission and the motor while still providing critical anti-squat clearance with or without the kit shim. SMC pushed the block into all the nooks and crannies they could and not simply copied the design of the standard part with this resulting in a whopping 68g or rearward weight shift. The front motor plate brace in the kit is a small aluminium L brace, but the new part filled up the space under the waterfall as much as possible. Full motor displacement is still available, as well as clearance for the rubber pad under the brace with the motor plate attachment hole is still usable too. The motor brace place weighs in at 34g and the two parts are available separately or as combo kit.

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September 25, 2015

2015/16 Mibosport Cup Winter Series – Announcement

The 2015/16 season of the popular Mibosport Cup Winter Series will kick off on the weekend of the 31st of October in Hrotovice, host of the opening round of the 2015/16 ETS. Attracting 400 drivers in total including the likes of Ronald Völker, Marc Rheinard, Tom Cockerill, Yannic Prümper, Michal Orlowski, Martin Bayer and Hupo Hönigl last year’s series was great success. This year the series is run in the six classes of Touring Car Modified, Stock LRP, Formula, 1/12th scale as well as 2WD and 4WD Buggy and the rules will see some modifications as the Modified Touring class will now use mandatory Volante tyres while the off-road drivers have to use Schumacher tyres. Also new for the season is the carpet, with the on-road races will be run on black ETS carpet while the off-road track is laid out with the same carpet as used at the opening round of the 2015/16 EOS. More information can be found here.

September 24, 2015

Serpent Spyder SRX4 2.5mm aluminium chassis

Serpent have introduced a 2.5mm aluminium chassis for the SRX4 4WD buggy. Made to replace the standard carbon fibre part the alloy chassis will improve rigidity and stability as it is less flexible compared to the carbon chassis. Excessive machining of the 7075-T6 part reduces the weight to 120g while the hard-coated surfaces reduces wear even on abrasive surfaces. With the chassis being stiffer it is best used on high-traction surfaces such as carpet and astro turf.

Source: Serpent [serpent.com]

September 24, 2015

Gary Baird takes 2015 Irish 1/8th Off-road Champs

The final round of the Irish 1/8th Off-road National Championship was held on the astro turf track in Navan. The usual weather playing games had the drivers need sun cream for the Saturday and a wet suit for the Sunday. Qualifying was mixed for a lot of drivers. The new astro they laid in Navan had plenty of gaps in it that randomly spun your car, but also rubber balls instead of sand, so it smelt delightfully of melting rubber. The man on a mission Alan Scroggie took TQ with pretty impressive runs. Andrew McClean would line up 2nd looking very controlled and starting to give the older drivers a lot to think about while Gary Baird would line up 4th and Barkley 6th. Three of these drivers were separated only by 2 points in the overall championship.

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