January 29, 2010

Drivers full of praise for Czech ETS track

Drivers full of praise for Czech ETS track

Round 3 of the Euro Touring Series is underway here in the Czech Republic and there is nothing but praise coming from the top drivers for the track that has been created by race host Michal Bok and his crew. Drivers are enjoying the challenge of the long and technical track, 19-seconds being the current benchmark lap time. Making his international debut for the Tamiya Racing Factory team it is young Elliot Harper who is setting the early pace in practice. The British driver says the track is really nice and has a good flow to it. Still making small adjustments to his set-up, Harper said overall he is pleased with his car on used tyres but on a fresh set of Xenon tyres both he and his team-mates are struggling.

View our event coverage here.


January 29, 2010

Serpent S120 Link 1/12th scale

Serpent S120 Link 1/12th scale

Having released CAD images of their new 1/12th scale car back in November, Serpent have finally released the S120 link chassis. Differing from the previously available S120, the chassis uses a link-system which is damped using a conventional centrally mounted shock absorber together with a laterally mounted floating monoshock. The newly designed motorpod is a combination of high quality machined alu brackets and top quality carbon fibre parts, bolted together to create an ultra stiff rear pod and allows the brushless motor to be mounted in the optimal position for car balance and offers good heat dissipation as well. The front end of the car stays the same and is completely adjustable and utilises the now standard fixed lower suspension arms combined with active top wishbones.

Click here for more images


January 28, 2010

Shepherd Velox V8 2010

Shepherd Velox V8 2010

Shepherd have announced the release of the Velox V8 2010. The makor change is that the 2009 pulley set will replace the standard pulleys in the kit. Due to the improved teeth design the pulleys reduced the drag significantly, while small holes in the washers release the dirt and keep the pulleys clean for a long time. The small 16T pulley was replaced by an 18T pulley and the 24T pulley on the one-way axle was replaced by a 27T pulley. This results in less friction and a much longer lifetime for the new front belt. The new lightweight design of the pulleys guarentees an extremly good true running and reduces virbations to a minimum.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]


January 28, 2010

Swauger & Ishitani win big at Novarossi Challenge Rd1

Swauger & Ishitani win big at Novarossi Challenge Rd1

This past weekend race 1 of the Novarossi Challenge Series was held at Crystal Park Raceway in southern California. The big winners were Mike Swauger in the Expert 1/8th class, Darin Ishitani in the Expert Sedan class and Ryan Alfonso in the Sprtsman 1/8th class. It was the first large event that the newly EFRA & ROAR approved Protoform R5-N sedan body was used in competition. Mike Swauger handily TQ’ed using the R5-N and when qualifying was over there were 8 A-main drivers using the body as well. Mike Swauger succumbed to motor problems and was not able to start the A-Main. Mugen teammate Darin Ishitani got he big “Win”.

Continue reading the report here.


January 28, 2010

Elliot Harper confirmed at World Champion TRF team

Elliot Harper confirmed at TRF dream team

Tamiya Racing Factory have officially announced that 16 year old British racer Elliott Harper has joined their team for the 2010 season. The World and European Championship finalist will compete in the UK Nationals, the European Championships in Finland and France and the Worlds in Germany, along with many other races with the new Tamiya TRF416X. Having already competed at some regional races in the UK with his new Tamiya, Elliot will make his international debut this weekend at ETS round 3 in Hrotovice, Czech Republic. Elliott had the following to say about his new deal:

I am really looking forward to the 2010 season and running the Tamiya TRF416X. Racing with Tamiya is an exciting opportunity and I feel very fortunate to be part of this established team.  I am looking forward to working closely with some of the best known racers in the World and working together to gain some great results for Tamiya. This is a fantastic learning and developing opportunity for me.  I have already run the package for some races now and its very, very good!  I am really looking forward to the coming races and especially the ETS race this weekend. It will be great fun. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Xray, Juraj, Mario, Martin and the rest of the team for the last two seasons as they have provided me with lots of support and encouragement.

Source: Tamiya [tamiya.com]


January 28, 2010

Dennis Fadtke dominates Polish Nats Rd3

Dennis Fadtke dominates Polish Nats Rd3

The 3rd round of the Polish Touring car Nationals took place last weekend in Tarnow and attracted more than 100 drivers, despite the -24 degree temperatures outside. Inside it was a more acceptable 18 degrees and qualifying would go the way of Dennis Fadtke in both the modified and stock classes. In the mod finals, Fadtke would go on to win ahead of Morris Indovino in 2nd and Paweł Żelazo 3rd, and would do the double by taking the stock win in front of Blazej Orlowski and Maciek Brzozowski.

Click here to see the stock podium


January 28, 2010

World Champions go head to head as ETS makes first visit to Czech Republic

World Champions go head to head ETS as makes first visit to Czech Republic

The third round of the 2009/2010 Euro Touring Series travels for the first time to the Czech Republic this weekend where almost 200 drivers from around the world will descend on the town of Hrotovice in the south of the country. While current electric Touring Car World Champion Marc Rheinard is no stranger to competing in the Xenon Racing backed series, this weekend the German will go head to head with the nitro Touring Car World title holder Daniele Ielasi.

Continue reading this announcement


January 27, 2010

Serpent 733 oneway/spool & 966 Steel brake disk

Serpent 733 oneway/spool & 966 Steel brake disk

Serpent have released two new parts for the Serpent 733 and Serpent 966. The first, an aluminium front one-way axle with high quality one-way bearings that has been precision machined out of a single piece of aluminium with integrated pulley-flange. It can also be locked, when needed, by using 2 steel pins that slide through holes in the steel adaptors and are kept in place by 2 o-rings. Simple and effective, the set includes axle with one-ways, 2 steel adapters, 2 pins and 2 O-rings. The set uses the same pulley as that on the front differential but isn’t included. Secondly Serpent have released a lightweight steel brake disk for both the 733 and 966. Weighing only 11 grams it offers very smooth and even breaking, also under changing weather conditions & temperatures and through long finals.

Click here for more images of the products