Sweep Racing have released these closed cell truggy inserts. Based on the original industry standard closed cell foam insert, but the new grooved insert is designed to take advantage of the radial ribs inside the carcass of the Exagon tires. Perfectly balanced, they are 100% water safe, reusable, extremely durable and light weight at only 36 grams.
Source: Sweep Racing [sweepracing.com]
Team Durango have added Taylor James to their team, where he joins a growing list of some of the fastest, hard-working and well respected racers around. Taylor is based in Missouri USA and known as a 1/8th off road specialist where he’ll be dedicating most of his race time and pushing forward the Team Durango name.
I’m very excited to run for Team Durango this year and look forward putting in good results at all of the races. Team Durango has the philosophy of being very serious about racing and I intend to hold true to that ideal this year and beyond.
Source: Durango [team-durango.com]
As the Florida State Off-Road Series rolled into Lake Park for round 4, JR Mitch was looking to extend his winning ways. Making quick work of the qualifiers, JR quickly rose to the top of the field by top qualifying in both of the first 2 rounds with his JConcepts equipped Associated RC8B buggy. 3Ds in green compound proved to be the way around the unusually slick track at Lake Park in rounds 1 and 2 as JR blistered the track. As the sun peeked out on Sunday the track started to dry-out and the Lake Park blue groove heated up. JR went to his trusty Crossbow tire combination for the emerging blue groove surface and 30 minute A-main. Once the flag dropped on the A-main, JR was gone, racing out quickly to a 9,10-12 second lead ~10 minutes into the race, it looked like the race was all but over. A mid-race flame-out caused things to tighten-up but JR and pitman Walter Cruz remained calm and within minutes were back into contention. Pushing the RC8B as only a few drivers are capable of, JR made up valuable time and took the lead once again with ~4 minutes remaining. Pulling out to a significant lead with 3 minutes to go JR was back in cruise control and a commanding lead where he would cross the line taking yet another win for JConcepts / Team Associated in 2011.
View a video from the event here
Round 4 of the Tresrey Off-Road race series was held last Sunday at the RC Park GOJO circuit in Gojo-city, Nara, Japan. 65 racers took part, making it the best attended race that the GOJO circuit has ever had for an off-road event with 54 entrants in the 2WD class and 44 in the 4WD class. In qualifying it was Noriyuki Kawashima who managed to take TQ for both the 2WD and 4WD classes. In 2WD, Momotaro Motohira won the race from 2nd on the grid, with Kunio Shimabukuro taking 2nd and Eiji Tomita 3rd. Speed Passion Japan team driver Minoru Utsugi was 7th in qualifying and finished 4th in the final. Yokomo team driver Kenji Tsuruta was 3rd in qualifying and finished 9th in the final with his B4.1. There were 14 Durango DEX410/Rs in the 4WD class and 4 of them made the A final. Kawashima won the race from the pole, with Motohira taking 2nd and Satoshi Fujii 3rd with his DEX410. Team Durango Japan local supported driver Akihiro Yasuda finished 5th, Kenji Masuda finished 7th, and Team Durango/Speed Passion Japan team driver Minoru Utsugi 8th driving DEX410s. After the award ceremony, Tresrey held a big draw prize draw which included the DEX410 2010spec kit, Speed Passion ESC/motor and Tresrey ESCs.
View images from the event here
Following many tests and trials, GRP have launched their new M04 Grip tire for 1/8th buggies. The tire features a special design pin to guarantee high grip also under dirty and dusty conditions. This design guarantees a long tread life too, also on very high-wear tracks, keeping a high-level and steady grip. A very rounded profile makes it a very smooth and fast tire, but very easy to drive, while the internal carcass ribbing reduces tire expansion at high speed, leading to better stability of the model and driving precision. Available in 3 different compounds X-A-B, with a special orange or black molded insert.
Source: GRP [grpgandini.it]
Tekin have announced that Taylor Petersen has joined their team, which will see the Mugen racer run their electrics at 1/8th BL races this year. Taylor’s first race will be at the Cabin Fever Supercross Race this weekend with his new Tekin Powered Mugen MBX-6 Eco buggy. Taylor has been chomping at the bit wanting to get into this hotly contested class and when asked about his decision on which electronics to power his Mugen buggy Taylor responded “Tekin was the obvious choice.”
Source: Tekin [teamtekin.com]
Having brought you details on the first of the new series of Vega Elite 2WD race conversions, the Kyosho Ultima RB5 SP2, a very similar conversion is available for the Ultima RT5 truck. Featuring a CNC machined aerospace 7075 alloy tub chassis & gearbox, motor plate heat sink, rear shock tower, bodyshell and more, this new conversion changes the weight distribution of the car, allowing it to jump more level & massively helps in-air control and powered landings.
Adam Drake has taken victory at the first round of the TLR Winter series in both 1/8th buggy and truck. Last weekend kicked off the series, which consists of four rounds with points being awarded for qualifying and main event finishes, with this opening round attracting 124 entries. Qualifying was controlled by TLR / Novarossi driver Adam Drake, who was able to set the fastest time in both rounds of qualifying for buggy and truck. In the finals Adam continued to put in consistent laps and won the truck final by more than one lap from Jessie Robinson and won the buggy final by more than two laps again from Robinson. Round 2 of the series is February 19th.
Source: TLR [tlracing.com]
