Shepherd Micro Racing are pleased to announce that former European Champion, World Championship finalist and multiple German National Champion Oliver Mack will be joining their Team in 2009. With his extensive experience, he will aid in the development of the Velox, but Of course he will also be promoting the Shepherd brand at all major races as an important part of their national and international team.
Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]
Day 2 of the IFMAR Electric Onroad World Championships has come to a close and yet again the final 1:12 scale qualifier of the day saw Juho Levanen and Naoto Matsukura crush the opposition. The Associated duo managed 1-2 in Heat 4 despite both of them dumping at the end of the run in which Levanen produced the fastest lap of the event with a blistering 11.675 second tour. Top Qualifier in Round 3, Levanen put his dumping down to the increased traction but the Yokomo team pointed blame for their young star dumping down to the pair battling throughout the heat for the TQ. Running 40 laps in 08:07.965 the Finn was a little under a second ahead of his Japanese team-mate despite nursing their cars to the line but such was their advantage that third place Groskamp was too far behind to capitalise and end the RC12R5’s reign in Thailand.
Read the full coverage on our event site here.
Naoto Matsukura has made his intentions clear here in Thailand by topping the time sheets when it counted most, as qualifying for the 1:12 IFMAR World Championships got underway at the RCS in Bangkok. The 14-year-old Yokomo star driver is running an Associated, due to Yokomo’s Japanese distribution links with AE, and put in a 39 lap run in a time 08:02.244 which was some 8 seconds faster than second placed Juho Levanen who made it a 1-2 for the RC12R5. In the final practice Matsukura had run a 40 lapper but believes increased wind at the track made for a slower run time in the first heat.
Read the full coverage on our event site here.
Teemu Leino has surprised his rivals in Thailand by recording the fastest time in controlled practice as day one of the 1:12 scale World Championships comes to a close. The flying Finn is debuting Xray’s new XII and was the only driver to record 39 laps over 8 minutes with his closest rival being CRC driver Jilles Groskamp who just missed out on 39 laps recording 38 in a time of 8:00.644.
Read the full coverage on our event site here.
As mentioned previously on our news page as well as in our 1:12th scale introduction piece, Xray are the latest manufacturer to enter the market, with the XII. We were able to get up close and personal with the LRP X12 powered example belonging to Factory Xray driver Alexander Hagberg from Sweden. Already in it’s second version, following feedback from the team after a recent test at the RCS track, the car is in appearance at least very similar to other brands on the market. Chief designer Juraj Hudy, who has limited experience of the class, says that while the car may be similar in appearance to others out there, that is more a reflection of the state of development of the class which has seen chassis design developed to a point where extra performance can only be found in small refinements. Featuring a T-bar, which some believe would be more suited to a lower traction surface, as opposed to the trailing link design seen on the CRC and Associated cars, the cars debut later today will be closely watched by all racers and manufacturers present.
Visit our event site here for XII photos from Bangkok.
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So the stage is set for the 2008 IFMAR Electric Onroad World Championship here at the Radio Control Speedway in Bangkok, Thailand where there is great anticipation for what should be two thrilling World title battles. The first title up for grabs is 1:12th which kicks off tomorrow (Sunday) with free practice. One thing for certain is no matter what the outcome there will be a brand new champion of the world as defending Champion David Spashett has not made the trip to Asia to defend his title and although five times World Champion Masami Hirosaka is here, he will not race, opting to fully focus his attention on trying to lift his first ever 1:10 Touring Car title later in the week.
Read the full coverage on our event site here.
The JMRCA 1/8th scale Japanese On road Nationals took place last weekend in Keitune. Qualifying saw Mugen racer Keisuke Fukuda take pole position from Yasushi Takashi with Yuya Sahashi 3rd. The 45 minute final however saw problems for the pole man, who retired after 11 minutes giving Kyosho team driver Takaaki Shimo the lead which he extended to 1 lap over Yasushi Takashi by the end to take the title for the new M3.
Source: Kyosho [kyosho.com]
Xray are to become the latest major competition RC manufacturer to enter the resurgent 1/12th market with the news that they will run a prototype of their all new XII at the 1/12 World Championships in Thailand which get underway tomorrow. Joining Serpent, who recently entered the market with the S120, the Slovak company will be out to impress on their debut in the category with the formidable line-up of Teemu Leino, Alexander Hagberg, Paul Lemieux and Martin Hudy all set to run the car at the RCS track. We will catch up with the XII’s designer Juraj Hudy later to bring you more on Xray’s latest creation.
Source: Xray [teamxray.com]
