New from CSO RC Racing products in Hong Kong is this carbon chassis plate for the Serpent 733 1/10th scale chassis. This CNC machined plate is made from high quality 3.5mm thick carbon fibre and while looking great, we can’t help but think that this goes away from the principle that it is better to keep the cars heavy parts as low as possible, by making this part so lightweight it would raise the centre of gravity.
Source: CSO [cso.com.hk]
Nacho López has won the first running of the 2009 Triangular trophy, which is run in Valencia, Zaragoza, Madrid. Nacho, who is born in Valencia, won two of the three races held in this year with his Mugen with second place going to Vicente Eres with his Motonica P81 and Joaquín Signes in third place with a Kyosho M3. The final race on the great facilities of the ARCA club in Madrid saw great organization, with all competitors being well taken car of throughout the event.
Source: JPT Racing [jbtrcracing.com]
New from the Factory Team are these blue aluminium screw kits that reduce weight for better acceleration and handling, while the blue anodizing adds high-tech bling. Even cars already at the minimum weight can benefit. A lightweight car allows ballast to be placed in the optimum position for different track conditions and equal left-to-right weight distribution. Available for Team Associated 12R5/12R5.1, 10R5, and 10R5 Oval, these complete sets of 65, 66, and 78 screws replace the heavy stock steel screws and can be fitted to any vehicle that uses metric hardware.
Source: Factory Team [rc10.com]
Protoform have announced the immediate release of the all new R5-N 200mm gas sedan race body. Gas sedan bodies require numerous openings to be cut in the roof area to enable cooling and fuel filling and thus the bodies tend to become aerodynamically ‘dirty’ and inefficient. Protoform has designed a body to minimize the net drag losses caused by these openings. The unique side windows as well as the rear window contours enhance the efficiency of the linear airflow into and out of the body. Every feature, including the large rear wing, is within EFRA/ROAR/200mm Global Body Spec dimensions. The enlarged wing struts allow for the use of larger screws for quicker trackside adjustments and the center strut adds stability. Made to fit all the popular 200mm gas chassis this body is pulled in .030 lexan and is supplied with protective covering, decal sheet, window masks and wing hardware.
Click here for more images of the body
EFRA have released their race calendar for 2009 and it looks to be another busy summer next year as they have managed to squeeze 8 European Championships, running alongside 3 World Championships, into the months of July and August. The season starts early with back to back championships at the end of February, beginning of March, with the Indoor TC euros in Finland, followed a week later by the 1/12th EC in Birmingham. The first EC ‘B’ championships kick off in Lostallo in the middle of May for 1/10th 200mm, followed 2 weeks later with the 1/8th scale on road ‘B’s in Monaco, and then another 2 week gap to bring us to mid June and the 1/8th buggy Euro B’s in Spain. The 1/8th scale on road A champs kick of the mid summer madness in Italy with the 1/12th Worlds in Germany starting on the Sunday of that event and running into the EP Touring car Worlds the weekend after, which happens to clash with the 1/8th buggy Euros in Portugal. Then the week after you have the beginning of 3 weeks of 1/5th scale Euros, in the meantime the Worlds for 200mm will be run in Houston. The week following that event is the Euros for Electric Touring in France, with a one week gap and then back to back Euros for 200mm in Sweden and EP buggy in Austria. The World championship for 1/8th buggy completes the major races, taking part in Thailand in mid November. The late decision to run the Electric track World championships appears to have really clogged up the calendar, clashing with two major events. Normally EFRA would not run a European Championship for a class where Europe has the WC, yet the 1/12th and TC Euros will still take place, further increasing the number of events.
Click here to see the event dates
The JMRCA Japanese Touring car nationals for Sport class took place this weekend at the Indoor Yatabe Arena. With 105 drivers in attendance, this is a very competitive class and it was Shinnosuke Ogino that took the pole position with a perfect score of 6 first places from 6 qualifying rounds, with Kutsuna Zyuniti in 2nd ad Muta Hironari in 3rd. In the finals it was Kutsuna that opened with a win as the pole man had a bad race and ended the leg in 9th. In the 2nd leg it was female racer Winter Toki that took the win from 8th on the grid, with Ogino claiming a 2nd spot and keeping his hopes of the overall win alive. In the final leg Ogino went one better and took the win to seal the title from Toki in 2nd, who had the same points but lost on a tie break, with Hironari claiming 3rd.
Source: JMRCA [jmrca.jp]
The new MicroCute Q2 is a unique 1/18 micro-sized, belt-drive 4WD model racing car. The Q2 claims to offer high performance, responsive handling and exceptional MicroCute quality, engineering and design. Based on the legendary old first design platform, MicroCute presents the improved and refined Q2, redesigned with high-performance racing in mind. The Q2 progressive design embodies an enhanced driving experience, with its purpose-built performance chassis, unique MF Technology top deck, externally-adjustable ball diffs and race-oriented wheel mounting system.
Click here for more images of the chassis
The New Zealand South Island Champs for on road Gas and Electric were held recently on the Ruapuna track in Christchurch. The weather was great for the 64 entrants spread over 4 Electric classes and 3 Nitro classes. After 5 rounds of qualifying it was very close in most classes with 8th gas being the closest with the top 6 separated by only 6 seconds. Finals were on Sunday and the only classes that the TQ man didn’t convert his position to a win was the 10th 2wd gas class and the 8th gas class where it was Q2 that took the win. In the rest of the classes TQ was converted into wins in the finals.
Click here for the full results
