March 16, 2009

FTR 10 World GT chassis

FTR 10 World GT chassis

Full Throttle Motorsport, makers of the FTR 12 1/12th scale chassis, have released the first production shots of their new World GT chassis, the FTR 10. Based heavily on their previous car, this T-bar chassis is designed around the use of brushless motors, with a centered pod and optimized battery location. The chassis has been made from 2.5mm thick carbon fibre with well positioned flex points for better traction on low bite tracks and it shares its rear pod with the FTR 10. Expect the car to be released after this weeks ROAR Nationals.

Click here for more photos


March 15, 2009

F1 RCGP Round 3 report

F1 RCGP Round 3 report

The 3rd round of the Japanese F1 RCGP series was held last weekend at the famous 1/8th GP track, KeiTuen Racing Speedway in Chiba. The unique part of the F1 RCGP is that the race will start in rain or even snowy weather conditions and there was no exceptions for this round. Track conditions was semi wet for the first round and most of the drivers started with rubber tires but apparently sponge tires were a better choice. Heavy rain started falling after lunch break and some drivers spread glue on the sponge tires surface which works pretty well. To win this round not only driving technique but right tire choice is extremely important. In the F1 GP class it was Miura Masayuki starting from 2nd who was in a different league managing to have a safe lead over 2nd placed Ishikawa Mamoru, who never got a chance to put any pressure on the leader. Yashima Sadaaki beat National off road champion Kimura Shinya to secure his 3rd place.

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March 15, 2009

D-Drive Sports F103 Monocoque chassis

D-Drive Sports F103 Monocoque chassis

Japanese company D-Drive Sports have shown the first pictures of their new monocoque chassis that they are making for the F103. This is a two piece chassis that replaces the top and bottom chassis plates on the F103 and is made from Carbon reinforced plastic just like their front suspension arms. The chassis when assembled is very stiff and the servo is mounted with the standard Tamiya servo mount, but what makes this special is that the screws are anchored to the top of the chassis. Also the rear suspension arm bolt is also anchored to the top of the chassis. You can see from the pictures that you can use the standard Tamiya battery mounts, which simply fit between the two piece of the chassis.

Click here to see another picture


March 15, 2009

X-Games – Hot Bodies Cyclone 12X

Hot Bodies Cyclone 12X

The Hot Bodies Cyclone 12x is the updated version of the European Championship-winning Cyclone 12 chassis and although the indoor season in Europe comes to an end for the moment we would like to introduce this car to you. As with nearly every competition car the HB Cyclone 12x comes un-assembled and without body and tyres. A nice touch is the addition of the Hot Bodies dish rims that make for an unusual look since most of the current 1/12 scale rims are of a spoked type. The 12x is based on the Cyclone 12 and received some more or less visible refinements to make for an even better ‘circuit racer’ as Hot Bodies calls their on-road car.

Read the full review here


March 14, 2009

Josh Cyrul teams up with Shepherd Racing

Josh Cyrul teams up with Shepherd Racing

Shepherd Racing have announced that multiple US National Champion and multiple World Championship podium finisher Josh Cyrul has joined their international racing team. From now on Josh will use the Velox V8 for all 1/8th On-Road scale events and of course will also race with the upcoming Velox V10 as soon as it is available. As he has many years of experience with nitro on-road cars, his feedback will help the company finalizing the design of the V10 as well as improving the V8. Josh will attend all major US events, the Pre-Worlds and the World Championship in Lostallo. He has sent us the following statement:

Heading into the 2009 season and especially looking forward to the coming World Championships, I am extremely excited to join Shepherd Micro Racing. The Velox 1/8 car has already more than proven it’s capabilities and I’ve been impressed with the car since the moment I saw it. Now, actually going through the kit and holding one in my hand I’m even more happy and looking forward to a great future with Patrick and everyone at Shepherd.

Additonally his company CEFX will take over the exclusive distribution of Shepherd Micro Racing products for North America. Soon the homepage will be updated with the full information about Shepherd products. We are sure that CEFX will guarantee a premium support for all Shepherd customers in the US. With the existing contacts to hobby shops all over the US, CEFX has the possibilty to ensure a wide parts availability.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]


March 14, 2009

John Ermen joins ATS Tyres International Team

John Ermen joins ATS Tyres International Team

ATS Tyres have announced that front running Dutch driver John Ermen has joined the ATS Tyres International Team. Alongside the National Championships the former Dutch National Champion will attend most of the international races this year as well as the main event of the season, the WC in Lostallo, Switzerland that takes place in August. John will continue to use his Novarossi powered Serpent chassis and will once again use Tornado fuels.

Source: ATS Tyres [atsmodel.com]


March 14, 2009

Xray Front Coil Springs for XII

Xray Front Coil Springs for XII

New for the XII, Xray have released an additional range of choices of their ultimate-match front coil shock springs, to help fine-tune your car. Powder color-coded for quick & easy identification, they have been developed through extensive testing and racing experience. The same thickness of wire is used for each spring, and stiffness is controlled by the number of coils, the softer springs have a lower “C” value and more coils, while the stiffer springs have a higher “C” value and fewer coils. Sold in a pair.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]


March 13, 2009

Iñaky Pahissa wins Spanish 1/10th Nats Rd1

Iñaky Pahissa wins Spanish 1/10th Nats Rd1

Last weekend saw the Cerdanyola Modelcar Track, play host to the 1st round of the Spanish 1/10th scale 200mm National Championship. The event drew 84 drivers ready to open 2009 season and following qualifying it was Xabier Arana who had taken the TQ, followed by Rodrigo Pahissa, Iñaky Pahissa and Johnny Pastor. The main Final was clearly dominated by Xray driver Iñaky Pahissa who took the first position after the first refuelling and kept it for the whole race. The fight for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th places was very interesting and we saw 5 drivers fighting and swapping positions trying to reach the final podium places. In the end it was Kyosho driver Ramón Guasch that took 2nd ahead of another Xray driver Rodrigo Pahissa in 3rd, who also made the fastest lap in the final and set an new track record. Both Rodrigo and Iñaky Pahissa used Merlin fuel to power their Max Power engines.

Source: Merlin [merlinfuel.com]


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