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February 16, 2007

2007 Winternats, Florida – Thursday Day 5

Paolo Morganti - Image by Mike Myers

Well the rain came and interrupted play today on the last day of qualifiers for this years Florida Winternats. With the 1/8th scale class not managing to complete a full round of qualifying without the rain stopping proceedings, the results from Wednesday will stand, which means Kyosho racer Josh Cyrul will start on pole position for Saturdays A-main race. In 2nd position is Chris Tosolini driving another Kyosho Evolva, with reigning champion Mike Swauger driving his MRT Ninja powered Mugen MRX4-R lining up just behind him. Vincent Jackson, also driving for Mugen, looks like the danger man in this race, the relative unknown lines up 4th and could produce the surprise of the day. In 5th sits former multiple winner, and highest qualifying Serpent, Michael Salven from Germany just ahead of team mate Paolo Morganti, both drivers with something to prove after showing top pace in the heats but just not being able to pull it together when it mattered.

In 1/10th scale its all change, with the organisers managing to get in one of the final 2 rounds of qualifying for this class run, in between the showers. Serpent 720 driver Paolo Morganti pulled out a stunning drive in cold conditions to go 9 seconds quicker than he previously managed, to take the pole position from top Xray driver and overnight pole man Ralph Burch. Jilles Groskamp who moved to using a Mega MF motor for his final qualifying runs, managed to get 3rd fastest qualifying time but was disqualified for his car being underweight after the lead weight in his car fell out, which meant that 3rd position went to Kyosho racer Josh Cyrul. In 4th position was Danny Horta, driving a Serpent 720 who managed to move himself up the order and finish ahead of hot shot Xray driver Paul LeMieux who ended qualifying a very respectable 5th for his first nitro race.

The lower finals take place today, Friday, and if there is no rain delay, the A, B and C-mains will take place on Saturday. The top 11 fastest qualify directly into the A-main in all classes with the winner of the B-main bumping up to make it 12 starting in the A-main.

Not so many pictures today but the ones we have you can see below along with the final top A-main standingsâ€¦ content

February 15, 2007

Hirosaka prototype Kyosho Stallion TF-5

We’ve written briefly about Masaaki Hirosaka, father of multiple World Champion Masami and top RC mechanic, before and the fact that he makes some pretty cool well thought out products. Well here is his take on the Kyosho Stallion TF-5 which takes a different approach to that used by Josh Cyrul who’s car we saw at the Snowbirds. As you can see from the pictures, the batteries have been set further back than normal and where the top deck connects with the front bulk head is pretty unique too, although i cant tell you exactly why. Also note that the rear body mount is bolted directly to the bulkhead which means the downforce generated by the body shell is pushed straight down onto the chassis, its mounting position also protecting it from crashes.

Masaaki has also created patent pending one touch total length adjustment shock absorbers. I cant tell how they work either but i have included pictures of them below.

Click more to check out more pictures of the car and shocks… content

February 15, 2007

Robitronic Scalpel full option

The Robitronic Scalpel has to be one of my favourite cars to have been released in the last year, not only does it look great but it goes like a rocket too. Now the good people over at Robitronic have released details on all the options you can get for the car to make it handle, perform and look even better. And it seems that apart from the actual carbon chassis, you can replace almost everything on the car with a new, and most of the time red anodized, optional part. Robitronic have also released information on the optionals available for the Avid and Protos.

You can find the options pages here (Scalpel), here (Avid) and here (Protos).

Source: Robitronic [robitronic-usa.com]

February 15, 2007

Serpent release Central Lola body shell

Central Lola body shell

Serpent have announced that they have started selling the new 1/8th scale Central Lola body shell. This new body originated in Japan and is now tearing up the tracks across the World with some top racers currently using it in this weeks Winternats such as Mike Swauger, Paolo Morganti and Michael Salven. We previously mentioned this body when it was first introduced into the US by Serpent USA some months ago.

Providing a huge boost in performance over previous shells, this new EFRA approved body not only provides more steering but also is more stable than other current shells on the market. This improvement in handling converts to faster and more consistent lap times.

Serpent have also released Titanium Nitride coated shock shafts that allows a much smoother action of the shock absorbers as well as making the shafts stronger.

Check out pictures of the shafts here… content

February 15, 2007

2007 Winternats, Florida – Wednesday Day 4

2007 Winternats

The 3rd and 4th rounds of qualifying are now over and with all Wednesdays racing run under dry and improving conditions, the tops of the leaderboards have changed quite a lot. In 1/8th scale, Kyosho racer Josh Cyrul has moved up from 4th position overnight to take provisional pole position after 4 rounds, the US driver followed closely by 1/10th US National champion Chris Tosolini, also driving a Kyosho. In 3rd position was Tuesdays overnight pole man, and reigning Champion Mike Swauger, who despite improving by 2 seconds still only ended up in third ahead of the big mover of the day Vincent Jackson, also running with Mugen. Paolo Morganti, driving a Serpent 960 was the biggest loser on the day in 1/8th scale, dropping from 2nd to 6th having not been able to improve on his Tuesday time.

In 1/10th scale its more of the same with Ralph Burch on the debut race for Xrays new NT1 that retains his first position despite not improving his time today. Paolo Morganti, driving the Serpent 720 improved a lot and jumped from overnight 4th to 2nd, only 1 tenth of a second behind with Chris Tosolini, another driver who didn’t manage to complete the 5 minutes on Tuesday, did so today to improve his time and gain 3rd position albeit 3 seconds back on the leading pair. Barry Baker, also with the Xray NT1, moved up from 6th yesterday to end the day in 4th position heading into the final day of qualifying. The biggest loser on the day in 1/10th scale was Mark Green, driving a Serpent 720, who couldn’t manage to improve his time and thus dropped from his overnight 5th position to end up 13th going into the final 2 rounds of qualifying.

Check out some more pictures and the top 10 standings… content

February 15, 2007

Axial now imports Active Hobbies product

Active Hobbies tyres

We received word from Axial racing, telling us that they are now the exclusive importers of Active Hobbies products into the US. Active Hobbies are well known in Japan for their quality tyres and have been used to win many major titles over there, and now this same quality product is now available in the USA. The rubber compound used in these tyres not only provides great traction but is also less likely to chunk in comparison to other compounds that are currently on the market. Available in many different compounds and offsets so you can fine tune the setup that works best for your driving style.

Source: Axial Racing [axialracing.com]

February 14, 2007

Racer In the Spotlight – Teddy Syach

Teddy Syach

Serpent.com continue their Racer in the Spotlight series with an interview with Worlds finalist and top Indonesian racer Teddy Syach. In the interview Teddy explains how he got started in RC Racing, his best and worst moments, and if your travelling to Indonesia, which track is the best to visit. Also did you know that Teddy is a very famous actor in Indonesia, thats way cool.

Read the full interview with Teddy here. You can also check out the first interview with Portugese hot shot Ricardo Nogueira here.

Source: Serpent [serpent.com]

February 14, 2007

Extreme Hurricane MZ motor

Japanese company Extreme have announced that they will release their latest motor for Mini-Z racing, the Hurricane MZ. Available from tomorrow onwards, this modified motor uses bearings for smoother movement as well as better performance and durability and uses a special end bell for better heat dissipation. This motor provides large torque and will have you tearing up the table top tracks in no time.

Source: Extreme [www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp]