Round four of the Malaysia National League was held in Kulim State, Northern Malaysia with about 60 entries for the Pro and Semi-Pro 1/8th Nitro Buggy classes. In the Pro Buggy A-main event, Kelvin Yong (Xray) would take the win from Danny Kato (Tekno) and Danny Teh (Tekno). The Kyosho duo of BH Gan and Loon Lee rounded out the top 5 result.
Tamiya have announced the soon release of the 2016 Blackfoot 1/10th scale 2WD truck kit. The re-release of the original 1986 Blackfoot features a number of upgrades while still keeping that oldschool appearance and so the vehicle sports a 4-wheel independent suspension design with a front double wishbone and rear trailing arm setup, the kit comes with CVA shock absorbers as well as rear universal driveshafts for improved reliability, efficiency and power supply. Part of the kit are also yellow wheels with chevron-tread tyres and also the Blackfoot’s iconic pick-up truck bodyshell. The ’16 kit will become available by mid-September.
Source: Tamiya [tamiya.com]
The BRCA have announced the 2nd annual running of the British Open GP. This year the premier event will take place at the Halifax circuit in West Yorkshire over the weekend of the 27th and 28th of August. Making its debut last year at the Cotswold circuit, this year the entry will be boosted by the addition of 1/8th electric and 1/8th GT classes which will run alongside 1/8th IC, 1/10th 200mm and 1/10th Sports GT. 2015 Champions Alex Thurston and Andrew North have already confirmed that they will battle to defend their titles. The meeting will feature organised practice and qualifying along with bump up finals using the same format as the highly popular ENS series. The event is open to any BRCA license holder and registration is available here.
New from X Factory’s Infinity line of option parts are front and rear carbon fibre shock towers for the Team Associated B6 and B6D buggy. Machined from heavy duty 4mm carbon fibre the towers are available as straight and gullwing A-arm front variants as well as standard rear and also a new taller variant for the use with the longer B5M shocks for improved rough track handling. 0.5mm thicker than the standard parts the shock towers are also more durable.
View the other shock towers here
Fastrace have introduced a range of new option parts for the Team Associated RC8B3 buggy. First up are anti-twist bushings for the rear suspension of AE’s latest 1/8th buggy. Machined from aluminium and coming in a shiny silver look the bushings prevent the A-arms pivot pin area from deforming under load, resulting in a more precise suspension action. The parts are a direct fit and do not require any modification.
O.S. Engines have introduced their limited edition 24K Gold-plated #80 glow plug. The release goes along with the the recently announced O.S. Speed Spec II Gold Edition and B2101 Las Vegas Edition engines with the #80 glow plug being a renamed #8 covered in a luxurious gold-plating in honour of O.S.’s 80th anniversary. The plug is usable just like a standard #8 and available for a limited time only.
Source: O.S. Engines [osengines.com]
Coming from JConcepts and made for the Team Associated RC8B3 buggy is the Strike 2 bodyshell. It samples elements from its famous relatives the Finnisher and Silencer bodies but packs a slightly refined image. Used in prototype form by Spencer Rivkin during the 2016 ROAR Fuel Off-Road Nationals, the Strike 2 was victorious the first event out. The base enhancements to the design come from the added “finger” channeling on the front-pod increasing mid-corner steering while a complete wicker section was added on the rear-pod to further plant the rear of the vehicle. The offset of the race proven shell provides a compact fit for fuel tank, linkage and air filter assembly and the heavy channeling on the front windshield and upper cab keeps the Strike 2 aligned at high-speed while the side-pods have multiple hard-edge angles that spill off neatly into 90 degree side-panels. Just behind the engine head, a sleek up-rising flows from the body like running water. As usual the clear body set includes window templates and a decal sheet.
For round three of the Dutch 1/8th Nitro On-road Nationals Championships the drivers gathered at the famous Model Race Genk track in Belgium. Different from the previous round the weather was on the dry side of things apart from a few drops of rain on Sunday. Genk is known for its tricky traction conditions due to the near motocross track blowing dust on the asphalt surface but the club did its best to clean the track as good as possible. Racing-wise the premier NK class saw Rick Vrielijnck walking away in the A-final one lap ahead of Jeffery Rietveld and Frank Baggen in second and third respectively.
