Italian company WRC have a new aluminium main chassis plate for their STX 1/10th electric touring car available. Machined from 2mm aluminium and coming hard-anodised for wear the chassis sports a symmetrical design and it will reduce chassis flex on high-grip carpet tracks while on asphalt, the chassis’ stiffness can improve the overall stability, improving the handling characteristics of the car.
Source: WRC [wrc-racing.com]
On show at the Kyosho booth at this week’s All Japan Hobby Show are several new competition kits ranging from 1/12th to 1/8th scale. First up is the Plazma Ra2.0 1/12th scale pan car kit. The follow-up model of the Ra features several improvements and new features such as the single bellcrank “reverse-type” centre steering assembly with longitudinally mounted steering servo. New are also the front aluminium suspension mounts that allow for easy ride height changes using carbon fibre plates and the battery mount utilises rubber O-rings for tape-less battery mounting. Also new with the 2.0 version is the ability to adjust the side springs through the lower pod plate with the larger inner hex making adjustments more precise and easy.
The 55th edition of the All Japan Hobby Show is held this week in Tokyo, Japan with most of the important Japanese and Asian companies in attendance. First up is Carisma who have their all-new 4XS 1/10th 4WD race buggy on show. Developed in cooperation with a well-known European RC car designer the 4WD buggy is based on a carbon fibre double deck chassis, it features a shaft drivetrain with 3-disc slipper clutch and, from what is understood, the buggy can utilise both shorty and saddle pack battery configurations right from the box. Other features of Carisma’s first ever competition kit include alloy suspension mounts with composite inserts, aluminium big bore shock absorbers and a mid-cab design bodyshell with aerodynamic tuning features. The kit should become available shortly.
The final round of the Danish 1/8th On-road Championship was held at the Hillerød RC track. Shepherd driver Bo Nielsen finished qualifying in 2nd position behind his teammate Henrik Christensen but in the 30-minute main final it was Kurt Michaelsen who crossed the finish line in first position. The second place of Bo Nielsen was enough for the pre-event championship favourite to claim the Danish National Championship title. Henrik Christensen in 2nd and Jon Pedersen in 3rd place rounded out an all-Shepherd podium in the overall ranking.
Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]
Japanese company TRG have introduced new optional Max Carbon graphite chassis for the Xray X1 and X12’15. Starting with the X1 chassis, the main plate was specially designed to allow the use of TRG’s TRG114 formula front end and dual bellcrank steering system. The wider front end makes the car usable for 200mm foam tyre classes and beside TRG’s own front suspension the chassis also allows to use the Tamiya F104 front end as well as the TRG F103 and F104 servo mounts.
Exotek have introduced new heavy-duty aluminium servo horns for all Team Associated 1/10th scale vehicles. Machined from 7975 aluminium and sporting a clamp-style design the horn matches the dimensions of the stock AE servo arms and they are available in blue and black anodising and for servos with 23T and 25T spline.
Round two of the RC Car World/Middle River Hobbies Halloween Classic Warm-up Series was held at RC Car World in New Jersey, with race number one held at Middle River hobbies in Maryland a week earlier. Many of the nation’s fastest drivers came in preparation of the Annual Halloween Classic held in OH. With 55 total entries, Stock 17.5 Touring Car was the largest class with 31 entries and it featured many of the Northeast corridor’s fastest drivers like Mike Gee, Craig Xavier, and Jeff Cuffs. Fresh off his TQ run at the previous warm-up race held at MRH the prior week, Xray driver Robbie Dodge came to the race looking to build on his momentum. Robbie would need his car to perform at its best to follow up his previous performance.
Serpent have introduced a dedicated motor mount set for the popular TTB square-style brushless motors. Precision-machined from 7075-T6 aluminium and coming gun metal anodised the part mounts directly to the centre bracket of the 977-e. Included with the mount comes suitable mounting hardware.
Source: Serpent [serpent.com]
