The final round of the PGTC 1/10 GP Touring Car series took place at the Hokusei track in Japan. New KM Racing factory driver Shimazaki Shinya took TQ in the Super Expert class and he also lead the main final until minutes from the end when a rain storm flooded the track handing newly crowned World Champion Tadahiko Sahashi the win just in front of Shimazaki.
Source: KM [km-rc.com]
Sweep Racing now have their distinctive Birdie design body shells for TLR’s 8ight and 22 line of buggies available. Both are of a radical cab forward design with the 8ight variant looking even more unusual due to the angled roof section and the tiny front window making it look like Tweety Bird on speed. Both shells incorporate a rear fin for improved airflow towards the rear wing with the Twenty Two shell being useable for both mid and rear motor converted buggies.
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The 3rd round of the 2013 Ride Cup was held at the recently opened Huge R/C circuit. The world class indoor asphalt track includes covered pit areas, a covered drift track and a fully stocked hobby shop. In addition to the five usual cup classes this time also a Modified Touring Car class was run that saw the attendance of three World Champions in the form of Atsushi Hara, Jilles Groskamp and Meen Vejrak. After a close battle in qualifying Atsushi claimed TQ ahead of Jilles by less than one second, with both drivers running 20 laps in 5:04. The finals once again saw a close battle between Atsushi (ARC) and Jilles (Tamiya), with Hara managing to win the first two A final legs and therefore the overall event. With the first two podium spots already locked away both drivers used the 3rd A final to make some changes using the great track conditions to try settings for the upcoming TITC 2014 to be held at the same circuit, with Hara again being the winner after very close racing. The final podium spot went to Paphon Chanyasak (Xray).
Source: ARC [arc-rc.com.tw]
Following last weekend’s EFRA AGM in Zagreb, the European governing body have announced the (provisional) dates for next year’s European Championships with the 1/10 IC Track Euro date still needs to be finalised. A busy summer season with 3 ‘B’ championships, a 1/8th flat chassis Euros and 2 40+ titles along with the usual ‘A’ titles up for grabs. Full AGM details can be found here.
March 20-23 – 1/12th scale Euros – Scandiano, Italy
May 5-10 – 1/10th on road ‘B’ Euros – Madrid, Spain
May 26-31 – 1/8th on road ‘B’ Euros – Bologna, Italy
June 6-8 – 1/8th off road ‘B’ Euros – Madrid, Spain
July 11-13 – 1/8th off road 40+ Euros – Fehring, Austria
July 14-19 – 1/10th EP off road Euros – Trelleborg, Sweden
July 21-26 – 1/8th on road ‘A’ Euros – Kirchberg, Austria
July 31 – August 3 – 1/10th EP on road Euros – Madrid, Spain
August 1-2 – 1/8th on road Flat chassis Euros – Gubbio, Italy
August 4-9 – 1/8th off road ‘A’ Euros – Sand am Main, Germany
August 11-16 – 1/10th on road ‘A’ Euros – Autet, Spain
August 18-23 – 1/8th & 1/10th on road 40+ Euros – Ruphen, Netherlands
View the full calendar here (XLS).
Serpent introduce new option parts for the ETS winning F110 formula chassis. First up is an aluminium M-shaped front bulkhead. It is designed to replace the kit’s part with a more rigid solution to stiffen up the front end and to add a cool technical look. Also new is a wide front set that includes wider lower carbon fibre wishbones, longer turnbuckles and rod ends as well as mounting hardware and aluminium spacers. The set is made to bring the car to its maximum track width when racing foam tyre classes. The lower carbon fibre arms are also available separately as spares. All parts hit the stores by the time you read this.
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The fifth and final race of the Portuguese national touring car championship took place at the A.R.M.A.I.A track in Maia-Porto. In the Stock class Rui d’Almeida (TOP) brought home the day’s win in front of Fernando Cardoso (Schumacher) and Manuel Malta (TOP).
Source: T.O.P. [top-racing.jp]
Viper R/C announce the latest addition to their team in the form of Chinese pro level driver Le-Hua Lin who recently secured a podium spot in the 4WD buggy class at the 2013 FEMCA championships. This is what Le-Hua has to say about the deal:
I am very proud to be part of Team Viper in the coming 2014 season. I will do my best to race in every event, and to support more Viper customers in local market. In the 2013 FEMCA race in Taiwan, I had my first hands-on experience with Viper products. I was extremely surprised and satisfied with the performance of VTX10R ESC as it was able to run 4WD buggy without a cooling fan. The first impression of driving VTX10R was its powerful output, and yet still so smooth in corners. It provides much more performance that allows me to attack the track aggressively. The throttle control gave me perfect balance to clear all technical jumps. The lap times dropped by a full second compared to my old ESC. I appreciate very much for this opportunity from Viper R/C.
Source: Viper [viper-rc.com]
Florida’s best racers made their way to Bashers RC Raceway in Palm Beach Gardens for the second round of the fall session. Many came early for practice and a club race on Friday. It was poised to be a great weekend with a feel of electricity in the air. 138 entries would fill the 20 heats to seed racers in the top qualifying spots. Stock 2WD buggy had JConcepts Team Driver Riker Gatenby on top of the field of 23 to a time of 20/5:12.692. Seven drivers would start the C-main for 2 bump spots to the B. After changing positions many times Nate Adair and Matt Bradford Jr., were able to hold off a hard charge from Ron Viesins to the B-main. Brian Buckley lead every lap of the B-main, but the show was put on by Matt Bradford Sr. Matt started in the 2 spot but fell to 7th after a multi-car pile-up on lap 2. Rich Schafer and Robert Molina would be back and forth for the final bump spot for many laps all while Matt was working his way back though the field racing clean and consistent laps. On lap 11 Matt made his final pass of the B-main into 2nd and the final bump spot. As the tone sounded for the 10 racers of the A-main, Riker set sail and never looked back. Glenn Worthington finished 2nd with Billy Bruce 3rd, Rick Jacobs in 4th and Jovan Cruz 5th.
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