September 20, 2013

Serpent 747-e – First images

Serpent 747-e – First images

Serpent have released first images of their upcoming 747-e 200mm electric touring car. The vehicle makes use of the suspension components, steering and front and rear bulkheads of the nitro-powered 747 and combines them with a carbon fibre double deck construction in order to create a lightweight yet strong base for 2S to 3S LiPo battery packs and 540-size brushless motors. With the battery and motor technology developing at a fast rate the tough 200mm cars allow the use of 4-pole brushless motors for increased efficiency and power output and the class may come to the rescue for clubs that are faced with noise emission problems. It is understood that the 747-e will be released before the end of this year. We keep you up-to-date with more information as soon as they are available.

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September 20, 2013

Sabah Reunion Race 2013 – Report

Sabah Reunion Race 2013 – Report

Sandakan Speedway played host for the 2013 Sabah Reunion Race. Racers from all over Borneo competed on the demanding track with a 50 metres straight and a very technical infield section. The race was held in a 13.5T touring, Formula 1 and nitro touring car class with the qualifying being held over two days. After five rounds of very tight qualifying, over a half of the 13.5T field had the 13 laps needed to be in the A-main. KS Chu held the top spot with the entire rest of the field being in a 16 seconds window. James Chong set the fastest lap to claim the pole in F1 and Hon Nyen Ho TQ’d the field of the nitro class. The Formula 1 drivers ran their 20 minute A-main first. They were the first cars on the track after rain disrupted the F1 and nitro qualifying and the rear wheel driven cars obviously had their problems. There was no clear favourite until the dry line started to form with Raphael using the opportunity to take the win. The nitro touring class could not run their full 20 minutes with darkness rapidly approaching. In a final shortened to 10 minutes Hon was able to convert his pole into a victory. In the electric touring car class the close qualifying meant close racing in the final. The still damp track was only a problem for the first round. When the dust settled the three final legs had three different winners winners and after the tie-break that had the fastest lap taken into consideration KS Chu claimed the overall by 9/1000 of a second.

Click here to view the A-final results


September 20, 2013

Roy Gjemble sweeps Norwegian 1/10th off-road nats

Roy Gjemble sweeps Norwegian 1/10th off-road nats

The 2013 installment of the Norwegian National Championship was hosted by the Innherred Rc-Bilkubb in Levanger, Norway. The IHRC Raceway is an astroturf covered, 230 meter long high-speed but technical track that again proved to be a real challenge for both drivers and cars. The same track and club is likely to be the venue and host of the 2014 Nordic Championships as well so it was a good opportunity for the racers to get some track time. The race format saw the 2WD class raced on Saturday and 4WD on Sunday. This year, for the first time in Norwegian electric buggy history, the 4WD class winner would be awarded what is considered the highest achievement in sports in Norway, His Majesty the Kings Trophy.

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September 19, 2013

David Spashett teams up with Zen Racing

David Spashett teams up with Zen Racing

Zen Racing today announced that multiple World Champion David Spashett, has teamed up with the UK company in order to build-up a team of talented racers and to bring new products under the Zen Racing brand. David, who recently left Horizon Hobby after many years of being with the firm, has this to say about his new venture:

It is with great pleasure that I would like to announce my involvement with Zen-racing. This new venture will give me the opportunity to work with some very dedicated and enthusiastic racers and Racing companies from all over the world. This new opportunity will also give me the time to develop new ideas with the team and bring products to market under the Zen band name. A common goal to enjoy what we do and to the highest standards possible, a new challenge to build a fresh young race team in the on-road racing market and to hopefully find the next generation of super stars.

Source: Zen Racing [zen-racing.co.uk]


September 19, 2013

Krueger & Feneis win at Super Saturday Electric Series

Krueger & Feneis win at Super Saturday Electric Series

The finale of the Minnesota based Super Saturday Electric Series took place at Wheel Brokers Raceway in Pine City. In the 2WD Modified class, Team Associated’s Kraig Krueger followed up his Minnesota State Championship with a series finale win. The victory helped him to secure the title and Super Saturday Series Championship in 2WD Modified. In the Truck Modified class, many drivers challenged for the win, but only Team Associated’s Neil Feneis can be called Series Champion. In the final round, it was a battle of the young guns. Team Associated’s Dan Hamann took the TQ honors, but Fenies would not be denied as he capped off his series championship with a final round win in Pine City.

Click here to view the Modified Truck winner


September 19, 2013

Swauger & Smeltzer win at ROAR On-Road Fuel nats

Swauger & Smeltzer win at ROAR On-Road Fuel nats

Beside the 1/10th 200mm class the recent ROAD On-Road Fuel nationals also had the 1/8th Open and Masters class to offer. In the Open class main it was Xray’s Mike Swauger who took TQ and who lead the field into the 60 minute final with Paolo Morganti (Serpent) and Ralph Burch (Xray) in tow. Only minutes into the race Mike had a coming together with a lapped car damaging the bumper of his Xray which resulted in an unwanted pitstop to have his crew fix his RX8. In the meantime Morganti and Burch battled for the lead but once Swauger got his rhythm back he shifted into second gear in order to catch Burch and later on Morganti to take the lead. The number one spot swapped a couple of times until Mike ultimately got into the leading position to take the win in front of Morganti and Burch.

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September 19, 2013

Andrea Pirani wins EFRA GP Bologna

Andrea Pirani wins EFRA GP Bologna

The final 1/8 On-Road EFRA GP for this year was held at the Miniautodromo Ca’ de Mandorli near Bologna in Italy. In qualifying Andrea Pirani was able to take TQ in front of his Shepherd teammate Michele Romagnoli with only 0.018 sec separating the two Velox V8 Pro drivers. Starting from pole position into the semi-final A Pirani had no problems to take the win securing himself the pole for the 45 minute main final while in the semi-final B Romagnoli bumped up on third position after a small crash when lapping a slower car lining up 6th on the grid. In the first lap of the 45 minute encounter Pirani had a crash dropping him to 10th position while Romagnoli moved up to third position. In the following laps both drivers moved up step by step until Romagnoli was leading in front of Pirani. 10 minutes before the end Romagnoli had a technical problem handing over the lead to Pirani who crossed the finishing line two laps ahead of Mattia Rinaldi with Fabio Vecchiatti completing the podium.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]