May 18, 2012

HPI Ivan Stewart Desert-Trophy truck

HPI have released the Desert-Trophy with an officially authorized, vintage style Ivan ‘Ironman’ Stewart Toyota pick-up truck body. Of all the drivers that have tried to tame the desert, Ivan ‘Ironman’ Stewart is one of the most legendary drivers in American motorsport. From his first win in 1973, the Ironman went on to a hugely successful partnership with Toyota trucks and conquered the off-road racing scene, garnering 17 Baja 500 wins, 8 Mint 400 wins, 4 Parker 400s, 3 Baja 1000s and 4 SCORE World Championships. Ivan is an inductee into the Off Road Motorsports Hall of Fame, alongside such legendary figures as Mickey Thompson, Walker Evans, Parnelli Jones and Dick Cepek. The Desert-Trophy truck is topped with a scale replica of a vintage Toyota racing truck and finished in the iconic color slashes that identified Ivan Stewart’s racing team to all his fans.

View more images here


May 18, 2012

HPI Super 5SC Flux RTR

The Savage drivetrain is super flexible, allowing HPI monster trucks to reach legendary levels of durability and performance! Because of this extreme toughness, HPI designers have Super-sized the Savage to 1/5th scale, taking the Savage to a new dimension. The Super 5SC Flux takes the powerful Flux Tork 2200KV motor and Blur speedo from the amazing Savage Flux HP for truly impressive top speeds and plenty of wheel-spinning fun. The Super 5SC Flux is lighter than the Baja 5SC, so the power of the Flux Tork is a perfect match. With specialized parts to fit the Baja 5SC body, bumpers and wheels, from the outside the Super 5SC Flux looks just like its fuel-breathing stablemate. It’s only when you switch it on and drive away that its secret is revealed!

View more images and details here


May 18, 2012

IRCC2012 Nagoya Airport race – Announcement

The organisers of the IRCC event that takes place in Japan from the 15th to the 17th of June have been in contact to tell us about this year’s event. The race is unique in that it will be held in Nagoya International airport, in a meeting room near the arrivals section. With the airport having a hotel and restaurants, you wont need to do much traveling and can in fact access the track by foot. After a successful event in 2011 in which current 1/12th world champion Naoto Matsukura won 1/12th and GT class and RC legend Masami Hirosaka entered as a guest driver and won 17.5turns touring class the event is again open to international competitors for almost all electric on road classes in both 1/10th and 1/12th scale. Racers interested can visit the official event site here, where you will find all the information also in English.


May 17, 2012

Short Course Kings Series Rd4 report

The Short Course Kings Series rolled into Ocala, FL for its 4th and final round of the 2012 season.  NewRed Hobbies was the host track for this event with 104 entries geared up to do battle and crown the Kings of Short Course. Pro 2 stock qualifying was dominated by Shea Peterson setting the TQ in the first round and backing it up by winning the second round to secure the overall TQ. Pro 2 expert stock was the Billy Bruce show as he went on to TQ both rounds by a large margin with his JConcepts equipped Kyosho truck. JConcepts driver Zack Genova showed the way in the Pro 2 expert mod class by setting a first rd TQ that held up for the overall #1 starting position. Pro 4 expert mod had a great battle for the TQ spot between local racer Bobby Reeves and JConcepts driver Chris Viesins. Bobby set the early TQ in round 1, but Chris came storming back in round 2 to claim the overall TQ going into the main event.

Continue reading the report here


May 17, 2012

Óscar Cabezas wins Spanish Nationals Rd2

The second round of Spanish 1/8 On-Road Nationals was held at the Elche track near Alicante managed by Club Carsol. It was a hard race, with temperatures over 35ºC, 50ºC on the asphalt and a high relative humidity making it a hard test for engines and fuel. The Elche track is small, but really fast and so lap times are just about 12 seconds. Oscar Cabezas (Motonica / Novarossi / Merlin Fuel) TQ’d and set a new track record. After winning the semi-final, Cabezas kept the first place during almost 30 minutes, closely followed by Sergio Montensinos, who managed to take the first place in the tire change. Oscar again took the first place after a few laps and a few laps later Montesinos had a glow plug failure, and Cabezas, who was driving with no brakes after a crash with Montesinos could set a comfortable and safe pace to finish the race in first position.

View the final results here


May 17, 2012

Tomi Salonen wins Rd1 of Finnish Nationals

Round one of the Finnish Offroad Nationals was held in Turku under tricky conditions. In the morning they had some rain and heavy wind and in the afternoon weather cleared up, but the wind got stronger which made driving over the jumps very challenging. After 3 rounds of Qualifying Tomi Salonen was 1st, followed by August Poutiainen and Ari Heinonen. Following the semi-finals the top six was Salonen followed by Poutiainen, Heinonen, Leino, Ahoniemi and Siltanen. In the A-final we saw a tight battle between Salonen and Poutiainen, the pair managing to pull away from the rest of the field. After 13 minutes Poutiainen was leading by several seconds until he had a crash with another car and broke his Xray and was forced to retire. Mugen/Novarossi driver Salonen took the lead and controlled the rest of the final easily. Many drivers suffered from flame outs and crashes during the hard 45 minute windy final.

View the final results here


May 17, 2012

Tekno RC Big Bone driveshaft for Slash 4×4

The Tekno RC Big Bone driveshaft and outdrives for the Slash 4×4 and Stampede 4×4 solves the many issues associated with the stock center driveline.  First off it’s fat yet it’s still extremely lightweight. It’s a dog bone rather than a simple splined shaft and as such will not bind, split, or bend the way the stock shaft does. The laser etched shaft is machined from high quality aluminium and anodized for incredible wear. Newly designed hardened steel outdrives on either end replace the weaker stock parts for the ultimate center driveline available for the Slash 4×4 and Stampede 4×4 vehicles.

Source: Tekno RC [teknorc.com]


May 17, 2012

Futaba 4PK Super R transmitter

Futaba are also at the Shizuoka Hobby show and are showing off their new 4PK Super R pistol grip transmitter. Continuing on a long line of successful 4PK transmitters, the Super R features increased response over its predecessor. Esthetically it is the same as previous versions but is now lighter, featuring titanium screws throughout as well as aluminium nuts and other parts. Other updates include new software, details of which we will get later, and a new steering wheel foam with a combination of hardnesses.

Source: Futaba [futaba.co.jp]