Exotek Racing report that Mark Smyka has TQ’d and won the F1 class at the 2013 Snowbirds Nationals. Mark piloted his Exotek F1R to 3 out or 4 heat wins and found the car to really suit his driving prowess. Also used by Mark were Exotek F104 adjustable front arms which were a great tuning aid for the carpet conditions at the Snowbirds.
Source: Exotek [exotekracing.com]
AKA introduce the Handlebar indoor low-profile tires. The patterns feature minimal tread height for speed, stability and traction on hard-packed surfaces. The leading and trailing edges of the treads have been rounded to minimize break-in time while AKA’s proprietary compounds provide low tire wear. The Handlebar is available in 1/10 Buggy rear and 2WD front, as well 1/8 Buggy in soft, super-soft, and the new clay compound. Kyosho’s Jared Tebo and Team Associated’s Ryan Cavalieri put their stamp of approval on the clay compound Handlebars at the 2013 CRCRC Midwest Champs. They put in a combined effort of 4-TQ’s and 4-1st place finishes in their first race on the new Handlebar tires.
Click here to view the other new tires
The opening round of the 2013 JConcepts Indoor National Series got underway in St.Louis, Missouri, this morning with SmacTrac playing host to the ‘JConcepts Winter Indoor Nationals’. The first race on the 5 round calendar, the event has attracted a quality 300+ plus entry with all of last season’s champions in attendance as they look to defend their titles but they face increasingly strong opposition from Kyosho’s Jared Tebo and Associated’s Ryan Maifield, two big names drivers who have declared their intentions to go for the title in this the 3rd running of the series.
View our complete event coverage here.
Protoform have sent us this teaser picture of an upcoming on-road body shell. No details are known yet but the front details, cab design and overall appearance suggests that it very likely is a new 1/8th nitro on-road body. More information to follow.
Source: Protoform [racepf.com]
At the JConcepts Winter Indoor Nationals Reedy are debuting their new Sonic 540 Mach 2 motor. Small modifications were made to enhance performance, reliability and user-friendliness. A new alloy end cap replaces the plastic version to prevent accidental timing movement and to provide better bearing alignment. Strategically placed vent holes are now slightly smaller to reduce the chance of debris entering the motor while still maintaining excellent airflow. Internal changes include new bearing sizes to increase maximum RPM and to improve reliability as well as silver plated solder tabs to reduce power robbing resistance. The precision balanced high-strength sintered rotor remains the same as in the original model with a variety of optional rotors available to fine-tune for specific applications and tracks. New 6.0, 7.0, and 8.0 models are now available for greater fine-tuning for specific conditions.
View more images of the motor here
Xray announce the signing of top US off-road racer and World Championship A main finalist Taylor Petersen. He will race in all the off-road categories using Xray’s XB9, XT8, 808E and the new XB4. Taylor says:
I would like to thank Xray & RC America for the opportunity to better my racing career. I look forward to getting to the track and start racing with the team. It is the start of what i hope will be a great relationship together. I’m super excited about the new opportunities they have asked me to pursue with 1/10. The quality of the product was apparent on my first kit build. Can’t wait to hit the track.
Source: Xray [teamxray.com]
Spec-R introduce the new ultra thin LED pit light with 30 super bright LEDs. Sporting an aluminium cover, 15 white and 15 yellow LEDs the lamp offers three modes to adjust the colour temperature to your liking. Mode 1 gives a white light while mode 2 gives a more yellowing light. Mode three is a mixture of both as all LEDs are in action. The light comes with a built-in Lithium battery and 5-step dimming.
Click here to view another image
SpeedMerchant team driver Donny Lia brought home the hardware in 1/12th 13.5 Pro Stock at this year’s Snowbird Nationals held in sunny Orlando Florida. The unique 24-hour format race features Road Course and Oval broken up into 12-hour intervals and has attendance of up to 500 race entries every year. Due to work commitments, Donny wasn’t able to fly down to the race until Wednesday evening, missing all of the organized road course practice. Using the race qualifiers for gathering your set-up information is never ideal, but sometimes it’s your only option. Donny’s Rev.7 was quickly on pace and his SpeedMerchant ‘New School’ front suspension was carving up the track. After some small tweaks early Sunday morning, we knew we had the car to beat in the A-main later that day.
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