Durango has announced that the DESC410R has passed all the pre-production tests and has been given the green light for production. They now just need to check the final packing and sign off the instruction manual, and if all goes to plan then the DESC410R will be shipping at the end of January.
Source: Durango [team-durango.com]
Round 2 of the Team Durango Winter Series took place on Sunday 28th November and despite the bitterly cold temperatures, 110 drivers attended the event. The track for this round of the series featured much less high grip carpet than round 1. The carpet of the touring car track had been rolled away leaving the wooden boarding as the racing surface for the majority of the track. This surface gave a medium level of grip, allowing the cars to slide around a little. Other surfaces were used, there was a carpet section at the start of the straight and the huge table top jump in front of the rostrum was also carpeted. There was a slippy surfaced hairpin on the corner before the wall ride. The table top was a new feature this time and saw the cars getting some big air time. As well as this feature there were four smaller jumps around the track.
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Orcan engines have been successful in the categories on-road scale (.12) and off-road (.21) for years and have achieved lots of national and international victories and championships. Starting with the 2010 season, SMI Motorsport from Germany is working on the development of an Orcan engine for the highest level of RC on-road racing, the 1/8 scale nitro class. A couple of drivers have been involved in testing the Orcan prototypes which are based on 7-port and 9-port engines from Novarossi and were specially prepared by Michael Heinrich (MH-Tuning). Powered by one of these Orcan test engines Uwe Baldes has achieved a remarkable success at the final round of the Nitro-West-Masters, a series of four races, held in October at Dormagen near Cologne. Using the 7-port version he captured pole position and set a new overall lap record (15,179 sec) beating the old record held by Michael Salven. “I have tested this .21 prototype engine on several circuits. This engine has proven its excellent performance with lots of torque at low revs and an impressive driveability – both valuable aspects especially for those tracks we are used to race in Germany”, concluded Uwe Baldes. “Furthermore the fuel consumption is really low – it is already a real Orcan engine and a promising basis for the future.” Also Bertram Kessler of SMI Motorsport is pleased by the test results. “With the new Xray RX8 hitting the market in 2011 it is logical that we are going to launch a .21 on-road power unit which offers the usual quality features of all Orcan engines. In the period of testing we have gained valuable experiences which will help us to develop a powerful and high efficient Orcan engine for 1/8 scale racing.”
Source: SMI Motorsport [smi-motorsport.de]
Losi have released the next addition to their Mini SCT line with the introduction of the Rob “Fig” Naughton Stronghold replica. This 2WD mini features an Xcelorin brushless power system, oil-filled shocks and an extended short course chassis. Not only does this 1/6 truck have a Losi radio system with Spektrum 2.4GHz DSM technology, but it’s got the licensed body with sponsor decals and generous ground clearance. Losi teamed up with Team Stronghold Motorsports to bring you this scale replica of the Stronghold truck from the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series.
View more details and images here
More new products from KM racing who have released this new front bumper plate for their H-K1. Made from carbon fibre, the plate is lightweight, strong and also looks great, coming supplied with the aluminium posts and shims to mount it. KM have also released a 6V 1100mAh NiMh AAA receiver battery for extended run time.
This past weekend was the 15th Annual Pizza Feast race held at MHOR R/C Raceway in Denver, Colorado. This race is a special event that is specific to short course. In order to qualify for the win, you must run stock and modified short course and the scores from each class are combined. Everything went well from the start as Kody TQ’d both classes which gave him a jump on the field to start the main events. Stock was up first and a small bobble on lap one dropped Kody back to 5th but with some patients he got back to the lead before it was over. Modified went a little smoother having learned a bit from the stock main. Kody led all of the laps and took the win in modified and the overall win at the race.
Source: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0hhz7M9-rU[/youtube]
RC-Carpet Fun and Fun Cup Austria got together to hold the first ever Short Course Race in Austria last weekend. The venue was the new indoor off road track at RC-Carpet Fun situated in an old warehouse near Vienna. Racing was held to the usual single racing day Fun Cup rules, only one heat to sort drivers into the finals and after a short break to get some good food and nice drinks at the buffet, three finals for all. The tight track saw lap times between 26 and 29 seconds apart from one driver, Hupo Honigl who was joining the race and dominated all three finals driving a Traxxas Slash 2WD/Protoform SC Truck. His best lap time was 22.99 and therefore considerably quicker than second placed Peter Wirthners best lap of 25,88 driving an Associated SC10. Third place overall went to Georg Sandhofer with his Losi Strike. After the race Hupo revealed his ‘secret’ that he was using Protoform tires similar to Schumacher Minipins, the best tire to use for carpet racing at the RC-Carpet fun track. The next indoor off road race will be held at the same venue on the 30th January, 2011, more details can be found here.
View some images from the event here
Viper R/C Solutions have been in touch to tell us about the release of some new products beginning with their new line of VST 1/10 competition BL motors. A complete range of winds is available and the the motor itself sports ultra low resistance high grade copper solder tabs and a precision CNC machined 6061 T6 ribbed billet aluminium can. Featuring fully adjustable timing, there are 5 optional high performance rotors available and the motor is ROAR legal. Viper have also introduced their new Pro Gauge 5-in-1 electronic tool that serves as a programmer for their line of electronics but also acts as a servo tester, battery checker, PPM signal monitor and for airplanes and helicopters it can act as an RPM tachometer.
