The Factory Team 12R5.1 is the latest evolutionary step in Associated’s twenty-five years of 1:12 scale racing history. New for the RC12R5.1 is the wide three-point rear pod that has been optimized for fitting brushless motors as well as heat dissipation. The 12R5.1 is built on a 2.5mm woven carbon fiber chassis that utilizes a pivot-ball link rear suspension that allows for independent adjustments for chassis roll, bump, and alignment.
Round 4 of the Dutch 1/10th scale 200mm Nationals took place last weekend at the Groningen track, in the very North of the country. Qualifying for the NK class went the way of the winner of the previous 2 rounds Pedro Rombouts, with Maarten van Lierop, Daan Jacobs and Sander Borghoff completing the top 4. The Nomac class saw the TQ go to Marc Meijer while in the 1/8th Promo series it was Luigi Pili on top. At the beginning of the NK final Pedro lost the lead and saw Maarten take the lead, a place he held until close to the end of the race. With the top 3 of van Lierop, Jacobs and Rombouts running only meters apart with 8 minutes to go, Pedro made a mistake, but then Daan would have tire problems, something Maarten would also suffer from. With 2 laps to go Maarten had a collision with a back marker and lost the lead to Pedro, who would cruise the final lap to take his 3rd win in a row. Maarten van Lierop would hold onto 2nd with Jurgen Geerligs taking 3rd spot away from Jacobs. The Nomac class was won by Davy Geraets from Theun Zoethout in 2nd and Michael Behnert in 3rd, while the Promo series win went the way of pole man Luigi Pili, with Ron Veger taking 2nd and Alfred van Dijk 3rd.
Click here to see the other podium shots
Team AJ, in collaboration with Galaxy, have released this new body shell for the X-Factory X-6. Following vigorous and repeated testing, this new shell has been changed from the original to reduce the rear grip of the buggy, something they claim offers faster cornering. Made from 0.8mm thick polycarbonate.
Click here for another picture of the shell
The IFMAR Pre Worlds combined with the 1st African Cup EP Off Road event took place last weekend with few but very enthusiastic drivers taking part. Held over two days, the event saw 4 rounds of qualifying take place on the Saturday and 3 rounds for the finals on Sunday. The track was completed just in time for this event and so this race was the inaugural event. The 2 wheel drive class was first to start the event with average lap times of 18.10 to start with, dropping further with the TQ taken this class with 16.797, while the quickest lap going to Gary Styger was just over 15.3sec. The 4 wheel drive class followed in the order of the race event and began with 19.917 second laps with TQ being 15.919, with the quickest lap going to Guilherme De Sousa at 15.427. The finals were run over 3 legs and in the 2wd class it was Gary Styger that took the win from Stefan Fourie and Kenny Morey, each driver with a leg win a piece, while in 4wd it was Guilherme De Sousa that would emerge victorious, taking a clean sweep of all legs, to take the overall win ahead of Stefan Fourie and Kenny Morey.
Click here for the finals results
The 32nd installment in the Xray column from Xray owner and chief designer Juraj Hudy is now online. In this months column, Juraj gives his thoughts about the 1/8th scale European Buggy Championships that took place in Austria, as well as some post race testing of their XB808 buggy.
While testing we exchanged cars with Martin and as usual I felt his car to be much more sensitive with a lot more steering. To get an independent opinion, we gave both my and Martin’s cars to Bayer for testing. Ironically, he reported the opposite: my car had more steering and my shock set-up was more to his personal likeness! That made it very clear that everyone prefers a different handling style and what seems to understeer to one person may seem to oversteer for someone else.
Read the full column here.
Source: Xray [teamxray.com]
New from Sweep Racing is their X2 and X3 tire formula, which join the previously released X1 tire formula released last month. The X2 tire traction compound is great for indoor asphalt tracks and carpet tracks, while the X3 works best on outdoor asphalt tracks with the best performance coming with new tires. Both tire formulas have minimum odour and are supplied in 40ml bottles.
Source: Sweep Racing [sweepracing.com]
CS Electronic have released their new LiPo Safety charging bags, which are available in 3 different sizes. A must have for all racers who charge LiPo packs, they reduce the potential damage from a battery fire and slow the spread of flames through the use of its flame retardant properties. A wide velcro strap at the top allows for quick use, while a side opening allows for the charge and balancer cables to be connected. Available in 240 x 300mm, 180 x 220mm and 90 x 220mm.
Source: CS Electronic [cs-shop.de]
Queensland local driver Jason Dorn impressed all by winning both 200mm and 1:8 IC Queensland state titles at the England Park Raceway. With many competitors using these titles as another warmup for the Nationals later this year in Sydney the field was small but filled with quality drivers. 200mm top qualifier Dorn had a horror start and was bumped to last place from pole position at the start of the 30min final. Andrew Bardetta and Phil Woodbury lead the field while Dorn recovered ground and worked his way through the field. Andew Bardetta fell out of contention and Phil Woodbury took an excursion off field allowing Dorn through to take command of the lead and cross the finish line in first position.
Continue reading the report here
