July 11, 2009

The Big day arrives in Austria

The Big day arrives in Austria

For Europe’s top buggy racers today is the culmination of months of testing and preparation and in just over seven hours from now one of them will be crowned the 2009 EFRA 1:8 Off Road European Champion here in Wolbling, Austria.  While weather was the big talking point at the start of the week, the sun is now beating down on the track for the big day. Currently the lower finals are underway with our coverage, which is supported by Team Orion, Mugen Seiki, LRP and Kyosho, getting underway with a round-up of the 1/4 Finals.  For the Semi Finals and Main we will be bringing you live lap by lap updates as Top Qualifier Renaud Savoya looks to defend his title.

View our full event coverage here.


July 11, 2009

German Nationals still affected by rain

vGerman Nationals still affected by rain

After three days the German Nationals 2008/2009 (1/8 on-road) are still a rainy affair. Following the rainy weather at the first day of unofficial practice on Wednesday the weather continued to be contrary but with more dry periods on Thursday. Nearly all of the 88 competitors were present and tried to catch any single lap on the challenging 260 meter track of the AMC Hildesheim located south of Hanover. Weather turned to the worse on Friday, the first official day of the one event decision for the German 1/8 crown.

Continue reading the report


July 10, 2009

Losi Strike Short Course truck

Losi Strike Short Course truck

Losi have announced the Strike, an electric 1/10-scale Short Course Truck in both Bind-N-Drive (BND) and also RTR versoins. Its rugged body comes out over the wheels, allowing you to bump, nudge and aggressively race without tangling and flipping other vehicles or getting hung-up on curbs and obstacles. The 1/10 Strike SCT features a water-resistant LiPo compatible reversing ESC, a brushless-ready all-metal gear transmission and a Losi receiver with Spektrum 2.4GHz DSM technology.

Click here for the features list


July 10, 2009

Savoya on target in Austria

Savoya on target in Austria

He took TQ honours on his way to the European title last year and if that pattern is anything to go by it is looking good here in Austria for defending Champion Renaud Savoya with him being crowned the 2009 Top Qualifier. The factory Mugen driver claimed the honour when his only challenger Yannick Aigoin rolled during his final attempt at being the No.1 qualifier.  With his second European TQ safe in the bag, Savoya wasn’t quite finished however, going on to put in another superb drive to take his third 185 points maximium of the five qualification rounds.

View our full event coverage here.


July 10, 2009

The Drake dominates down under

The Drake dominates down under

Adam Drake has been in touch to tell us about the RC Pro Australia event that took place last weekend. A dominant performance by Team Losi, Adam Drake TQ’d 10 out of 12 rounds of qualifying to take the overall TQ in 1/8th buggy and 1/8th truck. Adam also went on to win both 30 min semi finals and both 60 min finals. Adam led every lap of the buggy and truck 60 min finals to win the former from Jeremy Kortz and Ryan Lutz, and the latter from Craig Laughton and Tim Gaukroger.

Click here from more reflections on the event from Adam


July 10, 2009

ABEC35 Type-X ball bearings

ABEC35 Type-X ball bearings

ABEC35 have announced that their latest Type-X ball bearings for 1/8 nitro buggies and truggies are now available. Featuring special radial play to best fit plastic/composite parts, they sport medium and light grey shield colors for easy identification. With the exception of the clutch sizes, the grey shields are greased unlike the red and orange ones, and are ready for serious off-road actions. Available in a wide range of sizes they will fit most off road chassis’.

Source: ABEC35 [abec35.com]


July 10, 2009

Another qualifier for defending Champion Savoya

Renaud Savoya's car

Renaud Savoya has TQ’d the penultimate qualifier here in Austria becoming the first name to appear at the top the time sheets twice.  The defending Champion ran an identicial car to yesterday changing only to the softer M3 Revolver to win the round from Darren Bloomfield and promising Czech driver Martin Bayer. Track conditions for the first of today’s two heats was more slippery than yesterday due to the damp conditions but Savoya said his car worked well and combined his no driver errors he was very pleased with his heat which puts him in with a strong chance of repeating his overall TQ at last year’s European Championships.

View our full event coverage here.


July 10, 2009

Bickerstaff rules at Irish GP

irishgpm

Team Associated driver Alan Bickerstaff ruled both days of the inaugural Schumacher Irish Grand Prix which took place at the Ballymoney track in County Antrim last weekend. Saturday’s Pro Stock event was a dry affair and saw Bickerstaff take TQ honours with his TC5 over the new TOP Photon of Dutch driver Niels Koenekoop. Putting his local track knowledge to good effect the Northern Ireland driver went on to win all three legs to win from Koenekoop and the Xray of Mark Gilliland. In Sunday’s Modified 6.5T lipo race, Bickerstaff once again set the pace taking TQ honours which he duly converted into wins in each the three legs despite the changing conditions caused by rain showers. Behind him Koenekoop had to again settle for the runners up spot with Schumacher driver Mark Musgrove completing the podium.