As seen at the toy fair on the HPI Racing stand, the Japanese company has released this special machined lightweight 4mm thick chassis for the World Champion Hot Bodies D8 1/8th scale buggy. Strategically milled out to reduce weight in non-critical areas, you can drop some serious weight exactly where you need it while maintaining the integrity required for a stiff racing chassis.
Source: Hot Bodies [hbeurope.com]
Serpent have released the full details on their new 1/8th scale chassis, the 966. As we know from previous releases, and from our coverage at the toy fair, the car sports a most alloy rear end for precise alignment of everything and most of the changes focus around this area. The car also of course has a new chassis plate to cater for the new rear end, as well as new braking system which sees the mechanism as low as possible in the car, as well as other small improvements including updated RCC shock absorbers.
Traxxas have announced that the company will be the 2009-2011 series title sponsor of TORC, The Off-Road Championship Series. The series will be referred to as The Traxxas TORC Series or The Traxxas Off-Road Championship Series, and will feature the best drivers and most competitive teams in short-course racing on tracks across America. Race fans will be able to enjoy the action at home with national network television coverage beginning in June 2009. This is a big deal, not just for Traxxas, but the RC car industry as a whole who will benefit from the huge exposure that sponsoring a series of this scale brings.
Click here to read the full release
Last weekend saw the first ever Czech Masters race take place in Hrotovice, Czech Republic and the organizer confirmed 75 racers, including Martin Hudy, Steven Weiss, Ronald Volker and Michal Bok, all top European modified racers. Drivers were greeted with a 35×20 meter sized carpet track and the race was open to racers in Toruing Modified and Stock, as well as 1/12th. In modified, it was Vice World Champion Ronald Volker who won five of the six qualification rounds with his HB Cyclone to take TQ, edging out his friend Steven Weiss driving for Xray, with Martin Hudy and Michal Bok rounding out the top 4, also with Xray.
Gene Hickersen sent us the following report from the 3rd round of the ROAR Florida State Off Road Series hosted by Hurricane R/C Club in Lutz Florida. This is usually the largest race in FL every year and 2009 was no exception with 196 entries. All of the best drivers in the South East were there to test their skills on the tight & technical layout at the world famous Lake Park track. Thursday night brought some rain, which kept the moisture in the track all weekend for the blackest blue groove I have ever seen. Team VP Pro USA was in attendance with myself, Joey Perez, and even Ryan Lopez driving down all the way from Georgia. Jason Rouna and JR Mitch from J-Concepts were there as well as Leon McIntosh from Pro-line and Ryan Eckert from AKA Tires and many other fast drivers from various manufactures.
McPappy Racing has now released a number of new items for their Dart 1/10th scale oval racer. First up is a line of 0, 5 and 10 degree Caster Blocks, which feature 3 holes for the upper wishbone mount that allow you to choose how much camber gain you want ,while providing 0, 5 or 10 degrees of active caster. To compliment the new blocks are these precision machined, adjustable bumpstops that allow you to independently control exactly how far each front wheel suspension will travel. You can engage them just a little bit to keep your chassis from bottoming out, or you can engage them earlier to control how the car reacts in the corner. One of the biggest benefits of running bumpstops is getting more weight on the left front wheel in the corners. As the car enters the corner weight shifts diagonally to the RF wheel. The RF bumpstop engages and now the weight travels to the LF wheel. Then the LF bumpstop engages and applies weight down on the left wheel. Bumpstops also can prevent rolling and keep the car level in the corners. These bumpstops are slotted so that you can slide them forward or rearward depending on how much caster you are running.
Click here to see more pictures
Kyosho have released the New Power Zone Multi Cell Charger, which has the capability of charging as well as discharging 1-4 AA & AAA cells, whether they be NiMH or NiCDs. You can also charge 1-2 cell 9V NiMH or NiCD batteries and a built in LCD display in the lid shows the charge status. In addition to the Delta Peak detection, original detection system allows constant and effective charge without the risk of overcharge.
After publishing the review of Traxxas’ Slash CORR racing truck last week now it’s time for an even madder machine: the Team Associated SC8. Developed during 2008 at Team Associated’s so called ‘Area 51’ and released towards the end of the year the SC8 is probably the most authentic race truck so far. Based on the Associated RC8T chassis it not only offers a very scale looking CORR truck body but also (according to Team Associated) “… scale specifications of the full-size short course race trucks. It’s all there, from the scale suspension travel, to the roll-cage tube diameter, to the functional mud flaps.”
