October 7, 2008

Carlos Durães wins Portuguese Cup

The Portuguese Cup 2008, took place last weekend at Vila Real where track conditions were hard and bumpy which resulted in a lot of dust. Miguel Matías took TQ honours with his Kyosho followed by Merlin Team driver Carlos Durães and Ricardo Monteiro. Clearly faster than their rivals in the heats, Miguel Matías and Carlos Durães were a step above the rest of the field and were clear favorites to battle for victory in the final. Unfortunately for Matías his car broke in the warm-up for the final. Although he fixed it he had lost too much time ending any chances of victory. This allowed Durães to dominate the Final with his BOSS engined Hobao while behind him Rodrigo Luis, Ricardo Monteiro, Gabriel Magalhães and Fernando Almeida battled it out for the other podium placings. Midway into the race Magalhães and Almeida both retired with broken cars as did TQ man Matías, his car breaking again. In the end Luis, who was making his debut as a Merlin Team driver, took second place behind Durães with Ricardo Monteiro claiming the final step on the podium.

Source: Merlin Fuel [merlinfuel.com]


October 7, 2008

Arie Manten wins wet Dutch 1:8 Finale

Last weekend a very wet MACH track played host to the final round of the 2008 Dutch 1:8 Onroad Championships. In the National Class it was a suprise TQ for Arie Manten who was obviously benefiting from the help of factory Mugen driver Rick V who decided not to race having already won of the Dutch National title. Behind him after qualifying it was John Ermen, Donny Blommers and Maurice vd. IJssel. In the final Manten drove a strong race and was the only driver setting lap times under 20 seconds. He was followed home by Rob Kuijper who suffered tire problems for some laps and 3rd place was taken by Rik Veenma. Daniel vd. Drift was disqualified for using tire additives. In the NOMAC Cup it was Jordy Blok who TQ’d followed by Richard Engbersen, Martin Zevenhoven and Roelof Tooms. In the final it was Zevenhoven who won thanks to a steady drive and little or no problems. Blok suffered some engine troubles and was running in 4th spot behind Emil Jansen and Roelof Tooms but the latter two were to retire handing 2nd place went to Blok and 3rd to Frank Baggen.

Thanks to Roelof Toems for the report.


October 7, 2008

Tony Truman wins Byron Junior Champs

Mirage are reporting on the inaugural Byron Fuels Junior Championship which was won by Tony Truman at the controls of the new World Championship winning Hot Bodies D8.  Held at Frankley in favourable conditions, the event aims to find the hottest young talent in British 1/8th Rallycross racing and Truman certainly showcased his talents by pretty much dominating proceedings taking TQ honours before going on to win the Final by 3 laps from Ross Barras with Ricky Cooper completing the podium.

Source: Mirage [mirageracing.com]


October 6, 2008

Werks Racing go 100% pre-mount

After months of testing and development Werks Racing have announced that they are offering pre-mounted 1/8th buggy tires which will mean the giant step of going 100% pre-mount only on their 1/8th buggy tires! Werks Racing will no longer be selling un-mounted 1/8th Buggy tires and say the reason was simple, ‘which driver in their right mind wants to glue tires?’ To offer one of the best packages in the industry the US company has taken their complete range of 1/8th buggy tires and matched them with 2 of their other recently released products. The new “white” super consistent, medium compound molded insert and the new low weight, large diameter 1/8th buggy dish wheel. These have been combined with a proven “Italian” gluing system for an inseparable glue bond. All of the components will be manufactured, assembled and glued in Italy at an attractive and affordable price.

Source: Werks Racing [werksracing.com]


October 6, 2008

Phil Sleigh signs with X Factory

Phil Sleigh signs with X Factory

U.K. Electric Off Road star Phil Sleigh has signed with X Factory for the 2009 season. The 31-year old who hails from Telford in England has 18 years r/c racing experience behind him and this year finished in the Top 10 of both BRCA National Championships. “It’s an awesome opportunity to join the X-Team”, said Sleigh. “Right from my first run with the New Math I couldn’t believe that it was so easy to produce quick lap times with such ease and consistency.” X Factory president Charles Sinclair said, “We’re so happy to add Phil to the X Factory Team. He’s another experienced A main driver who has lots of great design ideas. All the other X Team drivers already get on very well with him, and Phil will provide that blend of top 10 ability and intellect that’s so important to us.”  Joining X Factory, Sleigh will team up with U.K Champion Ellis Stafford who had this to say about his new team-mate, “I’m so happy to be racing with Phil instead of against him, and we get on great. We looked at several possible drivers, and Sleigh is the one I most wanted for our team.”

Source: X Factory [2wdrc.com]


October 6, 2008

PSM Racing Toe & Droop Gauge

German company PSM Racing, who specialize in accessories for the 1/8 Scale off road racing, have released a new Toe & Droop Gauge for Buggy and Truggy use.  Made from aluminium, the new gauge is finished in a grey coating engraved with the PSM Racing logo.

Source: PSM Racing [psm-racing.com]


October 6, 2008

Segui wins Spanish Regionals

Spanish Regional Championship Podium

Hong Nor driver Carlos Seguí won the Spanish South-East Regional Championship over the weekend driving his Picco powered X1X-CR powered.  Racing under clear blue skies, the total opposite to the conditions experienced by competitors at the 3rd annual Novarossi GP in the UK, Seguí took a convincing victory over the Kyosho of Fernando Guillem with the Mugen driver Javier Mancheno completing the podium.


October 6, 2008

Bloomfield wins Novarossi GP

Novarossi GP Buggy Podium

Darren Bloomfield headed an all Losi 8ight podium at a very wet Novarossi Grand Prix yesterday in the UK when the Top Qualifier led home fellow countryman Richard Taylor and Swedish Touring Car ace Vicktor Wilck in a shortened Main Final.  Saturday qualifying saw the 100 plus competitors contend with cold and wind conditions but the weather was to deteriorate overnight and Sunday saw the heavens open forcing the race organisers to reduce the length of the finals as the astro turf track required regular clearing of the standing water using buckets.  Unfortunately for the Truggy competitors, who were running simultaneously on the dirt track at Novarossi Raceway, the race organisers decided to cancel the finals in the grounds of marshaling safety and so the results were declared on qualifying giving Losi a clean sweep of the event with Ed Kerry declared the winner to also give Novarossi engines the double at their own event.

Click more to see the final results … content