DiMonaco have announced that they have signed the young 2007 Italian F2 buggy Champion Marco Natale to use their RC Fox engines for the rest of the season. Marco, who had used RB engines for the last 5 years first as a privateer and then with support from RB Italy, will use the brand new YZ5 Engine in his Hobao chassis as he aims to defend his title.
Source: Modellismo RC [modellismorc.net]
Slingshot Batteries has informed us of the strong showing they had last weekend at the 2008 Hot Rod Hobbies Shoot Out. Up and coming ‘young gun’ Jeff Nicol piloted his Kyosho RB5 to the overall TQ and Championship in the hotly contested Stock Buggy class. Jeff was the class of the field throughout qualifying and took home the overall with wins in the first and second legs of the triple A-main event. Super Stock Truck belonged to Nick Lasley from the start. Wins in the first 2 legs of the triple A-main event gave Lasley the overall victory. With first place wrapped up, Nicol and a few other drivers still had a chance for top 3. After a tie breaker, Jeff Nicol ended up 4th overall losing the tie breaker to team mate Chris Van Air who took 3rd overall.
Source: Slinghsot [slingshotbatteries.com]
Sponsors of our event coverage at last weekends European 1/8th scale buggy Championships, Kyosho Germany have released the first shots of the Inferno MP9 chassis. Previous to this we only had shots with the body on, but with the shell off you can see that the car is relatively conventional in its layout with the big changes being to the car’s overall weight, which has been reduced dramatically. Full details and more pics are to follow, but in the meantime you can check it out for yourself in the photos below.
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This weekend saw another European Championship being run as well as the 1/8th scale buggy Championships in Crete, with the 1/8th scale 40+ and 235mm European titles also up for grabs. Hosted by the MACH track in Heemstede, The Netherlands, this event has a relaxed vibe yet the action on the track was very serious. Qualifying took place on both Friday and Saturday and in the 40+ class it was German Serpent racer Andreas Giesa that took pole position from local Mugen racer Richard Keur in 2nd with Jacky Mouton and Rody Roem completing the top 4, both for Serpent. In the 235mm class it was top Belgian racer Robin D’hondt that took top qualifying honours in front of former European Champion Julius Kolff in 2nd, driving a new hybrid Serpent car, while last years Champion Glyn Beal started 3rd ahead of Serpent designer Rene Cornella taking the last direct qualifying position in 4th.
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French Mugen racer Renaud Savoya capped off a dominant performance at the European Championships in Crete by taking the European title ahead of former Champion Robert Batlle. The Spanish driver had taken the lead early in the race and pulled out a considerable lead, but a broken rear arm with 15 minutes to go meant that Savoya could come back in the late part of the race, and take the lead from the crippled Hobao driver with just over 10 minutes to go, and never looked back. Batlle ended the race in 2nd, only a few seconds behind, while new HongNor signing Richi Gomez from Spain rounded out the top 3.
View the full coverage on our event site here.
Defending European Champion Robert Batlle has won the second of the Semi Finals here at a very very hot Iraklion Model Centre track. The Spaniard completed the same number of laps as Semi A winner Savoya and managed a faster lap time but was almost 30 second off the pace of the Frenchman who has looked so in control throughout the 5 days of this championships.
View the full coverage on our event site here.
The first semi final of the 2008 EFRA European Championship has just taken place and Top Qualifier Renaud Savoya made the 20 minute encounter look like just a formality ahead of the main job in hand, winning the Main Final which gets underway here in Crete at 16:00 local time. Savoya made little or no mistakes during the race and lead from start to finish setting the fastest lap on the way to a 1 lap winning margin over Associated driver Neil Cragg who’s best lap was 7/10th off that of the French Champion. ‘The run was fine and I will stick with the same set-up for the final’, said the very confident Mugen driver. ‘The track is getting tricky over the jumps and there are now holes at the end of the straight which is making my car jump around a lot but its ok.’
View the full coverage on our event site here.
Our friends at Team C were in touch to tell us about their latest product, this neat looking body reamer. Available in 4 different anodized colours, black blue, gold and red, they all feature a cool looking carbon fibre look handle. The steel tip is ultra sharp for making clean burr free holes in your bodyshell and comes supplied with an aluminium and carbon tip protector, which sports the Team C logo etched into it.
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