MIP have introduced their new X-Duty centre drive kit for the Element RC Enduro range of trail trucks. The set is a direct replacement for the standard kit parts, offering increased strength and a high amount of durability compared to the plastic kit drives. Included in the fully rebuildable set are hardened steel telescopic design centre driveshafts, couplers, shims and all needed hardware.
Source: MIP [miponline.com]
Coming soon from Sweep Racing is their new Sweeper tyre for 1/8th off-road buggies. The tread is made up of countless mini pins, making it ideal for mid to high grip dirt surface. The Sweeper tyre has curved outer pins in order to offer a smooth cornering feeling and an easy driving feeling on high grip conditions. The wide centre pins make for extended durability and the newly designed V6 carcass provides a smooth car feeling on the track. The tyre is available in Gold, Yellow, Silver, Blue, and Red as well as all of the respective X compounds.
Tekno RC have announced the release of some new option and tuning parts that are designed to further enhance the performance of the NB48 2.0 buggy. First up are hard compound suspension arms that are made from a stiff composite material and are intended to be used in hot weather conditions or any time a more direct feeling is desired to sharpen up the handling. Tekno RC recommend using these arms when the ambient temperature is above 35 degrees Celsius but they are not as durable if used in temps below 5 degrees Celsius. No additional parts are required when replacing stock arms but they are 1mm longer and will require camber, toe, and bump-steer to be readjusted.
JConcepts have announced the release of their popular Blockers 1/8th buggy tyres in the new Aqua compound. The Blockers, a relative of the popular Stalkers and Reflex tyres, has an even tighter tread pattern for long main events or very abrasive conditions. The Blockers began with a Stalkers style pin which has slight angle on each side for separation at the top. This fine detail gives increased bite in wet conditions providing some versatility to the design. As the pins meet the base of the tyre, the spacing tightens considerably giving a stable footing for the Blockers. The additional pin real-estate provides a lot of cushion for extended main events and when paired with long-wear compounds such as R2, O2 and Aqua, the race pace can be pushed out to 45 to 60 minutes. The stacked row configuration and simple connected pins also offer massive forward acceleration. The aligned rows allow some surface drift making the tyres forgiving in sand and bumpy track sections. The outside pin has been clipped to help drive-ability and ease the initial turn-in drivers often have concern for. The tyres include the Dirt-Tech closed cell inserts and they come in a re-sealable, zip-top packaging.
Source: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]
Round 6 of the Northwest Championship Tour was held in Yakima last weekend. It was the final round of the largest outdoor RC series in the Pacific Northwest, with approximately 300 entries per round. In 4WD Modified Buggy Jackson Andres (Yokomo) was able to TQ the final round. However he and his team unfortunately didn’t have the car set up quite right for the wet mains, so he finished just off of the podium this race. That being said, Jackson was able to capture the overall series title for 4WD, and repeat as champion in back to back years. Joe Cathey (Serpent) came in 2nd overall from Robert Sorjonen (Xray) in 3rd.
Image: Jonathan Andres
Last weekend the A-Team Graz hosted the Austrian 1/8th Nitro Off-road Nationals. In the 1/8th truck class it was Team Associated driver Jürgen Trieb who TQed the event. In the 30-minute Truck main he had a close battle with Kyosho’s Andreas Mayr. After several lead changes it was Jürgen who won the race just 0.3 seconds ahead of Andreas Mayr. SWorkz’s Georg Horninger finished on 3rd position to round out the podium.
Source: Ruddog [ruddog.eu]
The final round of the Belgian Electric Off-road Nationals was held in Zolder last weekend. The track and wet weather conditions were pretty challenging for the drivers and it was Wesley van Helmond who would lead the 23-entry 2WD Buggy class in the opening two qualifiers for the overall TQ from Wouter Wynen in 2nd. The finals then saw again Wesley holding the upper hand and with wins in A1 and A2 he would take the day’s win from Wouter Wynen and Jonas Martens in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
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The Club Automodelisme Mollerussa track in Spain played host to round 5 of the Catalonian Off-road Championship last weekend. The event was held in Nitro, Electric and Entry Level classes and in 1/8th E-Buggy it was Alex Martinez Fole (Team Associated) with the overall TQ, beating Ramon Chancho Marti in the tie-breaker. The triple 10-minutes A-mains then saw Alex making a clean sweep in all three for the overall as Ramon Chancho Marti (Mugen) came in 2nd from Marti Prat Mayans (Mugen) in 3rd.
Image: Alex Martinez Fole
