Team Orion have announced that top Team Losi driver Mike Truhe has chosen to use Team Orion nitro engines to power his buggy and truggy chassis’. Mike, who used to run GRP power plants, will be making his international debut for the team at the upcoming European championships warm up race in Austria. Team Orion now have a formidable off road team in the form of Truhe, Tebo, Kanai, Cavalieri and Pavidis to name but a few.
Source: Team Orion [teamorion.com]
The 2nd round of the French 1/8th scale buggy Nationals was held at the Angouleme track in the west of the country. Qualifying for the Elite class went the way of European Champion Renaud Savoya, lining his Mugen up ahead of Yannick Aigoin and Guillaume Vray in 2nd and 3rd respectively. In the hour long race it was a battle of attrition that Savoya won, taking the chequered flag 4 laps ahead of Losi driver Y. Aigoin, whose had hit troubles during the race losing him a lot of time. Mugen driver Nicolas Reynaud took the final podium step in 3rd.
Source: RC Mag [rcmag.com]
The Tiverton Model Car Club played host the round 2 of the BRCA 1/8th Off Road series and their fast Astroturf track provided a very difficult challenge. The high speed nature of the circuit, coupled with the very high traction levels on this surface, made for a un-forgiving combination. Mistakes were punished heavily, either by time loss or breakages. The qualifying sessions were also slightly affected by light showers, with the early and middle heats both having a blow out round where the track was too slick for quick times. At the end of qualifying it was round 1 winner Elliott Boots driving his Mugen MBX-6 who took the pole with 3 round wins and some very impressive runs. Neil Cragg took 2nd on the grid with his Associated RC8B ahead of Simon Willetts and Dave Bailey. The main final saw an early battle between Elliott and Neil until the first round of stops. After that Elliott started to make a series of errors in trying to keep up with Neil and dropped back into the chasing pack. This left Neil to put the hammer down and build a massive lead which he maintained until the end to record a comfortable victory ahead of Losi man Darren Bloomfield in 2nd, with Simon Willetts taking 3rd.
Source: CML [cmldistribution.co.uk]
The 2nd round of the Spanish 1/8th sale buggy Nationals was run at the weekend at the Montjuic track in Barcelona, close to the Olympic Stadium. 107 drivers attended the race and following qualifying on Saturday, it was Associated driver Robert Batlle that took the TQ spot from Javier Puché in 2nd and Jesús Gómez Salmerón in 3rd. On Sunday during the 1/16th final, the sky suddenly turned dark and the rain started, flooding the track. Due to this the organizers cancelled the race and the results were called from the qualifying positions, which gave Batlle the win from Javier Puché and Jesús Gómez Salmerón.
Source: Merlin [merlinfuel.com]
The Australian Northern Territory Nitro buggy Championships held this weekend at OCR Raceway. Following his win at the AINC09 last weekend, Team Associated driver Josh Pain picked up the TQ, setting up a huge battle with dual Australian Champion Wayne Walker, and no one was disappointed with what ensued. Despite some drama on the start line with Pain flaming out, the very talented driver had it all to do to chase down Walker in the 45 minute Main, and on lap 55 managed to take the lead when Walker himself had a flame out. The super quick driver never relinquished the lead for the next 38 laps finishing 8 seconds ahead after a grueling 45 minutes on the super fast circuit, both Pain and Walker the only drivers getting into the 26 seconds bracket. With such an exciting battle going on at the front, the rest of the field was left in their wake, Andrew Dun driving the Mugen MBX6, visiting from Queensland, put up a big fight to hold onto 3rd place.
Click here to see a video from the race
The Drake was in touch to tell us about his success at last weekend’s RCX show put on by U.S. magazine RCCA. Presented by ‘The Dirt’, a small but challenging track was built to allow some of the best off road racers put on a show for the crowds at the show and in the truggy class it was Adam Drake, driving his Novarossi powered Losi 8ight T 2.0, that took home the win and with it the $500 cash prize.
Front running electric racing star Shinosuke ‘Shin’ Adachi has joined the Team Orion nitro team. With immediate effect the Japanese driver will be using the Team Orion Alpha engines to power his Kyosho MP9 buggy. Following the addition of former World Champion Yuichi Kanai to their team, Shin’s presence will further strengthen the company’s off road race presence in Asia.
Source: Team Orion [teamorion.com]
The FSORS season has now crossed the halfway mark and rolled into 555 Raceway this past weekend. Even with several other events going on in central Florida, the race nearly 140 entries. This track is known for brutal conditions, and often blows out badly when a larger event comes to town. The track crew did an excellent job of keeping the surface together with only minor issues throughout the weekend. The Florida sun and strong entry count helped to lay down a great groove and soon racers were switching to harder compound tires.
