Red RC » R Off Road

March 27, 2011

Jerome Aigoin takes wet French season opener

The opening round of the French 1/8th scale offroad Nationals took place this weekend at the Pierrefeu track in the south east of France, close to Nice. Qualifying saw Losi/nVision driver Yannick Aigoin take the top spot ahead of his brother Kyosho/Novarossi driver Jerome Aigoin with Spanish Mugen/Novarossi driver Robert Batlle taking third on his guest appearance in the National Championship. Hobbytech’s Nicolas Rodriguez and Agama driver Jerome Sartel completed the top 5. Unfortunately Sunday’s finals were heavily affected by rain, with the organisers deciding to stop the race after the semi finals due to too much water on the track but not before we lost Yannick Aigoin, Jerome Sartel and Renaud Savoya. This decision gifted the win to Jerome Aigoin, with Robert Batlle taking 2nd and Nicolas Vouilloz taking 3rd.

Source: Automodelisme [automodelisme.com]

March 24, 2011

Viper R/C signs Andrew Smolnik

Viper R/C Solutions have announced long time pro racer Andrew Smolnik as the latest addition to their growing team of top level racers. Andrew holds numerous offroad titles and will be a serious contender at both 1/10 and 1/8 electric events. At the first race working with Viper, the 25th Annual Cactus Classic, Andrew took 4th in 2wd 13.5 and 2nd in 4wd 13.5 after a hard fought battle down to the last corner. The Cactus is an excellent proving ground due to the high level of competition and extreme conditions. “I would like to thank Viper R/C Solutions for the opportunity to represent their great product at the race track. I look forward to a long and prosperous relationship. The Viper VTX speed control series and brushless motors have the smoothest most predictable powerband I’ve ever felt, this puts total control at your fingertips.”

Source: Viper R/C [viper-rc.com]

March 24, 2011

Kyosho enter Adachi for EOS pilot event

Kyosho are the latest manufacturer to put their support behind the new ‘Euro Offroad Series’ concept by entering Japanese ace Shin Adachi for the April 1-3 pilot event in Tomelilla, Sweden. The seven time Japanese National off road champion joins a host of top international drivers for the three day indoor clay surface event that will see official factory representation from Team Associated, Losi, Tamiya, Durango and Kyosho. Responsible for the development of Kyosho’s electric competition cars, Adachi will join a strong local Kyosho squad. Teenagers Mikael Johansson and David Ronnefalk both hold European Junior Off Road titles and are the reigning Swedish national EP champions – Johansson the title holder in 2WD and 15-year-old Ronnefalk the champion in 4WD. Both up & coming talents will be hoping to put their knowledge of the Tomelilla track to good use and make their mark in one weeks time.

Read the full release here

March 24, 2011

Josh Wheeler signs for VP-Pro USA

VP-Pro USA have added top factory driver Josh Wheeler to their team. Wheeler is a former IFMAR Worlds A-main Finalist and consistent A-main contender at every major race in the USA. He will be using VP-Pro Flexx Compound Tires & Wheels on his Xray 808 buggy and truggy for 2011-2012 and his first race for VP-Pro Racing will be the Silverstate Nitro Challenge in Las Vegas next month.

Source: VP Pro USA [vp-pro-usa.com]

March 23, 2011

Mikael Johansson wins both classes at VBC Cup

The Swedish Kyosho drivers continue to dominate the Swedish offroad racing. Last weekend Team Kyosho Sweden driver Mikael Johansson TQ and won the final race of VBC Cup. With this win Mikael also took overall victory in both the 2WD and 4WD class. In 4wd it was Associated driver Niclas Månsson that took 2nd ahead of Kyosho driver Fredrik Peters in 3rd place, while in 2wd it was Associated racer Robert Gustafsson who took 2nd ahead of Niclas Månsson in 3rd.

Source: Team Kyosho Sweden

March 23, 2011

Chris Doughty gets some Ammo for 2011

RC Disco are thrilled to announce that former European electric offroad Champion Chris Doughty has signed to run Ammo Fuel in 2011. Chris will be using the Ammo 30% Nitro Race Fuel throughout the 2011 race season in his Durango DNX408 buggy and joins a growing list of drivers in the UK using this fuel including Simon Willets and Kevin Brunsden. We also hear that Ammo is expanding out of the UK and that we can expect some European signings in the next few weeks.

Source: RC Disco [rcdisco.com]

March 22, 2011

Video – 2011 Cactus Classic finals day action

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDaH2hKPhc[/youtube]

Having reported on last week’s Cactus Classic in Arizona at Scottsdale RC Speedway, we have finally got some more action videos online, this time from finals day. Above is leg 2 of the 2wd modified A-main, while below we have the 4wd modified A-main leg 2, the 2wd Short Course modified A-main leg 2 and another bonus video showing some racers trying to pass the time.

View the other videos here

March 22, 2011

Kyle McBride claims Australian National title

Kyle McBride took his Team Durango DNX408 to National Championship glory this weekend, at the National Titles in Australia. In qualifying, Kyle set the pace in round one and was the only car on 18 lap pace during the round. A hiccup in round two saw a slightly disapointing second in round after hitting traffic. After the disappointment, Kyle was determined to win and after rounds three and four had already secured TQ and didn’t have to run the last qualifier – but of course, he did. Kyle set about the final qualifier driving faster than ever and missed out on lapping second place by only 7 seconds. It wasn’t the way any racer wants to win a big title but due to rain the finals had to be called off and so the results were called on qualifying with Kyle taking the National Title for Durango/OS/AKA/Byron at just 15 years old.

Source: Durango [team-durango.com]