The JConcepts crew loaded up once again and headed out of town to attend the 2010 Alabama Indoor Shootout. With a fresh track layout and another new race event in the works Alabama has become a new home away from home for the JConcepts crew in 2010. The AIS crew constructed yet another outstanding track layout, design and with the incorporated elevation and super clay racing surface, consistency was second to none.
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JQ Products, and their USA Distributor Swift, have appointed Peter Martin to the position of US Team Manager. Peter is the owner of TKO, based in Southern California and has been involved in racing and the racing business for many years. He will manage the US team as well as attend major events and provide technical support for JQ customers. Here is a statement from Peter:
I am extremely proud to have been offered this position. JQ has all the tools for “The Car” and JQ Products to be a leading brand in the 1/8th scale off road market. Proper customer and team support is our number one goal. Current information etc. will always be available as will I. JQ and myself are dedicated to you, the racer, so your experience will be fun and successful.
Source: JQ Products [jq-products.com]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDUWomyV3Go&hd=1[/youtube]
Having brought you some updates earlier in the week, testing has continued at the trick Pattaya track in Thailand, host of next months IFMAR 1/8th scale buggy World Championships. The videos, by RC Blood, show Renaud Savoya, Adam Drake, Jared Tebo and Mark Pavidis in action.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHpZfVWeWzY&hd=1[/youtube]
This week sees a large scale test underway at the host track for next month’s 1/8th scale buggy World Championships in Pattaya Thailand. A large group from the US team are present as well as racers from Asia and Europe, getting to grips with the new track layout. Team Associated team manager Brent Thielke sent us some track shots and also included a video showing some on track action.
Following the announcement last week that Ryan Lutz had left their team, Tamiya America have today announced the signing of World class off-road ace Lee Martin. In a partnership with Tamiya America, Inc. he will pilot the TRF801X at the upcoming IFMAR 1/8 Off-Road world championship being held at Pattaya, Thailand on November 7-14, 2010 as well as other major events around the globe. Lee, a well known driver from Great Britain, has already achieved great success piloting Tamiya’s newly released 1/10 TRF201 2WD buggy and the TRF511 4WD buggy. Sweeping the recent 2010 Euros by firmly establishing the TQ position in qualifying and winning both the 2WD and 4WD classes, expect to see a lot of Lee stateside as he pilots Tamiya’s state of the art R/C platforms in the coming months and into next year. Lee Martin had this to say about the deal:
After much success with my Tamiya 1/10th vehicles, I cannot wait to begin racing for Tamiya America, Inc. in 1/8th scale as well. The TRF801X shows great promise and I’m really looking forward to getting behind the wheel and hopefully achieve some great results at the coming World Championship and future races! I would like to thank David Jun and Tamiya America, Inc. for this opportunity and also thank Horizon UK and David Spashett for the help throughout the year until my move to the Tamiya Team.
Source: Tamiya [tamiyausa.com]
US based tire manufacturer AKA have added another top name to their driver roster with the signing of current German National Truggy and 2008 Buggy Champion Tim Bremicker. The German driver, who has joined the Associated Factory Team this year, has completed a deal that sees him join a team which includes current US National Champion Jared Tebo, US front running driver Cody King and top European drivers like Jerome Aigoin, Miguel Matias and Davide Tortorici to name a few. Tim will be running the complete line up of AKA tires on his Associated Factory Team Cars for 2011 and the rest of the 2010 season. Tim had the following to say:
I’m very happy to join the AKA Racing team and would like to thank AKA’s German distributor KYOSHO Deutschland for their trust in me. I can look back to a long relationship with them in the past and I’m proud to be a part of this team again. Testing the tires in the last couple of weeks was a pleasure and I can’t wait for the upcoming season to race and support the team as well as AKA’s and KYOSHO Deutschland’s customers with my know how and experience.
Source: AKA [raceaka.com]
Jerry Davis and Craig Underwood took the top podium spots at the GO Racing 2010 New Zealand IC Offroad National Championships, which was held in Hamilton on a completely redesigned track, featuring a unique cross-over section. The Buggy final was full of action and a few lead changes but Jerry (Xray/MMods) who suffered from a tyre issue for a small period of the race held onto a 1 lap lead over 2nd place Chris Banham (Mugen/Ninja) with Dave Edhouse (Losi/Ninja) in 3rd. In Truggy, Craig Underwood kept his Mugen/GO MBX6T going through a race with a high attrition rate to take the win by 3 laps over Chris Banham (Mugen/Ninja) with Pearce Stephens (HB/Ninja) in 3rd position.
To beat the heat at The Nitro Pit in Phoenix this past weekend, racing for the Byron Off Road Challenge started at sundown and ran past midnight. The first under-the-lights racing format was a huge success for drivers and their fans. Despite a late announced practice schedule in Thailand for Worlds drivers, that kept the majority of Byron Team Drivers out of the race, Byron Fuel still took 3 of the top 6 podium spots in the race, with the absolute highlight of the event being a 0.4 second win in Expert Truck for Kyosho / Byron driver Cody King over Losi man Billy Fischer with Levi Jackson taking 3rd. In the buggy class it was Billy Fischer that won over Associated team driver Ryan Maifield in 2nd with Cody King rounding out the podium in 3rd.
