Red RC » R Off Road

October 5, 2010

Tamiya USA sign Lee Martin to run TRF801X

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]

October 5, 2010

AKA sign German Champion Tim Bremicker

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]

October 5, 2010

Davis & Underwood win NZ Offroad Nationals

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.

View the truggy podium here

October 4, 2010

King & Fischer win Byron Off Road Challenge

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.

View the buggy podium here

October 1, 2010

Tamiya and Ryan Lutz part ways

In response to all the talk around the internet today about Ryan Lutz leaving Tamiya and whether they will continue their off road program, Tamiya America have sent us the following statement. “Tamiya America Inc. would like to announce that it has ended its partnership with R/C factory driver Ryan Lutz. Throughout the recent 2009 and 2010 seasons, Ryan has been piloting Tamiya’s TRF 801Xt and TRF801X across the country and around the globe. We wish Ryan the best of luck with his future endeavors with his R/C driving.”

TRF members, Rest assured Tamiya is committed to continue the development of its TRF801 nitro program along with its other programs. With your support, feedback and help we will get you the best product possible for your enjoyment. As the lead TRF driver, Ryan has been one of the most active members on the TRF website. His race blogs, his good nature, his set up advice and overall funny wit will be missed. We are left with two good years of fond memories. Our best wishes will always be with him.

Source: Tamiya [tamiyausa.com]

September 30, 2010

Pattaya Worlds track preperations in full swing

With the most anticipated event of the year, the 1/8th off road Worlds in Thailand, less than two months away and with a major test getting underway next week, the organisers have been flat out preparing the track for the event. As we can see from these photos, and as we know from models of the new layout, it is completely different from the Pre Worlds. Sporting carpet in areas, we talked with organiser Charlie Siribodhi when we were in Houston and he told us that they are preparing the most challenging track imaginable with off camber turns, large jump sections and other obstacles on this long lap. Red RC will be present throughout the entire event to bring you live coverage so be sure to stay tuned from the 7th of November.

View more photos from the track prep here

September 30, 2010

Drake does Horizon Hobby Shootout double

Horizon Hobby partnered with JTEC Racing & fun in Tilton, IL for the 3rd annual Horizon Hobby Shootout, held over 3 days last weekend. Team Losi Racing’s Adam Drake, Billy Fischer and Dakotah Phend were on hand to answer questions and provide set-up help for racers from all over the mid-west. Festivities began on Friday with open practice from 9am-9pm. Saturday was three rounds of qualifying and the main events were on Sunday. Dakotah Phend TQ’d the 1/8th truck class with his Novarossi powered Losi 8ight T 2.0, second on the grid was Adam Drake and third was Billy Fischer. In the final Dakotah and Adam were never more than a few seconds apart and traded the lead a number of times. With five minutes to go in the final Dakotah was trailing Adam by only a few seconds and pushing to make up time, but had mechanical troubles. The finishing order was Adam Drake, Sonny O and Daniel Yachnin. All three drivers were running Losi 8ight T 2.0.

Continue reading the report here

September 28, 2010

Dustin Evans takes RC Pro Mountain Division Rd3

Team Losi Racing are reporting that their drivers Dustin Evans and Matt Chambers attended the final round of the RC Pro Series Mountain Division held at Dirtworks R/C in Burlington, CO. Through qualifying Dustin was on his game and took the overall TQ spot for the main with Matt startng 2nd. The main event would prove to be an interesting battle between the two Losi team mates. At the start Dustin led with Matt in 2nd until a mistake coming on the straightaway allowed Matt to take over the lead. Matt and Dustin stayed close through the first pit stop with Matt leading until he ran out of fuel just before the second fuel stop. This allowed Dustin a comfortable 2 lap lead over Matt who held onto 2nd despite the problem. With 15 minutes to go, Dustin had a problem with a front tire and had to come into the pits for a replacement. This allowed Matt to make up valuable time and get back to within 5 seconds of Dustin. A few small bobbles allowed Matt to take over the lead until a shorter fuel strategy had him pit an extra time. Dustin would cross the finish line first with Matt in second about 10 seconds back and another Losi driven by Chris Peralta rounding out the podium in 3rd. Chris Peralta took the overall win in Expert Buggy and Expert Truggy for the RC Pro Series Mountain Division.

Source: Losi [losi.com]