Novarossi have announced the signing of a long term agreement with Spanish driver and Team Associated factory driver Robert Batlle. The 2007 European Champion and 4 time consecutive Spanish National Champion ends his relationship with GRP engines and joins the Novarossi ‘Super Team’ of Adam Drake, Yannick Aigoin, Jerome Aigoin, Darren Bloomfield, Martin Bayer and Billy Fisher with more announcements expected.
Source: Novarossi [novarossi.it]
O’Donnell Racing has just announced what they claim is one of the biggest contingency programs ever to hit the R/C industry. Drivers will have the chance to share in up to $120,000 in total prize money by using O’Donnell Racing Fuel, and finishing ‘in the money’ in select regional and national events. And it’s a program with a twist, every payout for ‘Joe Racer’ is bigger than the one a team driver would get. There are cash prizes for the top six A-Main finishers in select national and regional races. More cash prizes for first-place finishers in R/C Pro Series A-Mains including the Intermediate, Open and Pro classes. Cash bonuses for taking TQ in every one and more cash bonuses for winning ROAR and R/C Pro national championships.
For full program details visit O’Donnell Racing.
Having made their intentions clear early on, Team Durango have announced that Austrian racer Hupo Honigl has joined their team. The multiple European Champion will race the company’s DEX410 this season and with the company releasing the DNX408 soon and showing off their prototype DEX210 2wd chassis recently, it would seem that Hupo has all his off road needs covered at Durango.
Source: Durango [team-durango.com]
After much speculation about his future Horizon Hobby UK are pleased to confirm that former 1:10 electric off-road national champion Lee Martin has chosen to run a Losi 8ight 2.0 for the 2010 season. Having driven for Team Associated last season, Lee took part in the recent Nitromania X event using the Losi 8ight buggy and must have liked what he drove. Losi European team manager David Spashett had this to say about the deal:
Despite concentrating his efforts in 1:10 off road for this year, Lee wanted to continue racing 1:8 nitro off-road and needed a car that is consistently fast and totally reliable everywhere and he concluded that our Losi 8ight 2.0 fits the bill perfectly. Lee is a very respected racer who is fast and consistent and we look forward to him having a very positive impact with us in the events that he attends this year.
In addition to the 1:8 off road deal, Lee will also contest the Losi XXX-based Atomic Carbon CR2 car in 2WD electric until such times as his main chassis sponsor has one of their own for him to use.
Source: Horizon Hobby UK [horizonhobby.co.uk]
Last weekend saw MSV-Woelbling, hosts of last year’s European buggy championships, run round 1 of their Indoor Winter Splash at a large indoor hall in St. Pölten, west of Vienna. In the truggy only event it was Mugen/Novarossi driver Michael Selner who would win all 3 heats, semi final and main final, setting a new official track record of 25.912 on his way to the victory. The previous unofficial track record of 26.321 was set the week before by on road star Robert Pietsch. Team Associated team mates Alex Obermeier and Rudi Traxler finished the final in 2nd and 3rd. This indoor offroad track will be opened this coming weekend for practice only, with the 2nd Indoor Winter Splash for buggy being held on the 29th to 31st of January, an event which will be attended by top drivers such as Tim Bremicker, Hupo Honigl, Peter Pinisch and Thomas Mayr among others. More information on this event can be found here (German).
Click here for photos of the track
Mugen Spain are reporting a good first race of the season for them, taking the win at the Silla round of the Levante Championships. It was new signing Borja Hernandez, driving the MBX-6 that scored the victory on his race debut, closely followed home by his team mates Dani Bernabe and Bryan Baldo in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Source: Mugen Spain [mugen.es]
Our friends at oOple are reporting that Jörn Neumann took the 4WD trophy to go with his 2WD title the day previous at the 2010 Petit Race held at the Maritime Raceway in Kent, England. Jörn dominated qualifying and took the first leg of the A final from pole position with his Yokomo Bmax4. In one of the closest and most hard-fought races Jörn and Lee Martin, driving the Tamiya TRF511, battled the entire 5 minutes nose-to-tail with Lee coming out on top. The final leg was over almost as soon as it started however for Lee when a collision with Richard Lowe dropped both drivers several positions as Jörn began to pull away. Jörn took the third leg and with it his second title of the weekend and 6th Petit win.
Check out the full report over at oOple here.
Source: oOple [oople.com]
Vintesete, importers for Xray in Portugal, have been in touch to tell us about their 2010 multi round Xray Trophy series. Comprising of 7 two day events for both 1/8th off road and separately for gas on road, these fun series are open to any brand of car and have a focus on fun, while keeping the race costs low. Trophies will be given to the top 10 at each race day with trophies and prize money for the top 10 in the overall series.
More information in Portuguese can be found here (PDF) for offroad and here (PDF) for on road.
Source: Vintesete [vintesete.com]
