January 15, 2018

Stavanger Open Cup Rd1 – Report

The opening round of the Stavanger Open Cup was hosted by the Stavanger Modelcar Club at their new 1000 square meter facility. Offering different tracks such an off-road track laid out with EOS and an on-road track laid out with ETS carpet, the facility also includes a drift track. For round 1 nearly 60 drivers signed in to race in the six different classes of 2WD Buggy, 4WD Buggy and Truck as well as 13.5T Touring, 21.5T Touring Junior and M-Chassis. To offer amble track time, one seeding practice was held followed by four qualifiers and triple A-mains. Intended as a fun race series especially for younger drivers the event also attracted Norwegian Champion, Nikolai Haheim to race in the Stock Touring class while the off-road class were lead by Junior World Champion Daniel Kobbevik. The two then had now problems to win their respective classes and so they swapped cars and tracks in the final A-mains, much to the entertainment of everyone.

View the final results here

January 15, 2018

Desoto Jr. & Apolaro win at Pan American race

The Pan American race was held at Homestead RC Raceway in Florida this past weekend and in the 1/8th GT class it was Joaquin Desoto Jr. with the overall TQ, and the only 22-laps run in qualifying, from Lazaro Alonso and Paolo Morganti. In the hour-long A-main it was again Joaquin who prevailed as the took the win some two laps in front of Rino Lino with Fernando Mendez coming in 3rd to round out the podium. Elsewhere in the supporting 1/10th 200mm Nitro Sedan class it was DJ Apolaro with the TQ and DJ would also take the 1-hour A-main with a three laps margin from Paolo Morganti in 2nd and Joaquin Desoto Jr. in 3rd.

View the Sedan podium here

January 12, 2018

Hungarian Electric Championship Rd2 – Report

The 2nd round of the 2017/18 Hungarian Electric Championship was held at the Hungexpo exhibiton center in Budapest, as part of a 2-day gaming show, called PlayIT. This event attracted many spectators and more than 100 drivers in many different classes. On Saturday the on-road classes were held while Sunday was reserved for the off-road action. In addition to the usual classes a Youth category with handout electronics and also a 40+ class was offered. In the 4WD Buggy class Zsolt Bajusz Junior and Zsolt Bajusz Senior were own league all day long. Zsolt Junior TQ’d the event but it was Robert Fekete who won the opening final. The second and third final went to Zsolt Junior and Zsolt Senior. Ultimately it was The junior who took the overall victory from Zsolt Senior and Robert Fekete.

Continue reading the report here

January 12, 2018

Robert Pietsch joins O.S. factory team

Robert Pietsch has announced that he has joined the O.S. Engines factory team. The Mugen Seiki designer and former IFMAR 1/8th Nitro On-road World Champion was Picco-powered before but switched to O.S. engines for the Worlds last year. From January he is now an official member of the Japanese squad and has the following to say about the deal:

I’m happy to announce to join OS factory team up from now. I want to thank everybody in OS company and especially Mr Shimazaki, giving me the chance to team up with this highly prestigious company. I’m greatly motivated and excited to race all major events the upcoming season. Last but not least a big thanks goes to the Picco brothers for all the support in the past. See you at the racetrack!

January 12, 2018

Power HD sign Meen Vejrak

Power HD have announced the signing of Thailand’s Meen Vejrak to their factory team. The former IFMAR 200mm World Champion will be using the company’s Storm series of servos in both his nitro and electric rides and while competing at all major races such as the Worlds, ETS, TITC, Reedy Race, AOC and more, he will be also assist with product development and he has the following to say:

I feel honored to be part of the PowerHD Team. After the trial, I know that it is the servo that I will be proud to represent for both EP & GP models. Thank you, Mr.Harma Ye, for providing me with amazing servo.

Source: Power HD [chd.hk]

January 12, 2018

Horak & Kanina win at Rebels Race Rd4

Round 4 of the Czech Rebels Race series was held in Prague recently and it was Simon Horak (Xray) who took the TQ and win in the Touring Stock category. However it was not without any challenge as Viktor Halčín (CSO) and Ondra Kohoutek (Xray) were right behind him and gave him a run for his money. Ultimately it was Ondra with the runner-up spot from Viktor in 3rd.

Continue reading the report here

January 12, 2018

MCCM Mulhouse track faces closure

The French Mini Car Club Mulhouse track, located close to the Swiss and German boarders, currently faces threats of being closed by the government. Built on government provided land in 1988, the club of around 40 members had a busy 2017 season as they hosted both the ENS and the EFRA 1/10th 200mm European Championship and heavily invested beforehand to create a top notch facility. It is understood that the land will fell victim of new infrastructure projects and that the members currently are not allowed to use the property. In order to raise awareness of the matter, the club has started a petition here with the hope to change the mind of the town’s government in the case of a large number of signatures.

January 11, 2018

Yukijiro Umino departs Yokomo

In what has come as a big shock, Yukijiro Umino has announced his departure from Japanese company Yokomo. Yukijiro, a top racer in his own right, is best known for his role as chief designer of the company’s touring car platform and for being Ronald Völker’s race engineer. One of the most successful partnerships in RC, the pair dominated the ETS for 5 seasons between 2010 and 2015, took numerous European, Reedy race and National titles and finally took a long awaited and well-deserved IFMAR World title back in 2016. Yukijiro has yet to announce his new destination but has released the following statement:

I wish to announce that after 22 great years with the company, from the 25th of January I will no longer be working for Yokomo. I want to give a big thank you to everyone at Team Yokomo, my co-workers, team and especially to Tom Yokobori for what has been an amazing opportunity. I also want to give a special thank you to Ronald Volker with whom I have worked so closely over the past 9 year and achieved so much together. And finally I want to thank my family for their support throughout this journey. I wish to let everyone know that, as I have always done, I will never stop challenging and never give up. See you all at the track soon.

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