The First big race of the year for Nitro Tourer and Nitro GT was held at the IMCC Club located in Wollongong south of Sydney. Top qualifier in Nitro Touring was Aaron Lee (Serpent) followed by Alex Koussas, some 8 seconds behind. The TQ in the GT class went to Chris Stanley, just edging out fellow Serpent driver Rick Seymonsbergan by 1 second and in 3rd was Darren Neave only 2/100s of a second behind.
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Following a two year stint with Hot Bodies following his departure from Kyosho, Shin Adachi has now signed a contract with Yokomo, the Japanese manufacturer announced today. Shin will not only supervise the development of their off-road buggy program he also race the company’s latest touring cars. This is what Yokomo President Tom Yokobori had to say about the deal:
With the 2015 IFMAR Electric Offroad World Championships to be hosted by Yatabe Arena approaching, Yokomo is getting into high-gear to further improve our competition offroad cars. To accelerate this effort, we’re continuing to assemble an international team of World-class drivers. Team Yokomo, including Naoto Matsukura, recently joined British ace Lee Martin and many highly-skilled team members, will continue actively participating in races around the World. In addition, our experienced team will work together to actively develop leading-edge designs. Yokomo will continue its tradition of exceeding the expectations of our customers by designing the best R/C cars, participating in competitive racing with great sportsmanship, and being active as a team to provide assistance and support.
Source: Yokomo [teamyokomo.com]
Having recently announced he was joining Capricorn, Kyle Branson is also changing his brand of engine for the coming 2014 season. He will be running the new XRD line of engines alongside team mate Dario Balestri. Kyle had the following to say:
I would like to thank Gino Voghera and his Son Lorenzo for there amazing support over the past years and I am looking forward to continuing my 7th year with them!
Source: XRD [xrdtech.com]
Xray announce that Tobias Hepp has renewed his contract with the Slovakian manufacturer and that the young German will be part of the Xray factory racing team in 2014. Tobias is an 1/8 on-road nitro specialist and has achieved some astonishing results with the RX8 and will continue to race the car in 2014. This is what Tobias has to say about the deal:
I am very proud to continue to be part of the Xray factory racing team. The RX8 has been working extremely well and the development of the RX8 makes great progress. So my motivation has never been stronger for the upcoming season. Lastly I would like to thank to the whole team for the great team work and support and I am really excited for the 2014 season.
Source: Xray [teamxray.com]
Every year, the Snowbird Nationals provides a record number of entries as well as incredibly tough competition. The 2014 version of the Snowbirds again attracted drivers all over the World including China, Japan, UK, Germany, Canada and France. In the F1 class CRC’s new WTF-1 car dominated, taking a strong 1-2 finish with Hayato Ishioka and Brian Wynn qualified and finished 1st and 2nd respectively.
Source: CRC [teamcrc.com]
Reds Racing welcome Martin Lissau to their factory team. The former large scale World Champion will compete with Red engines during his 2014 nitro campaign. This is what Martin has to say about the deal:
I will like to thanks Mario and Marco from Reds for giving me this opportunity to race their products. I’m sure that Reds products will be able to bring some good result with the 2014 season. Thanks a lot guys.
Source: Reds Racing [redsracing.it]
Team Picco announce that Mike Swauger has signed an early contract extension with the Italian-based engine manufacturer. Mike’s previous contract with Picco/kevcoracing was to expire at the end of 2014, but now will continue through 2016.
Source: Picco [teampicco.com]
Front running Italian and 2008 1/10th World Champion Daniele Ielasi has joined Team BMT for the 2014 season. After running for Shepherd for a number of years and using Capricorn cars for the past 6 months Daniele is now looking ahead to working with Italian manufacturer BMT. This is what Daniele had to say about the deal:
I am very happy to join the BMT team for 2014. Special thanks to Pasquale for the offer, a very interesting offer I could not refuse, allowing me to collaborate on a new project, backed by a big name, BMT. I am really excited about this new adventure. I also would like to thank Capricorn and especially Patrizio Rossi for their support over the past 6 months.
