More driver announcements with German Serpent distributor 2-speed announcing that Philip Sting has switched back to Serpent for the coming race season. Starting his racing career with Serpent, Philip is going back to his roots with this decision. He is concentrating on the 1/8 on-road class and will use the Serpent 966TE in combination with Xceed engines, tires and fuel for national and international races.
Source: 2-Speed [2-speed.de]
Capricorn have announced the signing of Dutch driver Jilles Groskamp to their team for 2012. The former ETS and European Electric touring car champion and 1/10th gas Worlds top qualifier, who is based in Thailand, will compete for the Italian company at the Euros in Cassino during the summer and at next November’s World Championship in Bangkok. The former Shepherd driver is currently competing for his new sponsor at the World Championship warmup race which is being held at RC Addict in Thailand this week.
Source: Capricorn [capricornrc.com]
Having recently signed for KM Racing, 2011 Tamiya Asia Cup & World Cup Touring Car GTA Class Champion Nicholas Lee has also joined Matrix tyres for the 2012 season. The Singapore driver has this to say:
As I will be competing at most of the major nitro events this year, it has come to my attention that using the best tyres will be important. So I have chosen Matrix and I would like to thank Cristian for giving me this opportunity. I will give my best to produce desirable, if not winning results in my future races.
Source: Matrix Tires [matrixtires.it]
Picco in Italy have announced that former German champion and multiple World and European finalist Oliver Mack has joined our racing team. The factory Shepherd driver will work closely with Edoardo Picco to race for the coming race season and get important feedback on their Torque on-road engine line. Oliver will make his competition debut with the new engines at the Florida Winternats in the middle of February.
Source: Picco [teampicco.com]
The 1st annual Sweep Carpet Challenge at MRH Raceway of Baltimore Maryland pulled over 100 entries from all over the Northeast, people came from Virginia to New Hampshire to attend. They were greeted with one of the most well kept and cleanest tracks/hobby stores around. Racers didn’t have to worry about needing something that the store didn’t have, as Middle River Hobbies stocks not only hobby supplies, but also everything a racer needs to get through a big race weekend. Sweep tires graciously sponsored the event providing their spec QTS 32 tire and brought all their top drivers down from New York to do battle on the ultra high grip carpet track.
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360 Raceway V2 in New Rochelle, NY hosted the 1st Annual Dash4Cash recently and a full field of over 120 entries meant that the competition would be fierce. The format consisted of practice on Saturday with three qualifying rounds and the main events on Sunday. In Expert Touring Car, Keven Hébert was able to TQ each round of qualifying, which meant he would start the main event on pole in front of Mike Haynes, Robbie Dodge and Jason Schreffler. Qualifying was extremely tight, with the entire main separated by less than 10 seconds. At the start of the main, Keven was able to maintain a small gap to Haynes as they pulled away from the rest of the field. Although he was able to stay close, a mistake at the 3-minute mark allowed Keven to keep a comfortable lead for the remainder of the race and bring home the win. Haynes held on for second, with Robbie Dodge rounding out the podium.
Source: Associated [rc10.com]
Round 4 of the BRCA 1/12th Scale Nationals took place in Plymouth last weekend. In the stock class on Saturday, Team Associated/Reedy/LRP factory driver Olly Jefferies continued his dominant qualifying form by taking his 5th consecutive TQ of the season. Reigning British Champion Andy Griffiths joined Olly on the front row of the A final grid with his Nosram powered V-Dezign car, while former World Champion David Spashett lined up 3rd. In the A final, Olly led Andy and the pair enjoyed a very close race for more than 7 ½ minutes of the race, until a small error just 3 laps from home allowed Andy through into the lead. Chris Kerswell came from 5th on the grid to finish 2nd for Serpent/LRP ahead of Spashett, while Olly could only manage 4th place following another error whilst trying to regain the lead from Andy on the penultimate lap.
Continue reading the report here
Team Sonic have announced the cooperation with former World and European Champion Daniele Ielasi. Together with Sonic creator Patrick Schäfer he is responsible for the development and improvement of the engine line as well as for the sales and support for the competitive Italian market. Additionally he will attend all major national and international races including the 1/8 Euros in Portugal, the 1/10 Euros in Italy and the 1/10 Worlds in Thailand using the Sonic V.12T and the Sonic V.21T. Daniele had the following to say:
First of all I would like thank Picco for the good support over the past years. As the Sonic engines are produced by them I’m sure we continue to be in close contact. Sonic engines offers me a new challenge and I’m extremly happy to increase the collaboration with Shepherd/Sonic and Patrick Schäfer. With my experience I will help as much as possible to ensure a high quality standard and best performance of the Sonic engines.
Source: Sonic Engines [sonic-engines.com]
