June 23, 2025

Trio of ROAR 1:8 titles for Phend

Xray’s Dakotah Phend has pulled of a trio of ROAR National titles ending a successful week of racing at 2026 World Championship host track Thornhill Racing Circuit in Texas by taking the 1:8 Nitro Buggy title.  Having won Nitro Truggy and eBuggy earlier in the week, getting to the big one Phend would secure the TQ ahead of Tekno pairing Seth VanDalen and Ryan Maifield, the defending 2024 double Buggy Champion.  In the 1-hour final, the first 30-minutes saw Phend lead comfortably but then a flameout during a fuel stop promoted Maifield into the lead.  On Phend’s return to the track, he chased down Maifield but mistakes prevented a pass, that as until the final 3-minute.  Maifield got the triple wrong and ended up on his roof allowing Phend back into a lead he would not relinquish.  With Phend re-taking the title he last held in 2023, outgoing Champion Maifield took second 1.5-seconds back with the podium completed by VanDalen.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]


June 23, 2025

Beretta crowned new 1:8 GT European Champion

Genius Racing’s Filippo Beretta is the new EFRA 1:8 GT Nitro European Champion.  Racing at the MRC Leipzig track in Germany, the Italian topped the opening three qualifiers to secure the TQ ahead of team-mate and 2022 & 2023 Champion Bernard-Alain Arnaldi.  Topping the fifth & final qualifier Daniel Schepis secured third ahead of Andrea Catanzani, the Serpent having topped seeding.  Missing the cut of directly qualifying for the 45-minute title deciding final, the Raptor of Alessio Mazzeo qualified P5 ahead of Capricorn’s Alex D’angelo.  In the final it was very much Beretta who was in control however Catanzani found a way passed his fellow countryman with 5:30 on the clock.  Crossing the finish just half a second ahead it looked like Catanzani was the new European Champion however in post race technical inspection his fuel tank failed and Beretta was declared the Champion of the 4th running of the European Championships.  It would be an all Genius Racing podium with Leonardo Valente second and Arnaldi third.  Travelling to Germany as the reigning Champion Natanaele Senesi would finish P4 having had issues in qualifying and ended up P11.  Reigning World Champion Toni Gruber qualified 9th and like Senesi had to come through the Semi finals eventually finishing P7.  In 1:8 Electric GT it was Xray’s Adam Izsay who the new Champion ahead of 2023 Champion Mazzeo with Schepis completing the podium.

Image: EFRA [Facebook]


June 23, 2025

KM Racing MR04 94mm Disc Damper

Mini Z parts manufacturer KM Racing have release this 94mm Disc Damper for the Kyosho MR04.  Both functional and aesthetically pleasing, it is compatible with KM Racing MR04 low CG motor mount the Hong Kong company announced last month.  Integrated with the MR04 chassis for a cleaner and more aesthetically refined appearance, it reduces traction roll incidents during racing.

View more images here


June 23, 2025

Avid Xray Shock Shaft Conversion and Pistons

New from Avid Racing Concepts are these Xray Shock Shaft Conversions and Machined Pistons that remove the need for e-clips.  The US company’s system has the perfect tolerance so when you fully tighten down the screw, the full assortment of pre-drilled Avid pistons are still allowed to slightly spin keeping it from deforming.  To finish the shafts they are chrome-plated to ensure the smoothest surface possible.  The machined 13.2mm pistons are for the Avid Shock Shaft Conversion for the new Xray big bore shocks.  They offer a conventional setup but with a perfectly machined round piston and square 90° edges for a tight- fitting piston that has little blow-by creating more pack on jumps.  The Xray ground piston only comes in blanks and it has a slight indentation cut on the top taking away from its total thickness.  Avid have developed a process of keeping all the edges sharp with little to no burrs to keep your confidence high when landing big jumps.

View pistons here


June 23, 2025

Moto Obscura 8-32 Serrated Wheel Nuts

New from vintage racing accessories brand Moto-Obscura come these 8-32 serrated wheel nuts.  Compatible with all vintage kit releases that use 8-32 threaded axles,  the wheel nuts are machined from 7075 Aluminium Alloy and are completed with a sleek black anodised finish.  Thanks to its sharp serrations, these wheel nuts are more secure than other types of locking nuts. You don’t need to crank down for them to grip the wheel and stay tight.  Less torque on the nut also puts less thrust pressure on your bearings, which means they’ll spin freer and last longer too.  Sold as a set of four, these serrated nuts require an 11/32 nut driver and fit any vehicle that uses standard 8-32 axles.

Source: Moto-Obscura [moto-obscura.com]


June 20, 2025

Xray X4F‘26 Front Wheel Drive TC

Xray has released details of the 2026 kit of their X4F Front Wheel Drive Touring Car.  The X4F‘26 features an all-new carbon chassis with mid and rear cut outs which creates flex that generates more rotation and steering.  The 12-gram weight reduction from the cutouts means more ballast weight can be positioned on the chassis to alter weight distribution.  Xray have also redesigned the carbon rear upper holder to improve durability in hard crashes.  The carbon plate utilises a new wave design, instead of the previous fixed cross member, which allows more flex in the rear suspension to improve rotation and off-power steering.  Link style upper suspension arms are included in the kit as an alternative to the traditional CFF upper arms for maximum adjustability & improved handling in certain conditions.  The car gets shorter shocks, positioned 3mm lower than previous geometry, improving cornering speed, mid-corner steering and stability, it also reduce traction rolling in high traction conditions.  New shock holders are relocate to the upper shock mount positions to compliment shorter shock geometry.  All-new adjustable steering arm provides easy Ackermann tuning by changing eccentric bushings and the servo mount has been redesigned for the new carbon battery holder.  A new rear top deck with a more open rear section improves rotation and off-power steering.

View the full X4F‘26 presentation here


June 20, 2025

Sweep official 1:8 GT World Championship tyre supplier

As Chile continues its preparation for hosting the IFMAR 1:8 GT World Championships in September, the organisers have announced Sweep as the official tyre supplier.  Racers will use the recently released D-SPEC GT 40 tyre.  The organisers have been testing the tyre in various conditions with their advisors since January and ultimately made the decision after a comparison test with other options at the Club de Aeromodelos de Chile (CACH) in the past 2 weeks when weather conditions were similar to those expect in September.  The main focus was performance, durability, quality and how long they took to reach optimum performance (considering that EP racing cannot afford to have a lengthy warm up period and tire warmers are not allowed).

Source: IFMAR Worlds Chile 2025 [ifmarworlds2025.com] 


June 20, 2025

FX Engines for Orlowski

FX Engines have announced that Michal Orlowski will be racing the Slovakian made engines.  The Polish driver will us the Hudy owned brand of engines to power his upcoming 1:8 Offroad campaigns at the Polish Nationals and EFRA European Championships in Portugal.  On the announcement Schumacher’s Electric Onroad and 1:10 Offroad ace posted, ‘Looking forward to having some fun with nitro in the next few weeks with my Schumacher prototype! Thanks FX Engines!’

Source: FX Engines [fx-engines.com]


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