February 28, 2011

Hartson wins 1:8 Electric Buggy

Hartson wins 1:8 Electric Buggy

Associated team driver Steven Hartson has won the Electric Buggy A-Main at ‘The Dirt’ Nitro Challenge to claim his first big 1:8 off road victory.  Better known for his efforts in 1:10 off road, the 19-year-old steered his LRP powered RC8Be to a six second winning margin over the Mugen of Travis Amezcua and Team Losi Racing’s Adam Drake.  Challenged and passed by both Drake and Amezcua in the opening laps of the 10-minute race, the Californian, who was TQ for the race, got back out front setting the fastest lap as he took control of proceedings.

Dylan Rodriguez

Before the Electric Buggy A-main the nitro Buggy B-Main decided the final three position for the main event here at the Nitro Pit.  Starting from pole 17-year-old Dylan Rodriguez cruised his way to victory over fellow Mugen driver Travis Amezcua with Losi driver Matt Schreffer finishing third to secure the 15th spot on the A-Main grid.  Former World Champion Mark Pavidis suffered cruel luck when his Kyosho flamed out on the last lap while running second, a position he held for most of the race.  The B-Main saw the strong run of Team Durango’s Ryan Lutz come to an end. Having started out the day in the D final he bumped up twice to line up on the back of the grid working his way up to fifth by the end of the 20-minute encounter.

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February 27, 2011

Peck & Korn win Short Course at Nitro Challenge

Casey Peck

Team Losi’s Casey Peck and A-Main Hobbies driver Marty Korn took respective victories in 4WD and 2WD at the 12th running of ‘The Dirt’ Nitro Challenge in Arizona. A tough track for the 1:10 electric trucks, having been designed to cater for the large 1:8 Buggy entry, Peck took his Novak powered SCTE to victory after a close battle with the Hobao of Top Qualifier Jeremy Kortz with Kevin Gahan’s Losi completing the podium. Team Durango driver Ryan Lutz, who was making his Short Course debut, was on target to collect a trophy on his first outing but 2-laps from home it was game over. Setting the fastest lap of the race and running second he caught one of the supports for the cross over ending his race on the spot.

Marty Korn

In 2WD Korn took his Proline equipped Associated SC10 to victory over Peck. Describing the final as tough, Korn recovered well from a terrible start but getting his head down 2-minutes into the 10-minute final he was able to work his way back through the field to take the win. Peck who started from 10th on the grid challenged Korn for the win but a mistake near the end meant he had to settle for second. Shane Lyon, who is one of the organisers of this year’s Silver State event at Sin City in Vegas completed the podium also driving an Associated SC10.

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November 13, 2010

Who is running what in Pattaya

Who is running what in Pattaya

1:8 Buggy is a hugely important market for the r/c industry as it enjoys massive popularity and the World Championships is the best place to showcase your products.  Walking around the pits here in Pattaya one can see the importance of being able to call a brand the World Champion by the huge presence of the big manufacturers. Of the capacity 180 entry, the majority of whom are customers paying for products with their own money, it is Kyosho that is the most popular chassis with 18% of the line up using their MP9.  This is no real surprise considering the Japanese company is by far the most winning manufacturer with 7 World Championship titles to its credit.

The only other manufacturer to have won the World title more than once since its inception in 1986, with victory in 1990 and 2004, is Mugen and they are the second most popular brand with 17% of drivers using their MBX-6.  Losi are the third car of choice on 16%.  Interestingly Team Associated a company which holds the most IFMAR World titles, none of which are 1:8 Off Road, makes up just 8% of the field sharing fourth with European manufacturer Xray.  Reigning World Champions Hot Bodies are the fifth most popular chassis with 6%, or 10 cars, running here.  Interestingly the smallest team here is from the best known r/c company in the world, with Tamiya having just a single entry driven by European 1:10 Off Road Champion Lee Martin.

In terms of engines Italy’s Novarossi is the most used engine with 24% just ahead of defending champions OS on 21% who have 5 World titles to their credit.  Securing the Top Qualifier honours here yesterday, Team Orion are the third engine of choice with almost 12%.

You can download the full breakdown here (.xls).

Special thanks to Bernard Durand of Racing Experience who together with RCSpecial and OS trawled the pits yesterday to compile the statistics.

August 8, 2010

Harper & Wilck complete podium in France

Elliot Harper has claimed the Runners-Up spot at the 2010 EFRA European Touring Car Championships after the young British teenager took victory in the third A-Main ahead of Tamiya team-mate Viktor Wilck who completes the podium in Aniche, France.  Having wrapped up the title with victories in the opening two legs of the final, Ronald Volker sat out the third leaving the way clear for a straight battle for the final podium placings.

Although Harper was never headed over the five minutes, the race was the most entertaining of the three.  Afterwards the World Championship podium finisher said that his team-mate was again faster but he knew if he stuck to his line it was going to be very hard for the Swede to find a way past. The 17-year-old felt he didn’t have as good a car today but he was more than satisfied with the end result.  Showing great maturity and professionalism, Harper’s performance here and in Germany has impressed many and one of the first drivers to congratulate him after his leg 3 victory was Volker.

Finishing third overall Wilck was clearly disappointed by not being able to challenge for the overall win today having been on a back foot to Volker from the start of the event. Unfortunately due to the timing of his flight home Wilck was unable to attend the podium presentation, Marc Rheinard having to rush his team-mate to Brussels airport shortly after the 3rd leg.

Andy Moore

Setting the fastest lap of the event on his way to third, Hot Bodies driver Andy Moore looked really strong but the new found pace came a little late in the event and the 2006 Champion ends up fourth overall matching his 2008 result having missed out on the final last year.  Back to back European Junior Champion Yannick Prumper also enjoyed his best run of the day finishing fourth ahead of Team Associated’s Juho Levanen but in the final order they finished in the opposite order.  Completing the Top 6 was out going champion Jilles Groskamp but the Dutch ace was understandably not fully focused on racing today after his father took ill last night and had to undergo surgery this morning.  We are glad to report things went well and on behalf of everyone in the paddock we want to wish Frank a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back trackside again very soon.

The Electric Touring Car Euros bring to an end what has been a very busy Summer tour for Red RC. Special thanks to Speed Passion and LRP for supporting our coverage here in France.

Top 10 finishers

A-main overall results
1. Ronald Volker (DE) – 2pts (Yokomo/LRP)
2. Elliott Harper (GB) – 3pts (Tamiya/Speed Passion)
3. Victor Wilck (SE) – 5pts (Tamiya/Speed Passion)
4. Andy Moore (GB) – 7pts (Hot Bodies/Nosram)
5. Juho Levanen (FIN) – 9pts (Associated/LRP)
6. Yannick Pruemper (DE) – 11pts (Yokomo/Speed Passion)
7. Jilles Groskamp (NL) – 11pts (Tamiya/Team Orion)
8. Loïc Jasmin (FR) – 13pts (Tamiya/Team Orion)
9. Marc Fischer (DE) – 14pts (Corally/GM)
10.Marc Rheinard (DE) – 18pts (Tamiya/Speed Passion)

Full results can be found here.

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