August 2, 2009

New in the Pits – Part 2

Shown to us earlier in the week by Oscar Jansen of Team Orion, but asked not to publish it until today, is the company’s all new brushless competition motor called the Vortex Race 2010. Starting with a clean sheet of paper the new motor sports a shorter can than the previous version and is now made from a much thicker material allowing for better heat dissipation. Other new features include high speed, small diameter, bearings that along with a new smaller diameter rotor shaft ensures higher RPM. The sensor unit has also been changed with the connector for the cable moved to the centre of the motor, which not only keeps the wire away from getting caught while on track, but allows a simple and wide adjustment of the timing. The changes don’t stop there, with an extra thick wire connector ring and solder tabs for getting the power from the ESC to the motor with less resistance, and the solder tabs are now also open ended for easier soldering of the wires to the motor.

Also new in the pitlane is the latest version of the Robitronic Avid touring car which is due for general release later this year. The car which is still in development is almost completely new with new chassis plate, top deck, front and rear bulkheads and the car is now much lower than the previous version for better centre of gravity.

View our event image gallery here.

July 30, 2009

New in the Pits – Part 1

Seen for the first time at the Euro Touring Series race in Andernach, 2 weeks ago, the new Speedpassion Competition 3.0 motor is making its public debut at this race. Tested by a number of the Speedpassion team drivers, the new motor features a shorter can that sees the cables from the speed controller connected to the motor using 3 plugs that are plugged directly into the rear of the motor. This is said to be more efficient as it connects directly to the internal wires and not through a circuit that brings the power to the conventional tabs on one side of the motor. Drivers who have used the new motor say that it gives a much smoother power delivery than the current motor. Expect it to be released at the end of August.

View our event image gallery here.

July 25, 2009

New in the Pits – Part 3

After qualifying ended we sat down with Engine tuning guru Mario Rossi to discuss his latest venture Reds Racing. The name comes from Mario’s second name which translates to the english word Red and is the result of his collaboration with Salvatore Schepis of SM Models that we announced back in April. Using the BOSS engine as a base, Mario will tune the unfinished parts that he receives from LM, who currently manufacturer these engines. Together with his son Marco, who brings his engineering skills to the project, the two will work on creating the new line of motors.

Expected to be available in September, there will be 2 types of engines to choose from, a hand modified top of the line motor with ceramic bearings and aluminium carburettor and a standard version that has steel bearings and a plastic carburettor. The two are easily differentiated by their case colour which is grey for the modified version and silver for the standard. Available in .12 and .21 versions, Schepis Models will handle the worldwide sales through their network of BOSS engine distributors.

View more photos of this new engine here.

July 22, 2009

New in the Pits – Part 2

Making its competition debut at this race is the Velox V10 chassis from Shepherd. Only one car at the event, it is being driven by non other than current World Champion Daniele Ielasi. The car which is in its production form looks very similar to that seen at the toy fair with the exception of a few plastic parts that replace aluminium prototype parts. The car is going well and despite it being the first time Daniele drove the production car, he is confident of a good finish come Sunday.

Also new and proving to be very popular in the pits is the new small INS box from Xceed RC. The low profile, lightweight (only 19 grams) filter was only released earlier this month while available in both clear and black it is only here in its semi transparent form as seen on the car of Michael Salven above.

View more images of the new products in our event gallery here.

July 22, 2009

New in the Pits – Part 1

New in the pits is the Capricorn RC 200mm car, which is making its competition debut here in Gubbio. The car, which we featured CAD images of some time ago, is nearing completion with only a few parts left to be finalised before its scheduled release next month. We took a look at the car belonging to Martin Christensen, one of only two cars here and he talked us through it. The car is extremely low and as is the trend with modern 200mm touring cars, the bulkheads are machined from aluminium like on the new Serpent 733 and the Shepherd Velox V10. This provides a lot of stiffness and brings the weight more to the centre line of the car.

A conventional car regarding geometry and adjustment possibilities, the car sports a nice feature that allows the entire axles, along with CVD shaft, to be pulled through the blocks by removing a clip mounted on the inside. Other nice touches are the machined aluminium servo saver, that has carbon inserts to adjust the Ackermann, and the differentials that are using the company’s own composite diff gears for a large weight saving. With this weight saving, the car can now utilzise a brass battery plate to bring the weight down as low as possible. Overall a nice looking car, especially with the red anodising, and one of the best things that Martin liked about the car is its simplicity and ease of maintenance.

View more images of the new car in our event gallery here.

July 10, 2009

New in the pits – Part 3

Our 3rd instalment of what’s new in the pits starts with a new line of buggy tires from LRP. The as yet un-named pattern has been designed specifically for this track, so for use on abrasive surfaces with little or no dust. Comprising of a row of hard X shaped pins in the centre for long wearing forward traction, a row of angled side pins offer stability over the bumps but can also be removed for more side traction. The pattern also makes use of a second stage system, that has ribbing on the tires surface that bring stability to the pins when new, and which when worn ensure enough the tire has enough rubber to make it to the end of a long final. LRP have brought their M compound to this race, which is their hardest compound, but it will also be available in soft and super soft versions too. Expect the release to come in the next 3 months as the company finalises the tires thread pattern.

From Italian brand Fast Race is a number of new items, including their new carbon service. A special treatment, it will give any plastic part on your car that great carbon look. Available to the public in around 2 months, they will have parts from Mugen, Xray, Losi and Kyosho buggies in stock and to obtain these parts you can either just buy them directly or send them the part, pay the service fee, and have the parts sent back to you. Its a great looking result and can even work with complex parts such as the transmission casing seen above.

Fast Race also released a new chassis, currently for the MBX-6, and being used by top Italian racer Fabio Boero, it is 4mm thick and machined on the top side to reduce weight and because it is so rigid, there is no longer a need to use chassis stiffeners. Other features of the chassis plate include a ventilated radio box, which is super important in hot racing conditions. Expect a version for Kyosho and Xray in the coming months. Finally, Fast Race have released a new 83mm diameter buggy wheel called the VXL, which is super strong and comes in both yellow and white.

Finally, PSM Racing have shown us their new 0 degree engine mounts that convert the Hyper 9’s angled engine to a conventional upright position. Blue anodised, and finned for aiding the cooling, the set also comes with a small carbon plate and aluminium post for converting the throttle linkage to work with the now upright engine. Having your engine stand up straight aids the cooling of the motor as the cooling head is now more exposed that with the previous angled engine.

View our event image gallery here.