Red RC - RC Car News

The fifth and final round of the Essex Winter Series took place this weekend. With a new scoring system in place this year, the results of this event would be crucial to decide the champions. The Modified Touring title fight was a straight battle between Elliott Harper, winner of the first three events, and Olly Jefferies, who took the win at round 4. Olly got proceedings and his Hobbywing debut off to the best start, topping the opening qualifier with his Xray, ahead of Elliott and the Team Associated trio of Matthew White, Chris Grainger and Alan Bickerstaff. Q2 moved Elliott to the top with his LRP-powered Schumacher setting the fastest time, Olly second and Alan third. Elliott topped the third round, ahead of Olly, Chris, Matthew and Yokomo youngster Harley Eldridge. The final qualifier saw a titanic battle to decide pole position, with the two contenders never separated by more than a few tenths of a second. Elliott snatched the win, and with it the pole position, by just one tenth of a second in front of Olly. This moved Elliott one step closer to the title, giving him a five-point lead ahead of the single leg A-final.

Elliott and Olly led the field away, quickly building a gap over the chasing pack. Olly remained close behind Elliott, initially not quite close enough to attempt a move, but Elliott knowing one small mistake would likely see him lose the lead. Behind the leaders, Matthew, Alan, Chris and Harley raced hard for third place, and a potential third overall in the championship. Out front, the one mistake came, and it was from Elliott.  Getting his car sideways at the end of the straight, Olly didn’t need to be asked a second time and snuck through the narrow gap to take the lead. Elliott continued to hound Olly for the remainder of the five minutes and, despite one moment where he managed to get alongside to attempt repay the favour, couldn’t find a way to pass. Thus Olly ran out the winner, with Elliott’s runner up position enough to see him lift the overall EWS Scorpion Modified Championship for the second consecutive year, with Olly second overall and Alan’s fourth place finish giving him third overall ahead of his team mates.

Touring Modified final results:
1. Olly Jefferies – Xray/Hobbywing – 21L 306.67
2. Elliott Harper – Schumacher/LRP – 21L 306.99
3. Matthew White – Team Associated/Reedy – 21L 312.15
4. Alan Bickerstaff – Team Associated/Reedy – 21L 312.81
5. Chris Grainger – Team Associated/Reedy – 21L 313.57
6. Harley Eldridge – Yokomo/LRP – 20L 300.52
7. Alex Thurston – Serpent/Hobbywing – 20L 305.12
8. Phil Chambers – Capricorn/LRP – 20L 309.23
9. Mark Gilliland – Xray/ORCA – 20L 314.46
10.Paul Pinkney – Schumacher/Hobbywing – DNF

Touring Modified top 10 overall results:
1. Elliott Harper – 599
2. Olly Jefferies – 595
3. Alan Bickerstaff – 580
4. Chris Grainger – 576
5. Matthew White – 575
6. Harley Eldridge – 574
7. Paul Pinkney – 558
8. Alex Thurston – 556
9. Stefan Chodzynski – 542
10.Phil Chambers – 542

In the Super Stock Class, Zak Finlay got his run at the title underway by setting the fastest time ahead of Xray team mate Marcus Askell. Richard King (Awesomatix) took third in front of the other main championship challenger Tony Broad. Marcus went fastest in the second round, ahead of Zak, Tony, Ben Pedersen and Daniel Blake, to lead an Xray 1-2-3-4-5. Zak was back on top in the third qualifier, ahead of Marcus, Tony, and Ricky Copsey, making his first run after switching to a privateer Awesomatix. Zak Finlay secured pole position and took a step closer to the Super Stock Championship by going quickest in the final round ahead of Marcus, Tony, Ricky and Tonisport/Tamiya driver Keith Dempsey.

Zak made a clean start at the front of the A-final, whilst Tony appeared to have found a little more speed and hustled Marcus from lap one. Whilst Tony and Marcus continued to fight, Zak got his head down and extended his lead out to around two and a half seconds. Tony tried everything he could, but the former series champion could not get past Marcus, who drove a perfect race under pressure. Therefore, out in front Zak had a lonely drive to secure both the win and the overall EWS Super Stock Championship. Tony still finished second overall, with Marcus’ strong run of results in the second half of the season lifting him to third overall.

Touring Super Stock final results:
1. Zak Finlay – Xray – 20L 301.74
2. Marcus Askell – Xray – 20L 304.39
3. Tony Broad – Xray – 20L 305.60
4. Ricky Copsey – Awesomatix – 20L 308.67
5. Richard King – Awesomatix – 20L 311.49
6. Ben Pedersen – Xray – 20L 311.67
7. Daniel Blake – Xray – 20L 313.05
8. Matthew Worton – Xray – 19L 302.24
9. Tim Hancock – Xray – 19L 302.60
10.Keith Dempsey – Tamiya – 19L 303.77

Touring Super Stock top 10 overall results:
1. Zak Finlay – 600
2. Tony Broad – 594
3. Marcus Askell – 590
4. Ricky Copsey – 581
5. Richard King – 579
6. Tim Hancock – 571
7. Keith Dempsey – 563
8. Ben Pedersen – 563
9. Matthew Worton – 540
10.Leyton Foster – 533

In the Junior rankings, Harley Eldridge’s top 10 result had her taking the Modified trophy, whilst in Super Stock, Bradley Coaker took the top spot with 454 points, just ahead of Adam Southgate (442), Thomas Gill (421) and Oscar King (230). Full results from round five, along with the Championship standings and tech charts which will follow shortly, can be found here. The EWS Events team now have a short break before returning for the EWS International, which takes place 31st March to 2nd April to round out the UK and European carpet season.

Source: EWS [ewsevents.co.uk]

The fourth round of the South Swedish Indoor Cup was hosted by Waxjo MS and held in the small town of Alvesta. Even though the track is quite small, it offered a very nice flow with a lot of speed and traction. In the Touring Modified class local talent Markus Hellquist (Xray) would top the qualifiers ahead of his club mate Erik Ström (Xray) and third placed Daniel Carlsson (Team Associoated), less than a second behind. In the Formula class Fredrik von Elling (Xray) took an uncontested TQ ahead of Raymond Oskarsson (Xray). Günter von Elling (Xray) secured the 3 spot on the grid a couple of second behind.

In the Touring Modified A-mains, Markus Hellquist secured the overall victory with two easy wins. The battle for the remaining podium spots was a pretty intense one and ultimately Daniel Carlsson took the took the runner-up spot ahead of Jonas Andersson (Tamiya) in third.

Touring Modified final results:
1. Markus Hellquist – Xray/ORCA
2. Daniel Carlsson – Team Associated/Hobbywing
3. Jonas Andersson – Tamiya/LRP
4. Mikael Fransson – Team Associated/Hobbywing
5. Fabian Vernersson – Serpent/Hobbywing
6. Erik Ström – Xray/Hobbywing
7. Andre Fossto – Yokomo/Hobbywing
8. Lukas Knutsson – Serpent/–
9. Christian Holmström – Serpent/–
10.Mattis Järgren – Xray/–

In the Formula finals Fredrik von Elling took three convincing victories, ahead of Raymond Oskarsson and Günter von Elling.

Formula final results:
1. Fredrik von Elling – Xray
2. Raymond Oskarsson – Xray
3. Günter von Elling – Xray
4. Kalle Helgen – VBC
5. Johnny Karlsson – Tamyia
6. Johan Sjögren – n/a
7. Johan Blomqvist – n/a
8. Elsa Bohman – n/a

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

Following a series of teasing images Xray have finally revealed the 2017 variant of their popular XB8 1/8th nitro buggy platform. The follow-up model of the 2016 EFRA vice European Champion is based on a 3mm 7075-T6 aluminium chassis that makes for an updated weight distribution and it utilises a range of redesigned drivetrain and suspension parts to further up the overall performance and to make for optimised traction in a range of conditions. Starting up front the 2017 kit comes with more narrow front lower arms that sit in a more forward position while new trailing axle front steering knuckles increase forward traction, resulting in better handling. On top of this do improved steering pivot balls eliminate unwanted wheel lock at high steering angles.

Also new for 2017 are a composite upper steering plate with suitable aluminium steering bellcrank posts, and a more reliable carbon-reinforced servo saver along improved steering knuckle Ackermann plates optimise cornering characteristics.

Moving to the rear of the buggy new longer lower arms make the buggy easier to drive in most track conditions while shorter RF and RR suspension mounts keep the track width the same. New for 2017 are also optional graphite stiffeners for the chassis guards to fine-tune the chassis flex characteristics and improved brake cam rods result in optimised stopping performance.

Onto another area the 2017 variant received some major upgrades: the drivetrain. New for this year are large volume differentials with stronger 2.5mm pins, improved and newly shaped internal gears that utilise more teeth and the kit also comes with updated differential outdrives as well as rubber-sealed differential housings. Included are also a larger 46T main gear and improved gaskets. The kit is rounded out by hard aluminium clutch shoes for a less aggressive clutch engagement.

2017 features:
– Large volume front, central, and rear differentials
– Stronger 2.5mm diff pins
– Front/rear & centre cross diff pins
– Internal diff gears with more teeth and improved tooth profiles
– Improved diff outdrives
– Larger 46T central diff gear
– Rubber-sealed composite front/rear & centre differential housings
– Front/rear & centre differential gaskets
– Front trailing steering blocks give increased forward traction and better handling
– Improved steering block Ackermann plates
– More reliable graphite servo saver
– Composite front upper top deck
– Improved alu steering posts to accommodate new front upper plate
– Improved steering pivot balls eliminate wheel lock
– Narrower front lower arms move the arms more frontwards
– Longer rear arms for better handling & more traction
– Shorter rear suspension holders
– Improved weight balance
– Better flex adjustment using optional graphite stiffeners for chassis guards
– Hard alu clutch shoes for less aggressive engagement
– Improved brake cam rods

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

Round five of the Lestr Cup was held this past weekend. In the 2WD class, Xray’s Kaja Novotny started with a TQ in round one but contacts with slower drivers in Q2 and a DNF in Q3 only meant a P2 spot on the grid behind young Milan Mudra (Xray) and in front of Jiri Mara (Serpent). In the 4WD class things looked a bit different and Kaja made a clean sweep to grab the pole position from Milan Mudra and Zdenek Miksovsky (all Xray).

In the 2WD finals Kaja and Milan battled in the opening stages but once Kaja had settled himself he never looked back to take commanding wins. Overall and behind Kaja, Milan Mudra came in second from Jiri Mara.

2WD top 5 results:
1. Kaja Novotny – Xray
2. Milan Mudra – Xray
3. Jiri Mara – Serpent
4. Zdenek Miksovsky – Xray
5. Vaclav Broz – Serpent

In the 4WD finals the top 3 drivers continued to lay down swift laps and at the end Kaja, Milan and Zdenek would make up the top 3 as they did after the qualifiers.

4WD top 5 results:
1. Kaja Novotny – Xray
2. Milan Mudra – Xray
3. Zdenek Miksovsky – Xray
4. Jiri Mara – Serpent
5. Frantisek Kalenda – Xray

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

Round four of the Finnish Winter Jumps Series was held at the new Äänekoski track in central Finland. The race day started with a domination of local Schumacher driver, Touko Silpola. He was the fastest driver in the practice rounds and in two of the four qualifying rounds as well. As Karri Salmela (Team Associated) got used to the track he got closer and closer to Touko and finally he was the fastest guy on the track. The battle behind Karri for the 2nd place was a really tight one. Touko Silpola, Jarno Siltanen and Juho Rajaniemi all had a shot on the podium and at the end Juho and Jarno would make up the podium behind Karri.

2WD final results:
1. Karri Salmela – Team Associated
2. Juho Rajaniemi – Team Associated
3. Jarno Siltanen – Schumacher
4. Touko Silpola – Schumacher
5. Lauri Ruotsalainen – Team Durango
6. Mikko Luopajärvi – Team Associated
7. Jamiel Gabrielsson – Team Associated
8. Konsta Saarinen – Xray
9. Tuomo Otsavaara – Xray
10.Ville Mäki – Team Associated

On Sunday the 4WD portion of the event was held. Joona Haatanen, who was not able to race on Saturday, attended the 4WD class and he was fast from the get go but the race was much tighter than expected and it was Juho Rajaniemi who managed to take the TQ and the victory in front of Joona and local young star Jamiel Gabrielsson.

4WD final results:
1. Juho Rajaniemi – Team Durango
2. Joona Haatanen – Team Associated
3. Jamiel Gabrielsson – Team Associated
4. Lauri Ruotsalainen – Team Durango
5. Konsta Saarinen – Xray
6. Tuomo Otsavaara – Xray
7. Jarno Siltanen – Schumacher
8. Mikko Luopajärvi – Team Associated
9. Markku Honkanen – Team Durango
10.Topi Salminen – Xray

Thanks to Matti Eskelinen for the report.

Italian company Capricorn have introduced the new P1-235 Pro10 chassis kit. Sharing most parts with the 200mm wide P1 car the 235mm Pro10 features a centre point bellcrank steering system with an in-line servo position, the kit comes with adjustable side links, an aluminium front stiffing rod and the chassis can accommodate optional tungsten weights to alter the weight bias and thus steering and overall traction. On top of this the motor pod allows to mount the speed controller in the motor area for even more weight distribution options.

Source: Capricorn [capricornrc.com]

The inaugural GT12 World Championship was held this past weekend in front of a large public audience in Milton Keynes’ main shopping centre, The Centre:MK. The Reedy Race style event saw the drivers compete in 10 races with 8 to count towards the overall championship. The battle raged at the top between David Spashett, Ollie Payne and Michal Orlowski. All three drivers would have a perfect score of 8 wins each so the deciding factor would be the fastest race time over the weekend. Spashett was looking in pole position to take it with a blindingly quick time in the last race of Saturday in perfect track conditions and starting towards the front of the grid. The deciding race for Michal was his last one, starting from 8th on the grid, nobody really thought it was possible to beat Spashett’s time.

Michal made up to second after the first lap with some stunning passes and hit the front with relative ease, then it was time to push before he came to the back markers. Two scary moments followed with drivers not paying attention to what was unfolding, but Michal came through and was able to push again towards the end with a time just 1 second faster than Spashett. So after 10 races over 3 days just the 1 second gap separated Orlowski from his rivals, an exceptional performance especially as he only saw the car for the first time on Friday morning.

Source: Schumacher [racing-cars.com]

Revolution Design Racing Products have released a set of aluminium rod end balls for the Team Associated RC8B3 series of kits. The parts are machined from aircraft-grade 7075 aluminium and come hard-anodised for wear, meaning they will last longer while not being prone to corrode in unfriendly environments. An inner hex portion makes installing and setup changes easy. On top of this the balls save about 1g per piece compared to the standard steel parts. The rod end balls come in sets of eight and they are compatible to all 3rd generation RC8 kits including the RC8B, RC8B3e, RC8T3 and RC8T3e.

Source: RDRP [revolution-rc.com]

The penultimate round of the 2016/17 Mibosport Cup was held at the Hotel-Sport in Hrotovice with 160 drivers entering the six electric on-road and off-road classes. In the Touring Modified class qualifying it was Dominic Vogl who was closely followed by Magnus Vässmar and Matej Dobnikar. In the triple A-mains Dominic didn’t give Magnus any chance for overtaking and so he won all three A-main legs right ahead of Vässmar. In the opening two finals, the third place finishes went to Matej Dobnikar while Oliver Havránek finished third in the final A-main. So overall Dominic Vogl took the win with Magnus Vässmar and Matej Dobnikar completing the podium.

Philipp Neudinger dominated the qualifying of the Stock LRP class and he took the overall TQ without any problems. Oliver Havránek started from the second position ahead of Christian Völker. In the opening A-main Philipp and Oliver quickly opened a gap on their rivals and up front Philipp was able to open a small gap on Oliver to take the win while Nick Briesemeister came in third. It looked like Philipp was about to win even the second A-main when he made a mistake in the opening stages followed by another mistake in lap four which allowed Oliver Havránek to take the lead. Christian Völker finished on the second place behind Oliver while Philipp managed to recover to a third place finish. Philipp and Oliver again made a comfortable gap on the field in the final A-main. Oliver was trying to find a place for overtaking but Philipp was controlling the gap and finally managed to leave Oliver behind till the end of the race as Christian Völker took the third place so the overall win went to Phillip Neudinger with Oliver Havránek and Christian Völker behind.

Lukáš Hoch won the Formula qualifying ahead of Thomas Dvorszky and Bernd Koller. Lukáš led the way in the first A-main when he made a mistake allowing Thomas Dvorszky to take the lead. Thomas Göschl managed to take the second place after starting from the sixth position, promoting Bernd Koller to third. The second A-main saw a battle between Lukáš Hoch and Thomas Dvorszky. These drivers were racing very closely to each other the whole race. In the end, the victory went to Lukáš, Thomas took the second position just three tenths behind the winner while Bernd Koller finished third. The battle between Lukáš and Thomas continued in the third A-main with Bernd Koller trying to join the group as well. Lukáš managed to keep the lead till the end of the final to take the win ahead of Thomas and Bernd. Overall Lukáš Hoch grabbed the win and became the only Czech driver of the event to take the top spot on the podium.

The qualifying of the 1/12th scale class, that saw only eight participants this time, was won by Tomáš Lipták. Tomáš was in the lead in the first A-main, when he had to retire on the second lap. Wolfgang Reichel then took the leading position and kept it till the end of the final. Igor Lipták finished second ahead of Thomas Göschl. The second A-main was then won by Tomáš Lipták with Thomas Dvorszky and Wolfgang Reichel behind. It seemed like Tomáš would also bring home the win in A3 when he made a mistake on lap 8, allowing Thomas Dvorszky to take the lead. Wolfgang Reichel finished second meaning an overall victory for him. The second spot on the podium went to Thomas Dvorszky with Tomáš Lipták coming in third.

In the 2WD Buggy class Hupo Hönigl dominated the. Kája Novotný took the second place with Peter Loncsar taking the third spot on the grid. Hupo then also gave any chance to his rivals and won all the three A-mains in style. Kája Novotný managed to take the second place in the first A-main ahead of Marcel Rekettye. In the second A-main, Peter Loncsar finished second behind Hupo with Kája Novotný behind. The third A-main must have been a nightmare for Kája who finished on the eight place. Daniel Kobbevik then took the second place with Peter Loncsar behind. Overall and behind Hupo, Kája Novotný and Peter Loncsar completed the podium.

In the 4WD class, Kája Novotný came out on top after the qualifying from Daniel Kobbevik and Hupo Hönigl. In the first A-main, Hupo managed to get in the lead and he kept the first position till the finish line while Kája finished second with Daniel Kobbevik in third. Kája was in the lead in the second A-main when Hupo got past about halfway into the race as Daniel Kobbevik finished third. With two wins and the overall victory in his pockets, Hupo opted to sit out A3, allowing Kája Novotný to take the victory with Daniel Kobbevik and Max Götzl behind. Behind Hupo, Kája Novotný and Daniel Kobbevik completing the podium. The final round of the Mibosport Cup series will be held on the 25th of March.

Source: Mibosport [mibosport.com]

Coming from Italian company Tommygarage and made for HB Racing’s E817 1/8th electric off-road buggy are front and rear carbon fibre shock towers. Made in Italy, the parts are machined from 5mm high-quality carbon fibre and they are direct replacements for the standard alloy shock towers.

Source: Tommygarage [tommygarage.eu]