Red RC - RC Car News

Xray have released a first teaser of the forthcoming RX8 2017 1/8th scale nitro on-road car. As usual no official details are available prior to the release, that is set for sometime in March, but we keep you up to date on all information as soon as they surface.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

David Ehrbar has got Round 2 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series off to a perfect start, the top seed backing up his practice topping pace by TQ’ing the first round of qualifying in Germany.  Winner of the season opener in the Czech Republic, the Serpent driver had a 2-second advantage over the Xray of Matej Dobnikar over the 21-laps completed, posting the fastest lap along the way.  Fourth fastest in practice, reigning champion Jan Ratheisky would set the third quickest time ahead of Xray team-mate Noah Asendorf, the Swiss driver less than 1/10th off the German.  Completing the Top 5 would be Pro Stock top seed Alexander Stocker at the controls of his Roche.  Runner-up at ETS Czech, then driving for Roche, Season #9 championship front runner Olivier Bultynck would put his new Shepherd chassis in the top heat but the first qualifier would see the Belgian have some bad laps resulting in a 12th for the round.  For the season opener’s other podium finisher René Kölbel, who finds himself in the second fastest heat, Q1 would net the Austrian a P10.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Italian company ZF Concepts have introduced their all-new Z4 1/8th nitro on-road car. Designed by Federico Zugno the car will offer some new-to-the-class features such as the extensive use of composite materials over aluminium and so the kit will feature a moulded rear mono block for perfect transmission alignment and an integrated body support, it sports an easily adjustable rear swaybar as well as a front suspension that allows for nine different roll centre settings. On top of this the gearbox axle will be supported by four instead of two ball races. The Italian-made kit will hit domestic stores early March and it will become available World-wide a bit later that month.

Source: ZF Concepts [facebook.com]

Awesomatix driver Markus Kreder has TQ’d the opening round of Pro Stock qualifying at ETS Germany, the German recording 24-laps to top the times ahead of Team Magic driver Patrick Gassauer.  Running together in the second fastest heat, just over 1/10th of a second separated them with Noah Asendorf, also running the same heat, completing the Top 3 just missing out on achieving a 24 lap-run.  While former ETS Champion Alexander Stocker set the pace in controlled practice to be the top seed for qualifying, when it came to qualifying none of the Top 11 that made up the top heat would post a Top 10 time. With ETS Czech winner & early championship leader Alexandre Duchet fastest in a top heat fraught with incidents ahead of Xray team-mate Jan Ratheisky, the times where not there with Duchet’s pace only good enough for P12 while reigning champion Ratheisky found himself down in 15th.   For Stocker, Q1 fared even worse with an incident on lap 3 costing the Awesomatix driver, who posted the fastest lap of the top heat, over 3-seconds resulting in the German being 31st fastest.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Host – ETS
Country – Germany
Location – Muelheim-Kaerlich
Venue – Philipp-Heift Halle
Track type – Temporary
Surface – Carpet
Direction – Anti-Clockwise
Previous ETS races hosted – 5

The German round of the Euro Touring Series makes its sixth visit to Muelheim-Kaerlich, the race remaining the biggest on the six round ETS calendar with this year attracting over 350 entries.  Held in the Philipp-Heift Halle, the biggest change to previous years is not visual but organisational with the schedule split to accommodate the large entry.  Traditionally each round of practice, qualifying and Mains includes all three classes of the ETS but to make days shorter for racers, these classes have been separated.  This means the first half of the opening day is now dedicated to the biggest class, the Xray Pro Stock class, who will run their practice rounds and opening qualifier before the action switches over to the Scorpion Formula class and ending with the Volante Modified action.

On closer inspection of the fast flowing track, the shade of the black ETS carpet, which while the manufacturer says its the same material, is a lighter colour.   With the carpet coming in the same batch as that used for the nearby Arena 33, where the new indoor facility has been a hive of activity all week with drivers testing ahead of the ETS weekend, the colour difference appears to have little effect the characteristics of the carpet.   In terms of the track size, it again covers the same 20m X 34m area but gone are the plastic lane dividers which have been replaced with wood.

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Capricorn have introduced new lower shock link plates for the C803 on-road kit. Machined from high-quality aluminium and coming clear anodised the parts help to maintain the given shock angle even when changing the lower A-arm width using the different suspension mount insert settings. With the new parts it is now even possible to use the longest 25mm setting.

Source: Capricorn [capricornrc.com]

Coming from Pro-Line and made for the Traxxas X-Maxx monster truck is the pre-cut Ford F-150 Raptor bodyshell. Resembling the 2017 variant of the popular pick-up truck the body is a direct fit to Traxxas’ big gun monster truck and it comes clear, including window masks and decal sheet. On top of this the body will be delivered pre-cut, minimising preparation time.

Source: Pro-Line [prolineracing.com]

Xray have announced the signing of multiple Greek national champion, Nikos Georgiadis to their factory team for the 2017 season. Nikos has been a long time Xray privateer and for the 2017 season he will be enjoying full factory support. Nikos is focused on 1/10th on-road racing and will compete at all the major national and international races and he had the following to say:

I have only the best experience with Xray as a private driver and thanks to the performance and reliability I was able to achieve all my current wins and victories. Signing my contract as an Xray factory driver is an excellent moment in my racing career that will hopefully boost my experience and knowledge further. I will continue to share the knowledge and experience with local RC drivers and will continue to support this sport. Big thanks to Xray for this opportunity and a new challenge for me to be part of a truly high-end international RC car racing family and the best team on planet. I’m looking forward to the 2017 season with Xray.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

Coming from Pro-Line are the new Pro-Forge 1.9″ aluminium bead-loc 6-lug wheels. CNC-machined in the USA the wheels are designed to not only look scale, but to perform in even the toughest conditions. They feature the industry standard 6 Lug hex mounting design and pair with Pro-Line’s new 6-lug 12mm standard offset hex adapters, which are sold separately. The overall wheel width of the Pro-Forge is 2mm wider than both the FaultLine and Denail 1.9″ wheels but maintains the standard wheel offset. Black die-cast bead-loc rings and hardware are included to hold 1.9″ crawling tyres onto the wheel. The rims are available in clear and bronze anodised finish.

As for the optional adapters, these are made of high-quality aluminium to perform even in the toughest condition. A black anodised surface makes for improved wear characteristics and they fit perfectly with the latest option part, brass brake rotor weights. Designed especially for the use with the 6-lug adapters and wheels, the weights attach to the adapters using three screws and while mimicking brake discs they also help to up the weight of the wheels which can be helpful in several occasions.

Source: Pro-Line [prolineracing.com]

LRP have announced the signing of Spanish up and coming driver, Dani Batlle. Brother of record national and former IFMAR World Champion, Robert Batlle, Dani will use LRP electronics in his upcoming 1/8th nitro and electric campaign and he has the following to say about the deal:

I am really happy about the collaboration with LRP. I think LRP is one of the best brands in RC with high-quality products and exceptional service and that’s why I have chosen to run for Blue is Better. I hope I can celebrate many victories with them both in nitro and electric racing.

Source: LRP [lrp.cc]

Scorpion’s RS-3420 21.5T ETS electric brushless motor builds on the proven RS-3420 series modified and stock motors for exceptional performance and drivability. It features a 12.5mm rotor with patented screw-type surface for maximum torque and low running temperatures while a built-in cooling fan further reduces internal heat built-up. The can’s heatsink design offers up to 200 percent more cooling surface compared to plain can motors while a special design allows to maximise the copper fill of the windings. The motor, that is the hand-out motor for the Formula class of the Euro Touring Series, comes with special ETS markings for easy identification and it is available now.

Source: Scorpion [scorpionsystem.com]

ARC have introduced the R8.1 1/8th nitro on-road car. The latest version comes with an all-new chassis design that utilises a sliding weight system in the front that allows to easily and conveniently adjust the weight bias using a sliding brass weight. Also new is the Flex Upper Deck that has become a standard part and that allows to adjust the front end flex by installing or removing a Y-brace. A similar system in the rear of the car helps to further fine-tune the overall torsional flex of the car.

While being in the rear, the 2017 kit comes with a new rear anti-roll bar that was designed to sit further forward which results in a more linear action, increasing the overall stability of the car. Another new feature for the R8.1 is the updated rear block that allows to run a longer rear arm setting for improved traction especially under acceleration. To go with the new rear end geometry ARC have included extended length rear shock absorbers that gained 6.5mm in length while the shock position also received an update with the units leading more towards the cent of the car, leading to better response. Last but not least come several new transmission parts such as a new centre layshaft block that makes for improved shaft and bearing life while the lightweight transmission profits of a new aluminium clutch bell, all wheel axles are now made of aluminium and front and rear CV-style driveshafts come as standard. Beside the full kit ARC will also offer an upgrade kit, allowing R8.0 users to upgrade to full R8.1 2017 specifications.

Source: ARC [arc-rc.com.tw]

Coming from Pro-Line are three new off-road tyres in the form of the ElectroShot VTR 4.0″ 1/8th truck as well as the Blockade and LockDown 1/5th truck tyres. Starting with the ElectroShot VTR 4.0″, the tyre comes from the mind of Ty Tessmann and is designed to perform just like a Hole Shot 2.0 while lasting significantly longer. The ElectroShot is a combination of Pro-Line’s Electron and HoleShot tread designs with connected bars in the centre where the heaviest tyre wear occurs and Holeshot pins everywhere else for maximum traction. The tyre will become available in M3 soft and X3 soft compounds.

Also new is the Blockade large scale off-road tyre for the rear of the Baja 5SC or the front and rear of the 5ive-T truck. Designed for nearly any track condition, the Blockade features large, spaced lugs for forward traction while offering exceptional tread life. For super loose conditions, the Blockade tyre can be tuned for more aggressive traction by trimming out alternating knobs. The inside of the Blockade contains detailed webbing that strengthens the tyre carcass and prevents excessive expansion under load. The tyre comes in the X2 compound and without inserts.

Last but not least comes the LockDown tyre that has a more open tread pattern than the Blockade, making it perfect for loose conditions. The LockDown also features connected side tread technology that reduces the edginess of the truck to prevent catching a rut and flipping. Like the Blockade the LockDown comes with a reinforced carcass and in X2 compound without tyre inserts.

Source: Pro-Line [prolineracing.com]