TQ R/C & Hobbies

Tamiya Racing Factory’s Lee Martin has TQ’d the second round of qualifying at the World Championships in Chico, California. Having suffered a problem with his slipper clutch in Q1, leaving him to post the fourth fastest time, the British ace had no such issues in the second 2WD qualifier, posting a new fastest time .9 of a second up on Q1 non-finisher Ryan Maifield and fellow countryman Darren Bloomfield.  For Q1 pace setter Jared Tebo a wrong choice of shock oil left the Kyosho driver to struggle, a mistake ultimately leaving him to finish outside the Top 10.

Atomic RC have released a first rendering of their AMZ 4WD Mini-Z-sized car kit. The car builds on a carbon fibre main chassis with an upper deck made from the same material. The double wishbone suspension allows for droop, toe and camber adjustment and the shocks come grease-filled to achieve the maximum in traction and side bite. Included with the kit, that is designed for the use with 7.4V LiPo battery packs, comes a 2.4GHz FHSS radio system and a micro brushless speed controller made by Hobbywing. The car is set for a release this Winter.

Yokomo introduce three new brushless speed controllers in the form of the BL-SP3, BL-RS3 +Turbo and the BL-Pro3 +Turbo. While the SP3 with its 8.5T motor limit is more of an intermediate level offering both the RS3 +Turbo and the Pro3 +Turbo are pure competition speedos. The latter two offer an aluminium heatsink case, they are widely adjustable using Yokomo’s optional programming box and it is understood that they offer both a zero timing and a turbo mode making them ideal for blinky, boosted and modified racing alike. All three speed controllers will become available in October and details on specifications and features will be available shortly.

New from Spektrum comes the lightweight DX4R Pro 4-channel radio system. Built around frequency-agile Spektrum DSMR technology it’s capable of maintaining a blazing 5.5 ms frame rate Frame rate with the included SR2000 receiver. The radio also offers 50-model memory, 4 programmable mixes, a large back-lit display and it can be updated via the integrated SD card reader. Also included is the SR2000 receiver, weighing a mere 2.0 grams, it has a footprint smaller than most postage stamps and can be mounted on everything from 1/12-scale carpet racers to 1/8-scale off-road buggies. An SR410 4-channel sport receiver is also included.

Xray introduce the all-new X12 1/12th scale pan car kit. Building on the experience gained with the X11 the new kit features a redesigned narrow main chassis, narrow rear pod, an all-new centralised shock mounting position and many other refinements such as a new front suspension including redesigned front arms. The new chassis allows to mount the battery in an off-set in-line or traversal placement while the narrow design with more centrally mounted rear pod links makes for a more agile handling and improved side-to-side weight transition. The new longer upper pod plate results in a more progressive damping to improve forward traction and handling over bumps. Also part of the new rear end setup are straight-type side springs for a smoother and more consistent compression. Up front inserts for the lower arm mounts allow track width adjustment in 0.5mm increments while 0.2mm to 0.6mm ride height spacers help you to fine tune the ride height for a variety of tyre diameters. Other front end features include easy-to-tune reactive castor and Ackermann settings. As usual the kit comes without body, tyres or electronics.

Team Losi Racing have introduced the hugely anticipated 22-4 4WD electric off-road buggy on the eve of the 4WD competition at this year’s 1/10th electric buggy World Championships in Chico, California. The buggy is meant to be the spiritual successor to the all-conquering XX-4 and builds on a 2.5mm 7075 aluminium chassis with a modular multi-belt drive system that, unlike the XX-4, can now be independently maintained or removed, as a whole from the chassis leaving the suspension in-situ. Strategically milled to reduce weight, improve flex and to provide the all-important but often forgotten wire routing for the ESC or Servo to the RX, the 22-4 has been carefully thought out.

MIP introduce new drivetrain option parts for a wide range of 1/10th off-road vehicles. First up is the Pucks 17.5 drive system, a blend of aluminium differential outdrives, aluminium C-CVD drive shafts and orange plastic pucks that take the place of the gnarly steel drive pins. The parts scrub around 50 percent of weight in the drivetrain increasing acceleration and deceleration while lowering motor temperature at the same time. The plastic pucks significantly reduce outdrive wear at the same time as there is no metal-to-metal contact lowering running costs over time too. The set is ideal for 17.5T stock racers and includes pucks, outdrives, a diff gear, bearings and hardware, bones and axles, lube and thread lock and it is available for the RB5/6, Ultima SC-R, TLR 22/T/SC, as well as B4, T4 and SC10 kits.

3Racing introduce the Cactus 2WD racing buggy kit. Developed from the ground up over the course of 18 month the buggy is based on a long wheelbase composite chassis that sports wire routing tunnels and a battery mount for both straight and shorty LiPo battery packs. The front end of the buggy is made from a lightweight composite plastic construction with aluminium pivot pin brace and multiple mounting points for the camber rods and shocks while the rear end houses the convertible gear box. The buggy can be build as 3-gear rear motor or 4-gear mid motor variant straight out of the box, it comes with a heavy-duty slipper clutch and widely adjustable suspension parts to alter rear toe-in and anti-squat setting. Included in the kit are also 12.5mm big bore aluminium shock absorbers, 12mm wheel hex adapters, a carbon fibre ESC mounting plate and a cab forward body shell along a large rear wing.