The new versions of the RC Snaps sticker sheets are available, still in ‘Colour Versions’ and also ‘Black and White Versions’ to match any shell. They now cost £1.99 per/A5 Sheet (each sheet sheet contains 20 stickers). These are high quality pre cut, printed vinyl stickers by Kevin @ Decal Designs. To order a sheet please go to the contact page and under subject please select “To place an order”, make sure you state if you would like the ‘Colour Version’ or the ‘Black and White Version’, how many and your PayPal address or preferred alternate payment method.

‘Colour Version’

‘Black and White Version’

Here are some photos of the stickers in action:

This year brought the 3rd running of the Novarossi GP held at Novarossi Raceway and there were to be some differences from the last 2 years. The event would be run on two tracks simultaneously; the Truggys would be running on the new Dirt
Track constructed just a few short months ago and the Buggys would be running on the Astro Track. With heavy rain forecast for both days this was going to be a tough meet, not just for the drivers but also for the organizers. The format of the GP was announced before the event, however, there was some controversy during the Saturday when this was changed, however most drivers did not let this bother them and with drivers such as Darren Bloomfield, Lee Martin, Elliot Boots and David Spashett there this was still going to be a great event.

Saturday finished and Sunday came along but due to heavy rainfall during the night and in the morning it was decided that it would be unsafe to continue with the last round of Truggy qualifying and their finals as the Dirt Track was flooded… The Astro track however was swept and the water was sucked away and the Buggys were able to continue. Darren Bloomfield got the TQ with Lee Martin and David Spashett close behind.

There were problems for some drivers as rain fell intermittently during finals causing some run aways and some ‘not-so-well’ engines.

The track however was continually swept and the finals were able to continue! In the A final Lee Martin, David Spashett, Sam Taylor and more had electrical problems and more were forced to pull out of the race. Darren Bloomfield powered on though and managed to finish 1 lap up on 2nd place and 2 laps up on 3rd, finally winning the Novarossi GP after last years disappointment… Well done Darren!

The final Truggy results were determined by qualifying position, so the final results are as followed:

1: Ed Kerry
2: Keith Newton
3: Steven Bond

The Final Buggy results are:

1: Darren Bloomfield 47/30m 22.89
2: Richard Taylor 46/30m 32.02
3: Viktor Wilck 45/30m 0.93

Detailed results can be found here…

Photos of the event can be found here…

The final round of the TYRO National took place on the 7th of September and it was promised to be an exciting race on the infamous Herts track. Multiple drivers could take the TYRO championship so it was all to play for. Rain had been falling on and off, very heavily some times, the week leading up to the race day but the work from the HNMC team helped make the track race able on the day. It was a wet start however the track did dry out and by the finals the track was looking great, however neared the end of the day the track did start to become rutted by it was not to serious.

Carl Richards managed to TQ the race day with Keith Robertson close behind in 2nd and Marc Knight qualifying 3rd. Carl Richards ran into problems early on in the race falling to 7th on the first lap slowly dropping down the places until lap 8 where he retired. Keith Robertson dropped to 5th on lap 2 however got back into 2nd 4 laps later. Keith swapped places many times during the race falling back into 5th and 4th and then making the ground back up. Marc Knight was fighting with Matthew Lewis, who had come up from 10th, for 1st and 2nd place until lap 22 where one of the inserts blew out of the rear tyre of Marc Knight’s car, this was followed by the other insert a few laps later. Matthew Lewis seemed to have the win secured with Jess Saunders who had a bad start slowly worked his way up the field into 2nd at around the same time Marc’s rear tyres ‘blew-out’. Mark Tatman was in 3rd until 4 laps until the end Keith Robertson overtook Mark and got 2nd. The final results were:

1: Matthew Lewis 39/1805.35
2: Jess Saunders 39/1817.86
3: Keith Robertson 39/1819.33

Detailed results can be found here…

Photos of the event can be found here…

We decided to drive down Sat afternoon to set up our Gazebo and have a quick look at the track and I must say the track looked AWESOME. However, after a good nights sleep we awoke on Sunday morning and it had been raining all night long. How was this going to affect the track I was wondering? Upon arrival I was shocked to see no puddles or standing water but the track was going to be muddy for a while. During drivers briefing Adrian announced that there was going to be 1 round of practice followed by 4 rounds of qualifying with your best two scores to count. With the rain still falling and the track getting muddy not many drivers took the option of going out for their practice. By the time round 1 qualifying started the rained had stopped but the track was going to take some time to dry out.

The new Kyosho Inferno MP9 was present at this event in the hands of the top UK Kyosho Drivers Karl Jackson and Tommy Chung, as well, some of the new AKA tyres which are very soon to be released. The City Blocks worked very well in the morning however as the track dried out the I-Beams became the AKA tyre of choice, the foams were not yet available so Proline or Ansman foams were used. The wear rate was fantastic, the tyres easily lasted the 20 minuet Semi-Final and the 30 minuet Main Final.

The track dried out progressively throughout the day and this was reflected by the lap times, the majority of the drivers getting quicker and quicker each round. For some drivers however, surprisingly, they seemed to be getting slower as the track dried out.

Afer the final rounds of qualifying the top 3 in each class looked as followed:

Buggy/Rally Cross:

1: Graham Alsop 8/5m 23.38 8/5m15.63 8/5m17.53 8/5m14.08
3: Elliott Boots 8/5m 35.45 8/5m 16.05 8/5m 16.81 8/5m 23.38
3: Jon Hazlewood 8/5m 33.16 8/5m 34.80 8/5m 20.51 8/5m 13.00

Truggy/Outlaw:

1: Simon Turner 7/5m 3.03 8/5m 28.46 8/5m 29.16 8/5m 24.94
2: Karl Jackson 7/ 5m 0.84 8/5m 39.38 8/5m 36.10 DNS
3: Julio Pittelli 7/5m 9.23 7/5m 34.73 7/5m 2.98 7/5m 7.11

Day 2 was all about the finals, there was enough of each class for the finals to be run in a ‘Christmas Tree’ style. The day started with the B 1/32 and A 1/32 rallycross finals and finished with the A final Truggy and Rallycross finals. Some people decided to camp over so that they would be at the track in time and in top condition for the days finals. This may have seemed like a good idea however the Slough Track (RWMCC) is located next to the busy M4 motorway and under the Heathrow flight path…

The Semi-Finals would work with TQ not needing to race, going straight into pole in the A-Final, top 6 in each semi going into the final and also the fastest 7th place would manage to steal a place. The truggy semi finals were first and Julio Pittelli, Simon Hunter, John Legg, Steve Martin, Lee Warren, Howard Elston, Karl Jackson, Simon Freeman, Marcus Mainwaring, Cameron Taylor, Adam Lewin, Tony Scott and Tony Scott managing to qualify into the final (in no particular order).

The rallycross semi-finals were next but these caused heart ache for young Elliot Boots. Due to a problem he only finished 8th missing out on any possibility of getting into the final. Simon Willetts, Craig Drescher, Raphael Robert, Mike Waller, Mark Dell, Kevin Brunsden, Jon Hazlewood, David Crompton, Tommy Chung, Jon Howells, Bruce Thompson, Brennan Ralls and Karl Jackson managed to qualify into the final (in no particular order).

The truggy final was ready and Karl Jackson took TQ Simon Turner on the first lap and this is where they stayed throughout the whole race. Simon Freeman also on the first lap got into 3rd place which is where he also stayed throughout the whole race. The top threes times were:

1: Karl Jackson 45/30m 24.66
2: Simon Turner 44/30m 25.35
3: Simon Freeman 42/30m 33.74

Graham Alsop started in pole and managed to keep the lead during the whole race apart from the first few laps where Jon Hazlewood managed to get into 1st on the 2nd lap. David Crompton and Jon Hazlewood were battling for 2nd and 3rd place and changed positions multiple times through the race, each driver would take it in turn to make a small mistake which would allow the other to get passed. On lap 35 Jon lost some time and David Crompton managed to pass him and hold onto 2nd place until the end. David Crompton started to catch Graham Alsop and was only 5 seconds of 1st place at the end. The final positions were:

1: Graham Alsop 46/30m 3.38
2: David Crompton 46/30m 8.89
3: Jon Hazlewood 46/30m 15.17

Detailed results can be found here…

Photos of the event can be found here…

We arrived early at Novarossi and were set for the 4th round of the SRS. We were greeted by a thin fog rising over the track but this was soon to thin out almost completely. As I sat in pit area, comtemplating my “tactics” for the days racing, I saw my points disappearing from my sight as more and more race faces showed up including “Bootsie”, “The Nutster” and “Bloomfield”. It looked like it was going to be a tuff to get into the A Final.

The tyre choice was going to be crucial and most drivers opted for either Proline Crime Fighters or Bowties in either M2 or M3 compound (depending on how many tyres you wanted to use)

The qualifying postions would be decided by the drivers best 2 out of the 3 rounds so there was alot to play for in all of the rounds. After round 1 the qualifying Elliot Boots managed oto edge out a lead of 10 seconds infront of 2nd and 3rd place. The top 3 buggies looked like the following:

Elliot Boots 8/316.639
Jon Hazelwood 8/326.135
Darren Bloomfield 8/326.531

Elliot could not better his time this round however that was not the case for Jon Hazelwood who managed to take 3 seconds of his time from his previous round. Reese Sawyer managed to better Darren Bloomfields time which put him in 3rd for the round.

Elliot Boots 8/320.931
Jon Hazelwood 8/323.712
Reese Sawyer 8/325.535

Jon Hazelwood managed to get the best time of the day in the final (3rd) round, followed by the 2nd fastest by Darren Bloomfield, 3rd place in this Round was Reece Sawyer:

Jon Hazelwood 8/313.221
Darren Bloomfield 8/316.027
Reese Sawyer 8/326.100

Best 2 out of 3 means that TQ went to Elliot Boots with Jon Hazelwood in 2nd and Darren Bloomfield getting 3rd. In the truggies TQ went to Kieth Newton with Simon Freeman 2nd and Mark Byrne in 3rd.

All finals were 20 mins long with the top 3 to bump up in each final.

The C Buggy final was up first, the resuts were as followed:

Mark Thomas 26/1233.454
Mark Mcdonnell 25/1200.052
Mark Bailey 25/1203.293

These 3 bumping into the B Buggy final which was up next:

Simon Turner 28/1232.225
Stephen Brunsden 27/1226.180
Glen Blunden 26/1201.388

All managed to get the bump up into the A final.

The mext final was the A Final Truggy, Mark Bryne  fought his way up from 3rd to  get the win.  Simon Freeman managed to keep 2nd and  Mark Bailey got 3rd:

Mark Byrne 28/1218.135
Simon Freeman 28/1220.076
Mark Bailey 27/1236.137

In the Buggy A final there was heart ache for Bootsie and Bloomfield both not finishing the final however there was joy for the Team Xray. Jon Hazelwood took the leed and held onto it to take the win, with Mark Dell managing to take 3rd place just behind Reece Swayer in 2nd.

Jon Hazelwood 30/1205.729
Reece Sawyer 29/1201.603
Mark Dell 29/1235.294

Detailed results can be found here…

Photos of the event can be found here…

The penultimate round of the TYRO National series was due to be held at Fast Tracks Racing Club (FTRC). However there were concerns about the condition of the track and after hard work by the FTRC team who attempt to make the track BRCA legal. 4 days before the race day was due to take place the decision was made to abandon the meeting after a track inspection and in view of the fore casted weather. Less than 24 hours after this decision was made a meeting of the Rallycross Tyro National Committee and with the support of the BRCA Rallycross Chairman, the round was moved to Frankley Model Car Club (FMCC). The meeting was moved to Frankley due to how geographically close it was to FTRC and FMCC being an ‘all weather’ astro track.

Keith Robertson managed to get TQ with a time of 7/321.85 followed by Lee Bunker in 2nd with a time of 7/322.98 and 3rd was Matthew Lewis with a time of 7/313.45. In the A Final Keith Robertson kept his lead until the end of lap 5 when Greg Hill overtook him. These two switched places twice more until lap 12 where Greg Hill and Keith Robertson were 1st and 2nd, respectively, where they stayed until the end of the race. The battle was on for 3rd throughout the race though with 4 different people holding 3rd place throughout the race. Marc Knight worked his way up from 8th place where on lap 22 he over took Robert Cork who had been in 3rd for 10 laps. Marc held 3rd with Jim Davis close in 4th. Jim managed to get past Marc with only 3 laps to go however Marc kept his nerve and managed to take 3rd on the last lap. The final results are as followed:

1: Greg Hill 41/ 1804.40
2: Keith Robertson 41/ 1833.28
3: Marc Knight 40/ 1841.58

Detailed results can be found here…

Photos of the event can be found here…

Brian McGinty - RCSnaps Contributor has writen a report of Slough/Remote World Model Car Club’s Sumer Series Round 5, this Race day was used by many as a ‘warm up’ to the 3rd Apex Gp which will take place in a couple of weeks.

Today brought upon us the challenge of the Slough track, having never previously been here before it was bound to be a new challenge and after hearing a lot of good things about the track I was optimistic and looking forward to it. I met up with the usual hooligans I race with and we pitched up and walked the track. I was impressed. It was very smooth and technical with some jumps, perfect. Also it was a suprise to see the Hyper 9 at the track beeing tested by the HoBao UK team. My car was setup and ready and my first heat was upon me and I chose some HoBao Tri Spikes as my tyre and set upon the track. Everything was going well until unfortunately my engine cut! I had a busy marshal point to say the least but it provided a good view to see other people’s race lines and where I could make up some time.

My next heat came around and the only thing I changed was the plug, thinking this would cure my still mysterious engine cut how wrong can one person be! 3 cuts in this heat pretty much scrapped that and put me back to the drawing board. I reset all the needles and started again and put another plug in (This was turning out to be an expensive day, but more on that later). My third heat came up and by this time I was off the pace. Elliot Boots was setting the track on fire with a speed only he could find. I’m sure he isn’t human. The third heat I went out on new set of M3 Bowties which after being recommended by several people I could see what they were on about. They provided excellent grip but I was hampered by radio gear problems, I had this earlier in the day but by the 3rd heat it was a lot worse, this hurt me in the heat and I finished with 7/ 5m 37.99, which wasn’t to bad but I was frustrated at not being able to have a clean heat so far. One left so fingers crossed!I made a few changes lowered the car a small amount and increased the toe out on the front, and I charged my battery which I considered to be at fault for my radio issues. Out I went and hurrah I got through the heat and I bettered my previous time with 7/ 5m 28.23, but as I pulled up onto the pit table the radio went awol again and it required some skilful blocking from my pit crew to stop the car. After all this I was in the D final quite disappointing but given the problems I had all day at least I wasn’t in the bottom final.I settled quite happily in the final and was going around in 2nd without any worries until around the half way mark after my fuel stop the radio started to do its own thing. I wanted to brake, it had other ideas. Frustrated I continued to battle on suffering these minor interference problems which although minimal happened fairly frequently, but I managed to limp home in 3rd scoring a bump up as well. A change of batteries hoping that the battery was the problem and I began the next final but with the fantastic climate we experience in this country the heavens opened up and unleashed a downpour, which not only ment the stop of photos but also the possible end to the day…

The track soon filled up with puddles and I was thinking maybe an outboard motor would be better than a nitro engine. A few people pulled out which in hindsight I should have done but I wanted to see if the battery was causing the radio issues, 4 laps in and it became apparent it wasn’t the battery as my car did its best kamikaze impression of the day whoops! There is some known issues with the Futaba 2.4GhZ FASST system over heating and going into thermal shut down, which is what I suspect happened to me.

Even if it was raining it was still quite hot. Some brave drivers battled on through the conditions and bumped up to the next round by this time however the rain was really starting to come down and only a brave few decided to run much to my sadness I had to stand in the rain on my marshal point now with only a jumper as protection from the elements. Suffice to say it didn’t work, Reece Ashby and Chris Smoothy were going well in this final from what I could tell as after a few laps every car looked very similar, a fast moving noisy brown object. The weather eventually did get the better of us and the day was stopped after the C final, which was a real shame as the B and A final had some top class drivers in it. I mentioned earlier about it being a costly day the rebuild proved it every bearing in the car was impressively dead. The track was fantastic even with the great ‘British Summer’ weather our day wasn’t dampened.The Truggy class final was a thrilling watch. Early on you would have put your house, car, wife and anything else to hand on Steve martin taking the win with some consistent driving and good lap times. Simon hunter was chasing him hard though and over the period of 8 laps Steve was 1st and Simon 2nd, however on lap 10 Steve had encountered a problem which enabled Simon to take the lead which he kept for the next 5 laps which gave him the win over the field. The results are as followed:

1: Simon Hunter 14/10m 19.68
2: Steve Martin13/ 9m 46.72
3: Luis Sampaio12/10m 21.62

Due to the A and B final Buggys being called off the qualifying positions determined the final results. The A final Starting positions - and therefore the final standings – were:

1: Graham Alsop
2: Elliott Boots
3: David Bailey

Bring on the Apex GP!

Brian McGinty - RCSnaps Contributor

Detailed results can be found here…

Photos of the event can be found here…

The Kyosho MP9 was first shown to the public at the 10th Kyosho Masters a few months ago. However due to a no photos policy, and the fact it wasn’t shown without its shell off we could not get any photos. Since then Kyosho have released their official photos of the MP9 which left a lot of people feeling confused about what had actual changed. One of the RCSnaps team was lucky enough to see the Kyosho MP9 in bits at FDL/Kyosho France and was pleased to report it was completely different! Nothing would be carried over from the Kyosho MP777.

RCSpecial managed to get some photos of one of the Kyosho Works Team Driver’s car in bits which shows how much has actually changed, and how Kyosho have managed to get the weight of the MP9 to just over the legal weight.

We will start with a Weight Comparison of some of the key parts of the MP9, most noticeably the drive chain parts which helps keep the rotating mass to a minimum. This means increased acceleration and a lighter car overall.

Old MP777 chassis and new MP9 chassis! 10gr difference in our scale! (Also note that the old chassis has been used so will be slightly lighter than if new) BUT it seems that Kyosho went in the correct direction. Kanai decided to make a stiff and hard chassis, for plastic braces, maybe bit overweight, BUT as you will see below, all the most important transmission parts, the rotating mass parts, are lighter to much lighter than the older parts for the MP777, even than the option lighter ones! So even if the buggy is now as light as the closer competition and not lighter, the weight saving are placed nicely…

Original MP777 - Lightened MP777 - MP9

MP777 - MP9

MP777 - MP9

MP777 - MP9

Lightened MP777 - MP9

MP777 - MP9

Kyosho MP9 Shocks

Although the shocks for the MP9 are of the same design of the optional ones for the MP777, they have been coated in the same way that the Hong Nor/Jammin ones have been. This means that they are much smoother than before and also that the oil should last a lot longer.

Kyosho MP9 Plastics

As you can see from the photos below the aim again is to keep the car as light as possible. The diffs are slightly smaller, the front/rear lower arms have less plastic and the front upper arms are a lot smaller than previously. The radio box has been split into two sections, a battery section and a receiver section and the switch is mounted on the side for easy access, but it has a small piece of plastic protecting it from accidentally getting switched on/off. The MP9 also comes with plastic rear mud/stone guards to keep the shocks clean, and to stop a build up of mud on the rear arms which could weigh the car down.

A great car with good potential. All mouldings seem good, transmission bearings are really small, wing mount must be light and the arms have all the right curves. The tank has nice features to help with pistol refuelling, the center diff case is much bigger than the F/R ones. Chassis braces are plastic for more flex.

Kyosho MP9 Metals

As you can see the Kyosho Blue anodizing has gone and has been replaced with the more common Hard Coated look. The majority of the metal parts have been milled to make them lighter while making sure they kept their strength which will be key for long mains and the ‘average club driver’. There are no E-Clips on the MP9, all of the hinge pins are now captured by screws or nuts, the wheel nuts also have a nylock design which should make sure the nuts stay tight. The drive shafts are the lightest yet and the Works Car at least comes with all of the available sway bars. Kyosho have kept the old style of engine mount but the knuckles are now a slightly smaller CNC version and not cast like they are on the MP777. The chassis of course has been milled out to lighten it and also it comes with some fuel tube and a fuel filter.

AKA Tyres

This is also the first time that a Kyosho Kit will come with tyres, the new AKA IBeams will come with the MP9 kits. It has been said that the AKA tyres use different types of foams to allow you to change the feel of the tyre as you would do by changing the compound of the tyre. This means that the tyres wear extremely well.

Thanks to RCSpecial for allowing RCSnaps to use there photos. All of the photos used for this report can be found here at RCSpecial and also here at RCSnaps.

Elliot Boots Powered his RC8 to TQ position on the grid after taking round 1 and 3 in qualifying. The 20 min A main was lead from start to finish by Elliot with his RC8 kited out with the new big bore shocks and his RB power plant. One of the closest finishes was mounting between Scott Michael and Mike Cradock, Mike having qualified 2nd on the grid and Scott 3rd. Laps 1-5 saw Mike and Scott swapping position on lap 5 Scott moved into 2nd position and Mike into 3rd with Scott holding onto 2nd place with Mike chasing him down until lap 11 where mike found a gap and moved up into second with scott hot on his heels now in 3rd place. With the racing hard and fast Mike maintained 2nd spot through to lap 16 when with fuel stops Scott managed to get past and move up into 2nd place and Mike ito 3rd. Bar a brief swap of position between Mike and Scott on lap 21 Scott held onto 2nd place to the line with Mike so hot on his heels it was unbelievable and at full time on the race clock a mere 0.01 seconds separated 2nd place from 3rd place a truly outstanding display of driving skill and to have such a minute gap at the end of a 20 min final is amazing. Well done to the winners.

Adam Wild took TQ for the day and was on pole position for the Truggy A-main. Race Start and on lap 1 Richard Ford managed to sneak past adam to secure 1st followed closely by Adam Wild and Adrian Eaton in 3rd. on the 2nd lap Adam had a stone stuck in his wheel sending him all the way to the back of the pack allowing Adrian Eaton to move into 2nd spot with James Tatlow in 3rd. On lap 4 James moved into 2nd and Richard Baked up to 3rd after a bobble dropped Adrian down to 4th place. Richard Ford still holding onto 1st place the battle unfolded behind him with Adrian Eaton ,Richard Baker and james Tatlow swapping position through to lap 9 where things settled down to fast racing with Richard Ford still out front followed by Adrian Eaton and Richard baker in 3rd a position he would hold to the finish line while the race was on between Richard Ford and Adrian Eaton who changed position on lap 13 when Adrian moved into 1st and Richard into 2nd only to swap back again on lap 16 Lap 22 saw Adrian move back into 1st place and richard into 2nd with the racers now positioned to the finish on lap 30. Well done to the winners

Detailed results can be found here…

Photos of the event can be found here…

Source: PirtateRC

Clanfield hosted the 1st UK Dirt Masters which took place over two days, the weekend of the 26th-27th July. With many of the top drivers book in it looked like it was an event not to be missed! However on Saturday morning some of the drivers booked in had not shown up for one reason or another, but this did not stop anyone’s enthusiasm. The meeting was a relaxed one starting at around 10:00-10:30 on Saturday and 9:30 on the Sunday.

On Saturday there were 2 rounds of practice followed by 5 rounds of qualifying, Sunday began with another practice round followed by two more rounds of qualifying meaning that finals positions would be decided by best 3 out of 7. TQ went to Elliot Boots who unfortunately ran into problems in the final meaning he had to pull out. Rob Rasey grabbed the opportunity and pushed hard to take the win 11 seconds in front of Tony Bolwell (track owner) and 38 seconds in front of 3rd place Bryan Burrows.

1: Rob Rasey 41/30m 1.327
2: Tony Bolwell 41/30m12.247
3: Bryan Burrows 41/30m39.693

Detailed results can be found here…

Photos of the event can be found here…