The Warmup Race in Bischofsheim was the season opener for the outdoor races in Germany, and also the biggest race in the year there; The track is just awesome and the weather was brilliant again, like in the last couple of years!

In Truggy, this was my first time ever with the DNX408T on the track and it felt good from the beginning. It took a little while to get used to the big car – as this is my only race in the year where I race truggy. I qualified 2nd, but from the semi final I found my pace and would win the semi quite easy.
The main final I had under control for most of the time, although it was a really hard battle in the end. I took the win in front of Carsten Keller and Tim Bremicker.

Electric 1/8th Buggy saw a dominance of the Team Durango DEX408; Jörn and I went on to win every qualifier and every single main – so we finished 1st and 2nd;

Nitro Buggy was the class where I struggled a little bit from the beginning – the car was good, I just never found my rhythm. Jörn was very fast already in qualifying and ended up 2nd behind Daniel Reckward; I only qualified 12th after some terrible runs; Jörn won easily his semi, which put him 1st on the grid for the main final. My semi was also better than qualifying and I ran 2nd for a long time and finished 3rd, which put me 6th on the grid. In the final jörn was much quicker then everybody else, although he had to refuel more often then everybody else. Jörn had quite a big lead but an electrical failure forced him to retire.My final was terrible – after the 3rd electric main and truggy main everything in a row – I was not able to run my car properly and only finished 9th.  Without the electrical problems in nitro buggy for Jörn, Team Durango would have won all 3 classes…. Next time!

Carson reports on round three of the Jimmy Babcock Racing League series – held at Rainman’s Hobbies in  this past weekend 5th & 6th May – where he took the TQ and Win in 4WD open buggy.

2WD – DEX210
I had a good weekend with the DEX210 except for some bad luck in the main event. The track was blue groove and high bite,  so I did end up running the DEX210 in the 4-gear Mid-Motor configuration. In qualifying I had some bad luck in the first round followed by some good luck in the 2nd round qualifying me 5th overall. In the main I got off to a good start and was running in second about a straight away ahead of the rest of the field and a straight away behind the TQ Frank Root. Something must have clicked at the 3 minute mark because the turbo came on and I started reeling in Frank fast. I was able to make a move and pass him for the lead, then we went back and fourth quite a bit until the last lap where I started pushing too hard and flew off the track! After I finally got back on the track I was in the 5th position where I would finish.

4WD – DEX410v3
From start to finish my 4wd was awesome! In qualifying I was able to TQ over home-town hero Zack Rogers by 10 seconds! I started first on the grid in the main event and never looked back. When the dust settled I was able to run a perfectly clean 6 minutes and win by a lap over the whole field! This win helped me extend my points lead in the series, so now I have a comfortable cushion between 2nd place.

Setups will be online soon!

The first round of the 2012 BRCA National Truggy series kicked off on the all-dirt track at Herts Nitro Model Club in Ware, Hertfordshire.  For the first time, Electric 8th Buggy nationals would run alongside the truggys in a seperate class – giving an ideal opportunity for the Team Durango racers to drive the newly released DEX408 electric 8th buggy and DNX408T truggy – which should be available in the shops soon. Chris Doughty put on a fine show to take the win in nitro truggy with the Team Durango DNX408T – and took 4th overall in 1/8th electric buggy with the DEX408.
Chris Doughty reports on his days racing:

I decided to run both classes at this event – with the DEX408 electric buggy and DNX408T nitro truggy – so I had a very busy day!

Through practise and qualifying, my DNX408T felt really good, great on the bumps and with good steering. It felt balanced on power and great in the air. With this being the first time the production DNX408T has ever been run I was taking it easy using this event as a bit of a shake down prior to the cars release.

Reliability from the car in qualifying was great, but Issues with traffic, tripping over other Trucks, hitting crashed cars and even getting turned over by stray wheels from other trucks meant I would line up 4^th on the Grid for the main – not bad considering it was my first Truggy race!  I knew my truck was really good and switching to a super-soft tire for the last round of qualifying was going to work well for the final too,  the track never really grooved up and temperature was always very cold, so super-soft tires were the only compound to use.

The final started steady for me, with no warm-up laps being allowed and coming straight from racing the DEX408 electric buggy, it took me a good couple of minutes to find my groove with the Truck.  I dropped down a place early into 5^th.  However, just before the first of the pit stops I had worked my way through the field and was running in 2^nd place behind Darren Bloomfield.

Mid-way through the race Darren had an issue stopping out on the track, this allowed me past and through for the lead. As the final progressed I continued to stretch my lead over the field. I ended the final a lap clear of the rest for a maiden win for the production version of the DNX408T!

DNX408T pilots: Chris Doughty – Kevin Brunsden – Richard Cree

Chris with his production DNX408T

Straight after the Truggy final was the Electric buggy final, again, no warm-up laps allowed so I’d line up 4^th for Electric buggy having just spent 24 minutes racing the Nitro Truggy final!  Straight off the line I knew this was going to be a hard transition in driving styles, because of the instant throttle response of the smaller and more agile electric buggy. I tried to hold my position off the line. Early in the race I got together with Lee Martin in a 50/50 racing incident, I came off worse and this sent me down the pack. Just as I was starting to get into my Electric buggy groove it started raining. The traction dropped way off and some peoples tire tread choices worked better than others for the final. I got back to a respectable 4^th place finish, but knew I had so much more potential than the result showed.  Team Durango’s Paul Robinson came home right behind Chris for 5th overall, and with Adam Skelding and Stuard Harlow in 7th and 8th place respectively – there were a total of four DEX408’s in the top 10!

I didn’t really get any time during the day to work on or change setups on either car – after racing and marshalling it was pretty tight on time to get the cars back out on the track again. My DEX408 and production DNX408T were faultless with their reliability. Even though I didn’t have any time to do some detail changes to tweak the cars to the conditions, the cars were really competitive as I put the cars down on the track in the morning.

Team Durango 8th Electric Buggy team:  Stuart Harlow – Adam Skelding – Chris Doughty – Paul Robinson

Results – http://www.deerdaleoffroad.com/BRCA_Results/index.htm

The second race of the “Czech open off road series 1/8 nitro and 1/8e” was held on a large and nice track at Horní Jelení on Saturday 28/4/2012.

Saturday was a nice sunny day breaking a temperature records.
It was a first race on the dirt for DEX408 in Czech Republic as well as the first one for Charlie Novotny, who had just two races indoors with DEX408 previously.

It was another great experience. The day did not start as per our expectation. After a great performance in practice we made small changes on the car, which was prepared at home as per Jorn’s setup. In the first qualification, Charlie had to retire when leading, because the car stopped due to overheated speedo.When checked the car, we have learned that the fan is not working and because of extremely warm day, it was clear, that it was too much for the speedo. Vaclav Strupek finished third, next to another DEX408 driven by Pavel Otruba.

Above: Charlie Novotny’s Team Durango DEX408

We changed the fan and created a hole in a roof and gone to the second qualification. The second run was the usual performance of Team-Durango cars in Czech Republic – Vaclav Strupek was first and Charlie Novotny second. Last qualification was an easy win for Charlie and Vaclav was third.
So TQ for Charlie and second on the grid for Vaclav for the finals. In the finals, Charlie has won all three legs to dominate and take the overall win, with Vaclav Strupek coming in second.
The whole event had a nice and pleasant atmosphere and all Team Durango drivers enjoyed the day very much.

DEX 408 has proved again that it is the best ever build electric powered 1/8 buggy.

The annual Silver State Nitro Challenge race took place last week in Boulder City, Nevada.  Temperatures would be high and the sun unrelenting. Team Durango drivers Ryan Lutz and Carson Wernimont took their Team Durango rides over to do battle at one of the toughest races around. All the classes would be running each day – Carson was running three classes with electric and gas 1/8th buggy and truggy – whilst Ryan would be running a 4th class, with 4WD short course.

1/8th Nitro Truggy – DNX408T
In 1/8th Truggy, both Ryan and Carson would be running the pre-production prototype DNX408T truggy.  The truck is very close to production and the team are really thrilled with the performance.  Carson had an OK qualifying session, placing second in the B-main and got a good start to lead. Carson got hung up on a track marker and dropped down but fought back to the bump-up position before an unfortunate flame-out killed his chances of battling in the A-Main.

Ryan made the A-main with his DNX408T and battled up to second with 10 minutes to go.  A popped turnbuckle cost Ryan dearly as he dropped to 5th by the time he got back on the track, which is where he finished. Still a very solid result but disapointing for Ryan.

1/8th Electric Buggy – DEX408

Ryan had some good runs in electric 8th buggy qualifying and quickly took up the lead in the main for about three laps until some mistakes dropped him back.  Carson had bumped up from the B-Main after some electrical problems in the heat of the Nevada desert which had hampered his qualifying runs – and in the A-Main, Carson was pushing his way toward the front now. With just a lap to go Carson was looking for a way past the leader Drake but ran out of time and had to settle for second, with Ryan finishing up 4th.1/8th Nitro Buggy – DNX408
Carson and Ryan both had average qualifying runs in 8th nitro buggy with Ryan lining up in the B-main and Carson 11th on the grid for the A-main.  Ryan drove hard in the B as he looked to bump-up, but with 5 minutes to go a blown shock bladder saw his car become less settled and the resulting 4th place meant there would be no bump-up for Ryan this time. Carson had a bad start in the A-main after a tangle with another driver sent him to last place after the first corner on lap one.  Carson got into a groove and had a good battle with Pavidis and Castallano for 8th place which he held to the line.

4WD Short Course – DESC410R
The 4WD short course class was the hilight of the weekend for Ryan Lutz, as he once again showed the DESC410R is the only game in town – taking the TQ and win in the A-main by over half a lap.  People were impressed and surprised by how well the DESC410R handled the rough track at the Silver State.

A mixed bag of results for us at the Silver State – the guys were both disapointed by some bad luck in qualifying and finals, but Ryan taking the win in 4WD SCT, and Carson taking second in 8th EP buggy were fantastic results we’re all proud of. Congratulations to all the Team Durango drivers competing at the Silver State – and here’s to even better results in 2013!

The inaugural Euro Offroad Series (EOS) concluded last weekend with the final round of the three-leg series, held in Dortmud Germany.  The race series saw some of the best drivers in Europe and the USA competing for the wins in 2WD and 4WD buggy, along with 2WD and 4WD short course truck classes.

The final round at Dortmund was taking place at the countrys second largest toyfair after Nuremberg – the Intermodellbau, which covered 8 huge hall and would see around 80,000 visitors during the four days it was being held.  Many of these visitors gathered to watch the intense race action on the freshly created indoor track – and were treated to a fine display as some of the best drivers in the world battled it out for the wins.

After qualifying, Gerd Strenge sat atop the 2WD Short Course qualifying as he tested the upcoming DESC210R truck – and Jorn Neumann was in full control of the hotly contested 2WD and 4WD buggy, along with 4WD Short Course.  The finals saw an intense battle in 2WD buggy between several great drivers – but Jorn came through to win the final two legs for the overall win.  In 4WD buggy however Jorn was untouchable and simply drove away from the rest before sitting out the third which was taken by Team Durango’s Hupo Honigl.  4WD SC wrapped up the dominant display from Jorn.

The series turned out to be a great show for Team Durango -with Team Durango drivers winning all classes. Jorn Neumann decisively won 2WD buggy, 4WD  buggy and 4WD Short Course – whilst Team Durango designer Gerd Strenge took the overall series win in 2WD Short Course with his test DESC210R chassis.

2WD Buggy – Lee Martin 3rd, Jorn Neumann 1st – Dustin Evans 2nd

2WD Short Course – Ebi Beck 3rd, Gerd Strenge 1st, Adam Skelding 2nd

4WD Buggy – Hupo Honigl 3rd, Jorn Neumann 1st, Lee Martin 2nd

4WD Short Course – Mike Truhe 3rd, Jorn Neumann 1st, Hupo Honigl 2nd

TRANSLATION OF INTERWIEW WITH CHARLIE NOVOTNY – by rcmagazine.cz

We have managed to talk shortly with one of our best electro buggy drivers. Charlie Novotny talked as well about Team Durango chassis which he is using in all four categories.

In the recent indoor season Charlie won both categories in the Mibosport winter cup, as well as both categories in Lester winter cup. Moreover Charlie represents Czech Republic at the international Euro Offroad Series.  We have asked Charlie a few questions.

Charlie, which race was the most difficult one in the last indoor season,  and because of what?
Second race of  EOS at Belgian  Charleroi. The race was on quite a demanding track, where I did not see some parts of the track from rostrum. I had to walk around the track and then drive by instinct..

Which result in the last indoor season  has the biggest for you?
It is difficult, each result is good for me, but I think so that for me the best result was 6^th place in 4WD on the first EOS race at Hrotovice.

Which Team Durango chassis suits you the best and you enjoy  to drive it?
All Team Durango cars are just great and I enjoy to drive all of them, but the best one for me is   4WD 1/10 – the DEX410v3.

What about your plans for a summer season – which races are you going to participate, in which categories, and are going to have some new cars?
All depend on the money available. But for sure I would like to race at Czech National Championship  1/10 and 1/8, some races of Slovakian National Championship  1/10, Mibosport cup, Astra Nitro Cross and the race at  Šiklův Mlýn. Regarding new cars – I just received new cars  1/10 – 4WD and 2WD for a summer season. I raced just two races with 1/8 – so it is almost new one. Short Course is just for relax and fun – so I will keep the old one as well.

We wish you a successful a successful summer season and good luck at international races to represent our country  abroad.

Podařilo se nám krátce vyzpovídat jednoho z našich současných nejlepších elektro buggynářů. Kája Novotný se rozpovídal i o podvozcích Durango, které jezdí hned ve čtyřech kategoriích.

Rozhovor v článku…

Kája se v uplynulé halové sezóně stal celkovým vítězem obou kategorií na závodech Mibosport Cup a také celkově vyhrál Lestr Cup offroad. Navíc Kája reprezentuje Českou republiku na mezinároních závodech Euro Offroad Series. Položili jsme Kájovi několik otázek.

Kájo, který závod v uplynulé halové sezóně byl nejtěžší a proč?
Druhý závod EOS v belgickém Charleroi. Závod se jel na velmi složité trati, kde na některé úseky nebylo z tribuny  vidět. Trať jsem si musel projít a pak jet instinktivně. Navíc jsme s Tomášem (Holickým) byli  jedni z mála, kteří zde jeli bez předchozího tréninku. Třeba team TLR tam trénoval a ladil celý čtvrtek.

Jakého si nejvíce ceníš výsledku během uplynulé zimy?
To je těžké, cením si každého výsledku, ale asi je pro mě největší úspěch 6. místo ve 4WD na prvním závodě EOS v Třebíči.

Který podvozek od Duranga ti nejvíce vyhovuje a baví tě s ním jezdit?
Všechny podvozky od Duranga jsou skvělé, ale nejvíce mi vyhovuje 4WD 1/10 – DEX410v3.

Jaké jsou tvé plány na letní sezónu – jaké závody pojedeš, v jakých kategoriích a bude třeba ještě nějaká nová technika?
Vše záleží na financích. Ale určitě bych chtěl jet MČR 1/10, MČR 1/8, některé závody MSR 1/10, Mibosport cup, Astra Nitro Cross a závod v Šiklově Mlýně.  Co se techniky týče, tak mi na léto dorazily nové podvozky 1/10 – 4WD a 2WD. Podvozek 1/8 má odjety pouze dva závody v hale, takže je téměř nový. Short  Course Truck mám hlavně pro zábavu, takže si také nechám ten starý.

Přejeme, ať se Kájovi daří i v letní sezóně a dále dobře reprezentuje naši republiku i v zahraničí.

Thanks to rcmagazine.cz for letting us replicate this interview.

On the week of April 4 – 8 , St Ives RC Car club held the 2012 AARCMCC Australia National Titles for electric off road. The racing was hot, the track had an excellent groove and the weather was hot and sunny.

Classes were as usual, 2wd Buggy, 4wd Buggy, Truck and Short Course this year – in both stock (17.5) and modified classes.

I was competing in 2wd Modified, 4wd Modified and Truck Modified this year. I managed to finish in the top 5 at last year’s nationals and was looking to get a podium position if not a win in a class this year.
Fast drivers attending and hot favorites for the event in modified were:

Ray Munday – Associated
Ari Bakla – Kyosho
Andrew Gillot – TLR
Mathew Primmer – Durango
Mathew Iverach – TLR
Scott Jones – Associated
Darrin Campbell – Associated

All showing some fast pace, even so Darrin ‘DC’ Campbell (Multiple On Road National Champion) showing some fast laps during practice in all three classes.

Wednesday and Thursday was practice. Friday was 2wd day, Saturday is 4wd day and Sunday is Truck day.

FRIDAY – 2WD
Racing format in Australia under the AARCMCC associated is 4 qualifiers and 3 A finals. 2 of your qualifiers count. I had a strategy to bank the first two and concentrate more on being smooth than fast and put in some consistent runs in order to secure a high up position if not TQ for the A finals. Early on I showed pace as I was setting equally fast times as Bakla, Gillot and Munday. Q1 for me was better than expected finishing 2nd overall behind Bakla.

Q2 was a super good run for me before popping a ball cup and costing me a lot of time finishing 3rd overall. Q3 and 4 was also a good run finishing 2nd behind Bakla and putting me in overall Q2 heading into the A Finals.

Strategy for the finals for me was to stick behind Bakla and apply pressure and if necessary make a move on the finishing laps. This worked very well for me as I did exactly that. Tailing Bakla the whole run I made a move on the finishing lap on the front triple sticking it up the inside to take the lead and never to look back.

A2 felt great for me before the start, knowing that I had to win but also knowing that there was even more pressure on Bakla to win or otherwise lose all opportunity to win the title. I stuck to the same routine and on the finishing laps I pulled the same passing tactic on the front triple to take A2 and the overall title of Australia Champion in 2wd Modified.

Above:  Jarred King – 2WD Modified Winner

SATURDAY – 4WD
4WD racing would have to be my favorite and definitely where I feel most comfortable in racing. My DEX410 V3 powered by LRP was really good through practice but when getting to Qualifying I suffered with setup and it showed in results. I managed to only finish 2 of my 4 qualifiers due to problems. I broke my front suspension arm in Q2 due to a bad crash on the double and also had a front wheel come off during Q3. I managed 5th qualifier and also 6th overall for 4wd. Qualifying I feel is very important to your overall position , Q5 made it very difficult to get a good result as I had very fast drivers in front of me.

In the 4WD stock class – Scott Giles took the overall TQ and won the opening two legs of the A final to secure the victory with his Team Durango DEX410 – an awesome result for Scott and Team Durango again.

Above: Scott Giles – 4WD Stock Winner

So to wrap it up I managed a 1st,6th and 2nd place (truck). I am extremely happy with my result and even happier being the new 2012 Australian 2wd Champion. I have now been racing for 10 years and this is my first national win. I am super excited for the next 12 months of racing and I could not have gotten to where I am today without the support of my family and my sponsors.

Photos courtest of MANUEL CORREIA.

[View with PicLens]

I would like to thank the following supporters !!

Venom Racing Australia
Team Durango
Ace Hobby Distributors – Savox Servo’s
OMP ( O’reilly Model Products ) – Spektrum and TLR 22T
UPGRADE RC
BFAST Products ( Darryn )

Products used by Jarred King:

2wd:
Team Durango DEX210
Savox 1258 Servo
BFAST differential
Spektrum DX3R Pro

4wd:
Team Durango DEX410 V3
Savox Shorty servo
Spektrum DX3R Pro

Now that Team Durango is part of the Hobbico group, US and Canadian distribution will move to Great Planes Model Distributors (www.gpmd.com ) with immediate effect.

A huge spares delivery is being imported now and will be available to all good models shops shortly after the Easter holidays from both the Reno and Champaign distribution centres.

The change of distribution will also mean that the full line of Team Durango cars, parts and options will be available for the first time on Tower Hobbies; one of the most respected online hobby stores in the world.

Great Planes will start with the huge majority of the Team Durango parts and cars, however it is likely that it will take another 6-8 weeks before all parts will be in plentiful supply.

For this reason we recommend, if you are in urgent need of Team Durango parts,  that you get in touch with your dealer right after the holidays.

Team Durango would like to apologise to all its loyal customers in North America for the supply difficulties in recent months.

We are confident that the change to Hobbico ownership, and now with Great Planes Model Distributors as our distribution partners, we can move forward to a new era in the US where every local hobby store can carry Team Durango.

The #TD320120 RADIO BOX SET (v2) is available now as an upgrade for the original DNX408 buggy. The new radio box features an updated design with more room for the receiver and wiring, a neat hinged door for quick and easy battery access – and a relocated antenna mount to make access easier.

Product page: TD320120 – RADIO BOX SET (v2)