Each Tuesday, LiveRC publish a ‘talk-it-out Tuesday’ Q&A-type article with a figure within RC, this week it’s non other than yours truly… founder and in charge of NeoBuggy – Philip Mortstedt!
LiveRC: Welcome Phil to the LiveRC “Talk-It-Out Tuesday”! You are known around the world for your involvement in R/C racing. How did you get started in R/C?
Phil: I got sucked in by an ad on the back of a cartoon comic actually, bought my first car – a Kyosho Wild Dodge Ram in the local hobby shop and it wasn’t long before I graduated to something a little faster and wilder – a Kyosho MP7.5! I raced a little for a couple of years but the nature of living in London, UK but only racing during the summer when I was in Sweden (Swedish parents) meant that I didn’t improve year upon year so pretty quickly I found myself interested in the very new world of RC media!
LiveRC: Without a doubt, your site (NeoBuggy.net) is a huge sensation in the R/C industry. Tell us a little about how the concept and idea for NeoBuggy came about.
Phil: Back in late 2002 I was in charge of a gossip page that didn’t last very long and NeoBuggy went online in January 2003, I started the site mainly as a bit of fun and a hobby and it grew quickly.
JConcepts has studied the evolution of race tracks, complicated circuits combining more aggressive jumps and extremely high-speed corners, and has incorporated many new features in to the Finnisher Agama A8 Evo, which provide several benefits in the most critical situations. Increased windshield angle provides a steady force upfront during mid-flight wind gusts on large jumps. Forward cab placement changes performance / visible bias which helps steering rotation in low traction corners. A slightly channeled roof-line helps stabilize the vehicle at high-speed. The side-pods have been simplified and JC chamfered to remove unwanted changes in height to neutralize the at-speed handling.
Telford Model Car Club are holding a meetings on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th June at the Weston Park International Model Air Show. 2wd, 4wd and short course will be run on both days at £10 per day, this get yourself and one other into the show with over night camping also available. For booking in or further details contact telfordmodelcarclub@outlook.com or visit www.facebook.com/telfordmcc
VP Pro is proud to officially announce the release of their new tread pattern – Impulse to their competitive 1/8th scale buggy line up. The Impulse tyre has been manufactured for use on indoor or outdoor clay tracks where a minimal dust grove has formed. The tyre itself utilizes a square symmetrical tread pattern that offers plenty of contact patches for consistent traction and when equipped with the VP insert foams and wheels the Impulse provides excellent performance. Available now in two compounds SF and UF for various conditions.
The dust has settled, and only the rubber that produced the optimum racing line remains at A Main Hobbies’ Silver Dollar RC Raceway. With hundreds of racers competing in the Inaugural Silver Dollar Off-Road Challenge thousands of laps were put in by racers who ran on the new surface and said it was one of the best they’d ever competed on. Racers were also stoked with the 16 features world-renown track builder, Joey Christensen, utilized to create one epic 1/8-scale layout.
After the runaway success of their ASIA Contest in Thailand, BittyDesign are giving their EURO Contest a little push, reminding drivers that its only a month away and entries are due to close June 9th. Entry fee is 50 euros for open or pro and 30 euros for brushless, the event will be held 21-23 June at the Barco offroad track – widely known as the track with the most ‘US’ style layout in Italy with lots of jumps and high speed spections, redesigned after last year’s Euro contest at the same track.
Not only is the track an attraction for racers but located in the Reggio Emilia region in northern Italy, its only 40km from the Ferrari & Lamborghini factories – well worth a visit in their own right!
Links: Sign Up | Drivers list (payment status etc)
A great weekend for racing during the Chaos on the Coast point series put on by the Space Coast R/C Raceway. Jason Ruona, Paul Wynn along with a great group of JConcepts drivers were out to support the monthly event held at the Cocoa Beach, Florida facility. 2wd modified was hotly contested all day with JConcepts driver Daimon Borkowicz taking the round 1 TQ with Paul Wynn in 2nd. For round 2 the track speed picked up and Paul Wynn was able to stay consistent throughout the 5 minute qualifier resetting the TQ by a slight amount over Daimon. The 7 minute A-main was the show of the weekend. Paul Wynn took the early lead and held off Daimon and Billy Easton in the early going.
Neo Buggy & DXR are pleased to officially announce entry for the 2013 Neo Race is now open, unofficially called the ‘1/8 buggy Indoor Worlds’ due to the highest calibre of racers the event attracts year after year.
The 8th running of the Neo Race sees a few changes, the biggest include a date change from the regular Easter slot to a summer event: 22-26th August 2013; knowing the British weather as we do, the roof will probably come in handy though! The Agricultural College Harper Adams in Shropshire is once again the venue for the event, now 5 days in length with increased track time for all participants as well as a special 1/8 electric buggy class – limited to 30 drivers, the main nitro buggy class is limited to 250 entries. Not to mention a cool new style of logo for the event, designed by Maugrafix!
Qualifying will use 6 minute heats and the best four rounds from six will count. After the success of the special races in the past they return with a few additions; juniors final, oldies final, the Dash4Cash for the top qualifiers, Bash4Cash, Last Chance Qualifier and a ‘Pole Position Challenge’ – details revealed soon.
The organisers hope to once again welcome some of the finest 1/8 Buggy drivers to attend this prestigious annual event. Enter via www.RC411.net, see the ‘Sign Up page’ for details how to enter.
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Video footage & Edit: A Main Hobbies & Derrick Threatt, Live RC
