Radio racecar internationl november 2015

NOVEMBER 2015

9

770268 333141

Issue 384

RRC

www.radioracecar.com 11>

Y UALIT Q F O T S PAGE i CONTEN

£4.25

100

EXCLUSIVE: AXIALFEST RECON G6 2015 TRAILSIDE REPORT

RRCI TAKES TWO OF THE MOST PHOTOREALISTIC RTR'S AND FINDS OUT!

EXCLUSIVE: UK SCALE NATIONALS GATE BY GATE ACCOUNT COVER_RRCNOV15.indd 1

17/9/15 09:58:30

REVIEWS

14

14

CONDENSING THE EXPERIENCE

34

TAMING THE BEAST – PART 1

42

THE REAL GODZILLA

52

GOING UP A NOTCH (OR 6)

66

A LESSON IN REALISM

76

RRCI UNWINDS: WITH THE SYMA X5SC EXPLORERS 2 QUAD

Losi 1/14th 4WD Mini 8ight-T RTR Brushless Truggy with AVC

RC4WD 1/10th 4WD Gelande II Scaler Kit with Landcruiser Bodyset

Vaterra RC Nissan GT-R RTR 1/10th 4WD on V100-S Chassis

Kyosho 2015 Ultima RB6 2WD Pro Spec Electric Race Buggy Kit

Carisma GT10RS 1/10th 4WD Brushless RTR DTM Replica Touring Car

Under £80? You Must Be Joking!

FEATURES

CONTENTSRRCi 22

November 2015 Issue 384

RED TO THE RIGHT & THE CHALLENGE OF ‘TWINSET HILL’ RRCi Scale Nationals – Bracken Rocks, Derbyshire

60

CELEBRATING A DECADE OF INSPIRING TRUE R/C ADVENTURE

52

Trailside Report – Axialfest 2015 Cisco Grove, Nevada

84

AIR GATES, GOGGLES, BROKEN PROPS & RACE QUADS RRCi visits the UK Drone Racing Nationals!

FORGET RTR, ARE YOU READY TO RACE?

90

WEYMOUTH RC TRUCKERS

REGULARS

86

4

Contents.indd 4

BRCA 2015/16 Section Announcements

RRCi Event Report: Inaugural Meet

76

8 10

STARTLINE

96

SHOPPERS DIRECTORY

NEWSFLASH

97

CLASSIFIEDS

88

IN GEAR

98

COMING NEXT MONTH

Catch 22

Event news and product updates from the R/C world

New product details

Where is your local hobby store?

Buy and sell in confidence

What we have in store for our December 2015 issue

rrci /NOVEMBER 15

16/9/15 14:57:23

radio race car international

RRCi STARTLINE CATCH 22 “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time…”

That’s a pretty well-known quote from an Englishman called John Lydgate. And it’s pretty apt because last month’s mag had content in it that a few readers didn’t take too kindly to, yet did get my email inbox alight with questions from many, many other readers about the articles and the products featured than any other issue to date! Catch 22 you may say!

So what am I referring to? Well first there’s the article on FPV Racing Quads. Something that I know the R/C world is buzzing with at the moment, and a genre of R/C that the car community seem to be embracing in huge numbers and really ‘get’. How do I know this? Well, I talk to them at FPV race meetings up and down the country, at local flying clubs, and through the many, many forums, Facebook pages and groups I’m a member of. I also see them get them out after a day’s racing or testing at tracks and know many, many people who would never dream of buying anything that flew who have caught the FPV bug. The article in question was meant to inspire those that read it to try something new in addition to your cars and racing. It was also to promote our new Multirotor magazine RCFCA, where the article originated from in the first place.

Secondly there was the 1:1 Global Rally X event coverage. That was after an invite from Monster Energy, and again it’s a sector of the motorsport scene that’s been reflected in R/C of late with replicas of the cars raced at these events seen from HPI, Vaterra, AE, Carisma and many others. By featuring it in the mag we simply wanted to offer you the RRCi reader a glimpse into the world of these vehicles and hopefully some food for thought about buying their R/C equivalent. Let’s face it, we can’t all go to these events and the mix of Rally X, classic rally cars and drift cars on display really sums up some of the more unique aspects of the R/C scene today, niche areas that here at RRCi we always champion and feature where possible.

Lastly there was the R/C Skateboard. It was sent to us for our ‘RRCi Unwinds’ section and was just amazing fun to use. No, admittedly it’s not a car, but it is R/C and Unwinds is all about what we get up to or have fun with when we aren’t running our cars. Being a licenced Tony Hawk product it just appealed to the RRCi team, as many of us skateboarded back in the day (or still do now!).

R/C is a broad church, it encompasses lots of different genres, some intermixed with cars, some not so, but all as relevant and interesting as each other if taken in the right context. RRCi will always be a car magazine, but we will also feature what’s exciting, inspirational and fun on the R/C market wherever possible. It’s good for the retail side of the hobby, it makes the mag a more diverse and interesting read and it hopefully helps broaden your interests and personal R/C collections as a consequence.

No, we can’t please you all, all of the time, but if we can make you smile most of the time and yearn after something fun occasionally, perhaps that’s a happy medium!

RRCi, Setting the Pace in R/C Journalism Since 1981

PETER GRAY Editor RRCi

SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES Ally Alldritt: email: ally.alldritt@traplet.com 1 Year subscription prices: UK £51.00 Europe £64.08 W/Wide £78.24 USA & Canada US $147.12 2 Year subscription prices: UK £102.00 Europe £128.16 W/Wide £156.48 USA & Canada US $294.24

PLEASE SEE PAGE 12 FOR OUR AMAZING SUBSCRIPTION OFFER!

How to order: Call the Order Hotline: UK 01684 588599 or OVERSEAS +44 1684 588599 or Subscribe Online at www.radioracecar.com/subscribe

BACK ISSUES: £4.25/$9.99 Buy Online at www.radioracecar.com/backissues or call the Order Hotline: UK 01684 588599 or OVERSEAS +44 1684 588599

EDITOR Peter Gray

peter.gray@traplet.com CONTRIBUTORS Jerry '2WD' Ibbotson, Scott 'Aceofaxe' Curlin, Josh 'The Leg' Rogers, Andy 'Twinset' Moore, Clive 'AFP' Pratley, Stuart 'JD' Markham MANAGING DIRECTOR Tony Stephenson OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Tom Stephenson DESIGNER Natasha Payton ADVERTISING SALES EXECUTIVE Mel Penkoks Tel: 01684 588510 email: melanie.penkoks@traplet.com MARKETING Tel: 01684 588599 email: marketing@traplet.com' ADVERTISING COPY CONTROLLER Cindi Griffiths Tel: 01684 588517 email: adcopy@traplet.com TRADE SALES EXECUTIVE Angela Price Tel: 01684 588568 email: angela.price@traplet.com PRINTED BY Warners plc PUBLISHED BY Traplet Publications Ltd Traplet House Willow End Park Blackmore Park Road Malvern WR13 6NN UK

Tel: 01684 588500 Fax: 01684 578558 email: info@traplet.com

NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTION Seymour Distribution Ltd. (020 7429 4000) SOUTH AFRICAN DISTRIBUTION Traplet Publications South Africa (PTY) Ltd., P.O. Box 1067, Oudtshoorn, 6620, South Africa Tel/Fax: +27 44 272 5978 email: southafrica@traplet.com

US DISTRIBUTION Traplet Distribution USA Ltd, 806 Parkland Ct, Champaign, IL 61821, USA. Tel: 217-355-2970 Email info@traplet.com

2015 Traplet Publications Limited.

All rights reserved.

AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTION Traplet Publications & Hobbies, P.O. Box 501, Engadine, NSW 2233, Australia.

Tel: (02) 9520 0933 Fax: (02) 9520 0032 email: sales@traplet.com.au

This publication is printed by Warners 01778 395111 This magazine is sold subject to the following conditions: that it shall not without written consent of the publishers be lent, resold or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in excess of the recommended maximum retail price.

All rights strictly reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any way without the prior agreement of the publisher. All letters must be accompanied by the sender’s full name and address.

The publisher cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited correspondence nor some of the opinions expressed. All material and artwork originated by Traplet Publications Ltd., photographs, drawings, plans used in this magazine become the publishers copyright under Copyright law. Some photographs may have been digitally re-mastered. The Company reserves the right to suspend or refuse any advertisements without giving reasons.

Whilst every care is taken to avoid mistakes, Traplet Publications Ltd. cannot be liable in any way for errors or omissions. Nor can the Publisher accept any responsibility for the bona fides of advertisers. ©2015 Traplet Publications Limited ISSN 0268-3334

8 rrci /NOVEMBER 15

Startline*.indd 8

16/9/15 15:24:56

Vaterra RC Nissan GT-R RTR 1/10th 4WD on V100-S Chassis >>>> ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The Real Godzilla...

Words and images: Peter Gray

O

K, I admit it…I miss Top Gear, and regardless of the new ‘Chris Evans and Co’ lineup, it just won’t be the same without Clarkson, Hammond and May at the steering wheel. Yes they have a new motoring programme in production

with Amazon Prime, and yes, it will be a big budget affair, artily shot, with lots of super crisp zillion-frames-a-second slow motion with more of the same antics, one liners, double entendre and the thrashing of cars around public roads and on a ‘new’ test track. But it won’t

be that Sunday night experience that we used to sit patiently through Antiques RoadShow or Songs of Praise waiting to be able to switch over to BBC2 at 8 pm to watch.

For me Top Gear was always an hour of escapism, dreaming of cars I wanted

42 rrci /NOVEMBER 15

Vattera.indd 42

15/9/15 12:07:01

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-––

RTR Review

Type: 1/10th 4WD Electric TC UK RRP: £209.99 Manufacturer: Vaterra RC (www.vaterrarc.com) UK Distributor: www.horizonhobby.co.uk

quick spec Ground Clearance 6 mm Wheelbase 256 mm Length 371 mm Height 112 mm Weight 1.70 kg Width 194 mm

to own, but unless a lottery win happens probably never will, laughing at what the three got up to, and wondering how Jeremy got away with some of the more hidden and subtle jokes embedded into his car reviews.

I say reviews, but let’s face it these

guys were out there having genuine fun and that’s what always came across.

First and foremost they are all true car fans and petrol heads, the journalism aspect almost took a back seat to the entertainment element of the show.

Over the years the show has been the

inspiration for many of my R/C builds and prompted me to spend hundreds of hours driving ‘virtual’ versions of many of the cars featured in the show on Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport on my now three generations of gaming consoles!

rrci /NOVEMBER 15

Vattera.indd 43

43

15/9/15 12:07:51