Special thanks to DJ Hobby for doing an such an incredible job! We appreciate your support!

1/8th Scale Nitro Buggy
The man to beat all weekend was  TLR and Pro-Line’s Dakotah Phend, who was the only one to get an 11 lap qualifier and thus taking TQ in the class. With only 12 seconds between the 3rd qualifier and the 10th qualifier, the main was expected to be full of battles. Due to technical issues, 2nd place qualifier Mo Denton was not able to make it to the grid, so it was going to be a field of 10 cars ready to battle. Dakotah got a clean start, but behind him there was carnage in the first turn with several cars tangled up. At the end of the first lap, Dakotah already had a 1.5 second gap on Nick Vasquez in second and the rest of the field following closely. Several laps later, the position changes settled down a little bit and the running order was Dakotah Phend in first, followed by Tony Carnes in second and Nick Vasquez in 3rd. Throughout the 30 minute main, battles were going on for 3rd through 8th place. In the end, it was TLR’s Dakotah Phend taking the win with Tony Carnes in second and TLR’s Mike Marshall, who worked his way up from a 10th place qualifying position, in third. Dakotah ran Pro-Line’s Revolver M3′s.

Results:
1. Dakotah Phend – Pro-Line
2. Tony Carnes
3. Mike Marshall
4. Michael Weihl
5. Nick Vasquez

Current standings in the series (no drops taken into consideration):
1. Dakotah Phend (608 points) – Pro-Line
2. Michael Weihl (570 points)
3. Tony Carnes (564 points)
4. Mike Marshall (548 points)
5. Nick Vasquez (547 points)

1/8th Scale Nitro Truggy
With round #4 finally being outdoors, the truggies finally felt at home a lot better on the big track that The Track provided. Just like in the nitro buggy class, TLR and Pro-Line’s Dakotah Phend was the only one able to get 11 laps in qualifying and that put him at the front of the grid. In the main, Dakotah got a clean start and started checking out. Behind him, it was Mo Denton in second and A Main Hobbies’ Scott Rapoport in third. Most of the battles throughout the main were behind the top three and positions were swapped every lap. In the end, it was Pro-Line and TLR Driver Dakotah Phend who took the win, followed by Mo Denton and A Main Hobbies’ Scott Rapoport in third place. Dakotah ran Pro-Line’s Caliber M3′s on his truggy.

Results:
1. Dakotah Phend – Pro-Line
2. Mo Denton
3. Scott Rapoport
4. Shane Snyder
5. Justin Hughes

Current Standings in the series (no drops taken into consideration):
1. Dakotah Phend (608 points) – Pro-Line
2. Mo Denton (585 points)
3. Justin Hughes (537 points)
4. Caleb Henry (521 points)
5. Scott Rapoport (434 points)(-1 race)

Read the full Buggy-Sport.info article here…

Patrick Hofer wins the Warm-Up race of the 1/8 Brushless German Championship with his Team Associated RC8.2e equipped with Pro-Line wheels and tires.

Patrick discovered his new car on Saturday and found a good setup during the practice. During the 10 minute qualifiers, Patrick secured the first place and obtained the pole position.

Due to rain on Sunday, the second race day was canceled and Patrick won the overall Warm-Up race based on qualification results.

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Patrick Hofer on the podium at Euro 2012 Warm-Up

Patrick finished on the podium with 3rd place on both 2WD and 4WD category.

Final results – 2WD:
1. Peter Pinish – AT
2. Miguel Matias – PT
3. Patrick Hofer – CH – Team Associated B4.1 / Pro-Line

Final results – 4WD:
1. Miguel Matias – PT
2. Peter Pinish – AT
3. Patrick Hofer – CH – Team Associated B44.1 / Pro-Line

This was our first meet ever with the ST-RR Evo Truggy and as soon as it hit the track I was very impressed, it was so easy to drive and we changed only few things to get it dialed. The Rocky track was a fun track consisting of both grass and dirt, it started off quite ‘grassy’ but by the end of the meet the dirt had rose and it was a wee bit rough in some sections.

I managed to secure TQ in both classes, winning all three of my qualifiers for both classes. With a big turn out of 100 + entries, I was able to bump straight to the main without having to complete a semi final. With this in mind, my dad and I got wrenching and got both cars prepared for the finals. I was running Pro-Line’s M3 Bowties for my buggy, and M3 Calibers Truggy.

Overall, I again managed to win both truggy and buggy finals but a fairly descent margin. I would like to thanks all of my sponsors: Kyosho, Pro-Line, Os Engines, KO Propo, Venom, Neo + fuels, Podified Engines and my dad Overall it was a great weekend and a big event in Queensland for this time of the year.

Regards, Kyle

Pictures: NeoBuggy.net

Let’s face it, the Slash has pretty much carved out a huge chunk of the RC industry spawning a segment that has grown into Epic proportions in just a few years. One of their latest versions of this game changing truck is the Ford F-150 Raptor SVT. This model more closely captures the realistic lines of the real street Version Ford produces.  With all the realistic styling in this latest verison, I just couldn’t resist creating my own version’s of a Pre-Runner / Baja Chase Truck.  Especially with all the cool upgrades and accessories we offer here at Pro-Line.

For Chassis upgrades I started off with our Pro-Trac 2WD Slash Suspension Kit #6062-00.  My intention for this  truck to have allot of suspension travel with some extra ride height. To achieve this, I added our fully adjustable Powerstroke SC shocks #6063-00 Front and #6063-01 Rear. For my battery selections I will be running in this truck are the larger 3S and 4S high capacity multiple cell types. These larger battery’s add a little extra weight to the truck so I picked up the optional spring assortment packs (#6063-03 Front and #6063-04 Rear). These have a range of spring rate choices which helps me tune the shocks for a taller ride height and more suspension travel without sacrificing handling performance .

Since I’m swapping out the Stock Brushed motor for the VXL Brushless set up, I added our #6062-08 2WD Chassis Saver as well as our #6066-00 Adjustable Battery Strap. To keep all the truck pointed in the right direction I added our #6067-00 steering kit . To put the Power to the Ground, I installed a Pair of #1159-02 M2 Trencher SC tires and mounted them to some #2731-03 Renegade Pro-Trac bead lock wheels. I wanted a silver look to the Bead lock rings so I stripped the red paint finish off and polished the metal rings with some high luster metal polish which can be found at most automotive parts stores. I also painted the wheel centers of the bead locks a dark metallic gray to closer simulate the wheels on the real truck

For the exterior look of the truck, I removed the black bed decals and sprayed some Rust-oleum black Truck bed coating. It bonds good to plastic and gives a durable finish. Always remember to use light coats, allowing to fully dry in between applications.  I also trimmed the hoop extensions off the top of the front bumper for a more stock look and coated the bumper with the same Truck bed coating paint. I fabricated a Pre-Runner Role cage from ½” Plastruct rod and painted it in the same manner as the bed.  To finish off the look, I added a #6072-00 Tool Box, #6045-00 Tools Set, Fire Extinguisher from Set #6075-00 and some gas cans from our #6040-00 Tools Set. I cut the gas cans down to give it some depth look and fabricated some gas can boxes from Plastruct sheeting. Also don’t forget your Pro-Pulls ,  I don’t talk about them enough but they are one of the best ways to hold your body securely for extreme running while still having easy removal.

I used the Stock body for this article with some changes / alterations. If you want to upgrade to a more race looking F-150 Raptor body, Be sure to check out our  #3344-00 F-150 SVT Raptor or our  #3366-00 Flo-Tek F-150 Raptor SVT Body’s. these are great upgrades to the Stock body and fit perfectly to this chassis with the Chassis and Suspension modifications.

SneakPeek Items!

HID Light Bar Kit

This truck is also equipped with two of our new upcoming items which we are giving you a little sneak peak at.  The light bar is a New HID Light Bar Kit we will be releasing very soon. You can build a 6 Up or 4 Up light bar package. It is intended for both SC Truck and Crawler Applications. The light pods are designed to accept 5mm LED bulbs but are not included. These are shots of a Pre-Production unit.  We still have a little more fine tuning we are working on molds before production.

Transmission!

Lastly the New P-L Transmission!  This is our new high performance transmission designed to be used on the Slash 2WD, Electric Stampede 2WD, Electric Rustler and Bandit (with switching to Slash 18T or 19T pinions). It’s a direct bolt in Upgrade replacement for your OEM transmission and will give you 20% less rotational weight with quicker acceleration and longer run time!  It has so many features that I cannot cover them all in this article, but will do a separate write up in a future article going into more details very soon!

No other company offers you more upgrade’s, performance parts or accessories options for you SC Truck! Be sure to check out everything we have to offer for your SC truck at http://prolineracing.com/short-course-desert-truck/

 I hope you enjoyed this article and if you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a line at customerservice@prolineraing.com

This past weekend was round 2 of the Cape Fear Championship Series at Cape Fear Raceway in Fuquay Varina NC. The Track was in prime condition and with the track taking a groove very early on he went to Pro-Line’ss Newest tire  the “Tazers”  which were up to the task of propelling him into a solid Tq in Pro Buggy and starting 2nd in E-buggy. Even after 25 minutes of hard racing in the Nitro A main final the tires continued to set the pace giving Nick Cattuna the Win in Pro Nitro Buggy.  He then went on to back that up with a Win in the E-buggy class with some “Revolver 2.0″ M4 compound tires.

He was using the following Pro-Line Products:

Pro-Line M4 Tazers on White V2 Velocity Wheels

Pro-Line M4 Blockades on White V2 Velocity Wheels

Pro-Line Bull dog Body for Mugen MBX6

Pro-Line High Downforce Wing

This years ROAR nationals will take us into the mountainous area of Pennsylvania. The track is actually kind of in a valley in the mountains. The track is mostly made up of white powdery dirt a lot like that of the Nationals in Colorado a couple years back. The only difference is, this track see’s more sunshine and the dirt can go from low traction to super traction in a matter of a few hours of hot sunshine. The track itself stays together and really doesn’t break up all that much. It can get a bit dusty, but with the right moisture, the track condition will make for some great racing. The warmup layout was quite interesting to say the least. There are almost two straightaways on the track. You have a long front straight, followed by a diagonal straight into a banked oval turn. This is LCRC’s trademark in the track layout and they try to retain it from lay out to layout. Other than that, it only had a couple more tricky sections. The 6 pack, or double, double, double was easy, up until the point it was dusty and some of the jump faces started to deteriorate. The other hard section on the track, or more so hard on the car was the 5 foot step down, or drop off. This proved really challenging on the cars suspension and ability to absorb.

When we showed up the weather was really cold in the 40’s and had over cast. It had rained the previous days, leaving the track a bit moist. The condition was a bit slippery, at this time and began to formulate dust. With no sun on the track the condition was loose to most. I have to admit though and as many would confirm, the Serpent S811 in this condition was really off the chain. I was able to post quite a bit faster lap times than the other competitors. I was having difficulty with the softer tires and had to opt for harder m3’s on my car. It helped calm the car down in this situation, but gave the me the proper amount of steering and traction. I was able to TQ, the 4 rounds of qualifying, but, this was really just the beginning of the wild ride.

Saturday(qualifying) we saw no rain and, the sun was out a good portion of the day. The track crew had begun to blow the track and remove a lot of the dust. The condition was improving each and every round. As the track was improving, so was the grip, as well as the other competitors unfortunately. My car really didn’t improve much; it was actually becoming more difficult to drive. As the grip was increasing, the feeling of my car became more and more edgy. I managed to hang on for Saturday, but what Sunday would bring was an entirely different track condition all together. We were expecting a lot of rain on Saturday night, but, it never came. Sunday started off with a prepared track and a lot of sunshine. The track race to race was getting faster and faster. By the time the truggy final had come around, the track was 2 seconds a lap faster than qualifying. You could say, the track was really hooked up.

I knew that my car was not good enough to win the final, so I had to make some setup choices to hopefully put me in a better position. The first thing, I chose, was a stiffer front roll bar, (2.3 to 2.5) then I heaved up the front and rear oils (fr 525 to 550), (rr 350 to 375). I then laid down the front shocks from #4 to #3. These changes always seem to help our car in higher grip scenarios. I also chose a different pattern tire, that is typically a little safer in higher grip. I went from the Hole Shot in qualifying to the Blockade for the long final.

The improvements I made to the car did help, but, it still needed to be better. The beginning of the race was a real bar banger between me and 3 of 4 other drivers. We swapped the lead back and forth the first 10 minutes or so, then I was able to start pulling away. I had lapped up to about 3rd or 4th I think around the 20-25 minute mark, when all of a sudden I had a phantom flame out. I had to be brought back into the pits, fortunately, my lead was big enough, that when I returned to the track I was still on the lead lap, but now sitting in the 8th position. It was going to be a really long race at this point, but I was not totally out of it. I battled back for the remaining 25 minutes or so, and with only 3 laps to go, I came up on the lead car who had been leading for a while. He had run out of tires, while I still had a little left. I was able to pass him and pull away in a short time. Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you don’t. In this case, something that is true to the words. “Victories are earned not given” rang through my mind.

I want to say thanks to my sponsors, Serpent, Airtronics, Byrons fuel, Pro-Line, Lunsford, Hitec, A main hobbies, PT Racing, Protec, and LRP.

Wins are wins, and they all add up the experience.
- Billy Easton

Source: Serpent.com

Qualifying went well as I TQ’d the first round by 10 seconds. My second round was a little slower with the worse track condition. The track was too dry and it was getting bumpy and slick, but I still held on for the TQ position.

Beginning the final, I held on to my lead for the first several laps and stretched out some space on the rest of the field. The toughest thing was negotiating the tight course as I got into lapped traffic. The second place position was a fight between my team mate Sean Gaffney and track owner Chris Marrale. In the end it was Sean hanging on to 2^nd position, making it a Kyosho 1-2 finish. Sean and I both used Pro-Line Blockade tires in M3 compound. My win this week gives me three perfect scores of 101, and the points lead in the buggy class. Also, this was my first race with the new KO Propo EX1 radio, and it was very nice. Super good response and I felt very connected to the car.

In the Intermediate Buggy class, it was Dylan Elliot with the TQ and win again, as he also has 3 perfect scores of 101, and the points lead in Intermediate Buggy. Things are looking good for the MP9 at Grass Roots. Overall it was a great day of racing, and a great result for Kyosho, winning both Expert and Intermediate classes. After racing we drove through Palm Springs for some Mexican food and ice cream at Cold Stone.

Grass Roots Racing Series Round 6 is at the PRO-LINE TRACK! I’m really looking forward to this, as we haven’t had a series event at this location for some time. This will be on Sunday May 27^th. For more information, see the Grass Roots racing page. Hope to see you at Pro-Line!

-Cody King

Source: CodyKingRC.com