Category: Race Team News

The 2015 Hardman Cup was held at West Coast Model Rally Club in Perth, Western Australia. An annual race that was first run in 1993 in memory of Travis Hardman who was killed in a motor vehicle accident returning from an away RC car race. Hardman used to love to race in the stock classes hence the reason why this race is a stock only race for 2WD and 4WD. All the best stock racers in Western Australia would be competing.

Tekin driver Darren Johnston would compete in both 2WD and 4WD with his Tekin powered Yokomo Y-Max 2WD and BMax4 III 4WD buggies. Having not ran stock competitively for a long time so it was going to be a bit of a learning curve for him. The race would consist of 2 qualifiers, a top 10 shootout and 3 mains.

Things went very well from the start where Johnston seemed to be able to find grip in his Yokomo Y-Max car that others were struggling with. The track had been rolled the day before and grip was at a premium. I easily won the opening qualifiers in 2WD and 4WD. In the second round Darren again won the round in 2WD but 4WD was now much closer with several drivers running very closely together. Johnston ended up 2^nd in the round and losing TQ.

But this is where things were done a bit differently. A top ten shootout was now held in the 2WD and 4WD classes. This meant that there was a one lap dash between 10^th and 9^th and the winner would then bump to race 8^th and so on until a new qualifying order was established. Johnston managed to win both classes so he was able to start on TQ for the finals. A special mention to Darren’s son Brayden who is 12 years old and also qualified for both mains bumping up in 4WD all the way from 9^th position to 5^th position on the grid. Brayden was also using all the same Tekin gear in his cars.

In the Finals Darren was lucky enough to get good starts in all the races and in 2WD this enabled me to run away and hide, winning all the finals competed in comfortably.

4WD was a different story with 4 drivers really battling. Because of his good starts Darren was able to hold off the other drivers and again win the first two A finals enabling him to sit out the third finals in each class.

“Probably the most pleasing aspect for me in this race is that through both classes and 8 races I only had to be turn marshaled once all day. I don’t know I have ever had a race meeting where I drove so consistently before. My Tekin equipment I used was strong all day and never missed a beat.”  Darren Johnston

Darren and his son Brayden chose the Tekin RSX ESC, Tekin Redline Gen2 17.5T motor and the Tekin Hotwire and computer software.

The 2015 Bring The Heat took place in Flowood, Mississippi this past weekend. The schedule for this event was Friday practice, Saturday 3 rounds of qualifying with qual points and triple a mains. Over 200 entries would do their best on the big elevation changes, tight sections, and big jumps.

Tekin factory drivers were in force in the 1/8 E Buggy class. Tq Ryan Lutz would battle it out with Tekin teammate JR Mitch for the first 5 minutes. Lutz would bobble giving JR the lead while falling back to 3rd. Lutz would battle back and get close but never make pass. JR would take A1. A2 Lutz would pull a gap but JR Mitch was on a mission, catching Ryan around the 6 minute mark. JR would push hard but a few too many little mistakes wouldn’t allow JR to capitalize and make a pass. Lutz would take A2. A3 would be a bit rougher as the track had slowed creating a lot more traffic in the back of the field. This would allow Ryan to create a gap and lead tone to tone without pressure. This would give Ryan Lutz the overall, Jr Mitch 2nd, Denny 3rd, Dickerson 4th, and Harrison 5th. 4 of the top 5 would be running the award winning Tekin Rx8 Gen2 Esc and T8 Gen2 line of motors.

L-R Harrison,Mitch,Lutz,Denny,Dickerson

E Truggy was a close battle. Tekin factory driver would take advantage of his P2 qualifying  position and make short work in both A1 and A2 taking the win in each over the field.  Martin chose the award winning Rx8 Gen2 esc and T8 Gen2 2000kv motor.

4wd Short Course truck would be another Tekin teammate battle. JR Mitch would take the overall Tq running the award winning Tekin Rx8 Gen2 Esc followed by Martin and Nathan Harrison also running the Pro4 HD 4300kv motors. JR and Martin would battle it out between the two but JR would take the overall win.

With over 145 entries on the day, the Silver Dollar Raceway crew was bound to provide some of the most fun racing on the west coast. Another awesome layout was installed by the crew under the direction of Kevin “Dirt Whisperer” Jelich.

Tekin team drivers Ryan Lutz and Mason Eppley would prove early on that the 1/8 E Buggy A-mains would be fun to watch. The two would qualify 1-2 gong into the double A-main.  The tone of A-1 would sound and the two Tekin/Tekno teammates would blast off to an early lead over the field. Lutz would make an uncharacteristic bobble allowing young NorCal phenom Mason Eppley to take the lead. Lutz would be unable to make up the distance with the two running near identical lap times. Eppley would take the win by nearly 8 seconds!

A-2 would be similar to A-1 however this time Lutz wouldn’t make any mistakes leading from tone to tone, besting his A-1 time by over 25 seconds and setting the fastest lap of the weekend with a 30.1!  Mason would take 2nd overal in A-2. The tiebreaker format would give Lutz the overall win with Eppley 2nd.  This kid is fast and you will see more of him in the future!(Randy Pike)

Both drivers use the award winning Tekin Rx8 Gen2 esc and T8 Gen2 lineup of motors.

Tekin factory driver Max Flurer uses his Tekin RSX powered TLR buggies to take the overall Tq and wins in both the 2wd and 4wd buggy classes. Max chose a 7.5 Redline Gen2 and 5.5 Redline Gen2 in his 2wd and 4wd buggies respectively.

The Nevada State Champs was hosted by the RC Tracks of Las Vegas. The 1st annual event had all the makings of a great race before the tone even sounded. Nearly 100 entries and a great layout were ready and waiting for those who attended. Will this be the next great 1/10 Off-road outdoor race of the year?

Tekin factory drivers in attendance had a great showing. James Raschko would would put in great drives from his P4 position to take the win in the 2wd Mod Buggy class. James chose the Tekin RSX esc and Redline Gen2 7.5 motor to power his win.

Tekin teammate Mikey Bustamante would take advantage of his P2 position in 4wd Mod Buggy to take the overall win also using the Tekin RSX esc and Redline Gen2 motors in his state championship title.

Tekin driver Scott Mango managed to take the overall win in the 17.5 2wd Buggy class running the Tekin RS Gen2 and Redline Gen2 17.5.

Hupo Hönigl is known worldwide as one of the fastest racers being able to race anything from 1/12 modified pan cars all the way to 1/8 Off-road cars.  Hupo has recently taken up 1/8 Electric buggy racing with his Serpent cars. Hupo having some experience with this genre knew he’d need electronics that could keep up with him on the track. Hupo chose to run the award winning Tekin Rx8 Gen2 esc and Tekin T8 Gen2 1900kv motor in his Serpent Cobra 811 BE.

Hönigl recently ran the last and final round of the Austrian E-buggy National Championship series. A best of 3 where the finale was held at the challenging MRC Jaidhof track.  Immense heat along with a challenging, dusty and rough track condition with constantly changing race lines made for tough racing. This would “control” and “driveability” at premium for racers. Hönigl would take his Tekin powered Serpent buggy to A1 and A2 victories starting form the 3rd position on the grid. This would give Hupo Hönigl the 1st ever Austrain National Title in the 1/8 E Buggy division!

Hönigl won each and every round with his Tekin powered Serpent Cobra. Pic courtesy of RedRC

Everyone at Tekin would like to congratulate Hupo Hönigl on his Championship title!

The 2015 Axialfest was once again held in Cisco Grove, Ca. With a record number of entries and attendance yet again this year, competitors were definitely in attendance. With a few new additional side events, the event was enjoyed by anyone and everyone who attended whether or not you competed.  Tekin sent down factory reps Ty Campbell and Zak Kennedy to help anyone running Tekin equipment all week long.

Tekin factory driver Michael Pham had a great weeked. Pham started his weekend off with a win in the new Wraith Outlaw Rhythm Drags. Pham took his VP Tekin Axial Wraith powered by a Tekin RX8 Gen 2 and Tekin ROC 412 3100kv on 3s to the big win. This new event pitted 2 people at a time, drag race on down a track with corners, mud, sand, rocks and asphalt. The winner would advance to the next round until only one person would be standing at the end. Michael Pham was that person!

Pham continued his winning weekend taking the win in the Terra-X Wraith division. This class was ran with up to 20 drivers at once for the first two heats. There were at least 3 sets of Wraiths rounds per a heat. Heats were not timed and was just 2 laps around the course BUT no corner marshaling was allowed (by driver or spectators), so if you got stuck or flipped upside down and couldn’t get back on your tires on your own power you were consider “Track Art”. Course layout consisted of turns, jumps, side hills, rock, dirt, sand, and asphalt. The top 5 drivers would advance to the Main and if you qualified after the first heat you did not have to run the second heat. Main consisted of 5 laps and again no corner marshaling was allowed so staying tire side down was very important. Event consisted of almost 20 drivers for the Main and a total of over 70 drivers participated. Pham would take 1st place with his VP Tekin Axial Wraith powered by his Tekin RX8 Gen 2 and Tekin ROC 412 3100kv on 3s.

Pham would take the triple crown winning the Terra-X Yeti division. The class was similar to the Wraith division above but had a total of around 100 drivers participated!  “I took 1st place in this event and qualified after my first Heat. Highlight of my Main race in the Yeti was I cleared 20ft after the jump in reverse and this was during the 4 lap of my heat and landed as smooth as can be.” Michael Pham

Pham once again chose the Tekin Rx8 Gen2 esc this time coupled with a Tekin Pro4 HD 3500kv on 3s in his VP-Axial Yeti.

With 517 entries the Wicked Weekend was going to be a race to remember. 45 mains would be held on Sunday, and Race Director Lance MacDonald would be the man on the mic.

In Pro E-buggy Joe Bornhorst would take the overall Tq position with Tekin teammates Shay Brand in P2, and Griffin Hanna in P3.    A-1 would be a battle between Tekin teammates Joe Bornhorst and Griffin Hanna who would take the win. A-2 would have slightly different track conditions being later in the program. A 3 way battle of Tekin teammates would ensue between Bornhorst, Hanna, and Shay Brand. Griffin Hanna managed to be in the right place to take advantage of a small mistake by Joe to go on and take the win giving him the overall win for the weekend! All 3 team drivers chose the Tekin Rx8 Gen2 esc and T8 Gen2 line up of motors.

L-R Joe Bornhorst, Griffin Hanna, Barry Pettit

Griffin Hanna would take the overall Tq position in the E-Truggy class over teammate Martin Harrison.  Griffin would take the overall going 1-1 in the first 2 A-mains. Tekin teammate Martin Harrison would take 2nd overall joining him on the podium. Hanna andHarrison both chose the award winning Tekin Rx8 Gen2 esc and T8 Gen2 line of motors.

L-R Martin Harrison, Griffin Hanna, Austin Hughes

Tekin factory driver Martin Harrison would go onto to win the overall in the 4wd SC Truck class with his Tekin Rx8 Gen2 esc Pro4 HD 4300kv powered TLR SCTE truck.

This past weekend was the final race in our local “Road to Nationals” points series at Hobbytown SRS in Phoenix, Az which will host the Roar 1/10th Electric Nationals next week. Tekin factory driver Chris “18” Wheeler reports:

“I competed in the two very competitive classes which were 2wd 17.5 Buggy and 2wd Modified Buggy. 17.5 buggy having the most entries consistently through out the series and was by far the closest class in points.

17.5 buggy- Going into this final round I was tied for the points lead with 3rd place just two points back so it was anybodies series to win. After qualifying I would end up with the TQ which then gave me a one point lead going into the A-main. In the main I would have a slight bobble early that would drop me to 2nd where I would stay till the end deciding not to push to hard as the leader wasn’t in the top 3 in points so I simply need to finish 2nd to take the overall points victory which I did.

Tekin RS Gen2 Spec, Tekin Redline Gen2 17.5, TLR 22 2.0 Gearing-35/72

Mod buggy- In mod buggy I would come into the finals in second place 7 points back from the leader so would need some luck if I was going to move up. Although my car was very good and competitive with me qualifying 2nd to Spencer Rivkin and finishing 3rd to him and Tanner Denny this would not be enough to move me up in points so I would finish second overall for the series.

Tekin RSX, Tekin Redline Gen2 8.5, TLR 22 2.0 Gearing- 21/70

17.5 buggy- Going into this final round I was tied for the points lead with 3rd place just two points back so it was anybodies series to win. After qualifying I would end up with the TQ which then gave me a one point lead going into the main. In the main I would have a slight bobble early that would drop me to 2nd where I would stay till the end deciding not to push to hard as the leader was not in the top 3 in points so I simply need to finish 2nd to take the overall points victory which I did.

Thank you for all the help and support!”  Chris Wheeler

Hupo Hönigl has been running the award winning Tekin Rx8 Gen2 esc and T8 Gen2 1900 T8 motor in his Serpent buggies in the Austrian National Series. So far Hupo has gone 2 for 2 Tq’s and wins running the systems.  His latest report form Round 2:

“Last weekend there was the 2nd round of the Austrian nationals round #2. It was probably the hottest weekend ever recorded in Austria with temperatures just below 40°C and in the sun it felt like in a sauna. Although many other racers had huge temperature and shut down issues, my Tekin combo worked flawless all weekend with for sure more power then most others. I would TQ, win the 10 minute semi and win the first 2 10 minute A-mains. Second was Thomas Mayer and 3rd Andreas Mayer also with the Tekin combo.”

Round 1

Round 2

Tekin is available in an around Austria via HOECO!