Under the Hood with Tekin team driver Adam Drake

Team Tekin factory driver Adam Drake is well known throughout RC racing all over the world. "The Drake" is best known for his consistent efforts in the 1/8 Buggy scene. We take an in depth look into Adam's TLR 8ight E 1/8 Electric E buggy.

Drake's signature paint scheme is easy to spot running around the track. Adam's using the latest TLR 8ight 3.0 body on his 8ight E buggy wrapped up by Upgrade RC.

Look at the top with the body removed you can see Adam chooses a Tekin Rx8 and Tekin 1900kv T8 motor with a Tekno Traktion Drive that Adam feels makes the car more forgiving to drive on the rough tracks he visits such as the Psycho Nitro Blast or Silver State. Adam changes between a 15T and 16T clutch/pinion setup with a 48T metal spur depending on track size and layout.

Drake is also using a 4s 5400mah 35c "Sport" Thunder Power pack for weight savings. When coupled to the Tekin Rx8 and T8 1900 motor, Adam's 8ight E lacks nothing in the power department with this combination. This allows Drake to run a car that is close in weight to his nitro buggy which helps greatly in the setup department. 

Thanks for checking out one of many upcoming "Under the Hoods" with the Team Tekin factory squad!

Scott Hughes wins the highly anticipated Ultra4 race!

Team Tekin driver Scott Hughes secures a win in the highly anticipated Ultra4 race brought to you by SoCal Rock Crawling Club and RCP Crawlers.

The first true rock race specific course in SoCal at the legendary Glenn Helen Raceway was home to this first time event. Scott’s Tekin controlled Vaterra Twin Hammers by Horizon Hobbies annihilated the course by setting fast time of the day. “ The Tekin FXR proved worthy in the rough terrain by accelerating quickly over the larger obstacles yet having the linear power to navigate the course with confidence,” says Scott.  Look for Scott to report more on the series in the near future.

Tekin takes Round 2 win at the RC Pro Series Delta division!

Round 2 of the RC Pro Series Delta division was held in Shreveport, LA. at TNT Raceway.  Over 100 entries allowed the track to start out pretty smooth with a little dust.  A few computer issues forced event organizers to set up the mains based on qualifying after the re-sort.  This worked to Tekin powered Reggie Tongue's favor in E-buggy where he would be TQ.

  The computer issues also caused the main times to be lowered. The electric triple A's were now 5min double A's.  Reggie had two hard fought battles with Ty Rogers as they swapped leads all the way down to the last lap in both A's.  In the end Tongue ended up being a little more consistent and won both mains, giving him the overall win in E-Buggy using the Tekin Rx8 and T8 Redline motor programmed with a Hotwire USB.

Darren Lord dominates Truck'n Tuesday series using Tekin Power!

The KempCraft Truckin Tuesday series consisted of a 12 round series with 2 throw outs. The series ran from early January to 2nd last Tuesday in April 2013 every Tuesday night at GCRC.

Tekin powered Darren Lord would go on to TQ 10 rounds taking 9 wins and 1 2nd place to completely dominate the series for 4x4 SCT. Setting fastest lap times every single week and missing a perfect score by just 1 point!

Lord chose a Tekin RX8 and Pro 4 4600 to power his Team Durango DESC410r to a series title!

Tekin buries the competition in the NCT Series opener!

The Northwest Championship Tour kicked off outdoor racing here in the northwest with round 1 the Spring Shootout held in Wenatchee, Wa. This years race was the largest to date with around 250 entries.

Tekin powered Nick Buechler would Tq and wind 4wd Mod Buggy after having suffered a mechanical in A1. A2 and A3 would take some work but he'd pull out the overall win when points were tallied. Nick ran a Tekin RS Pro and Redline Gen 2 7.5 programmed by a Tekin Hotwire.

Jason Tjepkema would dominate the 4wd SC class. Overall Tq in the 4wd SC class, Jason would go on to win A1 and A2 in convincing fashion with his Tekin Rx8 and Pro 4HD 4300kv motor.

1/8 Electric Buggy was one of the biggest of the weekend with around 35 entries. In A1 Tekin powered Jayson Tjepkema would take the win over Tekin teammate Nick Buechler four seconds after the 10 minute race. A2 Nick Buechler would take 1st by just a couple seconds over Jayson , Jorden Hestness and Jeremy Potter both 3rd and 4th. It would all come down to A3 for the overall win. A3 had Jayson out front with Nich 2nd behind Jayson when Jayson suffered a mechanical putting Nick about 7 seconds ahead of Jeremy Potter sitting 2nd with 4 minutes to go. Unfortunately Nick would also suffer a mechanical with a shock nut backing off. After it was all added up Tjepkema would take 1st, Nick Buechler 2nd, and Jordan Hestness 3rd. All 3 drivers chose the Tekin Rx8 and T8 Redline motors to power their E Buggies.

Tekin powers Joe Bornhorst to WRL Series Championship!

Last weekend was the WRL (Winter Racing League) Finals at CRCRC. This was the 6th round of the series that carried all of the way through the winter. Going into the weekend Tekin powered Joe Bornhorst new that he was going to have to have some good runs to finish out the series good, seeing as the fastest drivers in the area were in attendance along with it being a Double Points race. Bornhorst raced both 2wd Buggy and 2wd SCT.

For the first round of qualifying 2wd Buggy was up first, and there was 4 full heats of buggies. Bornhorst  had a solid run for 5th overall and was pretty happy with it, a good start. Next up was 2wd SCT heat. Bornhorst's truck was on point. Joe came out swinging in this race throwing down a flawless run grabbing the TQ by a couple seconds.  Going into the 3rd and final round of qualifying Bornhorst had a very clean run , bettering his time to a 15/5:09.5. TQ for the day was JP Richards with a 16/5:18.9. This run put me Joe 4th overall. Last qualifier for 2wd SCT and again Joe had a good run, but didn't better his time while still keeping TQ from his Rd1 time which was a 15/5:17.8.

The 2wd buggy main was highly anticipated by everyone in the building, everyone was watching. When the tone sounded for the 7 minute main Bornhorst stayed in 4th and freight trained away from the pack with the top 3 drivers. 3 minutes into the race and the top 4 had a gap on 5th, all battling for position. No one was making mistakes, going into the last lap Bornhorst really wanted that last podium position and was trying to plan out a pass. Bornhorst  made the pass for the 3rd spot and just brought it around for his third podium of the series in 2wd buggy. When the overall series points were added up Joe's 3rd place in 2wd buggy put him up into the 3rd spot overall for the series out of 97 total drivers. Joe chose a Tekin RS Pro esc, with a Gen 2 8.5T Motor, along with the Hotwire USB device.

The 2wd SCT A-main tone sounded and Bornhorst would go on to have a flawless run pulling away from the pack leading from tone to tone for a very convincing win over 2nd place JP Richards, and 3rd place Paul Sinclair. With the double points TQ and win in 2wd SCT in the last round it was enough to bring Joe up up into the 1st position for the series edging out Dustin Richards by just one point! Joe chose the Tekin RS Pro esc, with a Gen 2 7.5T Motor, along with the Hotwire USB device.

Team Tekin wins big at the 2013 Silver State Nitro Challenge!

Team Tekin drivers all converged to the Boulder City, NV.  Team driver such as Ryan Lutz, Adam Drake, Dylan Rodriquez, Chris Miller, and Kyle Johnson would be in attendance all looking to take big wins with their Tekin powered rides.

Early on it was clear that Ryan Lutz was on a mission. Lutz dominated 4wd SC qualifying with his Tekin Rx8 and Pro 4 powered Desc410r taking the first 2 rounds giving him the overall Tq. Ryan would go onto win the A main event lapping the entire field.

Pics courtesy of RCInsider.com

Ryan would continue on taking the overall Tq in the Expert 1/8 Electric Buggy division with this Tekin Rx8 and T8 powered Dex408. Ryan would have stiff competition from Tekin teammate Adam Drake, Dylan Rodriguez all fighting for podium spots during the 10 minute Amain. Lutz would bobble allowing Tebo to get by giving him 2nd place overall with Tekin teammate Dylan Rodriquez taking 3rd from the 11th spot on the grid!

Pics courtesy of RCinsider.com

Pro2 SC had some serious racing. The rough track and win all played part in the qualifying and Amain. Tekin powered Chris Miller would take the overall Tq position with his Tekin RS Redline Gen2 powered Sc truck. Chris would lead each and every lap tone to tone taking the overall win in the Pro2 division.

Pics courtesy of RCInsider.com

Dunford puts the new Tekin RS Gen2 on the podium at RD2 of the JBRL Electric Series!

Rd 2 of the JBRL Electric series kicked off this past weekend at SDRC Raceway.

Ryan Dunford and Tekin Racing score a hard fought second place this weekend at the JBRL race in San Diego.  The mains were 6 minutes long and all 6 of the minutes were used to battle back and forth between a number of drivers. Wyrick and Dunford would battle back and forth for the last few laps passing one another a couple of times each lap.  In the end of what was a fun race to watch, Wyrick  just edged out Ryan for the win. Dunford chose the new Tekin RS Gen 2 ESC and Gen2 Redline 8.5 Motor.

Tekin Pro 4HD winning big it's first weekend out at the JBRL and RC Pro Series!

Matt Olson had a fantastic weekend out at SDRC in 4x4 SC with my Tekin powered MIP Pro4mance Scte. TQing and taking the win over talented Tekno drivers Barry Baker and Chad Panek. Olson's MIP truck was equipped with Tekin's all new Pro4 HD 4300KV motor geared 41/16 controlled by the Tekin RX8 esc. "The truck was unbelievably fast, controllable, and the power band produced by the HD motor was smooth and linear." Olson

Matt would also finish up 5th in 2wd Mod buggy and 4th in 2wd Mod Short course behind factory fast Steven Hartson. Both of my 2wds were equipped with the Tekin RS Pro and 7.5/8.5 Gen 2 motors. "Thank you Tekin for providing me with exceptional high quality products to power my RC passion."

Brian Henn would debut his Tekin Pro 4HD 4300kv this past weekend at Rd 2 of the RC Pro Texas State Series in Corups Christy, Texas.  Henn would Tq Rd1 and Rd2 securing the overall Tq position for the mains. With temps reaching near 90 degrees on mains day Henn's Pro 4HD and Rx8 esc would have no issue taking wins in A1 and A2 in dominating fashion securing the overall win of Rd2 of the RC Pro Series Texas division.

Henn would also take down P2 in the 1/8 Pro E Buggy division using his Tekin Rx8 T8 1900 powered HotBodies D12e/Tekno.

Tekin's Andrew Mowery wins MN State Championship!

Andrew Mowery wins the Minnesota On Road State Championship Series in Stock Sedan.
Mowery used the Tekin RS and Gen 2 17.5 to take 4 TQ's and 5 wins completing an almost a perfect season and many of the races were with in tenths at the end. "Sedan was really stellar and the Gen 2 Torque 17.5 was super smooth and super fast right from the start." Mowery

Andrew also took 2nd overall in 1/12 Mod using a Tekin RS Pro and Redline Gen2 4.5 with a of couple wins and Tq's just a few points out of the top spot.

"I have to say Thank You for the great products and the great support. Gen 2 motors have been truly stellar with great pull and feel, better then any other motor I have run." Mowery

Tekin powers McGinty's to podium spots at the Big Bend Shootout!

Capital City RC Raceway in Tallahassee, Fl played host to the 1st Annual Big Bend Off-road Shootout.  There were 172 entries at this event.  Practice was Friday, qualifying was Saturday and the mains were Sunday.

Tekin powered John Michael McGinty TQ'd the first and 3rd round of Pro E-buggy for overall TQ.  McGinty won the first A main and finished 2nd in the A2 A main to take first place overall in Pro E-buggy.

Tekin powered John McGinty Sr. qualified 3rd in the Pro E-Truggy A main.  McGinty Sr. finished 3rd in the A1 main and I finished 2nd in the A2 main which gave me a 3rd place overall.

Both drivers chose the Tekin Rx8 and T8 line of 1/8 Brushless motors to power them to the podium!

2013 Tekin Showdown Huge Success!

This past weekend kicked off the 2013 Tekin Showdown race at TQ Speedway and Hobbies in Boise,ID. TQ hast hosted this event from it's inception and provides a great facility for people from all over the Northwest to converge and enjoy some tight racing. With over 150+ entries this would be the largest Tekin Showdown to date!

In 4wd Buggy Nick Buechler would qualify 4th in the A main followed by Ty Campbell(6th). This class was tight tight tight! In A1, AE's John Walentia, Kobe Yonker, and Nick battled hard for the top three spots. Nick would take 2nd with Walentia taking the win and Yonker 3rd. Yonker ended up taking the overall with Walentia 2nd and Buechler 3rd. Nick chose the Tekin RS Pro and Redline Gen2 8.5 motor. Tekin teammate Jeremy Potter would take 4th along with Ty Campbell 6th both using the same power combination.

Pics by Luke Schumacher

Starting from the middle of the back Tekin team drivers Ty Campbell (4th), Nick Buechler(5th), Jeremy Potter(6th) would have their work cut out for them in the Mod Stadium Truck class. When the dust settled Nick Buechler would take 3rd overall, Campbell 4th, and Potter 5th. All 3 drivers chose the RS Gen2 and Gen2 Redline series of motors.

Pics by Luke Schumacher

Tekin's own "The Prez" Jim Campbell would run one of the most fun classes to watch of the weekend, Short Course Buggy. Jim would take a stock out of the box Team Losi SCB, drop in some Tekin electronics and take on the competition, some of which were running full blown race SCB's loaded with factory goodies and mods. The "Prez" would even be racing on stock tires and wheels on the hard packed dusty track proving that this class is "out of the box" fun while being competitive with the best race trucks. The "Prez" would drive consistent always being near the top in both A1 and A2. The title however would come down to A3 with different winners of the first two mains. The top 3 would be out in front of the pack with the "Prez" sitting in 3rd picking off lapped traffic. With 2 minutes to go P2 would bobble giving the "Prez" the position and letting him track down the leader. With only 45 seconds to go the "Prez" was poised to take the lead and set back waiting to pounce. The "Prez" was able to make the difficult triple double every lap while P1 was having to double double single the section. That was all the "Prez" needed and he'd capitalize on the very last lap to take the overall win by literally jumping over P1 to take the lead and overall SCB Title! The "Prez" chose the RS Gen2 and Gen 2 Redline in 9.5T.

Pics by Luke Schumacher

Team Tekin powered Michael Reedy would also take 3rd place in Pro 2 Lite using a Tekin RS and Redline 17.5 motor to a 3rd spot on the podium.

Pics by Luke Schumacher

Tekin's own team manager Randy Pike would run the new Tekin Pro 2 motor in the Pro 2 Mod SC class taking a 3rd overall showing off the immense Tekin power in his TLR 22SCT.

Pics by Luke Schumacher

The Tekin crew would like to thank TQ Speedway and Hobbies for once again hosting a great event, we all look forward to returning next year!

The entire Pro 4 Mod SC podium would feature Tekin Rx8 and Pro 4 4600 power. Tekin power was in nearly every truck in the Amain proving once again the Rx8 and  Pro 4 are a must have item in the 4wd SC class. Tim Hethcox would take the top spot with Tekin driver Josh Karrick 2nd, Lillywhite 3rd.

More pictures and video can be found here.

Rob Sorjonen wins the 5th Annual S.N.O.W.S. Series!

This past winter season at Mike's RC World in Bellingham, WA. The series wrapped up this past weekend  and after 9 points races where your best 7 count for tally in the points series Tekin driver Rob Sorjonen has managed to take home the Series Championship in not one but two classes! Rob took home the 1/10 4wd Mod Buggy class with his Tekin RS Pro Gen2 motor powered Dex410. In the 1/8 E Buggy class Rob chose the Tekin Rx8 and T8 1900 in his Dex408 buggy.

With an average of 130 racers per race day the competition was intense and fast. "My confidence in my equipment with help from Tekin Racing gave me and my cars the opportunity to win in both 4 wheel open buggy and 1/8 Electric buggy. Thank you Tekin, Randy, Ty, Jeremy and many more of you for your tips, help and encouragement. I look forward to an exciting outdoor season and NCT series." Rob Sorjonen

Tekin wins the Top Notch Series Championship!

Revelation Raceway would host thef finals of the Top Notch Series in Ontario, CA.  Tekin drivers Lucas Sanford, Nick Sava, and Chris Blais would look to wrap up the series with big wins and podium finishes in 2wd buggy, 4wd buggy, 2wd Mod SC, 4wd SC and 1/8 E Buggy. Let's see how they finished up one of the biggest series in Socal!

The surface required drivers of all classes to be easy on the trigger, and proved to be very difficult to be consistent on. Tekin powred Lucas Sanford would take TQ honors for the main event by almost 2 seconds. In A1 Lucas would lead  from start to finish, again making no mistakes on the inconsistent and dusty surface. My Tekin RS Pro Gen 2 Redline 7.5 powered Kyosho RB6 responded well to setup changes required for the inconsistent surface and kept me in the front of the pack. Sanford's TQ and win this round earned him the overall series win and Championship Title! "I can’t say enough about how easy it was to make changes to my ESC profile using my Tekin Hotwire and software." Lucas

Sanford would continue his winning ways in the 1/8 E Buggy class. Starting from the 2nd spot on the grid Lucas would make a mistake and dropped down to fifth place, while Jake Thayer took over second. Sanford put on a charge trying to pick up a second place finish, but time ran out and crossed the line 1 second behind second place. Sanford would secure the overall TNS Series Championship title with his Tekin Rx8 T8 1900 powered  Kyosho MP9 TKI3.

The 4wd Pro SC division was a battle each and every round and the final round was no different. Chad Panek would take the final round but Tekin powered Chris Blais would take the overall TNS Championship winning 3 of the 7 rounds and taking 2 Tq's in route to the overall title with his Tekin Rx8 and Pro 4 4600 power combo!

Tekin powered Nick Sava along with Chad Panek and James Raschko would go into the final round all competing for the overall. All within a few points of each other the winner would decide the final podium order and it would still come down to a tie breaker in the end! James Raschko would take the overall followed by Chad Panek and Tekin powered Nick Sava 3rd overall. Nick ran the Tekin RS Pro and Gen 2 8.5 Motor.

Tekin Tq's and wins CVR's March Madness!

Central Valley RC Raceway in Madera, Ca would once again play host to the March Madness race held on the weekend of March 24th. Racers from all over Northern California and the surrounding regions would converge to see how they'd stack up against each other on the challenging layout and track.

In 1/8 E Buggy Tekin team driver Jacob Haas would take the overall Tq and would go on to win the class using his Tekin Rx8 T8 1900 powered TLR 8ight buggy followed by Tekin powered BMiller team driver Lou Figueira.

BMiller team driver Figueria would also take the win in the Pro 4 SC class using a Tekin Rx8 Pro 4 4600 powered TLR Ten Scte followed by Bmiller teammate Josh O'Connell who Tq'd the class but would settle for 2nd after the two raced to the finish line on the last lap! O'Connell was also powered by a Tekn Rx8 and Pro 4 4600 motor.

Tekin dominates the Psycho Nitro Blast 1/8 E Buggy class!

Known for it's "psycho" layouts riddled with huge ski jumps, crazy wall rides and certifiably insane 30 hour straight open practice schedule the Psycho Nitro Blast has grown to enormous proportions over the past few years. Once again hosted in Unadilla, Georgia.

Tekin teammates Adam Drake and Ryan Lutz would exchange Tq honors each round in the 100+ entry deep 1/8 E Buggy class. Drake would jump into the lead from his Tq spot and would immediately begin running low 52 second consistent lap times to take A1 followed by Tekin teammates Barry Pettit(3rd), Ryan Lutz(4th), David Joor(6th) and Eddy Cordoba(7th). In A2 Drake would jump out in front but would quickly fall out of the race at lap 7 after suffering a mechanical failure allowing the rest of the field to take advantage. Tekin teammate Ryan Lutz would lead the field to the end taking the win in A2 followed by Tekin teammate Barry Pettit(2nd), David Joor(4th) and Eddy Cordoba(8th). Once the points were tallied this would give Tekin powered Barry Pettit 1st overall, Ryan Lutz 2nd, David Joor 3rd making it a 1-2-3 Tekin top 3! All 3 Tekin driver were using the Tekin Rx8 and Tekin T8 1900 motor including Tq Adam Drake!

Please take a moment to vote for the Tekin Rx8 and Pro 4 4600 motor as Esc and Motor of the year in the RC Car Actions Reader's Choice Awards here!