Tekin wins Run for the Riches!

Rock Racing in Knoxville Tennessee hosted the Run for the Riches. A one day event that was a challenge for the race directors as well as the racers to pack all the action in for one day. Mother Nature also threw a few curve balls, with the temps in the teens, 50-70 mph wind gusts, and slow flurries. But hey, everyone there loves racing RC!!

The qualifying rounds were cut to 2 races as voted by the racers themselves to avoid some very late night mains. Tekin factory driver Barry Pettit qualified in 1/8 E-Buggy as TQ just in front of teammate Mugen/Tekin driver, Shay Brand. Pettit would make a mistake allowing Brand to take the lead who never looked back to take the win!  Pettit would joint his Tekin teammate on the podium 2nd overall.

(L-R) Pettit, Brand, unkown

Both drivers chose the Tekin Rx8 Gen2 esc and Gen2 T8 motor to power their Mugen Eco buggies!

Tekin takes Rd1 of the 2014 Super Cup!

Round 1 of the spring session JConcepts Supercup at Space Coast RC in Cocoa, FL. (Host of the 1/10 off-road nationals in 2014). The Supercup is a large racing event in the state of Florida and attracts some of the best racers.

Tekin team drivers in attendance were JR Mitch, Brett Kingsbury, Chris Viesins, and Peyton McDonald.

4wd Mod Buggy kicked off with Tekin powered Brett Kingsbury from P3. The race would be finish in the order it started with Kingsbury taking 3rd behind JConcepts own Jason Ruona and young gun Daimon Borkowicz.

Tekin powered JR Mitch would take 2nd overall with his Tekin RSX equipped TLR 22 2.0 buggy.

photo courtesy of RedRc

JR continued his success with his Tekin Rx8 Gen2 powered TLR SCTE taking the 4wd SC class with Tekin teammate Chris Viesins hot on his heels for 2nd place. Chris also chose the Tekin Rx8 Gen2 and Pro 4 4600 motor in his TLR SCTE.

photo courtesy of RedRc

Tekin factory driver Peyton McDonald would take his Tekin RS Gen2 Redline Gen2 17.5 powered T4.2 to a win in the Stock ST truck class.

photo courtesy of RedRc

Tekin's TJ Bradley reports from RD4 of the FSEARA series!

Each year one of the most anticipated Florida State races is the Minnreg carpet on road race held in Clearwater Florida. This facility has deep roots in RC holding several ROAR nationals and the IFMAR World Championship in 2003. This year the Minnreg race had a record turnout with racers traveling from all over the southeast to battle for the win.

Tekin team drivers Cory Parson and TJ Bradley were there competing in the very competitive 17.5 Touring class looking to bring home a "W" and build momentum heading into the Snowbird Nationals.

When the first round got underway Cory Parson showed the fasted pace laying the only 35 lap run in the field with Austin Harrison qualifying second and TJ Bradley rounding out the top 3. After round one we had a re sort setting up the rocket round with everyone looking to improve and take a shot at Parsons TQ. After round 2 Cory was able to improve his time securing the top spot and Bradley improved his time moving up to second on the grid putting Tekin drivers one and two on the grid going into the main. Austin Harrison would lock in the three spot with Dave Bowser landing the four spot from the B qualifier and Joe Sumasky rounded out the top five.

In the A-Main Cory left on the tone and pushed a little wide in the first corner allowing Bradley to overtake. TJ’s lead was short lived after a bobble put him back down to fourth and in a battle with Harrison, meanwhile Bowser made up two spots to second and Cory back to the lead. Cory was not going to give it up again and raced to the win with Bowser finishing in second and Bradley third. 

Bradley, Parsons, Bowser(L-R)

"We would like to thank the FSEARA crew and Mike Boylan for another awesome event. See you at The Birds!" TJ Bradley

Tekin takes RD3 of the JConcepts Top Notch Winter Series!

OCRC Raceway in Huntington Beach, CA hosted Round 3 of the JConcepts Top Notch Winter Series Round #3 on January 18th. An 8-race points based series run at various tracks throughout Southern California. Note: OCRC Raceway is the site of this year's Reedy Race of Champions! In attendance were Team Associated's Kevin Motter, Nick Wautlett and Wayne Wyrick, TLR’s James Raschko and David Jenson, Tekno RC's Rudy Rico, Mugen's Tim Long, Serpent's Matt Schreffler, and a number of very fast local racers. There would be two rounds of 5 minute qualifiers, followed by 5 minute A Mains. Announcing would be handled by Notch Johnson. There were approximately 180 entries this round.


The layout was very tight, with a number of 180 degree turns, S-turns, and two table-top jumps into immediate 90 degree turns. Because of the tight layout, Tekn factory driver Lucas Sanford elected to replace his usual Tekin 2050kv T8 motor with the new T8i  1950kv "Indoor" motor. The weight savings would make his Tekin powered Kyosho MP9 more nimble. It proved to be a wise choice, as my car was "unbelievable in the turns." Lucas would run a mistake free A-main run starting from the Tq position to take the overall in.

"I can honestly say that my Kyosho MP9 TKI 3 on AKA clay Handlebar tires, with the Tekin RX8 Gen 2 and T8i motor, has never performed better on an indoor track!" Sanford

Sanford would alos make the 2wd Mod Buggy podium starting from the 5th position powering his Kyosho RB6 with a Tekin RSX and Redline 7.5 Gen2.

Tekin wins the Snowball Off-road Champs!

RC Excitement hosted its annual Snowball Off-road Championships! With over 160 entries running in the low 40 degree temps it shows the diehard group of guys they have in this region.

Tekin team drivers John Cravotta and Toddie Anderson were both in the Amain of 2wd Mod Buggy and after some excitement in the race both would finish on the podium with Anderson 2nd, Cravotta 3rd respectively. Anderson and Cravotta both chose the Tekin RSX and Redline Gen2 line of motors.

Cravotta would go onto to win the 2wd Mod Pro 2 SC main starting from his 2nd qualifying position. Passing the leader in the double triple John would run mistake free out front to take the overall win! John chose the Tekin RSX and 8.5 Redline Gen2 to power him to victory.

In SC Pro4 Tekin factory driver Scott Furtado ended up leading every lap from the TQ position taking the win! Furtado chose the Tekin Rx8 Gen2 and Pro 4 400kv motor.

Tekin tears it up at the 2014 Chili Bowl!

 The 2014 Chili Bowl Jr. kicked off in Tulsa, Ok this past weekend starting on wednesday. With over 230 entries going through controlled practice only allowing for 2 runs in each class.

During the first day of qualifying some issues with the timing system forced the race to drop Q1 to be fair to all in attendance. This helped out Tekin team driver Brian Stanton who had a collision while on Tq pace in round one erasing his 14th for the round! Whew!  That was the good news, the bad news was the last 2 remaining rounds would count, no excuses!

Day 2 of qualifying the track was tightening up a bit as the grip was coming up. Stanton was 1st run in his class and laid down a fast but safe run to take a 7th for the round getting him in the fast resort for the last round. Stanton gambled with a drag brake change last minute as he watched a few cars exit the race line upside down to grip rolling! His gamble paid off taking a solid 5th for the round!

Mains day was up with Stanton starting from the 5th position in the Midwest Modified class. Brian recaps his main:

"Going out for my hot lap session, the car was a little free in the turns but after a couple of laps my car was locked in and became a little tight off the turns pulling the front tires off the ground with ease from the Tekin RSX & Gen 2 8.5 motor.  After making a quick adjustment to get into the turn better, then an adjustment to get off the turns better, I was ready to go.  It was time to get rolling, literally with a rolling start.  The first few laps went by like a freight train running around the track before a bobble ahead of me moved me into the 3rd position.  Only 2 laps later, I got caught up in a back marker accident and spun into the sandy portion near the wall, losing over a lap.  I was sure my race was done at this point.  I wanted to get back all the positions that I could and knew that I needed to stay clean to make up these spots.   By lap 13 I was back to 4th after dropping to 7th.  Two laps later, I was up to the 3rd position.  I could see the second place car in my peripheral vision, but couldn't make up a lot of time while making my way through traffic.  Then, with less than 30 seconds to go, I was able to make the pass into second place after a pile up in turn 2.  As the race ended, only the top two turned in 45 lap runs and I made the climb from as low as 7th back to a second finish position.  Following the race, I still had plenty of power and traction to pull the front wheels off the ground." Brian Stanton

Tekin wins the CRCRC Midwest Champs!

The 2014 CRCRC Midwest Championships held at the Ohio RC Factory. In attendance were some of the fastest guys in the country competing in all classes including Ryan Maifield, Max Flurer, Ryan Cavalieri, Dylan Gerard, Matt Schreffler, along with a number of others. The format for the week was controlled practice on both Wednesday and Thursday, Qualifying on Friday and Saturday, and then Mains on Sunday. A unique part of this race is that there is bump ups, followed by Triple-A-Mains for all classes, which is quite unusual for an electric race of this caliber. Tekin's own CS Manager Jeremy "PG" Potter was in attendance to support the team drivers and customers.

The practice days went according to plan and pretty laid back. A big conversation piece was the front section of the track which was seeing to be the “make it or break it” part of the track. In all of my classes, I used different rhythms through this section, and in all classes my Tekin powered Serpent cars had no problem making it through. Late on Thursday, a seeding round was set to go.

Friday morning rolled around, the mood slightly changed in the building and it was time for qualifying to get underway. 2wd Mod Short Course Tekin factory driver Joe Bornhorst started second right behind Maifield and would get a 2nd place for the round only a few seconds off of TQ using the Tekin RSX esc and Redline 7.5 Gen2 motor. In E-Buggy, Bornhorst came out swinging with a flawless run and got the TQ for Round 1!

Saturday morning was more qualifying. In Short Course, Bornhorst had another good run for another 2nd place for the round, with Maifield locking up TQ for the class. In E-Buggy, Bornhorst focused all of his attention towards E-Buggy. Bornhorst had 1 TQ, and Flurer had two TQ’s, leaving it all up to him for being the only other person with a chance to get overall TQ. Bornhorst not only had to win the round, but had to be under a certain time to win the tie breaker! No pressure right!? The first couple minutes of the run went to plan and Bornhorst was in the lead on a new TQ pace. The announcer that Bornhorst had won the round, but I didn't know the time. was it enough? Bornhorst's time was just enough to win the tie breaker by less than a second giving him overall TQ for the E buggy class! 

Triple A-mains in 2wd Mod Short Course went well for Bornhorst starting out with a 3rd in A1, and 2nd in A2, and a Win in A3! This would put Bornhorst 2nd overall for the class for the second year in a row! 

In 1/8 E-Buggy had Tekin powered Joe Bornhorst starting from pole with two pretty flawless runs in A1 and A2 pulling away from the pack and leading every lap, grabbing the win in both giving him the overall win for the class! Tekin teammate and MIP's own Matt Olson would fight it out with Dylan Gerard for the remaining podium spots taking it all the way to A-3. The two were swapping places the entire race every few laps.  

L-R Matt Olson(Tekin), Joe Bornhorst(Tekin), Dylan Gegard(Tekin)

"It was one of the coolest feelings I've had so far in my racing career! " Joe Bornhorst

Joe Bornhorst equipped his Serpent with the Tekin Rx8 Gen2 esc, and T8 Gen2 1900.

Matt Olson equipped his MIP Pro8 with a Tekin Rx8 Gen2 esc, and T8i 1950.

Dylan Gergard used a Tekin 1900 T8 motor.

Tekin teammate Matt Olson racing in Pro4 would take A1 and A2 to clinch the overall win. Olson was using  the Tekin Gen2 RX8 as well as Tekin 4300kv HD motor.

Under the hood with a new class, 1/8 "Lite" E Buggy

A new class is beginning to surface at tracks all around the world. The class is being dubbed the "1/8 Pro Lite" class in most cases. What's a "1/8 Pro Lite" buggy? It's a new class that is using 4wd SC electronics or smaller power plants that don't carry the immense power the 1/8 Electric buggy class has come to be known by.  There are no official rules at the moment but some general rules are being passed around from track to track.  In this "Under the Hood" I take you into my own Pro Lite e-buggy build up.

I started with a fresh TLR Ten SCTE 2.0 SC truck kit. That paired with the new MIP Pro 8 Superlite e buggy kit would be the foundation of my build. MIP was the first to develop a purpose built conversion kit for a 4wd SC truck to convert to this new Pro Lite class. I won't bore you with the standard build up and "tips" you're used to seeing.

The build starts off with the front steering assembly and front diff. Aside from the standard diff build I chose to install the MIP Super Diff kits in all 3 diffs. They include new hardened cross pins, washers and hardened cross pin bushings that help improve the diff smoothness. I chose to drop in the MIP steering upgrade kit that comes with titanium steering links and new rod ends. They add a bit more steering throw and allow for more bump steer adjustment options. Protek RC makes one of the nicer shock/rod end tools out there. Take advantage of it's useful rod end guide when building your kit!



In the steering I did upgrade the steering posts to the lightened blue aluminum MIP units(not shown). I had a bit of a time seating the outer diff bearings onto the diff housing. A trick I was shown was to use the TLR 17mm nut wrench which has a whole in it, to act as a "press" tool. Pretty slick.

Again more "normal" build steps like the front suspension pieces, etc. With the MIP Pro8 Superlite kit you do get some nice 17mm hub adapters and their unique lock nuts for the kit. Note there are 2 different widths in the kit, 5.5s in front, 8.0s in rear.

Next up was the center diff which includes the upgraded MIP Puck Drive system. I also chose to use the MIP 41T spur gear since I've had good success with them and find them a bit quieter than stock.

I chose the Tekin T8i in 1950kv for my build since I plan on using a Protek 4s 3500mah pack.

The Protek pack is the same size as a standard 2s pack so it's a direct drop into the factory battery mount! Sweet!

I dropped in my custom painted Tekin Rx8 Gen2 and KO Propo radio equipment. My Tekin Rx8 Gen2 esc gives me an HV BEC output allowing me to get maximum performance from the KO Response HV Servo. 

As you cans see in the pictures my car is ready for some "setup" on the bench in preparation to run. I'm using the DE Racing setup wheels and chose to use a JConcepts Punisher wing which comes with an optional gurney flap for tuning.  I managed to get lucky with this setup in the end as my SikLidz custom painted body from my other kit drops right on after a quick "adjustment" to the stock nerf bar mounts on the side guards. 

Matt Olson from MIP put in a hard charge at the CRCRC Midwest champs with his MIP Pro 8 buggy kit taking 3rd overall running nearly the exact same setup you see here. Note: Tekin dominated the 1/8 E Buggy class taking all 3 podium positions.

Ready to hit the track with tires, battery, 2742 grams!

So what do you think of this new emerging class? Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter or Google + to talk it out!

Randy Pike

Factory MIP Pro8 Build Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH1bAjyVToI

Tekin takes Round 2 of the JConcepts Top Notch Winter Series

Round 2 of the JConcepts Top Notch Winter series would be hosted at  Coyote Hobbies Indoor RC Raceway in Victorville, CA. Team Associated's Kevin Motter, TLR’s Shawn Blackwell and James Raschko, Tekno RC's Rudy Rico and Chris Blais, Kyosho's Cody Turner and Mike Bustamante, Josh Mitchell and a number of very fast local racers were all in attendance. Two rounds of 5 minute qualifiers, followed by 5 minute A Mains and  announcing would be handled by Notch Johnson. There were 280 entries this round!

Tekin team driver Lucas Sanford would take his Tekin RSX ESC and Redline Gen2 6.5 powered RT6 truck to an overall Tq and victory for the round.

2wd Mod Buggy was a close between some of the fastest drivers around. Sanford would take 3rd overall with his Tekin RSX ESC and Redline Gen2 7.5 Rb6 buggy.

Lucas had this to say "I cannot be happier with my new Tekin RSX ESC and Redline Gen2 7.5 turn motor!"

Sanford would also go on to Tq the 1/8 Pro E buggy class and Tq 4wd Mod buggy!

Tekin driver Barry Pettit turns a negative into a positive!

Barry talks about this past weekend: "What a wet weekend on the East Coast! Our original plans to race at the Colonel's Classic in Savannah, Ga., were cancelled due to a gloomy forecast of rain for the entire southeast. We were fortunate to be able to travel to Knoxville, Tn. to a track that is located in a Knoxville Zoo pavillion, which means it is fully covered!

This was our first trip to this track and we were pleasantly surprised. The name of the track and the RC club is ROCCK Racing and they are a great bunch of guys. Although this was a regular scheduled club race, the attendance was high due to the rain and the race in Savannah being cancelled. I ran two classes, Nitro and Electric Buggy. I went on to TQ and win E-Buggy with my Tekin Rx8 Gen2 T8 Gen2 powered Mugen Mbx Eco buggy.

I look forward to going back in a couple of weeks to a featured race at the ROCCK."

Fasnacht and Tekin 2013 Turkey Derby Champion

It was a great day of racing at the 6th annual Turkey Derby held at the Strand RC Raceway. The track is roughly a 108' run line and everyone decided to run super truck which uses 17.5 motors and blinky speedos. on the tight track.

The day started off with not much traction in the rug so lap times weren't very great. A few hours later and we were pulling 3.3 second lap times and finishing on mid 3.5 second laps. In attendance were team drivers Cory Fasnacht, Mike O'brien, and Bill Osborn. Bill and Cory were fast early on and kept stepping it up round after round.

The track record fell that day numerous times. First round Cory Fasnacht took down the record with a 68 4:00. Bill Osborn took it down in the 2nd round with a 69 4:02. Franklin Brink took it down in the 3rd round with almost a 70 lap run. In the end Bill Osborn took the A-main win, Cory Fasnacht was on his bumper for 4 full minutes and brought home the 2nd spot followed by Mike O'brien in 3rd.

Cory Fasnacht was crowned 2013 Turkey Derby Champion as he finished 2nd and had the highest average of people running multiple classes. More details at www.strandrcracing.com.

Tekin and Cravotta win Maine State Champs!

Maximus RC hosted the Maine State Champs this past weekend. Huge props go out to them because a water main broke inside the building and it took them all day Saturday to fix it and then get the track ready. The very cold weather and snow kept some of the racers from showing up. They still had 98 entries considering the conditions. Tekin factory driver John Cravotta was in attendance. He recaps his weekend:

"My Tekin powered X-Factory X6 Squared Buggy felt great in practice. The new Tekin RSX and GEN2 8.5 was super smooth all day allowing me to put crazy power down in every corner. Rd1 went well making a couple of mistakes but still setting TQ with 17 laps 5:14 with a .708 Deviation . Left some time on the track that I knew I could get back in Rd2. Rd2 had the run I was waiting for and improved my TQ by 3 seconds with 17 lap run in 5:11. In the A Main I Checked out and won start to finish with 17 laps 5:07.

Rd1 2wd SC went well, but also made mistakes and missing TQ by 3 seconds.  Left a lot of time on the track. Rd2 started off great, on a TQ run by over 5 seconds.  Made a mistake and got tied up with lap traffic and did not set TQ and qualified 2nd in the A Main. A Main started great myself and the leader trained for the whole race. He never gave me a inch to pass until he made a mistake trying to go inside on lap traffic without slowing down. He rubbed fenders with him and slowed him down enough for me to pass on the outside with only 25 seconds left in the race. My Tekin powered X-Factory SCX-60CF felt great on the Jconcepts Black Pressure  points. The Tekin Rsx and GEN2 7.5 combo put the power down through the B-Fast diff and MIP CVD's allowing me to take the win. He did everything to get by me but I shut the door, It was a crazy fun race.

What a great way to start the 2014 Season! I want to thank all my sponsors for the continued support for another year. " John Cravotta

New Teking factory driver Griffin Hanna wins 1st time out!

Tekin factory driver Griffin Hanna rolled out to "The Pit" for the annual New Years race located in Columbia SC. Around 94 entrees for the race.Griffin ran 1/10 mod 2wd buggy and Pro nitro buggy. After 2 rounds of qualifying in 2wd buggy Griffin was Top Qualifier. Double A-mains for electric allowed Griffin to go 1-1 for the overall win! "My Team Tekin Racing Gen 2 RS esc and Redline Gen2 8.5 motor was screaming." Griffin

Big thanks to all our sponsors Tekin, Mugen Seiki Racing,Maxy Velazco motors,Competition Suspension Inc.,Mitchell Looper M2C Racing,Advantage Racing Products Sweep Racing Tires and Leadfinger r/c. Thanks to Joe Peregoy for the sick paint jobs.Looking forward to the 2014 race season.

Tekin wins at the 2013 USOWC

2013 USOWC (Us Open Wheel Championship) is over and Tekin Team driver Eric Salvas recaps his successful weekend.

4WD mod late model class. Tq'd round 2, but qualified 2nd overall. I would win the dash which gave me the top starting spot in the A-main.  The A-main kicked off and I managed to dodge all the bullets to WIN the fastest class of the week!  I used a Tekin RX8 Gen2 along with a Redline Gen2 4.5. Others would suffer from heat or shut down but my Tekin powered CW dominator was strong all week.

Sprint car 17.5. Car ran great...had a bad draw for the dash (6) (dash were 2 min race that determined the starting positions for the mains)...came back from behind to grab 3rd place to start from there in the main. In the main had a crash early...but rallied back to a close second 0.3 behind the winner...a couple more laps but time ran out.

Late model 17.5. Again had a bad draw for the dash (5) and again came back to second in the 2 min race to start outside pole in the main. Had to deal with traffic in the main that cost me some the top spot. Pushed hard and fast at the end to finished less than a car lenght of the winner just 0.1sec back so another close 2nd place in the A final!

EDM 17.5. Got the TQ just in front of brother and teammate Steve!  A bad car in the dash gave me a 6th starting position in the main feature. Car back to its normal performance allowed me to rally back to a real close second behind the winner 0.3 second. Had the car to win it...but the error in the dash cost me a win in the main!

Moberly wins the Pay it Forward race!

The Pay it Forward race at Outback Raceway in Chico, CA was held right before Christmas week. Racers from all around the region converged for some good racing and to support a great cause.

Tekin factory driver Jason Moberly qualified 2nd in 2wd Open Short course and won the A main with my Tekin RSX Gen2 7.5 powered mid motor TLR 22sct. "The new RSX's smooth power and brakes help me keep it clean for the entire 8 minute main event. " Moberly