New from Serpent this morning is their 966 link-system / radioplate-flex. As the name suggests the link-system is used to create and control flex in the Serpent 966. Further details can be found here.

Serpent reports – “Young and very talented driver Tobias Hepp from Germany, will continue racing Serpent, despite many attractive offers from other brands. The Serpent 966 is very much to the liking of Tobias and he expects to do very well in the Germans Nats and the European Championship in Italy. The coop with Michael Salven works really well at races and has enabled Hepp to get faster very quickly. All only possible with the help of his dad-mechanic Rudiger Hepp ofcourse. Also a number of 1/10 races will be made with Serpent 733 in 2010. Good luck to Hepp this season !!” Serpent

“The fastest young gun in the Argentinean R/C Circus, Agustin Cutini, has joined Team Serpent for the 2010 season. Agustin will be driving all the Serpent nitro line up, the 733, 966 and 811. Serpent would like to welcome and wish him best of luck in this racing season.” Team Serpent

Serpent has announced the release of their new disk-brake design in special steel which can be used for both the Serpent 733 and the 966 to replace the standard brake-disk-set. The disk is only 11 grams and offers very smooth and even breaking, also under changing weather conditions / temperatures and through longer finals. Team Serpent

Ace driver Paul Ciccarello will race the Serpent 966 in 1/8 scale from 2010 onwards, Serpent is very proud to have Paul also on the 1/8 scale team. The cooperation for the 1/12 S120 and future 1/10 scale pan-class has been working out really well, so its really good to be able to coop in 1/8 scale as well. Paul has shown in 2009 with his 3rd place at the well attended ROAR Nats, that he is a force to be reckoned with. The coop with Scott Kimbrow, Paolo Morganti, DJ and Jackson will most certainly help to achieve even better results by working together closely. Paul Ciccarello has also joined Serpent America’s sales team for all the productlines of Serpent America including Serpent, NovaRossi, Xceed, Matrix and Blitz-Titan. With his long time experience he is very likely to offer great suppport to all Serpent customers. Paul can be reached at: Paul (at) serpentamerica.com for any sales inquires or team driver support.

Interview:

Hello Paul,

Q: What made you decide to run Serpent in gas onroad too ?

A: Well it was a perfect fit since I already ran the S120 and now working for Serpent America in sales.
Q: What will be your major races for this year ?

A: Right now I am at the Snowbirds, I plan to attend the Carpet nats, 1/8 on-road nats, Byron Challenge, Novarossi race in CT, Great Lakes Challenge, IIC, Worlds for 1/12, and Indoor Champs.

Q: You are closely involved with the Serpent S120 Link car and the S100 as well , how are those projects comming along ?
A: Very well, it’s been cool to see the first prototype I made get to production, The link is scheduled to be out in late february and the S100 start march.

Q: Some background info: where do you live, are you married, any kids ?

A: I live in Cleveland Ohio, Married and we had our first child in July.

Q: Who do you feel is the best rc driver of all time ? ( apart from your self )

A: There are so many that have their specialties that’s it hard to pin point any one guy. I guess the two who have been the most consistent for so many years would be Masami and Collari.
Q: Which rc driver do you admire the most and why ?

A: There are actually so many guys have helped me along the way to get where I am. A few would be Mike Blackstock, Josh Cyrul, Paul Lemieux and Mike Swauger. They have tought me the most whether they know it or not, but I try to pick up a lot of what they do and try to apply it to my program.

Q: Which categorie of motorsport in general is your favorite and which driver in that class ?

A: I like motocross the best, and Ryan Villipoto is my favorite guy, he just goes wide open!
We wish you all the best at your job at SerpentAmerica, and great results at the 2010 race season too.

Team Serpent

“Serpent / Serpent America are proud to announce that Scott Kimbrow and his mechanic and successful racer Jim Adkins has joined Team Serpent. Both will run the Serpent 966 and Serpent 733 cars. With the Worlds for 1/10 gas being raced in Houston, USA this year, they are both highly motivated and will want to perform better than ever! Also the 1/8 gas onroad Worlds will be raced in 2011 in Florida, USA, so another chance to show their best. Serpent America is expanding fast and the plans for 2010 are very strong. You can expect some more drivers to be announced soon.” Team Serpent

“Serpent is proud to announce the return of Llia van Gastel from Belgium to Team Serpent in 1/8 scale. Llia will be racing the Serpent 966 with main focus for 2010 on the EC in Italy and in 2011 the Worlds in Florida, USA. Below is a brief interview with Llia.

Hello Ilia,
First of all welcome to the Serpent Team.
Thank you

What made you decide to run the Serpent 966 for 2010 ?

Well, a few things, I was part of Team Serpent before, so I kind of know the team already. And I think the 966 is really good, Michael did a good job on this car, seems to be a perfect compromise between steering, grip and evenly important, it gives the engine breathing room to give his full potential.

Which engines will you use ?

I will continue using the Team Orion engines, I think the performance is really good, and the latest version for 2010 will be even better.

Which races do you plan for 2010 ?

Main race for the 2010 season will ofcourse be the euro’s in Italy (locorotondo). Knowing Italy for their famous rc tracks, it will be highly competitive. Ofcourse the Efra races are also highly rated. The Dutch championship is also on my list, it will be one of europe’s toughest national competitions with John Ermen (Serpent) Robin d’Hondt, Steven Cuypers, Rick-V also racing in that same competition.

Which is your favourite race-track ?

Actually, maybe it’s a little surprising but the track from the 2006 european championship in Sweden in very to my liking, technical but also very fast.

What is your best race-result so far ?

Well, I think that should be 3th place at the euro’s, but for me even memorable are 5 Efra GP victories.

What do you do for a living ?

I work as a car mechanic, together with my dad. We sell cars, make repairs and bodywork. Do you have enough time off for racing and practise ? Yes that’s not really a problem, of course I have the weekends off, and if really needed I can take some days off work, to make the necessary preparations.

Merry Christmas and a Happy new year to all RC addicts, family and friends. Hope we can make 2010 a memorable race year.”

Llia
Team Serpent

Team Serpent reports – “In the next couple of weeks we will introduce you to the Serpent 1/8 buggy development, testing, production and racing. Below a 1st of 4 interviews with Billy Easton the designer / racer of the Serpent 1/8 buggy. The Serpent 1/8 buggy is the first move into the offroad market, to be followed by a Truggy and electric versions, as well as Ready to race cars in the near future. Design-wise Billy Easton works closely together with Michael Salven. With Michael being the expert in gas onroad, Billy will perform this task for the offroad projects. In this way true experts look after the class they know best and actively race in and can support best. Still sharing idea’s and knowledge to create the very best rc racing cars around.

Below the interview with Billy Easton -

Hello Billy,

Interview stage 1.

Q: When have you started to work for Serpent and why ?

I would say a little over 2 years ago. At that time Serpent was looking to expand their product line. So, my skills and knowledge were kind of a perfect fit for them. They had really only focused on Nitro onroad and a just begun a 1/12 scale car as well as their Electric sedan. So having the experience in the development and racing of Nitro offroad as well as electric onroad/offroad, I would be a perfect fit for what they needed. Personally, I wanted to work for a company that had a position available so that I could grow myself. I really enjoyed the design aspect of the cars and products and was given the chance to show the world my ideas.

Q: Whats is your main job at Serpent ?

My job at Serpent consists of designing new and innovative products. I excel in the conceptual part or the birth of a product, I seem to have a natural knack for being able to visualize things. I spend countless hours researching and developing products as well. Aside from all those things, I will also be the guy that checks the quality and fit of the parts on the projects that I am familiar with.

Q: What are the main projects you have been working on in the past year ?

Over the last year I have actually worked on a few projects. Some of them have not yet been released to the public’s eye, so they will remain anonymous. However, most note worthy are the 1/8 buggy project as well as our S120 1/12 link car, the 966-e and the 1/10 WGT pancar.

Q: For this offroad 1/8 project, what is the main goal design-wise ?

Our 1/8 project has actually been quite extensive. We really took the time to first research all the current makers’ cars as well as build and test them. In the beginning we did indeed have a Document laying out the guidelines for our car. The main idea for the car was to provide the best possible balance, lightest possible weight, and ease of construction. Then, in the end provide the consumer with a product that he could build the first time and outperform all previous buggies he had ever used. I know it seems like a tall order, but of all the cars I have raced and tested over the last 15 or so years, they all lacked something. In the end, we wanted to take this class to another level and create the Ultimate package. Speaking for Serpent it was not just about releasing another car, it was about releasing the best performing car in the market place.

Q: Can you tell us ….. when drivers can expect the Serpent 1/8 offroad car to appear on the market ?

At this time, we are shooting for a release in march 2010. We will showcase the product at the Nurnberg Toy Fair. I will be there to discuss all the ideas and concepts for our 1/8 buggy. I am pretty sue you will like it , trust me.

Thanks for your information, we will be back with more questions in stage 2.”

Team Serpent

Serpent reports – “Over the past weekend of December 4-6, 2009, we raced in Kissimmee, Florida at the U.S. Open. It started out looking great and the facilities also looked amazing with the new surface and paint. Wednesday, mid-day was the first time for me being on the track. Immediately my S-966 was really handling good. We were expecting rain but did not know it would rain for two days straight. Because of the delay one round of practice and qualifying were done in the last three hours on Saturday and the mains on Sunday. Getting to the track on Sunday, the cold front had finally set in, and for South Florida 45 degrees is cold. With the temperature change and all the traction gone, my car was not as good as in practice. However, I stayed on top of my car, but luck was not on my side so I was not able to qualify well. Once the main started my car felt close to what it was the first day of practice before the rain. Paolo taking the TQ my concern was not Paolo, but to try and run a clean race.” Read More…

“Serpent introduces the Serpent 966e as its answer to the growing interest in the market for electric powered rc cars and the interest for electric racing globally. The easy and strong brushless motors in connection with reliable speedo’s and lots of power with Lipo batteries makes this category of racing become more popular and interesting. The louder nitro-powered cars cant be used everywhere and at all times, so this might be a solution for noise threatened racetracks as well, indoor-racing and ofcourse drag-racing ! The Serpent 966-E, shares the complete racing chassis with its gas-car brother Serpent 966, which is recognized as the best 1/8 scale onroad racing car today. Innovation and quality combined into a sheer racing performance package. Independent suspension, fully adjustable set-up, 3 belt-drive system. More chassis details also in the Serpent 966 pages. The challenge of this project was to arrange the layout of all electronic components in such way that the optimal car balanced is maintained. This combined with putting all components as low as possible in the car, for lowest center of gravity and to make sure the body can be mounted without cut-outs for improved aerodynamics..

Thus we decided to create a purpose made holder in which the batteries ( 2 saddle packs = 4 cells) are hold securely in place and at the same time have the right weight balance. This holder consist of a bottom holder, bottom bracket, middle bracket and top-plate. Its topped of with a strong CNC machined carbon fibre radioplate. The middle brackets offers enough space to the most commonly used speed controllers, even very big ones, and the receiver and switch. The middle section has been designed in such way that the cables are short, well hidden and protected to create a nice, clean finish. The batteries are held securely in place and are still very accessable for charging, even inside the car. The motormount is a sturdy, precision CNC machined and anodized T6 aluminium design, which keep the brutal forces of the brushless motor well under control. The motorplate connects in the front to the anodized aluminum radioplate bracket and in the rear to the aluminium 2-speed bracket. A very strong, torsion free and very accessible structure. The direct drive system with 17,18 or 19T gearpinions, combines with 44, 45 or 46T gears, and leads the power of the BL motor to the drive-system.

Specs:

Around 2640 grams, including all batteries, speedo and motor. Runtime will depend on many factors, like motor, batteries, surface, track, gear-ratio and driving style. Between 5 and 10 minutes is possible. A full blown Serpent 966 4wd racing chassis, powered by a 2800kV or more Brusless motor, 4 Lipo-packs ( 2 saddle packs 4800 or more), …… fasten your seat belts ! This is a fascinating new step for 1/8 scale onroad racing and Serpent shows its innovative roots and passion to create a purpose build conversion-set and a complete car-kit for this new category. The lack of engine-noise is easily balanced by the sheer performance and acceleration. Racing the 966-e takes only little to driving style, as the brutal power and huge torque is instantly available and requires excellent throttle control , but its easy to adapt to. Still 4wd, but in single speed fashion , its lot of power to control and a new sensation definitely. The Serpent 966 well-proven suspension-set up can handle the sheer power of the electric power well and offers a wide sweetspot in terms of set-up and handling. The design team created a very well balanced racing car. Image Gallery

Serpent 966-e kit # 904000
Serpent 966-e conversion-set # 904100″

Team Serpent