| 03/22/2008 |
Both the Formula Pro-10 and the SpeedSpec II are available in the on-line shop.
The Formula Pro-10 is part #1505 and The SpeedSpec II is part #1510. Both will ship this week. Happy Easter.-Bruce |
| 03/21/2008 |
Hi Guys, Well, Spring is finally here. For those of you in the warmer climates, that probably doesn't mean as much to the people that have been locked inside their houses since December. LOL. Personally, I can't wait to go outside and get some fresh air and sun every day. We have our race report from the 2008 R.O.A.R. On-Road Carpet Nationals up. You can see it HERE. We had a great week, with Mike Dumas piloting his Trinity powered Rev.5 to another Modified National Title. That's back to back Modified titles for Mike, and number 24 for SpeedMerchant! It was really cool meeting a ton of SpeedMerchant customers at the Nats, and making some new ones while we we're there. We've done a lot of testing over the past month with our new Formula Pro-10 200mm car. It has gone really well. The car handles excellent, is easy to drive and set-up. For local/Regional racing, I really think 4-cells with a 10.5 or a 13.5 would make for a very enjoyable class. In case you haven't seen it go, we posted some clips on YouTube. If you go HERE you can see clips of some of the testing Both the Formula Pro-10 and SpeedSpec II will be available in the on-line store this weekend. I tried to get them up there before we left for the Nationals, but just ran out of time. Thank you for being patient. Have a great Spring…get out and enjoy the weather! - Bruce |
| 03/11/2008 |
We're off to the R.O.A.R. Carpet Nationals. You can get info on the race at http://www.2008roarnats.com/
I put up some pictures of a couple of the 200mm bodies we've been using. Check them out HERE. Take care.-Bruce |
| 03/02/2008 |
Here's some direct links to the new Rev.5 parts so you don't have to search the shop.
Have a great day.-Bruce |
| 02/29/2008 |
Leap Day...cool.
All the Rev.5's new parts are available in the on-line store, and under the "Support" tag on the main menu, you can find the new Rev.5 instructions in PDF format. Take care.-Bruce |
| 02/14/2008 |
Hi all,
I hope everyone had a safe and happy Holiday season! We've been crazy busy for months now, but it's a nice problem to have. We're about 60% moved into our new building, but we'll have to wait for a few dry and sunny Spring days before we get any of the machinery over to the new place. As of this week, we're finally caught up on Rev.5 production. I still have to get all the separate part #'s up on-line so our customers can purchase spares, and we should finally start production on Formula Front Ends for all the other Mfg's cars. We've had the prototype parts done for months; we just have never caught up on Rev.5 orders to even think about cutting accessories for other vehicles. On that note, we've hired a machinist to help us keep up with production. He's got 25+ years of experience to help us grow and expand our machining capabilities. He's been working out great, and has already shown me a few neat tricks with machine set-up that I never knew…..he also works about 10 times quicker than I do. We've been to the Cleveland Indoor Champs, and just recently got back from the Snowbird Nationals in Florida. Click HERE for a quick re-cap of those races, with some pictures and set-ups of the cars. In modified after struggling at Vegas, we've made some really good progress with our brushless program. Trinity has re-hired Jim Dieter to head their race team/motor program, and he's been an absolute pleasure to work with. We still had some electrical hiccups at Cleveland, but those were pretty much just ESC set-up problems, and at the Snowbirds we had ZERO failures all week long, and were always one of the quickest cars on the track. Mike's Rev.5 never had less the 50 seconds of run-time left in his Trinity cells after a full 8-minute run….which is amazing if you saw how insanely fast these 1/12th cars are going now. In other news, several manufacturers have been working on reviving the pan-sedan/200mm pan car class as an alternative to full-blown 4wd sedans. I'd like to thank Jason at BMI for getting the ball rolling again. It's very obvious that the sedan class is seeing it's numbers drop across the board. Unfortunately, they've just become too complicated, too expensive, and with today's electronics, too fast for the large majority RC drivers. We've offered our SpeedSpec Pan Sedan as a beginner car since the mid 1990's. Back when I first designed the car it was really supposed to be a good quality, easy to drive, inexpensive way to get into a pan car. At the time, I was really thinking of a way to get off-road guys into carpet racing. Even back then, jumping right into a 12th scale car was a daunting task for a beginner or intermediate racer. Compared to off-road cars of the time, 12th scale cars looked like rodents on crack. On top of that, you had to drive them for a full 8-minutes. Invariably, you would get the off-road brain fade happening right around the 4:30 mark….LOL. So, it seemed like making a larger, easier to drive, pan car along with 4-minute races would make for a nice transition into carpet racing. Remember, there wasn't a sedan class at the time. Just 12th Mod and 12th Stock. The only sedans back then were Tamiya "play" types with hard rubber tires and plastic chassis. Occasionally, we would race our 235mm RoadKill car, but that was more of an asphalt racecar, and even back then, 6-cell pan cars (12th & 10th) were just getting ridiculously fast. I believe that last time we raced our 235mm car was the R.O.A.R. Carpet Nats down at the Minnreg track. At the time, Mike Blackstock was driving for me, and I think there were only 5 or 6 entries in the mod class. Our biggest problem….melting spur gears! Not stripping, but melting. The amount of traction that a 1/10 shoed straight axle pan car on carpet gives you just can't be compared to asphalt. Fast forward a few years, and SpeedSpec cars had settled on 19-turn, 5-minute racing, generally with a GT (Corvette, Porsche, Viper, etc.) body. For several years, this was a nice balance. You can see several customer SpeedSpecs HERE. Because of the large 1/10th foams, and only 4-cells, they were very quick, but still very easy to drive. On the majority of indoor carpet tracks, a properly set-up SpeedSpec with just 4-cells and a good 19-turn would do comparable lap times to the full blown modified 4WD sedans that were starting to take over carpet racing. Although the performance was great, it was also becoming a problem. With the new batteries, Speed Controls and 19-turn motors, my "beginner" pan car class had turned into a car that was getting too quick for a lot of people. Over the past few seasons, we've started to tone down the SpeedSpec class on the Regional level. It's put a lot of "fun" back into the weekly racing scene. We decided to really slow the cars down by enforcing a Mubuchi/Johnson 540 motor limit. Although that might seem drastic, it's what was really needed to get the cars back down to a speed that a true beginner could learn with and have fun. To go along with the beginner theme, I re-designed my SpeedSpec to be even more geared to the true beginner into pan car racing. The SpeedSpec II was released about 2 seasons ago. I've actually never even sold them on-line just because we can never keep up with our 12th scale sales and racing program. On a regional level though, sales have been great, and more importantly, the design has been an excellent transition car for many racers getting into on-road. The new car is virtually indestructible, super easy to drive, and with all of the various 200mm bodies available, they look cool as hell. The HPI muscle car bodies look awesome with big fat 10th pan car tires on the back. The other nice off shoot of the Mabuchi/Johnson motor is that it really shows off your driving skills, and forces you to drive a smooth fast line to keep up with the other cars on the track. Because the motors don't have a ton of torque, you really have to carry your corner speed to post a quick lap. Pinch a corner and you scrub your speed. It's really just a fun class, and a super way to "learn the line". Great for beginners, and fun as a 2nd class for more experienced drivers. Finally….almost zero maintenance. My SpeedSpec has literally been in the back of my SUV for at least 6-months. The battery has never come out, the motor at best has maybe gotten a shot of motor spray 2 or 3 times, and though the tires look like a rabid dog got at them, it still handles great. I let anyone who feels like it race it on club nights, and they always have fun. Honestly, some of the most enjoyable times I've had, is watching one of my better (i.e. Nat level) drivers wheel a SpeedSpec for a heat, and come of the driver's stand with a big grin on his face. Now that we have our new building, and more workers, we'll be offering the SpeedSpec II. If you're a beginner or know someone that wants to get into the hobby, I sincerely recommend it as fun, low cost, and easy way to get into the hobby. If you're a more experienced racer, it makes a great 2nd class to blow off some steam with your friends. Pictures and pricing of the new SpeedSpec II are available HERE. Okay, enough about the past lets look towards the future. Like I said earlier, Jason from BMI got several of us motivated to try to start a National level 200mm pan car class, and it really looks like the timing couldn't be better. We're going to have some bugs to work out, but overall, it's a "no brainer" to get these things racing on the National circuit. I've decided to keep mine as a 4-cell car. I know some people would like to see these cars be able to run a 6-cell or a 7.4 Lipo, but honestly, unless you're racing on an absolutely huge out-door track, I just don't see any reason to carry the extra weight or need for the extra voltage. These cars are only a little larger than their 12th scale counter parts, but have more traction, and only have to run 5-minutes. Trust me, with a properly set-up 4-cell mod brushless combo, 99.9% of the racing population would not be able to handle the available horsepower made by today's mod motors. Case in point….HERE is a picture of Mike D's Rev.5 after an 8-minute heat at Cleveland last year. To be able to flip an on-road car over backwards after a full heat is just nuts. We've done brushless testing on a 95 long indoor carpet track, and had one of our Rev.5's break 50mph on the back straight, (51 to be exact)….geared for 8-minute racing. If we geared that same car for 5 minutes, I'm guessing we would be over 60mph. If 60mph isn't quick enough for you, you must be really, really good. I actually think if there is any change in the future of 4-cell racing, it will be making our current cars work with a 3.7 Lipo pack. I've already talked to Charlie at Novak and the LRP reps in the US, and both say that their current Brushless ESC's will work fine on 3.7 volts. Really the only problem is making servos work properly with the lower voltage. Yes, I know we could just use a receiver pack, but that's going in the wrong direction. We're trying to make these cars easier and less expensive to run. Plug and Play as it were. I've also talked to SMC as well as a couple of other battery companies about making a 3.7 Lipo that will drop right into a current 4-cell car. I think we'll be seeing product relatively shortly. As far as classes go right now, Stock, 19-turn, and Mod power translates just fine into a Pro-10 class. Obviously, throw in the brushless equivalents. Our other big hurdle for this class will be bodies. We've all pretty much agreed that we would like to get away from "sedans", and more into the current GT class cars. There are several very cool 200mm bodies out there right now, and when the class takes off, there is bound to be more. Our largest problem will be making these bodies comparable to each other with out one certain type becoming "the" body to run. A year from now, we don't want an A-Main filled with 10 Corvette bodies. We need to make at least a few (and hopefully more) bodies handle relatively equal. I've had a few nice talks with Dale Epp (ProtoForm), and he's going to try to get together a set of guidelines that will hopefully keep us away from the 1 body class that sedan racing has become. If anyone can make that happen, Dale can. In the coming months, we'll have to discuss possible price/class limits. Possibly making Stock class run a lower cost Fiberglass chassis and a spec tire. Jack from JACO already said he would be willing to do a tire/rim combo just for a new 200mm pan car class. I think it's quite important that we have some very strict guidelines to start the classes with. In turn, that should keep costs and frustrations down. We obviously have to gear Stock class to a true Stock/beginner racer. Let the mfg's battle it out in 19-turn and mod…..let's try to get some new blood into out sport/hobby. You can find pictures and pricing of our new Formula Pro-10 HERE. We will also be offering a Fiberglass Chassis/Old Skool front end model geared more to the intermediate racer with a much lower street price in the coming month. I hope everyone has a great Spring (just around the corner), and we'll see you at the Nats. Take care.-Bruce |
| 10/20/2007 |
The new Rev.5 is now available in the on-line store. All replacement parts and the separate Formula Front Ends for SpeedMerchant cars, and the various other manufacturers will be up on-line next week.
Click HERE to go directly to the Rev.5. |
| 10/07/2007 |
The Vegas IIC Race report is posted with pictures of Steve Boice's winning Rev.5. Click HERE to read the report. |
| 09/18/2007 |
Well, it's been a very busy summer at camp SpeedMerchant. My wife Krissy, and I received a couple of priority packages on July 2nd...... Enzo and Gianna Carbone entered the world happy & healthy, and ready to use up any and all the free time I thought I had to do things around here. LOL.
Actually it's been great, and we couldn't be happier......or more tired.
The other big news is SpeedMerchant has bought a new building(actually, it's being built for us), and we will be moving most (or all) of the company over there in October. This will allow us to hire a few more worker monkeys to get stuff packaged and out the door in a more timely manner. We'll also be taking on some International distributors, which up to this point, I've shied away from because we have enough trouble just trying to keep up with Domestic orders. Finally, after 6-months of testing, we're very close to releasing our new Rev.5. I would like to thank all the locals at RC Excitement in Fitchbug, MA for their cooperation during our testing. Hardly a whisper of the new car made it on to the Internet, which made my life a lot easier. So thanks guys, and a big thanks goes out to RCE's proprietor, Todd Anderson for letting us use such a nice track. As far as the 5 goes......way cool. Now that we have all of our own machines, we're able to make a lot of things that I could have only wished for in the past. We have a new rear pod design, that takes "easy access" to a new level. You can literally drop in any motor (brushless too) with a big honking pinion attached with ease. The new pod plates are actually machined Delrin, and they save a ton of weight over standard aluminum ones. Due to batteries getting heavier every season, and brushless motor/ESC combos weight and handling differential compared to their brushed counterparts, we decided to go with the Delrin plates to off-set some of the weight in the rear of the car. When we 1st started testing them, I really thought it would just be a "team" option part, but after several weeks of bashing, we found out, that they hold up just fine for weekly racing. The other big news is up at the front of the car. Our new "Formula" front end is just awesome. We've done testing, and testing, and testing, and we're ecstatic with its performance. I really wanted to get away from molds anywhere on the new car, especially in the front end. So we worked on doing a link front end that was sturdy enough to hold up to the speeds and forces generated in today's cars. By supporting the top of the king pin with 2 balls, the upper link arm is very stiff and strong, and doesn't move during a crash. Next, we are machining our own proprietary steering knuckles. Again, we used the super stiff 19,000psi Delrin we're using for our rear pod plates. The king pin rides on a Teflon O-ring that is captured by a 3mm quasi-isotropic carbon fiber suspension plate. Obviously flex or deflection will not be a problem with this lower arm. The king pin movement is ultra free and silky smooth while being slop free. If you're the type of driver that partakes of the boards a little more than you should, no biggy, pop the o-ring out, press in a new one, and you're good to go. Obviously, the front end is ultimately adjustable. Caster, camber, reactive caster, reactive camber, roll center, long, medium of short upper links, and more, are all adjustments you can use to dial your Rev 5 in for your specific track. Adjusting the front end is really easy too. Just pop out the king pin, and drop thru any 1/8th inch rod; personally, I use one of our carbon fiber roll over antennas. Then, just using your standard camber/caster gauge, adjust your turnbuckles to get your desired caster and camber. We put the rear link in line with the king pin, so basically, you adjust caster using the front link, and camber using the rear. There is very little over lap of the two adjustments. Because the Formula front end mounts to the standard Associated bolt pattern, we will have it available as a separate product for all the various 1/12th cars (Asc, CRC, Corally, etc.) The only difference car to car will be the CF bottom plate's 4-screw mounting hole pattern (width). All front suspension geometry will stay the same for the various cars. Note, just because we're releasing a new front end doesn't mean we're "bailing" on the Old Skool. We just won all 3 ROAR 12th scale titles just a few short months ago with the Old Skool front end bolted on to all of our cars. We just feel that with the advent of brushless technology migrating into our 12th scales, that the new front end will let us explore more "brushless" specific set-ups...especially in the modified division. But, for probably 85% of the racing population, the Old Skool is going to be just as quick, less expensive, and easier (less adjustments to screw up), then our new Formula front end. We will offer a Rev 5"Sport" edition with the Old Skool front end at a lower street price once we get this first big batch of Formula 5's out the door. The Rev 5 will be available on-line the 2nd week in October. There are a few "pre-production" kits I was able to send out to customers that just HAD to have them for Vegas. LOL. I think Brood & Ampdraw will have some of those kits for sale at the Vegas race. Well, since my Outlook box is full of "Can I see some pics yet?" e-mails…. go ahead and click on the Rev.5. Take care.-Bruce  |
| 03/29/2007 |
There's a nice story posted at DonnyLia.Net about his recent win at the R.O.A.R. Nats. You can read it by clicking HERE.
I'm for anything that gets our sport more main stream exposure, so kudos to Donny and his web guys. |
| 03/26/2007 |
Donny Lia continues his winning ways...... After winning the R.O.A.R. Stock National title just a couple of weeks ago, Donny headed North to race at the R.O.A.R. Region One Carpet On-Road Champs. Donny and his Rev 4.5 TQ'd and won the Stock Title on Saturday, and then Donny & motor-man Sal hopped in his real car and headed back South to New York, to race at South Shore Hobbies end of the season Showdown. Donny went on to TQ and win the A-Main by over a lap. Great job Donny! Congratulations on all of your recent success. |
| 03/23/2007 |
Hi Guys, We've got another cool product to show you. As you know, we just got back from the ROAR Nats. The race went very well for the team, and about the only complaint to be had all week was the really tight pit area.
The CEFX crew even built a 2nd story inside the shop to accommodate all the entries.
When pitting is that tight, it's very important to be organized, especially if you're trying to help out customers as well as your team. It's always a pain in the but digging in a pit box every couple of minutes to reach something you need, or even worse, having everything you just laid out neatly in front of yourself get knocked over by the guy pitting across from you. It's happened to all of us. So after my super glue, and Tube Spooges got knocked over for the 100th time last week, I told myself I was going to make a cool little stand just to hold the bottles I use all the time during a race day. So, here it is.....Part #5045 is our new Carbon Fiber Spooge Stand. It holds all three of our new Tube Spooges, a Losi Super Glue container, and a bottle of Parma Fashine cleaner/wax. All products you use several times every race day, and all products that are normally lying on their side's leaking on to your pit towel. LOL. Happy Racing!-SpeedMerchant |
| 03/21/2007 | We've got pictres of Donny Lia's National winning Rev 4.5, and his set-up posted. Click HERE to check it out. |
| 03/17/2007 |
We've got a few new additions to the on-line shop. Since we've been testing the various brushless motors, we've found one of the hardest things to do is to get your wiring to look neat and tidy.
To help remedy the situation we've got some cool colored wire-wrap for the sensor wires coming out of the brushless motors. Our stuff not only looks cool, and lets you match your paint job or the other wires in your car,
but they also fit much tighter than the stock stuff while still staying very flexible. The part numbers are:
#5087BLK = Black,
#5087BLU = Blue,
#5087CLR = Clear,
#5087GRN = Green,
#5087RED = Red,
and #5087YEL = Yellow. We've actually had a couple of customers use these on their roll over antennas. It protects your antenna as well as matching your paint job. Pretty cool idea. We are also offering a 3mm x 8mm cap head. This is the proper size motor screw to use with brushless motors. We've found that the standard 3mm x 10mm we usually use can actually travel too deep into the can and contact the windings on the new brushless motors. The new part number is #2053. |
| 03/16/2007 | The 2007 R.O.A.R. Carpet Nationals Race Report is up. Click HERE to read it. |
| 03/13/2007 |
We're back from the 2007 ROAR On-Road Nats. Just a crazy good week for the SpeedMerchant race team! Donny Lia took the 1/12th Stock National Title, Ray Darroch grabbed the 1/12th 19-Turn title, and Mike Dumas won the Modified title! Three classes entered......three classes won! We'll have a full race report with pictures and set-ups in the coming days, but first we have to catch up on orders. We do have a few new products available in the online store. After extensive testing, our line of "Tube Spooge" lubricants are for sale to the general public. We've been testing these since the Fall, and they were used in all of the team guys cars at the Cleveland Champs, and later at the SnowBirds. Now, "Tube Spooge" equiped cars took home three National Titles. The new part numbers are 5080G-Thin, 5080R-Medium, and 5080B-Thick. Donny Lia's Stock winning Rev 4.5 was running the thick Blue spooge at the Nats, while Ray Darroch and Mike Dumas were both using the medium Red spooge. |
| 03/04/2007 | The SpeedMerchant crew will be attending the ROAR On-Road Nationals in Detroit, Michigan. We will be out of the shop from March 4th-12th. All orders placed within this time frame will be processed on the 13th, and shipped shortly afterwards. You can follow the race at http://liverc.rccars.com/. |
| 03/03/2007 | SpeedMerchant would officially like to welcome Ray Darroch, Donny Lia and Johnny Carey on to the race team. Ray actually works at JACO racing products, and is a consistent A-Main finisher in modified sedan racing his XRAY ride.
Ray says he's looking forward to the challenges and intricacies of 12th scale racing.
Donny and Johnny are both really quick stock racers and long time SpeedMerchant supporters. Donny was just an A-Main finalist at the 2007 SnowBirds, and his home hobby shop NYC Hobbies will be carrying the SpeedMerchant line very soon. Look for them at a track near you. |
| 02/26/2007 | Hi Guys. I put up a small page on installing a Novak GTB system in your 12th scale. Pretty easy install, and maintenance free racing!!! Click HERE to see the install. Take care.-Bruce |
| 02/16/2007 | Hi Guys. I get a lot of e-mails asking how we off-set the JACO front rims to give our 4.5's a wider stance for high traction conditions. It's actually pretty easy with the proper tool. We use an American Standard prop reamer.
They are available thru Tower Hobbies, and are under $15.00. Here's a direct link. Prop Reamer Have a great day.-Bruce |
| 02/15/2007 | Back from the Birds. Another great week of racing and testing. Check out the race report by clicking HERE. |
| 02/04/2007 | The SpeedMerchant crew will be attending the SnowBird Nationals in Orlando Florida. We will be out of the shop from February 4th-12th. All orders placed within this time frame will be processed on the 13th, and shipped shortly afterwards.
You can follow the race by listening to Racing Radio.
More information can be found HERE. |
| 12/01/2006 |
We just got back from the US Indoor Champs in Cleveland Ohio. How'd we do??? Not too bad :) Check out the race report by clicking HERE! |
| 11/17/2006 |
The SpeedMerchant crew will be attending the U.S. Indoor Champs in Cleveland. We will be out of the shop from November 17th-28th for testing followed by the race. All orders placed within this time frame will be processed on the 29th, and shipped shortly afterwards.
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| 10/31/2006 | The website has been updated with a few new part #'s. We've changed the screws that hold the 'Old Skool' front ends on our cars. The new screws are parts #'s 2045 and 2046. Since the Worlds, we've been testing using steel screws on the front ends. The new screws have a lower profile countersink, and the countersink angle is matched exactly to our chassis. By using the steel screws you gain strength in the front suspension as well as lowering the CG of your car slightly. We've also found the little extra weight up front gives the car a tad more steering. All pluses, which is good. We've also added part #5075, which is a 10 pack of O-Rings that are the exact size to fit over 4-40 ball studs. Generally, we use this size o-ring underneath the VCS shock ends, to take out any 'slop' in the ball cups. Most people just use 1/8th silicone o-rings commonly found in sedan shocks, but they are slightly oversized, and the soft silicone deteriorates too quickly. The SpeedMerchant o-rings are sized perfect, and made out of a tougher material which will work and last much longer. |
| 09/30/2006 | We're back from Las Vegas, and we had a great trip. Scotty Ernst and his guys put on the most professional RC race ever held. Awesome facility, and just a very well run race. Congrats to Scotty, Boomer and the hard working crew. SpeedMerchant had a super week. Mike Dumas piloting his Rev 4.5 Top Qualified and Won the 12th scale Modified A-Main over some of the best drivers in the World. HERE is a link to the full race report with pictures and set-up off of Mike's Rev 4.5. All orders that piled up while we were gone have been picked and processed, and everything will ship by Monday the 2nd. Have a great week.-Bruce |
| 09/13/2006 | The SpeedMerchant crew leaves for the 2006 International Indoor Championships in Las Vegas. We will be gone from the 14th-26th, and all orders placed in that time frame will be processed and shipped from the 27th-30th.
You can follow the race by visiting the website at http://www.intchamps.com If you're attending the race please come over and say hi. We'd be happy to help you with set-up or any information we can supply. Have a great week.-Bruce |
| 09/06/2006 | The website has been updated with some new parts. The #1410 Rev 4.5 full kit is available, as well as the bottom and top plates. There are some new #2087 hollow countersunk washers in the hardware department. We've changed a couple of part numbers also. Suspension balls #1266, high roll center cones #1267, and low roll center cones #1268, are all avalaible separately. |
| 08/14/2006 | We would like to welcome "The Fabulous One" Barry Baker onto the SpeedMerchant race team! He joins Mike Dumas, Jake Pritchard and Andrew Gray on our modified team. Barry has been in the upper echelon of RC drivers for years, and is looking forward to continuing his wining ways with his new SpeedMerchant ride. Lets hear what Barry has to say - "When I realized I was going to be leaving Team Associated, I started to think what companies I would like to race for. I realized right away, that for 12th scale I wanted to race a SpeedMerchant. Their cars always seem to be ahead of the curve, and for a relatively small race team, they kick a$$. I'm really looking forward to racing the new 4.5 this season". Thanks Barry.....we sure you'll kick some a$$ too! Look for Barry to make his debut at International Indoor Champs in Vegas this September. |
| 07/04/2006 | We're back from Italy. A big congratulation to Mike Dumas and his Rev 4.5 for taking 6th place at the On-Road World Championships!!! Mike had a great week and ran in the top 10 all thru practice and qualifying. He had one tough (traffic) qualifier that really hurt his qualifying position on Saturday morning, but followed that up with an awesome last qualifier to put himself back in the A Main. Mike ran really well in all three mains and ended up taking 6th overall. Mike consistently had lap times that put his Rev 4.5 in the top 3 for all 3 A-Mains. Great job Mike!!! |
| 06/12/2006 | The SpeedMerchant crew leaves for the On-Road World Championships in Turin, Italy. We'll be out of the office from Monday June 26th to Wednesday July 12th. All orders placed during that period will be processed on the 13th and go out shortly afterwards. Thank you for being patient. Between the outstanding sales of the Rev 4.5 conversions, and the preparation for the World Championships, we are really struggling to keep up with the shear ammount of orders. All back orders either went out today or will go out immediately upon our return home. Have a great week.-Bruce |
| 07/14/2006 | Congratulations to Jeff Brown for Top Qualifying, and taking the win at the 2006 R.O.A.R. Paved On-Road Nationals! Jeff just had a stellar week, he set TQ in all 4 rounds of qualifying, he then went on to win the 1st and 2nd A-Mains to take home the title. Jeff ran a stock Rev.4 with the new style Asc. front end (set for non-reactive caster). He says on asphalt, he likes that front end because it's easier to adjust camber with. HERE's a pic of Jeff and his car, we'll get some better shots, and post a full race set-up for you soon. We'd also like to congratulate Nick & Shawn from Team Kwik. They gave Jeff plenty of horsepower in that blazing California sun to bring home SpeedMerchant's 20th National Title! |
| 06/07/2006 | The new Rev 4.5 is here! Don't get too excited, it's only a conversion to the new 4-bolt style rear end, but, it's still pretty cool. Pictures and information can be found HERE. The on-line store has already been updated, and conversion kits are available HERE. The new top plates, bottom plates, and a full Rev 4.5 car kit will be released very soon. Thank you for the support. Have a great day.-Bruce |
| 05/14/2006 | Hope everyone is enjoying their Spring! We have a few new part #'s to be aware of. Part# 1273 are the new larger tweak brace stand-offs for the Rev.4. We've had the team guys testing them for a while now, and they work great. They have a larger profile that helps support the tweak brace better, and we've also found their tolerances to be a little tighter than the old ones. We also have two new roll over antennas available. Part# 5053 is your standard 8-inch white fiberglass roll over, and part# 5054 is a very trick 8-inch hollow carbon fiber roll over. This is easily the lightest weight roll over available for your 12th scale. It's not as tough as the fiberglass, but it's just insanely lightweight, and awesome for racing applications. |
| 03/21/2006 | We've just returned from the R.O.A.R. 2006 On-Road Carpet Nationals held at Stockton Raceway in Stockton, CA. This years Nats was one of the best organized and well run races in years. A big thank you goes out to Ruben and the entire Stockton crew for showing everyone how to execute a National level event. Great job guys! On the racing front, SpeedMerchant had a great week. In 1/12th Modified, Mike Dumas and Andrew Gray both had their Rev.4's tearing up the carpet. Andrew ended up in 5th overall, and Mike took 2nd place after some very hard fought battles with Trinity's Mike Blackstock. In 1/12th Stock, SpeedMerchant dominated the class with 7 out of 10 of the A-Main drivers running Rev.4's!!! A Big congratulations goes to Peter Robinson for giving SpeedMerchant it's 19th National Title. Peter is the newest member of our Stock racing team, and picked a great way to start his tenure with SpeedMerchant. We'll have a full race report with pictures and car information up in a couple of days. |
| 02/22/2006 | *** New Tweak Springs *** In a continuing effort to give you the very best product we can, we've decided to make our own tweak springs. In the past, we've bought our springs from another manufacturer, and although they've been fine over the years, I thought we could make a better product ourselves. So after some serious testing, we've developed a much higher quality tweak spring for your SpeedMerchant ride! The new springs will no longer be colored like in the past (after testing the old springs we found that the thickness of the paint was actually effecting the spring rate). Instead, the new springs will be designated by their wire size, just like front springs. The springs are matched to the old colored ones in feel and lbs. .021 equals Blue, and .023 equals White. We will offer the entire line in the near future. There is a slight price increase do to using a much higher quality spring steel, as well as just using higher quality manufacturing standards on the product. You'll find that the new springs twist on to the tweak carriers perfectly, hang completely straight, and most importantly feel and perform awesome! |
| 02/22/2006 | Thank you for being patient. We came home to another huge batch of orders to get out the door. Everything started to ship over the past few days, and if you are waiting for an order, it should be there soon. |
| 02/21/2006 | Back from the SnowBirds! Another loooong week with no sleep. Congrats to Mike Dumas for his 5th place A-Main performance. We had MAJOR radio problems with Mike's Rev.4 all week long, so we'll take the 5th with a smile and move on to the Nats. Congrats to Andrew "Drew" Ellis and T.J. Bradley for their 12th Stock A-Main runs. Drew was less than one second off of TQ at the event. Nice job guys! |
| 01/27/2006 | The SpeedMerchant crew will be traveling to the Snowbird Nationals in Orlando Florida. We will be out of the office from February 5th - 13th. All orders place withn that time will be processed on the 14th, and shipped shortly after. You can check out the race at...... |
| 01/27/2006 | Good News....Carbon Fiber is on its way. We sincerely apologize for running out of stock. The Carbon Fiber we purchase is of a very high grade, and is just very hard to get in a timely manner. We were on "back order" with the company for well over a month. Rev.4 full kits, conversions, etc. are all available in the on-line store. They will start shipping again on Tuesday February 2nd. |
| 01/01/2006 | *** Happy New Year *** We would like to thank all of our faithful supporters for another great year. We hope everyone has a great year ahead of them! On the news front: After such a successful reunion of SpeedMerchant and Mike Dumas at the Cleveland Champs this year, we have officially "inked" a deal that will have Mike running SpeedMerchant cars for the next couple of seasons, and hopefully longer. We are happy to have Mike on-board, and he is happy to be here. Together, we look forward to a lot of good times, and great results. I hope to see you "on the road". Take care.-Bruce |
| 12/07/2005 | The Rides page has been updated with some submissions that have come in over the past couple of weeks. Check them out HERE. |
| 12/02/2005 | Pictures and set-ups from Mike's and Jake's Cleveland cars are up. Check them out HERE. |
| 12/01/2005 | We're back from the 26th Annual U.S. Indoor Champs, and we had a great week. Mike Dumas and Jake Pritchard TQ'd and took 1st & 2nd in the Modified A-Main!!! Chuck Lonegran placed 3rd in the A-Main of 1/12th Masters, Drew Ellis picked up 4th in the 1/12th Stock A-Main, and Chris Mockerman took 2nd in the A-Main of 1/12th 19-Turn. Just an awesome weekend for the SpeedMerchant Rev.4! Check out the race report by clicking HERE. |
| 11/21/2005 | The SpeedMerchant crew will be attending the U.S. Indoor Champs in Cleveland. We will be out of the shop from November 22nd-29th. All orders placed within this time frame will be processed on the 30th, and shipped shortly afterwards. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving! |
| 11/14/2005 | SpeedMerchant would like to welcome back Mike Dumas on to the race team. Mike started his racing career with SpeedMerchant, and won several national level events as well as the ROAR On-Road Nats with us. It's great to have you back Mike. We look forward to a super year! |
| 09/13/2005 | SpeedMerchant is proud to announce that we are a "Silver" sponsor of the International Indoor Championships in Las Vegas. Visit the website by clicking HERE. This looks like it's going to be the closest thing to an indoor carpet world championships since the early 1990's. It's going to be just an awesome event. Look for live webcasts, radio and TV spots as well as a complete coverage from all of the magazines. |
| 07/10/2005 | Do you want up to date, straight from the team information about your SpeedMerchant products? Check out R/C Tech.net. They have a great thread about SpeedMerchant cars as well as a million more to choose from! Just an excellent resource for the R/C racer. Check out the thread by clicking HERE. |
| 04/07/2005 | In case you've been living under a stone for the past few months....Big News: Scotty Ernst is putting on the 1st Annual International Indoor Championships.....In Fabulous Las Vegas!!! This race will draw the very best on-road racers in the world to compete in several classes to determine the 1st International Indoor Champion! The race will be held at the historic Stardust Hotel & Casino from September 21st - 25th 2005. |
| 03/28/2005 | R/C Excitement is holding their 1st Annual Spring Fling On-Road race on Saturday April 9th 2005. All the information you need can be found by clicking HERE! Hope to see you there, it should be a great race. |
| 03/27/2005 | REPORT: - * Hurricane Motorsports Stock Challenge * Team driver Drew Ellis just got back from the 2nd Annual Hurricane Stock Challenge after dominating the weekend with his SpeedMerchant Rev.4. Drew TQ'd the 1/12th scale class by over a lap, and then went on to win the A-Main by over a lap. Great job Drew! |
| 03/21/2005 | We just got back from the 2005 R.O.A.R. On-Road Carpet Nationals. How'd the weekend go?.....Chalk up National Championship number 18 for Team SpeedMerchant! A huge congratulations goes out to Chuck Lonegran for laying the smack down, and bringing home the win with his ballistic SpeedMerchant Rev.4 racer. Congrats also go out to T.J. Bradley and Mark Strasnick for their A-Main runs, as well as Andrew Gray with his 1/12th Modified A-main performance. Great job guys! |
| 03/15/2005 | The SpeedMerchant crew will be attending the R.O.A.R. On-Road Carpet Nationals. We will be gone from March 16th-21st. All orders placed within that time frame will be processed on the 22nd, and shipped shortly afterwards. |
| 03/10/2005 | Updated the 'Drivas' section of the website with a few mug shots of the SpeedMerchant team members. We'll get more pics and some information about these guys up in the coming weeks. |
| 03/09/2005 | Updated the 'Rides' section with some new submissions. |
| 03/07/2005 | Gran Turismo 4 kicks but. If you don't have a Playstation.....go buy one, get the force feedback wheel & pedals, and set aside about a month of your life.....you won't be sorry. |
| 02/16/2005 | We're back from the Snowbirds, and all orders have been processed and shipped. Congratulations to Andrew Ellis for his 4th place A-Main finish in 1/12 Stock. Drew, had some tough traffic in qualifying, and just squeaked into the A-Main in 10th posistion. At the start of the main, it was clear he was one of the fastest cars on the track. Even with the usual first turn mayhem, Drew weaved his Rev.4 thru traffic for 8 minutes, and finished with a strong 4th place finish. |
| 02/15/2005 | SpeedMerchant would like to welcome Travis Schreven on to the Stock racing team. Travis is another Xray driver that has joined the Rev.4 bandwagon. Lets hear what Travis had to say: "After watching my Xray team mates run their Rev.4's, I just had to try one. My very first battery pack with the car was awesome. Tons of steering, but very predictable. I can't wait to get home and start to practice with it!". |
| 02/04/2005 | The SpeedMerchant crew leaves for the Snowbird Nationals tomorrow. We'll be out of the office from Saturday the 5th to Tuesday the 15th. All orders placed during that period will be processed on the 16th and go out shortly afterwards. Have a great week.-Bruce |
| 02/03/2005 | The Parts Catalog Page has been updated with all of our current part numbers and descriptions. |
| 02/01/2005 | Looking fo some low cost, high quality stickers? Check out HighSpeedGrafix.com. We needed Rev.4 stickers to bring to the SnowBirds race next week. We gave these guys all call, told them what we wanted, and the stickers showed up in the mail just a few days later. Quick service, and great looking stickers, give them a try. |
| 01/31/2005 | Live in MA, CT, NH, area? Like racing? You're in luck. There's a new track going up in Fitchburg, Mass called R/C Excitement, which is truly going to be a world-class facility. In-door Carpet on a pool table flat 75 x 45 foot track, in-door off road, out-door off road, out-door asphalt, plenty of pit room, lounge, cafe', arcade, and a full service hobby shop! They're looking to open by the beginning of February. Check out their website by clicking HERE! |
| 01/29/2005 | We're doing a little re-design on the web-page. Look for more updates under the "News" section(which you're reading now). Racer profiles of our sponsered team guys under "Drivas". We're also going to start a SpeedMerchant "Rides" category which will let you...the SpeedMerchant faithful send in a photo of your car, your name, where you race, and we'll post them up on our site to share with the other "Drivas". |
| 01/26/2005 | Rev.4's are back in stock!!! The new #1405 full kits come with IRS lowered pod sets. Click HERE for the Rev.4 page, or HERE for the Rev.4 at the on-line store. |
| 11/27/2004 | The SpeedMerchant Race Team has grown. We would like to welcome Ralph "WG" Burch, and Jarred Scott, to our Modified team, Andrew Ellis, Ron Atomic, and Michael Toast to our Stock team. Look for their racing profiles off of the main page, under "Drivas". |
