With team Serpent showing up to the Euros with a revised prototype of their planned offroad buggy everyone was keen to scope it out. However photos of the insides haven't surfaced....Dun duh daaa! Until NOW! Click read more for the party!

With the last two rounds of qualifying Renaud Savoya had already secured the TQ spot, but drove his fastest run yet; doing 8 laps in 05:17.839. This gave him 4 TQs out of 4. In round 5 however we would see a challenger to the dominating Savoya, none other than reigning European Champion Robert Batlle! Flexing those throttle finger muscles Robert beat Renaud's fastest lap of 38.866 in round 5 by just under 0.3 sec, but he did manage to beat Savoya's time but a greater margin, (Savoya - 8/05:22.574 and Batlle - 8/05:16.519). However, after his heat, Robert failed to marshall himself resulting in his round 5 time being disqualified.
Update: News has reached us that Robert didn't marshall due to doctor's orders (he was in hospital the first due to too much sun exposure), according to our sources a member of the governing body Okay-ed it, but he had already been DQ'd....! Drama!

Nonetheless the result won't have much bearing as he still qualified second overall.
Overall Qualifying Result
Several notable drivers are languishing further down than they may usually be, a selection: 36 D.Reckward, 43 T.leino, 46 J.Aigoin, 47 J.Neumann, 53 C.Svensson, 69 R.Gustafsson, 74 M.Matias, 109 M.Grandesso
The top 16 go to the semis, the following made the 1/4s: Crompton, Lachat, Thern, Hönigl, Hazlewood, Alsop, Gomez, Tortorici, Pericet, Rabitti, Salmeron, JQ, Ari Heinonen, Bremicker, Ezazien, Lattanzio



Also, a special mention for Ilias, Happy Birthday!

Edam the onroad specialists were in contact and are celebrating the summer with a special sale! Buy their 1/8 onroad car and get 4 Ennetti wheels for free.
More info @ www.edam.co.tw / Contact service@edam.co.tw

The Frankley Charity Shield, which was held over the weekend at Frankley Model Car Club in Birmingham, was a huge success and included some hair-raising antics for event organiser Glynn. There were 70 drivers in attendance across the buggy and truggy classes which showed good support for the charity event. At drivers briefing the explanation of how the day was to be made up of a couple of additional challenges including a 'Super Lap Challenge' and the 'Race of Champions' along with the standard race day format of 3 rounds of qualifying and finals. CML's Wes Myles was also tasked with raising enough money to see Glyn 'Maddog' Morgan have his head shaved for £100 or £200 for a full body wax! Find out more @CML

We caught up with a few Mugen team drivers @ the Euros in Greece and they spilled some more beans on the new car from Mugen; the main concern for the design was the reduction in weight, as well as lowering the centre of gravity. With this in mind the differentials are smaller, and as a result, the gearboxes as well and the diffs sit lower. The ratios will remain the same as the MBX5 though. The engine will be moved forward slightly, and we believe the shocks will be between 15-16mm big bores. The car isnt production ready, and none of the European drivers have tested it as of yet, the only testing has taken place in Japan.

Renaud Savoya is the 2008 Euros TQ. Speaking with drivers at the race, some are finding it very difficult to dial in a setup, what tyres to use etc. Our own JQ said he was finally confident after his 3rd round result that he could fight for a place in the quarters.
After 3 rounds, Overall



Round 3 is underway and it looks like Savoya has taken provisional TQ with a result of 8 laps in 5:19.727, for the moment Borja Hernandez is 2nd and Batlle third in the 3rd round.

Round 2 saw Renaud Savoya TQ again, putting him in prime position to take overall TQ, 2nd is Robert Batlle and 3rd Borja Hernandez.

Ranking after 2 rounds