> News

Team Serpent ready for the Worlds in Japan, 1/10 buggy (30/09/2015)

By:: Reporter
Linked to:: Spyder SRX4 buggy 4wd 1/10, Spyder SRX4 buggy 4wd 1/10 alu.

Team Serpent ready for the 1/10 buggy Worlds in Japan

Team Serpent will use a number of newly developed parts as well as prototype cars at the Worlds in Japan . Main reason for this is that at the recent Wc test-days as well as at the EOS we found we needed to improve our cars to work even better on the incredibly high traction of the astro / carpet in use. Usually the Team runs cars as close to standard as possible, but this special event as the WC asks for a different approach this time.

In 2wd Billy Easton designed new parts for the Spyder SRX2 platform and in case needed we have a another card to play.

In 4wd Gerd Strenge developed and prototyped the SRX4 shaft drive cars, which due to lack of time, does use a number of alien/proto parts. Also for the SRX4 belt drive cars Billy Easton developed some new proto-parts which will be used at the Worlds.

Based on the WC practise our Team drivers will use the car and parts which suits their driving style and conditions best, to achieve optimal results. For sure Hupo, Joern and Billy are highly motivated.

After the Worlds we will evaluate the results and designs, and decide what we feel is best to offer to our Serpent fans as ready products later this year. Will keep you posted !

Below you find the following info:
- More details and some historic perspective below:

More details and some historic perspective below:

Serpent designer Billy Easton has developed the Spyder SRX4 belt-drive car, which has been successfully introduced a few weeks ago. The SRX4 as belt-drive car is performing really well. Drivers feedback shows that the car is very nimble, easy to drive and fast. The body looks which comes very close to that of the SRX2 2wd car, is also very appealing.

Since Gerd Strenge and Joern Neumann joined Serpent again in 2015 ( 1st coop was in 2006), they have also made a lot of testing with the Spyder SRX4 pre production cars, especially on astro and carpet, which surface for Billy is not so much available in the USA. Neumann reported back very positively about the SRX4, as the handling is supernice, jumping is good and lots of steering too. Neumann showed with his vice-european championship title that also speed and durabilty on that clay track was excellent. The only thing lacking on very high grip carpet and astro tracks was pure speed compared to the competition ( see also EOS). Billy Easton has no carpet tracks in his area to test on, but he did run on very high bite clay tracks and has good results with Spyder SRX2 and SRX4 belt cars. .

With the Japan Worlds being on super high grip astro for the 1st time, and Serpent wants to attend to win, we decided to work on a Spyder SRX shaft-drive proto-car as well, using the knowledge and experience of Gerd Strenge. This decision was made basically right after the Worlds test in Japan, where it showed that on such high grip carpet the belt driven car does not seem to have its clear advantages as it has on low and medium grip tracks, but we have worked on that matter as well …

At the same time development on the Spyder SRX4 belt-drive continued. As the testing and feedback by the team on high grip astro and carpet tracks, also gave Billy Easton new design ideas, which were developed and prototyped for the belt drive car as well.

So one will see both our belt and shaft drive cars in action at the Worlds.

On the 2wd side also lots of testing and protopying has been effected and also here we will bring both current and proto-type parts and cars to the WC.

Only after the Worlds we will decide which parts and cars to finally take into production and make available to the Serpent fans as new cars, upgrade sets or optionals.

Some more back-ground info on the shaftdrive car
Gerd Strenge his designs so far have always been shaftdrive cars and that is where his knowledge and experience is. So we decided to take his Serpent S500 design, with which we started in 2005 and combine that with his experience of the past 10 years, todays knowledge, materials and designs, and create the Spyder SRX4 SD shaftdrive proto-type cars for the WC in Japan.

Some history on past coop.
In 2006 Serpent heard about a 1/10 4wd buggy project from Germany, designed and made by a German guy named Gerd Strenge ( nicknamed Mr. Durango) . At that time Serpent was planning to develop the productline towards offroad. So a meeting was made and not long after Gerd and Serpent made an agreement to take Gerds design as basis and create a car that would be named a Serpent S500. Rc designer Michael Vollmer was part of that project at some stage as well.
The Serpent S500 was actually prototyped and shown at the Nurnberg Toyfair in 2007.
Both Billy Easton and Joern Neumann, as Serpent teamdrivers, joined the WC in Japan at that time with Serpent S500 prototypes, and both reached the A-main in 4wd as well !

Link to the publication at that time:
http://www.serpent.com/news/12351/Serpent-EP-buggy-Prototypes-in-World-Championship-final.html

Sadly enough a hard period for Serpent followed with strong internal re-structuring, making us having to stop the project and hand it back to Gerd Strenge. He then found investors in Taiwan willing to take on the project and Durango as brand / company started. In 2014 it was the time for Durango / Hobbico to restructure with Strenge and Joern Neumann leaving.
At that very same moment Serpent was again looking to enforce and support the growing offroad car line even more and agreed a new cooperation with Gerd Strenge for design and race support and with Joern Neumann and Hupo Honigl as team drivers.

Seems like a full circle process is underway here. Being at the 1/10 WC in Japan exactly 8 years ago, and now its time for yet another WC Worlds in Japan, where again Billy Easton and Joern Neumann and now also Hupo Honigl will take part for Serpent. Quite an incredible story !

Overall 1/10 buggy market
In the marketplace for 1/10 buggy it appears that both in 2wd and 4wd its very hard to offer one car or platform that can do it all. The surfaces being raced on and the high level of racing simply requires different solutions. In the market you see also driver preference for different design direction. Serpent as company wants to be able to offer a selection of 1/10 buggies, and for we will be offering both beltdrive and shaft-drive cars in 2016 to cover different needs and surfaces.

The WC in Japan is important and a great event to attend, follow and perform. More important however for the marketplace and our Serpent customers it to meet the demand and give the drivers the equipment they can perform best with. Thats our main goal !

Team Serpent