LiveRC chat with Savoya on the switch

0 Sept. 14, 2011, 7:01 a.m.

Main Photo: LiveRC chat with Savoya on the switch

09/14/2011
By Mike Garrison
LiveRC.com

With an outburst of breaking news over the past week, we were fortunate enough to sit down and chat with one of the biggest news stories, Reno Savoya. Savoya's departure from Team Durango came last week with news of Team Xray in his future. We wanted to know more behind it all, and Reno was more than happy to help us out.

LRC: Let's start at the most obvious question everyone wants to know. What brought about the switch to Xray?

RENO: Even if I was really happy with the team at Team Durango, it was pretty hard for me to get on the top spot since January. I worked a lot in order to get better, but my results were poor. The bad luck at the Euros sealed my switched, and I needed a new challenge and motivation as soon as possible. I had a chat with the Hudy family for a long time about a possible partnership, so it was all natural to think about them first for my future.

LRC: Where will your first major race be with the new car?

RENO: My first big race will be this week end at Noeux les Mines (Sartel's home track) for the GP. Many top UK and french drivers will attend this race, so it will be a good test for me!I already did one club race in France, and the feeling with the car was more than satisfying. The handling was amazing, and really promising for my future races.

LRC: Will you be a team driver only, or will you be also be working in R&D for Xray?

RENO: One of the main objective to switch to XRAY was to be part of the R&D of the company. It's always a pleasure to improve the products you will race and win with. As Xray is producing all their products in-house, it was a fantastic opportunity for me to be more involved in the R&D of new products and improvements on the XRAY off-road line.

LRC: There seem to be a lot of drivers leaving Team Durango, can you give us some reasoning behind this?

RENO: Every driver had his reasons, we can't give a clear explanation for that. The timing is just coincidence. Elliott and I had results not matching our expectations, for Taylor he was coming to the end of his contract soon. This season is really special as many drivers switched during the season. I heard that Miguel will leave JQ soon also, and some big names would be announced on the move too. I think it's in the wind!

LRC: What are your first impressions of the 808 compared to the DNX408?

RENO: The handling of the 808 is amazingly stable and easy. Since my first laps with the car I felt very confident and fast. The DNX408 has a revolutionary design, and I think you need to adjust your driving and the set-up to this more than any car on the market. The 808 is more what I had for many years and I'm really happy to have my feelings back.

LRC: Will you be racing here in America anytime soon?

RENO: I will race several events in USA in 2012. I already planed The Dirt and Silverstate. Nothing is really fixed yet, but I would love to race in US as many time as possible, as I really appreciate the country, the racing level, and the people here! I miss Texas and racing against you guys!

LRC: Your chassis sponsor has changed, will any other sponsors be changing with it?

RENO: No other change is planed till the end of 2012 now.

I would like to take the most of it now to thank all of them. Thanks for supporting me and making it possible!!

XRAY - HUDY - RB - Proline - Futaba - Ultimate - Dialed Inc. - Venom

TEKIN - Maugrafix - Xsen - AscendancyRC - LiveRC.com - Neobuggy.net

Without forgetting family and friends!!!

We wish the best of luck to Reno and his new Xray adventure, and we look forward to seeing his US debut at the 2012 Dirt Nitro Challenge!