HPI At The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

HPI Racing in conjunction with Tamiya America, Inc. and Kyosho of America announce today their participation in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, on April 16-19, 2009.

Article Courtesy OF  HPI RACING
Link: www.hpiracing.com

The three largest hobby manufacturers in the world will be joining forces at the 2009 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach [LBGP], in the first “Radio Control Motorsport Experience.” This collaboration within the hobby community is aimed to increase awareness for the hobby grade radio control market. The combined marketing forces at HPI Racing, Kyosho America and Tamiya America, Inc. are prepared to take their respective companies to a broader audience than what is currently available within the radio controlled hobby industry.

The 2009 LBGP is set to celebrate the 35th anniversary. This will be the second race of the 2009 IndyCar Series brought to you by DIRECTV HD.  Support races include American Le Mans Series, Firestone Indy Lights, SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT Series, Formula Drift Series and the world famous Toyota Pro Celebrity Race featuring an eclectic roster of celebrity icons.

A major component of the event is the Lifestyle Expo, which is held at the Long Beach Convention Center. The Long Beach Convention Center is centrally located within the temporary street circuit that is assembled every year to run the racing event. Over one hundred and eighty-five thousand spectators are expected to pass through the event during its four days of operation exposing the hobby industry to mainstream and motorsport enthusiast crowds.

The Lifestyle Expo contains many attractions for Grand Prix attendees, including a Kids Zone. HPI Racing, Kyosho of America and Tamiya America, Inc. will showcase numerous products as well as demonstrate R/C Drifting, R/C Rock Crawling, R/C Tanks and Mini R/C tabletop race cars.

We invite motorsport fans, hobby enthusiasts and anyone else looking to see what’s new and exciting in R/C.  Radio Control products will be on display and demonstrated at the 2009 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. “Gentlemen, start your engines!”

If you would like more information about this topic, please call:

HPI RACING – Rodney Wills at (949) 753-1099 ext 107 or email [email protected]

TAMIYA – Fred Medel at (949) 362-2240 ext 846 or email [email protected]

KYOSHO – Cliff Black at (949) 454-8854 or email [email protected]

About LBGP

The Long Beach Grand Prix [LBGP] is the longest running major street race held on the North American continent, starting on March 26, 1977 and having completed its 34th consecutive event in 2008. The LBGP started as a Formula 5000 open-wheel race held on a temporary road course making use of the streets of Long Beach, California, and became a Formula One event the following year. From 1984 to 2008 the LBGP has been a CART/Champ Car event with other popular events during the Grand Prix weekend including a Champ Car Atlantic series race, a Historic Grand Prix featuring pre-1990 race cars, and the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race. In 2008, Champ Cars series merged with the Indy Racing League to form the Indy Racing League marking its second season at the 2009-LBGP. The Toyota Long Beach Grand Prix is the single largest event in the city of Long Beach, CA with attendance for the weekend regularly reaches or exceeds 200,000 people.  www.gplb.com

About HPI RACING:

Established in 1986 in Southern California, HPI Racing (Hobby Products International) of Foothill Ranch, California, USA is a global leader in the radio controlled racing car section of the hobby industry. The HPI Group includes: HPI Racing, Foothill Ranch, CA; HPI Japan, Hammamatsu, Japan; and HPI Europe in the United Kingdom. HPI Group also produces collector diecast models, Hot Bodies (R/C competition specialties), R/C airplanes (456MB) and R/C robots. HPI USA currently operates out a 45,000 square foot facility in Foothill Ranch, California and oversees manufacturing operations there as well as in Japan and Taiwan. HPI has licensing agreements in place with GM®,  Ford®, Lamborghini®, DaimlerChrysler®, Lotus®, Honda®, Porsche®, Toyota® and all major American, European and Japanese automakers; as well as equipment manufacturers such as Yokohama Tires® and Eibach Springs®. HPI Racing’s global footprint includes Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, England, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Holland, Hong Kong, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Lebanon, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Thailand and the United States. www.hpiracing.com

About TAMIYA

Tamiya ventured into the modeling business in 1948, with a scale wooden ship model kit. Since then, Tamiya has been striving to offer merchandise that can truly be called “First in Quality Around the World.” Now Tamiya is offering more than 1,500 different products in the fields of precision static models, educational kits, finishing supplies and high performance radio control vehicles. These products are not only sold in Japan, but also exported in vast quantities to the United States, Europe, South East Asia, and to many other parts of the world. Tamiya America, Inc. was established in 1989 to expand its global reach and to further develop hobby products for the American market. Tamiya America, Inc. was also established to conduct various promotional events which include a national radio control car championship series known as TCS and various modeling contests. The standard of excellence achieved by Tamiya is regarded as among the very finest in the world of model hobbies. Tamiya’s replicas achieve the highest level of accuracy due to its close relationships with its licensing partners who include: Ferrari®, Ford®, Lamborghini®, Volkswagen®, Jeep®, Scania®, Subaru®,  Toyota®, Nissan®, Citroen®, BMW®, Mercedes®, Suzuki®, Porsche®,  Lockheed Martin®, Boeing®, Northrop Grumman®, Yamaha®, Ducati®, Kawasaki® and Honda®  www.tamiyausa.com

About KYOSHO

Kyosho’s philosophy has always been to show the world the value of enjoying life through the model hobby. Since its foundation in 1963, Kyosho has lived by this and there is no end to the pursuit of this goal. The R/C car and truck line-up includes both nitro and electric powered vehicle in multiple scales including but not limited to the multi time World Champion Inferno and Evolva 1/8 cars as well as the Ultima RB5 and Lazer ZX-5 buggies. Kyosho also has world-class R/C planes and helicopters from the SQS Series of planes that feature solid construction, a high level of detail and superior flight characteristics, to the Caliber line of Helicopters, which many credit as the start of the R/C heli market. Kyosho also takes to the water with a full fleet of R/C boats including sailboats and powerboats. All this in addition to the  hundreds of licensed dNaNo and Mini-Z Micro R/C cars and premiere level die-casts featuring all the worlds major automotive manufacturers including premiere brands such as: Toyota®, Ferrari®, Honda®, Lamborghini®, GM®, Porsche®, Mazda®, Mercedes®,  BMW®. All of this combined with headquarters in all the major markets has lead us to our title World’s Finest Radio Control Models. www.kyoshoamerica.com