Serpent Model Racing Cars
TypePrivate
IndustryResearch and Development, Manufacturing, Sales and Promotion
Founded1980
FounderRon Ton
Pieter Bervoets
Headquarters
Heemstede, North Holland
,
Netherlands
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Michael Salven, Designer, driver & owner
Ronald Baar, Commerce & co-owner , Xu Lau Logistics & co-owner , Lin Lau Production co-owner
ProductsRadio control model cars and components
RevenueUS$1.5 million (2006)
OwnerMichael Salven
Ronald Baar
Number of employees
100
ParentSerpent Ltd
Websitehttp://www.serpent.com

Serpent Model Racing Cars B.V. (known commonly as Serpent, or alternatively Serpent Motorsport, Serpent MRC or Team Serpent) was a company from Heemstede, North Holland in the Netherlands specializing in competition grade radio controlled cars which has won numerous IFMAR and EFRA titles, plus several national title; they are currently Chinese owned and all products are made in China as of printing.

History

The company was officially founded in 1980 as a brand name to Berton BV, named after a combination its founders, Pieter Bervoets and Ron Ton who were both radio controlled car racers.[1] The pair built their first RC car in 1972, using a Kyosho Dash 1 chassis modified by themselves,[2] then in 1977, the duo started to develop their first car under the Serpent name in 1977 and in 1979, both Bervoets and Ton had won separate EFRA 1:8 titles with their Mk. III Pro.[3]

One of its highlights of its competition career is the total domination during the IFMAR World Championship for 1:10 Scale 235mm IC On-Road cars that took place in Apeldoorn, in the Netherlands; when the Impacts, its competition car for the category at the time, dominated the top 10 positions in both the Class 1 (sportscars) and Class 2 (touring cars).[4]

The cars are nowadays developed using 3D CAD software such as Pro/Engineer and SolidWorks and are tested at the nearby race track in Heemstede.[1] Other than competing in national and international championships, Serpent also has its own one-make series Serpent Nitro Tours and Serpent Series, also has its own drivers' development program (Serpent Driver Development).[1]

Ton sold off his shares to Bervoets in 1997 who in turn sold the company off to Ronald Baar and the works' championship winning driver and designer, Michael Salven in 2005[5][1] to allow him to concentrate on his other project that he had also been running for years before, Virtual RC Racing, specializing in RC car racing simulation for home computers.[6]

Following its takeover, there had been a few changes to the company, although the hissing snake symbol has never been changed since the beginning, the company's colour scheme has changed from magenta to the national Dutch colour scheme of orange and the logo has also been changed before the takeover. Another change to the company was, the popular and long running RC community orientated website myTSN was disbanded in favour of a more dedicated company site[7]

In 2008 the Dutch company went into bankruptcy.[8] The recently started Off-Road projects were paused and the brand and the stock was sold to new company VectorRC in Holland. Serpent Ltd in Hong Kong is now in charge for the production and Distribution in Asia, Serpent Europe for Europe and Serpent America for the American region. Michael Salven, Ronald de Baar are owners of the Serpent brand and run a company (VectorRC BV) that takes care of the development and the marketing world-wide.

As of 2009, Serpent have won a total of seven world (IFMAR) and thirty three European titles (EFRA) together with five Japanese (JMRCA) and eight U.S. (ROAR) national titles as well as three Winternats.[1]

In 2011, VectorRC teamed up with 2 new partners in China and created Serpent Ltd Hong Kong. By moving to China, Serpent has been able to develop the car line-up massively to over 30 different models, while maintaining the very high quality and performance standards.


Product lines

Scale Name Terrain 2WD 4WD Body width EP/GP Year of production Notes
1:8 977 Viper On-road Checked GP 2013
1:10 747 On-road Checked 200mm GP 2012
1:8 966 / E On-road Checked EP 2009
1:8 960-08 On-road Checked GP 2007 Updated version of 960
1:8 960-07 On-road Checked GP 2006 Updated version of 960
1:8 F180 RTR On-road Checked GP 2006 Ready to run version of the F180
1:8 F180 On-road Checked GP 2006 First 1:8 true scale single seater car
1:8 960FD On-road Checked GP 2006 Fabio Domanins edition, uprated
1:8 960 On-road Checked GP 2005
1:8 950-R On-road Checked GP 2003
1:8 950 On-road Checked GP Uprated version
1:8 Vector NT 2002 On-road Checked GP 2002–? Uprated version
1:8 VETEQ 02 On-road Checked GP 2002– Uprated version
1:8 Vector Spec 2000 On-road Checked Checked GP 2000–?
1:8 Vector Spec 98 On-road Checked GP 1998–?
1:8 Vector On-road Checked GP –
1:8 Excel MK II On-road Checked GP  ?–?
1:8 Excel 9000 On-road GP  ?–?
1:8 Sprint 6020 On-road GP  ?–?
1:8 Sprint 6010 On-road GP  ?–?
1:8 Sprint 6000 On-road GP 1988–?
1:8 Quattro On-road Checked Checked GP 1982 (1983 for 4WD) -
1:8 Club Racer On-road
1:8 Quattro Compact On-road Checked GP April 1, 1986 SWB version of the Quattro. April Fool of French RC Car Magazine Auto8
1:8 Super Pro On-road Checked GP 1981–?
1:8 Competition MK III On-road Checked GP 1979–?
1:8 Nitro Off-road Checked GP 2008? Currently under development, working name
1:8 Spirit Off-road Checked GP  ?–1988
1:8 Cobra Off-road Checked GP 1983–?
1:10 S500/Durango Off-road Checked EP 2009 Sold and manufactured by Team Durango. Named as Team Durango DEX410.
1:10 Tenforce on-road Checked EP 1980s–?
1:10 835 On-road Checked Checked 235mm GP –
1:10 Impact M2 WC/02 On-road Checked Checked 235mm GP 2002–
1:10 Impact M2 On-road Checked Checked 235mm GP –
1:10 Impact Spec 2000 On-road Checked Checked 235mm GP 2002–
1:10 Impact 2 On-road Checked Checked 235mm GP 2002–
1:10 Impact Rally On-road 235mm GP 1995– Body mounts modified to allow for touring car bodies
1:10 Impact On-road Checked 235mm GP 1991–
1:10 720 08 On-road 200mm GP 2007–
1:10 720 07 On-road 200mm GP 2006–
1:10 720 On-road 200mm GP –
1:10 710 Team car On-road 200mm GP –
1:10 710 RTR On-road 200mm GP – Ready to run edition
1:10 710 On-road Checked Checked 200mm GP –
1:10 705 On-road Checked Checked 200mm GP –
1:10 Impulse PRO 4WD On-road Checked Checked 200mm GP –
1:10 Impulse PRO Carbon On-road 200mm GP –
1:10 S400 On-road 190mm EP –
1:12 S120 On-road Checked EP 2008–
1:24 S240 On-road Checked EP 2009–
1:8 811 Cobra Off-road Checked GP 2010
1:8 811 Cobra-T Off-road Checked GP 2010 Truggy version

1:8 811 Cobra Be Off-road

Checked

EP

2011 1:10 411 On-road

Checked

EP

2011

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Serpent Model Racing Cars - Company - About". Retrieved 2009-05-17.
  2. ↑ "Serpent" (in Norwegian). 2 March 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
  3. ↑ "30+ Years of EFRA Race History" (PDF). European Federation of Radio Operated Model Automobiles. 11 September 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 17, 2006. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
  4. ↑ "IFMAR 1/10 Scale 235mm IC Championship Results". 27 February 2004. Archived from the original on 2011-06-11. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
  5. ↑ "Serpent Co-Founder Ron Ton Passes Away". 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2016-09-14.
  6. ↑ "Major Announcement from SERPENT - HobbiesPR.com Forums - Radio Control en Puerto Rico". Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  7. ↑ Oisin O'Briain. "END OF AN ERA ON THE WEB (12/12/2006)". Retrieved 2009-05-17.
  8. ↑ "Serpent For Sale or not???". Retrieved 25 February 2016.
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