Kanai kisses RB Concepts goodbye

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By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Two weeks ago, UK distributor Answer RC delivered the shocking news that famed manufacturer RB had closed its doors following several years of dwindling financial stability.

Given the cessation of production, it was only a matter of time before drivers using the engines, like famed Kyosho Inferno designer Yuichi Kanai, would be forced to move onto new options. For Kanai, who used an RB engine to win his IFMAR World Championship in Las Vegas in 2000, that time will begin following this weekend's Kyosho Masters in RB's home country of France. Here's a screenshot of what he posted to Facebook earlier this morning (the album, though public, could not be embedded):

As the saying goes, "all good things must come to an end" - though it's not the first time that Kanai and RB have parted company, it seems it will be the last.

The departure is certainly a sad one for Kanai, who used RB engines until switching to Sirio in 2003, helping the Italian brand develop a line of engines that famously bore his name and signature green color.

At the height of Kyosho's relationship with Team Orion, Kanai switched from Sirio to Orion engines in 2009.

Ten years after his departure, Kanai returned to RB and the company celebrated the reunion with a special edition engine.

What's next for Kanai? On May 27, he announced on Facebook that he was switching to Korean fuel maker Rapicon, though the engine depicted in his photo was still an RB:

There's been no news about his future engine supplier, as Kanai himself may not yet know. Unlike some of the other fuel brands, Rapicon - a brand that stands largest in the RC heli market - doesn't have any allegiance to a surface engine manufacturer (and in fact that brand's website isn't particularly up to date). Given the size of the international team for O.S., the number of different brands which use O.S. OEM engines, as well as the simple fact that they're made in Japan, that might be the front runner...but there's absolutely no information to support that hunch.