3 replies to this topic

[djr2096]

Designer Josh Alton leaves HB, destination AE?

This past Tuesday at the Huntington Beach-located indoor track of OCRC we bumped into Josh Alton, designer of the '08 IFMAR Worlds winning buggy the D8 and the much anticipated composite chassis CR8. Josh is a regular at OCRC, usually racing his Hot Bodies Ve8 on Wednesday night racing. On Tuesday however, to our surprise Josh was praticing with a Team Associated RC8e. When asked what was going on, Josh replied he had resigned from his position at HPI/HotBodies on Monday January 23rd and was currently unemployed, but remained tight lipped of where he would be working next.

Over the last few weeks there have been a number of prominent designers playing musical chairs - Kurt Wenger formerly of Team Associated joined Avid in mid January, Shin Adachi - one of Kyosho's main figureheads departed and joined HB - announced January 26th - only 3 days after Alton's quoted departure; unlikely to be a simple coincidence. So could we see Alton on his way to AE's Lake Forest HQ or are we reading too much into Alton's appearance with the RC8e...

From Neobuggy.net

[Garry]

This isn't really news.

[djr2096]

It's not?
It is to me. Very important to me.
I feel it may be important to other folk on here too!

[djr2096]

Hmm more of intrest!

2/3/2012
By Mike Garrison
LiveRC.com

Some of the latest news in the industry has been all of the major designers and engineers of companies leaving, joining, and starting over. Hot Bodies team driver and long time Ohio resident, Jesse Robbers, has made the move out west as he is taking a fulltime positioning designing for Hot Bodies as well as continuing his racing career!

Jesse was nice enough to take some time talking with us about the new year and all of the changes!










LRC: Jesse, What brought about the big move to California?
JESSE: I’ve thought about it for a long time now, and it worked out well to further my involvement as a racer with the major tracks out here as well as work directly with other engineers and designers on projects to simplify the process of designing and engineering.

LRC: Will you be racing even more now that you will be located in the hotbed of R/C?
JESSE: I will be working full-time designing, but will still attend the major races and hopefully plan to race more locally for testing and product development.

LRC: You have been working for HB from home in Ohio for a couple years. What will your new role be and how will it change?
JESSE: Basically I am transitioning into a design position fulltime as opposed to a racer fulltime. I will continue to race, but my primary job will be a designer.

LRC: Nearly everyone who works in R&D in the industry moves to Cali. What made you hold out so long in moving?
JESSE: Housing and living expenses are considerably higher in California than in Ohio, combined with trying to find an ideal place for R/C work at home and still close to work is very difficult. After paying rent and expenses in California, although salaries are higher, you are often losing money compared to salaries and expenses back in Ohio.

LRC: What are your thoughts on Josh Alton's leaving HotBodies? You two were always pretty close.
JESSE: There’s no connection between him leaving and me coming on full-time, that was just a coincidence. I was pretty bummed to hear about him leaving because we are good friends and work well together. He was always my pit man as well. I was looking forward to testing and developing with him. He was a big help to me in the past few years with not only racing but design stuff as well.

LRC: Shin Adachi just joined the HB team after leaving Kyosho, will he be working with you in R&D?
JESSE: Adachi is great guy, I look forward to racing and working with him, however I don’t honestly know where he will be located and what his major roles will be.

LRC: The CR8 looked flawless at CRCRC, will you and the entire team be running it at the Nitro Challenge?
JESSE: I will definitely be running the CR8, I really like the car. I don’t know for certain how many of the team drivers will be running the new car as many of them just received it and may need time to get comfortable and dial the car in just right for them.

LRC: Can you give us a little insight as to what might be in the works at Hot Bodies for 2012?
JESSE: We have some innovative new things in the works and finishing up some of them very soon.
LRC: We wish you the best on your new home and position at HotBodies, is there anything you’d like to add?
JESSE: Josh and I over the past year have really been working hard to develop the buggy and truggy, and I feel that we have improved the products greatly and am expecting some really good results this year racing. I am really looking forward to all the changes and getting started fulltime designing as well. A big thanks to Hot Bodies for this opportunity!