Subdued start to 1:8 Offroad Worlds
Day 1 of the 1:8 Offroad World Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina, can be best described as a rather subdued affair with the timetable consisting of just one 15-minute round of practice. Lacking the air of excitement that is normally associated with the opening day of a Worlds, most drivers treated their single run as a systems check and to learn the track layout which has been reversed since teams attended the Warm-up race held at the end of September. For the first group of drivers to take to the track, HB’s Tyler Vik being one of them, it was nothing more than a cleaning exercise with the dust causing a rapid evacuation of the grandstand situated next to the drivers stand. The heavy dust was due to recent flooding of the track after a nearby river burst its banks and further rain yesterday which led organisers to spread wood shavings on a number sections to help dry the surface as much as possible in time for the 14:00 start time.
With the track improving with every run it was hard to get a true indication of pace but based on fastest lap times that honour fell to French Champion Jerome Aigoin who running in the top group took his Kyosho around the track in a best time of 43.738 followed by Kyosho team-mates Elliot Boots, 43.881, and David Ronnefalk, 44.320, who both ran in earlier groups. Boots & Ronnefalk both said they drove their respective MP9s as hard as they could to find the limits. Boots, who like Aigoin had never driven the track before today, said his Novarossi powered buggy felt good and his plan for the first of tomorrow’s three 10-minute free practice runs is to leave the set-up as is. Ronnefalk, who was Top Qualifier at the Worlds Warm-up race, was also pretty happy with his Orion powered example in the first outing and the Swede does not expect to make any major changes for the morning.
Defending World Champion Cody King, who ran a best lap of 44.637, said his focus for the opening practice was to get used to the track running in the opposite direction which he added he felt was a little easier than the clockwise direction of the Warm-up race. Trying a new set-up for the run, the 25-year-old said they would need to change it for tomorrow as it didn’t feel right. Asked if he felt any extra pressure being the reigning champion, King said he wasn’t thinking about defending his title or doing the double and his plan for the event was just to treat it like any other race.
Top Qualifier at the last World Championship 2-years ago in Thailand where he finished 3rd overall behind King and Atsushi Hara, Jared Tebo was pleased with the feeling off his MP9 in the first run. Getting over a crash early on the US ace said once he found his rhythm everything felt good although he said it took him about 10 minutes to get used to the track running in the opposite direction to the Warm-up race in which he finished second behind Batlle. Setting a best lap of 44.839, Tebo said he doesn’t plan to make any set-up change for his first run tomorrow.
Fastest non Kyosho driver on Day 1 was Warm-up Race winner Robert Batlle who used Mugen’s new MBX7 to set the fourth fastest time with a 44.414 lap of the track.
Elsewhere current US National Champion Ty Tessman had a shock pin come out in his run but said otherwise the run felt ok. The 19-year-old factory HB driver, who has been enjoying great form this year, said he found the track layout took a bit of getting used to. Asked about set-up he said he plans to leave his OS Speed powered D8-12 the same for the morning but added he expects the track to get quite rough with each round and that’s going to mean having to constantly adjust the buggy to suit. Team-mate and 2008 World Champion Atsushi Hara said his D8-12 felt good but he needed more track time to readjust his driving to offroad having finished runner up at the 1:10 Onroad World Championship two weeks ago.
A World’s podium finisher in 2008, 3-time former European Champion Renaud Savoya said he had too much rear brake on his RB powered Xray XB9 as well as running too soft a compound of tyre. The Frenchman who just missed out on a podium finish at the Warm-up race to Team Associated’s Ryan Cavalieri said he has a number of things including prototype parts and a longer chassis to try tomorrow which he is confident will make the buggy more suited to the track.
Current European Champion Darren Bloomfield, who didn’t contest the warm-up race, said his TLR 8ight was a little off. Trying a new set-up the British ace said he plans to revert back to his European Championship winning set-up for the morning and fine tune that over the other runs. Based on the track conditions for the opening run, team-mate Adam Drake decided to run an old engine and with a short supply of his regular race fuel also opted to use a different fuel for the first practice. Unfortunately this caused problems with the tuning and his 8ight flamed out five times during the run. 15-year-old factory TLR driver Dakotah Phend, who was running in group 7 of 12, said the track was really dusty but while it was hard to be sure due to the slippery conditions he thought the track had a better flow than the Warm-up. Working with David Spashett who is his mechanic for this event, Phend who has become a major contender in the offroad nitro scene in the US this season said he will change his suspension set up for tomorrow.
Over in the Associated camp Ryan Maifield, who ran in the seventh of the 12 Groups, said today was just about getting used to track which he described as not being as ‘gnarly’ as the Warm-up layout. Happy with his LRP powered RC8, the Arizona ace said he will start out Day 2 with the same set-up.
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