February 17, 2024

Chassis Focus – Ronald Volker (Mugen Seiki)

Chassis – Mugen Seiki MTC2R
ESC – LRP FlowX
Motor – LRP x22 5.5T
Battery – LRP Graphene 4.1 4200mah
Tires (handout) – Rush 30
Radio/Servo – FlySky Noble Pro / Highest Prototype
Body – Xtreme Twister

Notes
Having last featured Ronald’s MTC2R in a Chassis Focus at the Foshan Invitation RC Championship in China just before Christmas, he was keen to highlight three differences on his car here in Hrotovice.  The first of these is a new LRP Flow X Aluminium LCG ESC Upper Plate.  Suitable when racing in classes that don’t need an ESC fan, racing here on carpet is the perfect opportunity to run it as it offers a weight saving over the traditional set-up.  It will be released by LRP shortly.  Another change is the use of a prototype servo from Highest RC.  Describing it as having a ‘different look’ he is not sure if this will be retain when it goes into production as a replacement for the BLP650.  One advantage of the servo on the MTC2R is that it gives him more space for a motor fan and receiver.  Announced as a team driver FlySky at the end of 2023, he is now using their new FGr4D receiver.

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February 17, 2024

Widmaier & Bayer take opening MIBO qualifiers

Sworkz RC’s Micha Widmaier and Xray’s Martin Bayer have taken the opening round of offroad qualifying at MIBO International.  In 2WD Widmaier took the TQ ahead of Bayer by less than 2/10ths while Bayer got the better of Schumacher’s Daniel Kobbevik to TQ the first 4WD encounter by 7/10th of a second.  Having opened Day 2 of the event by topping seeding in both 2WD and 4WD, mistakes on both of his opening qualifying runs would see Bartosz Zalewski end up third fastest in both categories.

Reacting to his TQ run, Widmaier said, ‘So far so good.  I just tried to do a clean run and not take too much risks as I knew Zalewski was faster in outright speed’.  The German, who along with team-mate Joern Neumann is making his debut at this the second edition of MIBO International, said for Q2 he will make some changes to get a bit more steering to try to obtain more corner speed.  That said he emphasised that a clean run was key but added ‘a clean run is not so easy here’.

Pleased with his 4WD TQ, Bayer felt he might have been able to better Widmaier’s 2WD time if he had known it was so close.  ‘I didn’t know where I was and was on my own on the track and if I knew I was only 2/10th off Micha maybe I could have pushed harder at the end’.  Describing both his cars as ‘very good’ he said his Q1 performance in both classes was ‘a very good start’ adding ‘the speed is there’.

Second to Bayer in 4WD, Kobbevik said he had ‘a clean run with no mistakes’ but as a result of the clean run he feels there is more speed to be got from his buggy.  The Norwegian said, ‘I will change the car for sure as there is more speed in it.  I will make it more aggressive and give it more steering’.  Setting the fourth fastest time in 2WD,  he said ‘it was pushing like never before so I go will also change the set-up to make it more aggressive too.’

Asked about his start to qualifying Zalewski said in 2WD his ‘car was good but I made a stupid mistake’.  The 17-year-old added he had ‘bad luck’ when he crashed as the marshal could see his buggy and he lost 6-seconds.   Describing the car as ‘really fast’ he said he just needs to improve his driving for the next one.  Also suffering a ‘stupid mistake’ in 4WD, he said a change to his XB4 after seeding had made the car harder work to go fast, ‘I had to push to get fast laps like Martin (Bayer) and Daniel (Kobbevik) so we will go back to the set-up we had before’.

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February 17, 2024

Orlowski from Volker in Q1 at MIBO International

Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski has kicked off qualifying at MIBO International with a TQ run in Modified Touring Car ahead of Mugen Seiki’s Ronald Volker.  Making his debut at the Czech race, the very much on foam multiple discipline racer survived an up on two wheels moment to top the 5-minute qualifier by 1.8-seconds ahead of the defending Champion.  Following up on his pace in practice, Pekko Iivonen completed the Top 3 while Patrick Gollner lead the charge from Xray with four fastest time ahead of team-mates Jan Ratheirsky and Martin Hudy.

Summing up his TQ run, Orlowski said, ‘It was good but I was a little nervous for the start but I mixed my sets of tyres after the problem with my first set and I wasn’t sure how the balance left to right was going to be.  I made quite a few laps in the warm-up to break them in and from the first lap it was very good’.   He continued, ‘the track is still developing and we know there is a faster option for us with tyre additive but the problem is that additive picks up dirt and offline this track is quite dirty.  One it gets dirty it’s on for the run.  It would for sure be faster but the other additive is safe so we need to see.  I will work with Pekko on making a decision’.

‘I made the car a little too easy but I wanted to learn from my mistakes from the last two races’, was how Volker summed up his opening qualifier.  He explained, having had bad opening qualifiers at GP3F and ETS Daun that put him on the back foot, he wanted to bank a good solid start and that was why he made his MTC-2R safe here after seeding practice.  He added while you are always trying to adapt to the track conditions for Q2 he will not change a lot but the set-up will still be different and from his side he will ‘attack more to close it (the gap to Orlowski) down.’

Asked about his first qualifier, Iivonen said, ‘I tried a different additive and I have too much grip, so to get third is a good finish’.  Planning another additive change for Q2, the Finnish Champion said this should give more corner entry steering which he was missing in Q1.   Describing his Q1 performance as a clean run he added ‘I’m am quite happy with that. Maybe once I touched the curb bit otherwise it was a good run.’

Gollner said while he had a good finish to the first of the five scheduled qualifiers, things were a little difficult for the first 2-minutes.  Changing to a different set of tyre with just one previous run, he said they still were not fully broken in.  In the second half of the run he was able to catch back some of the time lost catching cars ahead of him.  Feeling another factory to his early struggles was that he not working the rear tyre enough and so for his second attempt, 3 of 5 to count, he will make a set-up change to make the car more aggressive in the rear and get heat into the tyres so they work quicker.

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February 17, 2024

Zalewski on top as practice concludes at MIBO – Update

With two rounds of seeding concluding practice at the second edition of MIBO International in the Czech Republic this morning, it was Xray young gun Bartosz Zalewski who set the pace in both 2WD and 4WD.  Fastest over yesterday’s five rounds of free practice in 2WD, this morning the Polish driver up his pace in 4WD to go ahead of his own team-manager Martin Bayer with Schumacher’s Daniel Kobbevik completing the Top 3 as he had in 2WD.  In 2WD it was Micha Widaier who was second fastest, like many of the leading entries at this year’s event, the German is running a number of new parts on the car.  With Kobbevik P3, Team Associated’s Joona Haatanen made it four different manufacturers in the Top 4.

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February 17, 2024

Orlowski top seed at MIBO International

Michal Orlowski is the top seed in Modified Touring Car at MIBO International, the Schumacher driver topping the times by just 0.002 of a second from reigning Champion Ronald Volker.  With two rounds of seeding practice this morning, it was Volker who was fastest after the first but on the second both improved to set almost identical times over 3-consecutive laps,  a larger 2/1oths of a second improvement from Orlowski meaning he will lead off the first of the 5 rounds of qualifying.  Behind, it was the Xray of Jan Ratheisky who completed the Top 3 ahead of the Schumacher of Pekko Iivonen, Xray of  Patrick Gollner and Yokomo of Christopker Krapp.

Racing a prototype of Schumacher’s up coming new electric touring car platform, Orlowski summed up his morning as ‘OK’ explaining he was still trying to figure out his tyre situation.  Having broke in a set he was very happy with yesterday on inspection he spotted  ‘a little tear’ on one of the tyres and so opted to change to a new set.  Not happy with how that set felt, another set for the second timed practice proved better.  In terms of his car, the Pole said, ‘the car is good as always’.  The same car which he used to win the recent ETS Daun, he added, ‘I am running a similar set-up to what I normally use’.

‘I had a good 5-minute run which is the important thing so I am confident for Q1’, was how Volker summed up seeding adding, ‘to be only .002 behind Michal is not so bad’.  Asked about changes to his Mugen Seiki MTC-2R, the German said, ‘I will make a minor change to make the car slightly more easy and hope I can have a good clean run’.   On today’s track conditions, drivers running 5 rounds of free practice yesterday evening, Volker described them as being ‘more consistent today’.

Ratheisky was pleased with a combination of changes he made to his X4 for the final practice.  Going from 2 to 3.5 degrees toe, 4.0 to 4.6 droop and 2.7 to 2.6 Springs, the German said the car is now safer in the rear meaning if he over pushes his driving he doesn’t lose the rear.  For Q1 he plans one more change making the timing of his additive the same both front and rear having previously gone shorter on the rears.  Asked about the track he replied, ‘I love it.  It’s a really nice track, not too open and not too technical’.

Having made ‘a couple of changes’ this morning, Iivonen is pleased where his Schumacher is now at.  Fitting a new set of the Rush 30 shore handout tyres today, the Finnish National Champion said, ‘straight away they felt quite good’.  He continued, ‘My 5-minute pace looks super good.  The car is super easy to drive’.  Looking to Q1, the Finn said the only issue was that the ‘track is super dirty off the line’ but planning to keep on the clean racing line he is confident of a strong opening to qualifying, drivers count the best 3 of 5 to determine their starting position.

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February 16, 2024

Volker tops MIBO practice while Xray leads Offroad

The second edition of MIBO International got underway at 17:00 this evening in the Czech Republic with Mugen Seiki’s Ronald Volker setting the pace on the onroad track as Xray led the charge on the offroad track.  Packing in 5 rounds of practice before drivers retired to the Sports V Hotel’s bar and restaurant to socialise & discuss a plan of attack for the rest of the event, defending Champion Volker set the fastest 3-consecutive laps ahead of Schumacher pairing Michal Orlowski and Pekko Iivonen.  On the track layout, which is getting a very favourable reaction from drivers, it was the Xray of Patrick Gollner that was fourth fastest ahead of Jan Ratheisky and the factory Yokomo of Christopher Krapp.  Over on the offroad half of the hall, in 2WD Buggy it was the star of last year’s inaugural event Bartosz Zalewski who set the pace from his car’s design Martin Bayer followed by a gaggle of MIBO International race debutants that included Schumacher’s Daniel Kobbevik, Sworkz’ Jörn Neumann, Team Associated’s Joona Haatanen and Sworkz’s Micha Widmaier.  Former European Champion Bayer was fastest in 4WD followed by veteran Hupo Honigl completing the Top 3 ahead of Haatanen and Zalewski.

Summing up his practice, Volker said, ‘It is great to be back at this familiar facility.  Michal Bok and the crew always put together a well organised event’. The former World Champion continued, ‘there is a really nice flow to the layout this year.  The grip today is still low put improving every run so we will see how the conditions come up tomorrow’. Running a slightly harder Rush 30 shore tyre this year, Volker said, ‘In general this is one of my favourite tyres.  With one or two runs they are good to go and then they last’.

Originally entered to race on both tracks, Orlowski explained, ‘The plan was to do touring car and buggy with two mechanics so we would each have a car to work on but they had other commitments and couldn’t come so I opted to go with the touring car as I am really racing that at the moment’.  While his first time attending MIBO International he said, ‘it is nice to be back here.  I have spent a lot of my early years racing here doing the Mibosport Series as well as ETS and EOS race Bok hosted’.  He continued, ‘The layout is very nice, it has a good flow.  The curbs are quite aggressive so you have to stay away from them and while the grip is still coming up there is a very narrow racing line’.  For Schumacher team-mate Iivonen it is his first time here and the 21-year-old likes the track layout a lot.  Described the curbs as being the same as what he used to back home in Finland adding he is having ‘no issues avoiding them’.

Describing the event as having ‘a great atmosphere’, Gollner said his X4 was working pretty good and he was running nothing different to his ETS Daun set-up, instead waiting for the traction here to come up.  Another fan of the layout, the Austrian said, ‘it’s a really good track, it has a nice flow and I think it will make for good finals as it’s got some good spots for overtaking’.

Making four different manufacturers in Top 6, having had a challenging weekend last year Krapp said, ‘I like the track better this year, it’s more flowing’.  Not wanting to build up expectations that this would automatically mean a better result, he explained, ‘we have many new parts again this year so I am more focused on the car than my driving.  This time of the year is part of the Yokomo cycle as we develop towards our new car so this is a great opportunity to test new parts with high competition like Michal and Ronald.’

Summing up his practice runs Zalewski, who last year was the double runner-up behind Bruno Coelho, said, ‘both his cars felt good’ and maybe he needs to focus on being ‘more consistent and smooth’.  The Polish teenager added, ‘Over one lap the cars are really good but I am not consistent over 5-minutes so maybe I need to adjust my driving style to be more consistent’.  Asked about the track layout he said, ‘It is similar layout to before but there is low grip’.

Flying to Warsaw, but six hours later than scheduled after he missed is connection from Norway, and hooking up with Haatanen where Orlowski then picked them up in his father’s car given they need the extra space for the 6-hour round trip to Hrotovice, Kobbevik said his cars were good at the beginning and he has just adjusted them as the grip comes up.  He is confident he will have a good package for tomorrow on the track’s ‘fun layout’.  Asked which of his buggies need more improvement, he replied that both his 2WD or 4WD ‘feel very good’.

Asked how the first half day of the 2 and half day event had gone for him, Haatanen replied, ‘it’s really busy running 2WD and 4WD so I am not sure what I have changed on the cars over the day but hopefully I have a set-up for tomorrow’.  The Finn, who just recently completed his mandatory military service allowing him to make a racing comeback, added, ‘It is a pretty nice track but its less grippy than EOS so its a bit more challenging’.

In the Sworkz pits, both Neumann and Widmaier felt the track was ‘a tighter layout to normal tracks we race on’ calling it ‘fun to drive but difficult’. Neumann said the track required you to get both your driving right and the car which needs a lot of steering.  Widmaier said, ‘It’s not so easy.  Everything is tight so it is very easy to make a mistake so I think the key point is going to be getting as clean a 5-minutes as possible.’

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