Free Practice complete at World Championships

Free practice for the 1:8 Offroad World Championships in Argentina has been completed with the fastest lap of the fourth & final practice run being set by Ryan Lutz who posted a 44.039 lap followed by Lee Martin who managed a 44.056 and Jerome Aigoin who did a best lap of 44.235. Lutz said his prototype Durango was much better in the final practice after he ran a longer wheel base and switched to AKA Moto tyre which he said absorbed the bumps much better. The American didn’t finish the full run as having changed Alpha engines he said the tuning was too lean and it eventually stopped with 2 minutes to go.  While timing for each of today’s three 10-minute runs where published the times count for little more than a guide for the drivers, most of whom were focused more on testing set-ups for later in the week rather than being top of the timing sheets.

Responsible for looking after World Champion Cody King & Jared Tebo, Kyosho/Orion USA team manager Joe Pillars was very happy with the performance of both his drivers in practice adding that they are just waiting for the track to come to them.  Pillars, who is also pit man for Tebo who was Top Qualifier at the last World Championships, said at the Warm-up race the MP9 was at its best when the track was really rough.  Preparing two cars for the event so as to save on ‘wrenching’ time Tebo ran his second car for the first time in the final free practice but Pillars said his driver preferred the set-up of the first chassis and will revert back for tomorrow’s controlled practice.  Having complained of a lack of rear traction Pillars said King was happier with his buggy now but they were still chasing set-up a little but added it was nothing major and everything should be fine for qualifying.  Jerome Aigoin has been very consistent for Kyosho the French champion having been at the top of the time sheets from the start of the event as have their European Young guns David Ronnefalk and Elliot Boots.

The big talk at end of the second day of the event was the high chance of rain with varying reports of when it will arrive and for how long it will continue but most teams and drivers say they will deal with it when it arrives and for the moment continue with their original plans.

Debuting their new MBX7 at the World Championship. Mugen team manager John Yves said he is ‘very very happy’ with how his entire team is doing as a whole with the new chassis.  Yves said he is a little surprised by the pace they already have and is particularly encouraged by how close all his team drivers are on pace to each other, something they struggled with with the MBX6 which would suit some drivers more than others on a certain track but this is not the case here with the new chassis.  Martin ended the day just 5/1000th of the fastest time in FP4 while Robert Batlle set the fourth fastest lap with a time of 44.305.  The Spaniard said his car overall felt good and is working towards a set-up that is comfortable to drive rather than outright fast as the track and the inconsistent conditions make the former a much safer option.

Posting the outright fastest lap of the event in the first practice of the day Ty Tessmann said traffic meant he didn’t do a very fast time in his last run managing a 44.719 but he said overall he is happy with where he is at at this stage of the event.  Planning to continue adjusting his set-up in the two controlled practice rounds tomorrow, which will be used to reseed the heat for qualifying, the US National Champion said he is still working on making his D8’12 more stable through the bumps.  Team-mate and former World Champion Atsushi Hara said while he doesn’t have the fastest car he said it is very consistent to drive.  Spending much of today working on engines using a different OS Speed every run along with working on clutch set-up he said he is looking for an engine that gives him a good controlled power delivery. FP4 was a good run for the other two members of the factory HB team with Teemu Leino and Shin Adachi both posting 44.7 second laps.

With their nitro ace Ryan Maifield setting the fastest lap in FP3, Associated team manager Brent Thielke said he was ‘overall happy’ with how the ‘concoction’ car they have come up with specifically for this event is working.  A very competent racer himself, Thielke said they just had to be patient with the track and trust the testing the did which included a lot of running between the Warm-up Race and the actual Worlds.  Instead the two Ryans, Maifield and Cavalieri, has used the track time ‘playing with’ new products from their respective sponsors.  In the case of Maifield he has been working on a number of different engine setting with Andy Kramer from LRP as well as trying different combinations of JConcepts new Metrix tyre working closely with company founder Jason Rouna. Reigning Electric Offroad World Champion Cavalieri has used his track time to try new products from Proline including a bodyshell.  Thielke said he was very happy with Yannick Aigoin’s performance adding this is the most confident he has seen the former European Champion drive since joining the team at the start of this year.  Neil Cragg’s first time to run the one-off special buggy he said the British ace tried a few things that would normally work for him back home with his regular RC8 but they didn’t have the same effect and he will revert back to the set-up he started out with yesterday.

In the TLR camp, team manager Kevin Gahan said they were happy with were they are at with the final practice being particular good for Adam Drake.  Trying a different set-up on their young charger Dakota Phend’s 8ight he said the 15-year-old didn’t improve his time as the changes took a little getting used to however in his final few laps he found his rhythm and is confident with the buggy.  European Champion Darren Bloomfield hasn’t had the pace he would like but Gahan said he was much happier with his final run and so they are positive about going into Day 3.

The lead driver at Team Xray Renaud Savoya said both he and his team-mates were very happy with how the XB9 ran today. The French ace said both Martin Bayer and Travis Amezcua have showed good pace and he feels confident with his own buggy although he did experience some engine problems in FP4.  Suffering two engine cut outs, the 2008 Worlds podium finishers said he thinks it is just the idle on his RB being set too low adding that on the track the temperature appears to be a lot cooler than when they set the idle in the warm-up area.

View our event image gallery here.

Maifield tops FP3

Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield produced the fastest lap of the third free practice taking his heavily modified RC8 around in a best time of 43.963 in what were overall slower conditions as the track becomes more rutted.  Running in Group 7 of 12, Maifield was the only driver to record a 43-second lap with Lee Martin, Ryan Lutz and Ty Tessmann closest on pace with 44.044, 44.058 and 44.137 fastest laps respectively.

Changing to a harder compound of JConcepts’ new Metrix tyre and fitted with a softer insert, Maifield said the combination was good and despite a few driver errors as he tried different lines the 10-minute run went well.  Planning to run the same tyre in the days third and final free practice this evening he is planning to make a few adjustments to his set-up to ‘keep up with the track’.  With more ruts developing he said he will tweak the geometry to make the buggy roll more to help it over the bumps.

Driving a new prototype Durango, Lutz said they are still trying a lot of new things.  While happy to set the third fastest lap of the round despite an insect attack during the run the American said the buggy lacks consistency.  While some of this was down to the driver he said they need to improve stability through the high speed corners.

Tessmann, whose fastest lap of 43.274 from this morning’s first run remains the quickest lap of the Buenos Aires track, used his second run of the day to back to back Proline’s new Diamond Back against the Blockade.  The 19-year-old said the Diamond Back, which was only named yesterday and doesnt yet have the name molded into the tyre, gave him an easier buggy to drive but the Blockade gave better forward bite.  Based on the testing of the two tyres, for FP4 the Canadian will run the Blockade but change to a different front spring on his D8-12 to try and get benefit of the extra traction but make the buggy a little easier to drive.

A man that impressed so many of his rivals yesterday with his maximum attack driving style, British National Champion Elliot Boots took his Kyosho to the fifth fastest time in FP2 with a 44.214 lap followed closely by Mugen’s Robert Batlle on a 44.228 and Associated’s Yannick Aigoin on a 44.288.

View our event image gallery here.