July 22, 2012

Day 1 of 1:12 Worlds just a formality for Matsukura

Team Yokomo’s Naoto Matsukura stamped his authority on the opening day of the 1:12 World Championships in the Netherlands, the reigning champion topping the time sheets in controlled practice with the only 39-lap run of the day.  Making today’s practice look like just a formality in his quest to securing a third consecutive World title, the closest challenger to the Japanese star was his Yokomo touring car team-mate Ronald Volker, while a strong final practice saw a big improvement from 2010 European Champion Juho Levänen who ended the day third fastest.

Setting the fastest run time and a new outright fastest lap of 12.202 in the first of the two controlled practices, Matsukura couldn’t improve on his pace in the final 8-minute run as a change of set-up left his Yokomo difficult to drive and lacking steering.  Suffering a number of heavy crashes, that left the front end of his bodyshell featuring a number of extra holes, he eventually pulled up just before the 7-minute mark.  Despite this, the 18-year-old said he is very confident for tomorrow’s qualifying as reverting back to his CP1 set-up will give him a car that is quick and which he is also comfortable with driving.

Volker, who backed up his 8:02.694 in CP1 with a 8:02.883 in CP2 said his LRP powered Associated R5 was a little more difficult to drive second time round after he tried a different tyre compound.  Feeling there is potential to better his current pace the German ace said it was a matter of finding the limit at which the car’s improved speed is out weighed by it becoming too difficult to drive and making the risk of crashing too high for any advantage to be gained.

Having made just small gradual set-up adjustments over the day factory Associated driver Levänen said his Reedy powered R5 got better every run.  The Finn, who was runner up at the 2008 Worlds, described the car as being decent in the last run but added he should be able to improve it further tomorrow.  Having sourced sets of the same JFT tyres that Matsukura and Volker have been using he hopes this will further help him to reduce the gap.

Ending the day fourth fastest, within his CP1 time, was Jilles Groskamp.  The Dutch ace said his Onpoint Racing chassis was better in CP2 after changes gave him more steering, but more difficult to drive, a mistake costing him almost 5-seconds meaning he failed to improve his overall pace.  Knocking over a 1/10th off his best lap time in CP2, he said he will leave his set-up unchanged for the opening qualifier and try instead to adjust his driving to the better cope with the extra steering.

Having not featured in free practice, new CRC signing Marc Rheinard found good form in the first controlled practice to break into the Top 10 for the first time with the 5th fastest time ahead of British National Champion Olly Jefferies who enjoyed a clean run in CP2.  Having started the day with a single cell speedo the former European Champion switch to a regular Speed Passion speedo for the controlled practice which he said was more to his liking. Running the new narrow chassis which CRC are debuting at the Worlds, the German said switching the battery position from running the length of the car to mounting it across the chassis made it more comfortable to drive.  Trying a harder tyre in CP2 he said it was the wrong direction to take as it made the car very twitchy and he will revert back to the compound he ran earlier. His first 1:12 race since the last Worlds 2-year-old ago in Germany, Rheinard said one of the most important things in qualifying is going to be getting in a clean error free run.

Having featured strongly in four rounds of free practice, reigning European Champion Simo Ahoniemi could only manage 11th in controlled practice just in front of Team Associated’s Rick Hohwart.  The CRC team driver said he tried different tyres in both controlled runs and the car was not nice to drive but the Finn is confident that by switching back to the tyre selection he used to top FP4 he should be at the sharp end of the times sheets for the opening qualifier.

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July 22, 2012

Matsukura tops free practice

Defending World Champion Naoto Matsukura has got his ambitions of winning a third consecutive 1:12 title off to an encouraging start by putting his Yokomo top of the free practice time sheets both in terms of outright lap time and total laps completed over 8-minutes.  Recording a fastest lap of 12.211 and 38-laps in 8:04.488 in the third of the four free practice rounds, the 18-year-old set the pace ahead of his Yokomo touring car team-mate Ronald Volker with Onpoint’s Jilles Groskamp and CRC’s Simo Ahoniemi the only other drivers to manage 38-laps of the indoor carpet track.

Matsukura was pleased to top the opening proceedings of this the 16th running of the 1:12 World Championships but in FP4, in which he was outpaced by Ahoniemi, he said the track changed to what he described as ‘loose carpet’ with his Reedy powered prototype R12 suffering from slight understeer.  Moving now into two rounds of controlled practice, which will bring day 1 of the event to a close, the Japanese ace will try a different set-up for the first of the runs which he said should give him the turn in he lacked in the final free practice.

Volker, who is running an Associated chassis fitted with LRP electronics, said his car was also better in FP3 when he too recorded his best time.  Although easy to drive in FP3 he said the car felt slow but trying a different compound of Jaco tyre in FP4 he said the earlier combination was better overall.  The former European Champion plans to use the controlled practice rounds, which will only be used to reseed major discrepancies in the current heat order, to try fine tune the compound & diameter of tyre he will use for tomorrow morning’s opening qualifier.

Having only had one day of practice prior to today with his 1:12 chassis sponsor Onpoint Racing, Groskamp was pleased with his early pace.  Having made quite big set-up changes for each run the Dutch ace said he has found a set-up that is easy to drive and now plans to use the controlled practices to find the best compromise between making the car faster at the cost of it being easy to drive.  Having not raced 1:12 since last year, Groskamp said that lack of mileage makes running a faster but less stable car that bit more difficult over the 8-minutes which he said is highlighted by Matsukura’s pace.  Runner-up at the last World Championships, he said he and everyone else are again racing for the second spot.

Ahoniemi said his CRC was at its best in FP3 but a number of driver errors meant that was not reflected in the timing as he set a 37-lap run.  Breaking into 38-laps in FP4, the reigning European Champion said the conditions were strange with the car sliding while still having good grip.  Happy he has a good base set-up for his regular CRC chassis, he will use use the controlled practices to decide on which CRC tyre he will use for the first of the 6 scheduled rounds of qualifying.

Factory Associated driver Rick Hohwart was fastest of the drivers on 37 lap runs which put him fifth overall at the end of free practice.  With his R5 feeling very loose in the opening practice, the American said they worked on the front end set-up and continuing in that direction they have been able to make the car faster every run and he now feels quite comfortable at the controls.  Team-mate and reigning US National Champion, who set the pace in the opening practice, end FP 11th fastest.  The Canadian said the car feels decent but is not exactly where he wants it and for the final two practice runs this evening he plans to revert back to the set-up he started the day with.

Running a prototype Corally chassis, Japanese driver Hideo Kitazawa completed the Top 6 as he set his fastest run in the final free practice.  Finding the track very different and more tricky than what he is used to running on back in Japan, he said he was now starting to find his rythm.  Responsible for R&D at Futaba, his car fitted with a Futaba speedo, Kitazawa was upbeat that he can improve his pace further in today’s remaining two practices.

Elsewhere British driver Chris Kerswell was quickest of the Serpent team drivers with the 8th fastest time with team-mate Marc Fisher completing the Top 10 just behind former European Champion Juho Levanen whose Associated ended the free practice in 9th.

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July 22, 2012

Matsukura confident of 3rd consecutive 1:12 title

Reigning 1:12 World Champion Naoto Matsukura says he is confident of securing a third consecutive title this week as the 16th running of the IFMAR 1:12 World Championships got underway in the sleepy Dutch town of Heemstede this morning.  Setting the fastest lap of the opening round of practice before contact with the boards resulted in a broken wheel bearing on his Yokomo, the young Japanese star is the pre-event favourite and should he pull off the feat will equal the achievement of legend of the sport Masami Hirosaka who had a run of success from 2000 to 2004.  David Spashett, who is a three time champion,  was the last non Japanese World Champion winning the last of his three World titles back in 2006.

Based on a track originally created for the r/c racing simulator VRC and then made a reality by the game’s founder Pieter Bervoets, who has done a superb job in presenting a track worthy of hosting the sports most important race, the feedback from the majority of drivers after the first 8-minute practice was very positive.

Setting the fastest pace of the full 8-minutes of that opening run of four scheduled rounds of free practice was reigning US Champion Keven Hebert who completed 37 laps. Describing the track as one of the best he has ever raced on, the factory Associated driver said his R5 felt really good and it was a very positive start to the event.  Finishing 9th at the last Worlds in Burgdorf, Germany, the Canadian said the traction in the opening practice was quite good and based on how much it came up after just one round of heats he thinks it should mean a high traction event which will suit his driving as that is what he is used to racing on in the US.

Behind Hebert was reigning European Champion Simo Ahoniemi who was the only other driver to complete 37 laps.  The Finnish driver said his car felt pretty good and he will leave it as is for his second practice as this should be a better indication of how the track will be for the rest of the event.  A team driver for CRC, who have come to the event with an all new and very impressive looking narrow chassis, Ahoniemi ran the regular chassis from the American manufacturer saying he didn’t want to risk changing from something he knows well and is comfortable driving but added if the other members of the team quickly find a set-up with the new car he may try it in a later practice run.

CRC have a large team here in the Netherlands including two new high profile signings for the event in Marc Rheinard and Andy Moore.  With 2008 podium finisher Hupo Honigl missing the event due to offroad commitments and Jilles Groskamp switching to Onpoint the way was opened for reigning Touring Car World Champion Rheinard and the 2006 Champion Moore to join the team as neither Tamiya or HB make a 1:12 car.  Rheinard’s last 1:12 outing was the last World Championships 2-years ago in Germany while Moore ran the class at last years IIC which after the worlds is probably the biggest 1:12 race there is.  Both are former 1:12 European Champions but didn’t have great opening runs this morning. Running the new narrow chassis Rheinard had a troubled run as his car kept shutting down due to a suspected receiver problem while Moore who is running the standard car said he could could feel his lack of 1:12 running in his driving.

Making his debut for Onpoint Racing, 2010 Worlds Runner-up Jilles Groskamp tried two different chassis in the opening practice and having been over a year since he raced 1:12 was happy with his early pace especially when compared to Matsukura’s lap times.  This is very much a home event for Groskamp as he grew up in the area and worked for a number of years at the events title sponsor MyLaps who are based just down the road. Now based in Thailand, Groskamp is one of the sponsors of RedRC’s coverage with his new venture JG Racing which will shortly release a range of products aimed at the pro racer.

Owned by Paul Ciccarello, this is the Worlds debut for Onpoint racing and for Paul himself who is a very capable 1:12 driver having finished on a the podium at the US Nationals earlier this year.  Also on the team is 1:12 specialist Marcus Mobers who has been responsible for much of the design work on the Associated R5 derived chassis.

Setting the third fastest 8-minute run was Ronald Volker. The star of Yokomo’s touring car squad, unlike Matsukura the German doesn’t run a Yokomo in 1:12 but an Associated chassis.  The Euro Touring Series Champion, who was Top Qualifier at last year’s 1:12 European Championship said the reason for running the Associated is nothing more than than that this was the car he ran before signing to Yokomo and Japanese company have been happy to allow him to continue to run it.  Just driving the car with his famed mechanic Umino Yukijiro and LRP’s Reto Konig preparing the car, something he said based on his last 1:12 outing at the IIC in Las Vegas is probably for the best, he was happy with how the opening practice went with the car particularly good in the second half of the run.

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June 10, 2012

Pietsch & Wischnewski win at Hockenheimring

Pre-event favourites Robert Pietsch and Dirk Wischnewski claim victory at the European Nitro Challenge in Germany but had to work hard for the success in their respective finals in which the Top 2 where separated by less then 4 seconds after 45-minutes of hard racing at the Hockenheimring track.  Top Qualifier in 1:8, Pietsch took his Mugen to a 3.45-secs win over Alberto Picco with Oliver Mack third while in the 1:10 Touring Cars Wischnewski, who started second, had a 3.93-secs winning margin over Mark Green with Daniele Ielasi completing the podium.

The first of the two main finals saw some confusion among the drivers, after the race started, when the timing screens showed the race distance as 45 minutes and not the 40 as published on the timetable.  Apparently the change to 45-minutes was made last night after it was realised that this was what was printed in the information given for the race but with no updated schedule printed all the drivers made preparation for 40-minutes.  Wischnewski said after the 10-minute lunch time practice session for the Top 4 qualifiers that he based all his calculations on the race being 40-minutes, but in the end extra 5-minutes didn’t effect his race too much as tyre wear today turned out to be a lot less than yesterday.  Having had overnight rain on the previous two days of the event, which washed away any build up of traction, Saturday night stayed dry making for much improved track conditions in the finals.

Starting from pole position and making his race debut for Capricorn, Eric Dankel looked to be well in control of proceedings but as the race reached 3/4 way distance his Novarossi flamed out coming off the end of the main straight.  Firing up immediately when they got the car back to the pits, the German said it was very unusual as normally a flame out results in a broken plug and the tank still had plenty of fuel as he only pitted 2-minutes earlier.  Scheduled to run more stops than Wischnewski, who was stopping every 5-minutes compared with his 4:30, Dankel said even with this he believes he would have still taken the win by around 2 seconds.  Disappointed, he said he had to look at the positives of his first nitro race of the season as he showed both he and the Capricorn are competitive.

Having TQ’d last year but suffered similar faith to Dankel when he his engine dropped a glow plug, Wischnewsk said this year his Orcan engine worked perfectly and he was very happy to take the win. Collecting the car of outgoing champion Patrick Schafer when the Shepherd boss flipped his Velox V10 coming onto the start, the 2009 European Champion said his Xray NT1 felt tweaked and so it was a difficult race.

Finding himself last after the opening lap Ielasi was very happy to recover to finish on the podium.  The Italian said he wanted to make a clean start from 4th on the grid but said some of the drivers had other ideas. Getting ‘knocked’ around on lap one the contact caused his brake linkage to come undone leaving him to run the race without brakes.  In this World Championship year, the 2008 Champion said he was very happy with the performance of the Velox V10 which he said they have improved considerably in the last 12 months.

Making his international race debut with Serpent’s new 747 chassis, Green came very close to taking the win.  The former Worlds finalist took the lead of the race when Dankel flamed out but suffered an unusual incident of his own at also the same spot.  On lap 116 having come off the straight his car came to a stop and he thought he ran out of fuel but throttling the car it started to move again.  Making his way to the pits to have the car checked over everything was OK and he rejoined the race. Losing about 6 seconds, the British ace believes something must have got caught in the drive train.  Overall Green was delighted with the performance of the new car saying he never saw such large diameter tyres on a 200m car at the start of the race but it did not hamper the performance in any way as highlighted by him recording the fastest lap of the race.  Having expected to see tyre changes during the race in the end none of the 10 drivers did so.

In 1:8, where drivers did not have the same confusion over the length of the race, Pietsch admitted afterwards that taking the win was a lot tougher than he was expecting.  Having predicted after qualifying that Picco would be the biggest treat, the Italian kept the pressure on the German right until the final pit stop.  Running one more stop, Pietsch swapped the lead with Picco on a number of occasions and it was only when Pietsch made his final and extra stop, coming out ahead of Picco, that he knew he had the win.  Having suffered a plug failure last year the Mugen designer was happy to have a problem free race.

His first time at the European Nitro Challenge Picco appeared a little disappointed after the race saying he lost the race at the beginning.  Starting from 3rd on the grid on lap 3 he flipped his Picco Torque powered Mugen upside down after making contact with the rear of another car and needed marshalling losing him 7 seconds.  One of the greats of 1:8 Onroad racing, he joked that it is for this reason that he keeps telling his pitman & brother Edoardo he must take up tennis so he will be faster in future!  Very happy with the performance of his self modified MRX 4.5, which set the second fastest lap of the race, he said following his tyre stop the car was a little more difficult to drive than usual and took about three minutes to come in.

Factory Shepherd/Picco driver Mack was happy to be on the podium but at the same time disappointed after having been able to run with Piestch in the opening stages of the race.  The German said ultimately three big mistakes of his own doing cost him any chance of victory.  Suffering with his engine going rich during the race he eventually finished 4 laps down.  For outgoing champion Michael Salven two plug failures resulted in retirement with 1:30 to go.  The Serpent designer, who was holding third at one stage, said his 966 had a lot more steering than he normally runs and this caused him to make too many mistakes.

In the Hobby Cup classes the Top Qualifiers both took dominant victories with Bernd Hasselbring taking his Xray to victory over Alex Kempe in the Touring Car class while Jurgen Bahr also enjoyed a 3-lap winning margin in 1:8 ahead of Dutch racer Pili Luigi.

Created by Shepherd but attracting backing from fellow chassis manufacturers Serpent, Mugen &  Motonica, engine companies Picco & Sonic along with LRP and Matrix tyres the second running of the European Nitro Challenge has been a huge success and the feedback from competitors is that the event will be even bigger and better next year.  This is a positive for onroad nitro racing which is in need of a boost. Red RC’s first time at the event we are already very much looking forward to coming back to bring you coverage of the 2013 European Nitro Challenge.

1:8 Final Result
1.(1) Robert Pietsch – Mugen/Novarossi – 148/45:10.32
2.(3) Alberto Picco – Mugen/Picco – 148/45:13.77
3.(2) Oliver Mack – Shepherd/Picco – 144/45:15.33
4.(6) Andreas Giesa – Serpent/Xceed – 142/45:15.46
5.(9) Nicolai Bahr – Mugen/OS – 140/45:18.92
6.(4) Lars Hoppe – Shepherd/Novarossi – 139/45:17.43
7.(7) Michael Salven – Serpent/Xceed – 132/43:33.00
8.(5) Merlin Depta – Serpent/Novarossi – 130/43:47.49
9.(10)Thilo-Alexander Todtmann – Mugen/RB – 121/45:20.16
10.(8)Toni Gruber – Serpent/Xceed – 114/45:08.75

1:10 Touring Car Final Result
1.(2) Dirk Wischnewski – Xray/Orcan – 130/45:05.66
2.(3) Mark Green – Serpent/Novarossi – 130/45:09.59
3.(4) Daniele Ielasi – Shepherd/Sonic – 129/45:09:00
4.(7) Mikael Fransson – Serpent/Orcan – 128/45:00.00
5.(1) Eric Dankel – Capricorn/Novarossi – 128/45:14.52
6.(10)Andreas Weyhoven – Xray/LRP – 125/45:22.62
7.(6) Patrick Nahr – Shepherd/Sonic – 124/45:10.30
8.(9) Sebastian Kunz – Shepherd/Sonic – 121/45:11.15
9.(5) Rene Pupke – Serpent/Xceed – 110/39:21.71
10.(8)Patrick Schäfer – Shepherd/Sonic – 76/29:05.20

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June 10, 2012

Defending 1:8 Champion Salven bumps up from Semi Finals

Defending European Nitro Challenge Champion Michael Salven has made it through from the Semis with ‘Mr Serpent’ set to line-up 7th on the grid.  Running in the second of the 20-minute finals Salven finished second to fellow 966 driver Merlin Depta who started from pole position in what was to be the fastest winning time of the Semis securing him 5th on the grid, the same position he was at at the end of yesterday’s three rounds of qualifying.

A good afternoon for Serpent, current 40+ European Champion Andreas Giesa won the first of the Semis ahead of Toni Gruber meaning four 966 chassis will line up on the grid.  Unfortunately for factory Shepherd driver Marco Muller an engine failure while leading the Semi B means the Swiss Champion will play no further part in event. Making the grid due to their race times Mugen driver Nicolai Bahr starts 9th having come from the Semi A while fellow MRX5 driver Thilo Todtman bumps up from the Semi B to complete the grid for this evenings Main final.

Grid for 1:8 Main Final
1. Robert Pietsch – Mugen/Novarossi
2. Oliver Mack – Shepherd/Picco
3. Alberto Picco – Mugen/Picco
4. Lars Hoppe – Shepherd/Novarossi
5. Merlin Depta – Serpent/Novarossi
6. Andreas Giesa – Serpent/Xceed
7. Michael Salven – Serpent/Xceed
8. Toni Gruber – Serpent/Xceed
9. Nicolai Bahr – Mugen/OS
10.Thilo-Alexander Todtmann – Mugen/RB

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