October 15, 2011

Aigoin successfully defends Arena Truggy title

Aigoin successfully defends Arena Truggy title

TLR are on target for a repeat clean sweep of the Arena Offroad Meeting with Yannick Aigoin successfully defending his truggy title at the indoor Rodeo ring in Voghera, Italy, this evening. Starting from pole, the Top Qualifier won the 45-minute encounter by a lap from Italian TLR driver Walter Floris who in the opening laps of the race managed to find a way passed the French driver.

After the race Aigoin said he was surprised by the pace of Floris who he said had found a lot of speed since qualifying.  A much harder race than he was expecting, he was delighted to defend his title with a TLR 1-2 and said he can now focus his attentions on buggy which he admitted is going to be a much bigger challenge to defend.

Walter Floris

Running a Novarossi powered 8ight T, Floris was delighted to finish second to Aigoin whom he described as ‘one of the best drivers in the world’.  Pulling a pass on the factory driver early in the race to take the lead the 27-year-old said it was a great feeling but he always knew Aigoin who eventually find his way back into the lead.

Julien Lattanzio

Mugen team driver Julien Lattanzio, who as a kid went to the same school as Aigoin, completed the podium but said it was a difficult race.  Starting from fourth on the grid, the former French National Buggy Champion said his Picco engine was down on power and despite giving 110% he couldn’t keep pace with the the two TLR drivers ahead of him. Finishing half a lap up on fourth place finisher Jon Howells, Lattanzio said he was very happy to come away with a podium on what is his first visit to the Arena.

Truggy Final – Result
1. Yannick Aigoin – TLR/nVision – 65/45:07.743
2. Walter Floris – TLR/Novarossi – 64/45:11.393
3. Julien Lattanzio – Mugen/Picco – 61/45:06.407
4. Jon Howells – Associated/RB – 61/45:26.933
5. Alberto Pacini – Mugen/Sirio – 59/45:46.505
6. Andrea Ubaldi – Serpent/EZ Power – 58/45:03.838
7. Rudi Traxler – Xray/RB – 58/45:30.612
8. Richy Ferraro – Mugen/Precirotate – 56/45:01.504
9. Luca Balzola – Mugen/Alpha – 55/44:44.140
10.Maurizio Tinnirello – TLR/Sirio – 47/35:22.693
11.Ryan Lee – TLR/Alpha – 47/45:08.954
12.Lloyd Pitt – Associated/RB – 43/35:36.709

View the event image gallery here.


October 15, 2011

New in the pits

Sweep Square Armor V2

Sweep Racing have shown us their new Square Armor V2 buggy tires. The new updated version of the tire features more material around the pin, changing the base of the pin from a sharp angle to a rounded edge. This new design helps extend the life of the pin especially on rough tracks. We’re told that the new tire is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

Mugen Radio Plate

Mugen have the final production version of their forward mounted radio plate, something that was seen in prototype form in the past. The new definitive design sees the battery mounted to the front of the car next to the steering and throttle servos for better car balance and will be included in an upcoming release of the MBX6. We also saw some other new parts in testing such as a new rear shock tower with extra upper arm mounts. We also hear the team is testing a new internal drive ratio but the team wouldn’t confirm or deny this.

Aigoin nVision

Truggy top qualifier Yannick Aigoin is testing a new nVision engine in his Losi 8ight-T. The new motor will feature a slight larger capacity which will give more torque, something that is needed for the heavier truggies. Adrien Bertin wouldn’t give any specific details apart from there being more testing required to make sure everything is perfect and that we can expect a release in February of next year.

Fast Race Mugen Radio plate

Fast Race have some new products for sale here at the Arena including a front radio tray conversion for the MBX-6. Similar in design to the soon to be released official Mugen version, it uses a slightly different material. The end result is the same with the car getting a slight balance change. Also new from Fast Race are some ‘Double effect’ aluminium shock pistons for the Losi 8ight, whose design gives a fast compression but a slower rebound, something beneficial on very bumpy tracks.

Tommy Garage conversion

Tommy Garage were out in effect during the brushless 1/8th buggy class with a large team running their Mugen brushless conversion kit. The set sees a completely new chassis plate as well as machined aluminium battery mount, combined steering servo & RX mount and machined servo saver lever, to accommodate the long steering linkage from the rearward mounted servo.

Bitty Design Force for JQ

Bitty Design have the first sample of their new Force shell for the JQ Products ‘THE Car’. The shell incorporates the same cab forward design as the others in the range as well as some other ‘improvements’ such as a small rear winglets before the rear wing. This prototype body shell will get some small updates before it is released in the next 2 to 3 weeks, with some extra space needed for around the throttle linkage and a slight angle change to the front window.

Durango DEX408

As we wrote yesterday on the news site the Durango DEX408 is being run in prototype form by Austrian driver Gerd Pfeifer. We are told the final production car uses a similar configuration to that seen in the photos with the exception of the battery pack mount which will see the batteries lying flat instead of on their side as in this version.

View all the new products in the event image gallery here.


October 15, 2011

Truggy Top Qualifier Aigoin on pole for main

Truggy Top Qualifier Aigoin on pole for main

Truggy Top Qualifier and defending champion Yannick Aigoin will start this evening’s 45-minute Main from pole position after he took an easy win in the first of the Semi finals this afternoon at the Arena Offroad Meeting in Voghera, Italy. The French ace lapped the entire field during the 20-minute encounter to take victory over fellow TLR 8ight T driver Maurizio Tinnirello and French Mugen team driver Julien Lattanzio. In the Semi B, Italian Walter Floris, also driving a TLR, took a convincing win from the Associated of Britain’s Jon Howells with Ryan Lee of event sponsor Sweep tires completing the top three which puts the Korean racer sixth on the grid.

Truggy Main Starting Grid
1. Yannick Aigoin – TLR/nVision
2. Walter Floris – TLR/Novarossi
3. Maurizio Tinnirello – TLR/Sirio
4. Julien Lattanzio – Mugen/Picco
5. Jon Howells – Associated/RB
6. Ryan Lee – TLR/Alpha
7. Andrea Ubaldi – Serpent/EZ Power
8. Alberto Pacini – Mugen/Sirio
9. Lloyd Pitt – Associated/RB
10.Richy Ferraro – Mugen/Precirotate
11.Rudi Traxler – Xray/RB
12.Luca Balzola – Mugen/Alpha

View the event image gallery here.


October 15, 2011

Rabitti takes Q4, Bloomfield Top Qualifier at Arena

Rabitti

TLR completed a clean sweep of buggy qualifying this morning with Riccardo Rabitti taking the fourth and final round of heats ahead of team-mates Darren Bloomfield, who set the pace in Q2 & 3, and Yannick Aigoin who TQ’d yesterday’s opening qualifier. Overall Bloomfield secures his second honour of being the Top Qualifier having dominated yesterday’s Brushless Buggy action.

Italian National Champion Rabitti, who set the fastest lap of qualifying in Q3 and was on a TQ run before losing 4-seconds with a mistake at the final corner of the last lap, ran his Picco powered 8ight exactly the same as last night focusing instead on driving an error free run and the approach paid off. The only member of the team running the prototype radio tray set-up that features the throttle servo moved to the front of the chassis, he said after this morning’s run he is feeling very confident for this evenings ‘Race of Champions’. Together with engine guru Alberto Picco, Rabitti has been working hard on maximising his run time and believes 11-minute stops are on the cards for tomorrow finals.

Darren Bloomfield

Bloomfield reported better grip levels over yesterday but trouble with traffic resulted in an error on lap 3 which cost him 3 seconds. Switching from Losi Kingpin to Blockhead tyres for the final round, the British Champion said he should have stuck with the Kingpin as these would have suit this morning’s condition better. Overall happy with his Nitrotec powered 8ight, Bloomfield will run the buggy as is in tonight’s stand alone ‘Race of Champions’ event saying it was far too early to predict how track conditions will be for tomorrow’s finals.

Aigoin

Completing a clean sweep of Truggy qualifying this morning with his fourth TQ run, reigning champion Aigoin said he was a little slow in the final buggy qualifier. Struggling a little with understeer in his nVision powered 8ight he said it was very hard to go fast and he will use the ‘Race of Champions’ to try a number of set-up changes in preparation for his title defence tomorrow.

Fourth fastest in Q4 and the best placed non TLR driver in the final qualification ranking Elliott Boots said his time was better than he thought. The talented British driver, who is out of a chassis contract and running a borrowed Kyosho MP9 here this weekend, said the track felt really slow and lost time with a couple of spins. Looking to improve the back end of the buggy, the RB team driver will, like Aigoin, use the Race of Champion to try some set-up ideas he has discussed with the buggy owner Mick Cradock.

Enjoying his best run of qualifying with the fifth fastest time in Q4, Italian TLR driver Alex Zanchettin completes the overall Top 6 splitting the Mugens of team drivers Simon Willets and Julien Lattanzio.

Rabitti takes Q4, Bloomfield Top Qualifier at Arena

In the F2 Buggy class, who ran two qualifiers this morning, British driver Ashlee Owen got the better of his Hobao team-mate & defending champion Jon Howells to secure the overall TQ honours.  The 19-year-old backed up his Q1 run by setting the pace in Q3 while Q4 went to Austrian Durango driver Gerd ‘RTR’ Pfeifer.

Overall Buggy Qualification – Top 16
1. Darren Bloomfield – TLR/Nitrotec – 400 pts
2. Yannick Aigoin – TLR/nVision – 398
3. Riccardo Rabitti – TLR/Picco – 397
4. Elliot Boots – Kyosho/RB – 394
5. Simon Willets – Mugen/Orion – 392
6. Alex Zanchettin – TLR/BP – 389
7. Julien Lattanzio – Mugen/Ninja – 388
8. Valerio Bellano – Xray/RB – 385
9. Federico Bellano – Crono/OS – 385
10.Eghlis Gallo – Mugen/OS – 385
11.Davide Rabitti – TLR/Picco – 383
12.Daniele Chicca – JQ/Precirotate – 381
13.Stefano Cantoni – Kyosho/Orion – 381
14.Alessandro Stocco – Hot Bodies/Alpha – 380
15.Riccardo Perin – Agama/Novarossi – 379
16.Andrea Giorgetti – Mugen/Novarossi – 377

View the event image gallery here.


October 14, 2011

First title of Arena 2011 goes to Bloomfield

First title of Arena 2011 goes to Bloomfield

Making his first appearance at the Arena Offroad Meeting TLR’s Darren Bloomfield has notched up the first title of the weekend at the Italian event with a dominant performance in the Brushless Buggy class.  Topping three of the five 7-minute qualifiers earlier in the day the British ace secured TQ honours ahead of fellow countryman Simon Willets and his Mugen and Italian Xray driver Valerio Bellano.

First title of Arena 2011 goes to Bloomfield

With the finals decided over three 10-minute legs the rest of the field were no match for Bloomfield and his LRP powered 8ight E.  Winning the opening leg from Willets by almost 13 seconds he secured the title previously held by team-mate Riccardo Rabitti, who is this year just focusing on nitro buggy, with a second win over the Mugen driver in Leg 2.  Despite sewing up the overall win Bloomfield ran the third leg which he duly went on to complete the perfect result. Having a poor third leg Willets took second with Bellano completing the podium.

The provisional overnight Top Qualifier in the premiere nitro Buggy class with one round of Buggy qualifying still to run, Bloomfield will be hoping to continue his form through the rest of the weekend at the Cowboy’s Guest Ranch in Voghera.

Brushless Buggy Overall Result
1. Darren Bloomfield – Losi/LRP – 2 pts
2. Simon Willets – Mugen/Orion – 4
3. Valerio Bellano – Xray/Mamba – 6
4. Walter Floris – Losi/Mamba – 8
5. Stefano Cantoni – Kyosho/Orion – 9
6. Stefano Rabitti – Losi/LRP – 9
7. Federico Sala – Losi/LRP – 10
8. Luca Passarini – Mugen/Hobbywing – 13
9. Alex Zanchettin – Hot Bodies/Tekin – 15

View the event image gallery here.