Matsukura back on top in FP6
In the sixth of the 10 rounds of practice on Day 1’s schedule of the 4WD Electric Buggy World Championship, it was Naoto Matsukura who returned to the top in terms of lap times. Having set the early pace before breaking an arm on his warm-up lap for FP4, the Yokomo driver posted his best lap of practice on his 6th run posting a time of 27.329 with Durango’s Ryan Lutz second fastest with a 27.442 and Ryan Cavalieri third. Declaring himself ‘pretty happy’ with his pace, Matsukura said he is still trying different things on his B-Max4 III and for his next run he will try a heavier shock oil in an attempt to improve how the buggy lands off the bigger jumps.
Behind Lutz, defending World Champion Cavalieri said he has started playing around with set-up changes having did little to his B44.2 in the opening two rounds. Running a lower rear wing mount due to the wind, he said he has reverted back to the standard mounting as he noticed little difference. Changing to a stiffer front spring for FP6 he said this had one of the biggest effects on the buggy making it ‘a lot easier to drive’. Chasing a fifth World title come Sunday evening, Cavalieri said he was pleased with how things are running so far.
Having suffered electric issues in FP3 & 4 which caused his car to stop on track, Jared Tebo said they have since made ‘positive swings’. The freshly crowned 2WD World Champion said he was ‘lacking some steering’ on his last run, with his prototype Kyosho too easy to drive but added that he is confident he can rectify this for his next outing. Compared with Matsukura’s 27.329 time Tebo could only manage a best lap of 27.914. Team-mate David Ronnefalk posted the 5th fastest time with a 27.599.
After changing diff oils on his HB D4-13, Ty Tessman was now working really well. Designer of the new car Torrance Deguzman joked that most of the improvement came from ‘feeding the driver’, a quick trip to Tessman’s favourite eating spot Panda Express required in the short time drivers have inbetween runs. For FP7 the US National Champion will try a swaybar change with Deguzman declaring himself as ‘quite happy’ with how things are running so far adding that things are ‘not as nerve racking’ as when the new buggy made its debut at the US Nationals here in August.
Finally officially unveiling their long over due replacement for the aging XXX-4 yesterday, it has not been the best of starts to the event for Team Losi Racing. Billy Fischer was credited with the fastest lap of FP5 with a 26-second lap but overall the team’s expected challengers, Dustin Evans, Darren Bloomfield and Dakotah Phend, have been running off the pace. Fischer said with such a new car its been a ‘crap shot’ for all the drivers in terms of finding a set-up. Working off a set-up recommended by Mike Truhe, which he said is proving to be a good base set, Fischer said he is still changing stuff each run with each team given a specific change to try so they can gather as much information as possible. For his next out he will try a harder spring on his Novak powered example of the TLR22-4. Evans said for FP7 he will try running Fischer’s set-up adding his car looked the best on track. The former Reedy Race winner said he is looking for more drivability. Bloomfield said changing the droop made his buggy much better that time with it much easier and faster to drive. With more changes he is confident he can make it even easier to drive but admitted he is a little concerned that it might be at the cost of speed.
Tamiya’s Lee Martin didn’t start the round after he got the jump section at the end of the straight, which the announcer is referring to as the quad, wrong. Missing his landing on the warm-up lap, ending up on the opposite side of the following hairpin, he broke his prototype TRF511.
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