Chassis Focus – Ryan Cavalieri (Sparko)
Chassis – Sparko F8
Engine – Nova Engines B3R Evo
Fuel – TNR
Tires – TZO
Radio/Servo – Sanwa M17 / Savox SB-2290 SG
Body – JConcepts
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Welcome to my World (Quali Day 1) – Marcus Kaerup
After 8 rounds of practice over 3 days with the emphasis being on 3-laps, the time finally arrived for racing proper to start with 3 rounds of qualifying making up Wednesday’s schedule. Placed in Group 13 of 15 after Tuesday’s seeding, Ruddog Racing’s Marcus Kaerup kicked of the first of the 6 rounds of qualifying with 9th place just behind Dakotah Phend. Bigger mistakes in his second effort however meant he stopped the clock in the 15th fastest time but the 16-year would go on to closing out the day with a 12th for the third round. With his Ruddog RNX22.3 powered Associated RC8B4.1 doing what he wants it to do, the big take away from the day for this Danish talent is the need to tidy up his driving and charge his headset!
‘We started out great with a pretty decent qualifying in the first round, 9th with some mistake so it could have been a lot better. Second qualifying I was pretty confident going into it after the first one but once again a stupid mistake, also on the last lap, so two mistakes and that was pretty annoying with still 15th for the round. In the last one the car felt really good but coming up to the left on the 180 on right side I hit the pipe and rolled over, so a stupid mistake again and I needed to be marshalled’. Asked about his mistakes and if it was from the pressure of the occasion or just his determination to prove a point, he said, ‘it is just over doing it, clipping a pipe or shorting a jump, just basic things that are not supposed to happen’.
Asked about his car he said, ‘I haven’t been doing much to the car really, no changes, I am really just checking screws after each run to make sure they are tight’. On track conditions Marcus said, ‘It has been pretty consistent, for sure the last heat had the most grip of the day’. Looking to Day 2’s qualifying action, three more rounds on the cards around the challenging RC Redovan track, he said, ‘We will probably just change tyre component for the different times of the day but I think the car is good so we don’t need to change it’. Asking his stand in pit man Brent Thielke how his driver was doing, the Team Associated Team Manager said, ‘he needs to remember to charge his headset’. The American having to revert to good old shouting up at his driver as a form of communication for Q3 due to a dead headset.
Welcome to my World (Practice) – Marcus Kaerup
At 16-years of age he is already a double European Champion and 12-months ago on his World Championship debut he made both the 2WD and 4WD finals in Arizona but that’s in 1:10 electric. This week however Marcus Kaerup is in Spain for the larger and noisier IFMAR 1:8 Offroad World Championship, the power and noise for the Dane’s efforts coming his Ruddog RNX22.3 engine, the German brand also supporting Red RC’s coverage from the event. In the first of our daily columns following his progress at the spectacular sloping RC Redovan track, we caught up with Marcus to get a quick round up of how the first 3-days of practice has faired for him in his ‘second class’.
Not Marcus’ first rodeo on the biggest 1:8 Buggy stage in the World, having raced at the exact same location 2-years ago, he still classifies himself as a bit of a 1:8 newbie. Racing since he was just 3-years-old, that very early start was most likely influenced by his dad Jonas being a former 1:10 Electric Touring Car Champion. While having a very impressive CV in 1:10 Offroad, Marcus explains that while he ‘drives some nitro here & there’, he doesn’t get the time for much nitro testing and so he is ‘pretty new’ to the class. Still, he competes here in Spain as the recently crowned Danish National Champion and he comes here with strong ambitions, ‘if you don’t go for win why even show up. I have set myself a pretty high goal.’ Asked what he thinks of his playground for the week, he said ‘It’s an amazing track, really challenging for everyone, even the top guys from the US and Europe are struggling with 10-minutes or 5-minutes without crashing.’
While he normally races with his father by his side, work commitments meaning that’s not the case here, but one could say his ‘stand in’ pitman isn’t too shabby. That pitman is none other than Team Associated team manager Brent Thielke. Brent has vast experience of working with young up & coming talents and has been a big contributor to AE’s ever increasing tally of 32 World Championship wins.
38th in Monday’s free practice and 25th in Tuesday’s seeding Marcus finished out practice in positive form. ‘The last seeding run was pretty good for me. We are just working and working and working and now I think I have found something I want to drive with for the rest of the event’. Explaining what he had found he said, ‘Overall pace and comfort in the car, I found that now so I just need to drive it now instead of focusing on one lap’. Looking to qualifying he added, ‘I think for the qualifying it’s going to be better for me because you focus on the long run and not on every single lap you do, for me its more comfortable driving.’
We will catch up with Marcus again to see how the opening three qualifiers that make up Day 1 of qualifying fair out.
2024 Philippine Masters Chassis Focus Index
Last weekend Red RC made our third trip to Manila for the world class offroad event that is the Philippine Masters. Famed as being Asia’s biggest annual 1:8 Offroad race, the Circulo Verde track is renowned for its difficulty and 3D style build with this year’s 12 edition of the race using a new method to seal the surface. This resulted in minimal tyre wear even over the 1-hour Main final in which Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro recovered from an early flame out to take his fourth win in the capital city. The first time Sparko was officially represented at the race, a great driver by Ryan Pavidis netted the American runner-up spot. Great to see the legendary Atsushi Hara back racing at the the front end. It was great to once again do a chassis focus with him, Sworkz hooking him up for the event, and it great to see the former World Champion enjoying his racing so much once again. Attracting 205 entries from 16-nations, we got the chance to photograph buggies from 9 drivers representing 7 different manufacturers as well as the TQ & winning Sworks truggy of Bulgaria visitor Plamen Petrov which we have compiled below in our latest Chassis Focus index.
Davide Ongaro – Team Associated RC8 B4.1 (Overall TQ & Win)
Ryan Pavidis – Sparko F8 (2nd overall)
Atsushi Hara – Sworkz S35-4 EVO (3rd overall)
Joern Neumann – Sworkz S35-4 EVO (Q2 TQ)
Alex Bernadzik – Associated RC8 B4.1 (Q1 TQ)
Jackson Beale – Tekno NB48 2.1
Truggy
Plamen Petrov – Sworkz S35-T2 (Overall TQ and Win)
Hara ‘excited’ for Philippine Masters return
A former winner of the Philippine Masters, legend of the sport Atsushi Hara will make his return to the famed Manila based 1:8 Offroad event next week (April 18-21). The offroad and onroad World Champion, last contested the race in 2019 and will return to the Circulo Verde track at the controls of an Sworkz Buggy, a decade on from when he raced for manufacturer full time during the 2014 season. Joining the international entry that includes reigning World & Philippine Masters Champion Davide Ongaro, multiple Worlds finalist Kyle McBride, Asian Buggy Championship points leader & PM debutant Ryan Lutz, and another PM debutant Joern Neumann, on his return to the Asia’s biggest annual 1:8 Offroad race former FEMCA Champion Hara said, “I am so excited to be back at Philippine Masters, because Philippine Masters is one of the best organizers in the world. This time, Sworkz and Cayote have helped me to enter the race! I am also looking forward to seeing my many friends and fans in the Philippines! See everybody at the track!”
Ongaro late confirmation for Philippine Masters
Having originally looked set to miss this year’s Philippine Masters due to Warm-up Race commitments for the IFMAR 1:8 Buggy World Championships, the cancellation of Brazil hosting the Worlds means reigning back to back World Champion Davide Ongaro will return to Asia’s biggest annual 1:8 Offroad race for a fourth time. A winner of the event event prior to Covid, the Team Associated star successfully returned to the famous 3D layout Circulo Verde track located in the heart of Manila last year as the Philippine Masters made its return to the international stage after the forced 2 year break. Taking the TQ ahead of the Mayako of former World Champion Robert Batlle and the win ahead of Sworkz’ Micha Widmaier 12 months ago, this year the Italian’s competition for the April 18-21 event is set to come from an entry list that includes Kyosho pairing Ryan Lutz & Kyle McBride and Sworkz’ Joern Neumann. The 12th running of the Philippine Masters, the race is also the second round of the ambitious four round Asian Buggy Championships which is currently lead by American Lutz who won the opening round in New Zealand in February.