November 12, 2017

Track Focus – Xiamen ARC International Raceway

Track Name – Xiamen ARC International Raceway
Host – 3-Circles
Country – China
Location – Xiamen
Direction – Anti-clockwise
Surface – Sugared and glued dirt

With China putting on an ultra impressive show when it hosted an RC World Championship for the very first time, with Beijing the venue for the 1:12 & ISTC Worlds, at that same event it was announced that they had been awarded the 1:10 Offroad World Championships for 2017. With high expectations given the quality of the facility that greeted drivers in Beijing, the city of Xiamen and the race hosts 3-Circles haven’t disappointed with even the more critical drivers complimenting the impressive Xiamen ARC International Raceway. Built on the same grounds of the 3-Circle battery factory, the facility boasts the largest drivers stand in the world. At 200 metres long, it provides pitting on the first floor, drivers standing area and tyre tech on the second floor and a third floor for spectating for both the offroad and an equally impressive onroad track. 3-circles is predominantly a producer of alkaline and Lithium batteries but through its Sunpadow brand of LiPos is involved in the competition end of the battery market supporting an RC boat World Champion, RC pilots and reigning 1:12 and former touring Car World Champion Naoto Matsukura. The Infinity driver is contesting the 1:10 Offroad Worlds driving Associated cars.

In terms of the offroad track that has been created for this the 17th running of these World Championships, the 42m wide by 35m deep track has been designed by Lung Chuan Lee from Taiwan who also designed the onroad track layout in Beijing last year. Originally built as a 1:8 Offroad track, work started on building the smaller 1:10 track 2-months ago however a Typhoon and Hurricane delayed the final build which was only finished last week. With the dirt having been both glued and then sugared, Event Director Max Lim, who was also at the helm in Beijing, expects that the surface will be maintenance free once it doesn’t rain with the only planned work being to re-sugar the track ahead of the start of 4WD proceedings.

Getting drivers reaction to the track after they got their first taste of the track in the first of four controlled practices, reigning 2WD Champion Spencer Rivkin summed it up as ‘definitely different’. The Associated driver added, ‘I planned to just go around slow but found it was better when I pushed, attacking it works better’. Asked about the traction, the American replied, ‘Its medium, I wouldn’t say high’. On the layout he said, ‘it’s a fun layout but the jumps are not built that awesome but that will make for good racing and everyone will adapt to them once they get a few more laps’.

With the last 1:10 Offroad Worlds held in Japan on astro turf, reigning 4WD Champion Bruno Coelho said, ‘I haven’t driven on dirt with such good traction before’. Adding the track is ‘super bumpy’, the Xray driver continued, ‘I think the layout is OK, its pretty difficult’. The reigning Euro Offroad Series Champion, a four round championship run on carpet tracks, he said the grip levels here are ‘weird’ adding the overall grip is not so much but then all of a sudden you flip’.

Image Gallery

May 29, 2017

2017 RROC Invitational class winner – Focus

Marc Rheinard (Germany)

Infinity IF14 – Muchmore Fleta ZX 4.5T – Muchmore Fleta Pro V2 – Muchmore 6400mAh – Sanwa Transmitter – Xpert Servo – Protoform LTCR

May 29, 2017

2017 RROC Modified class winner – Focus

Jin Sawada (Japan)

Destiny RX10S – Hobbywing Xerun V10 4.5T – Hobbywing Xerun XR10 Pro – Xenon Nova 5200mAh – KO Propo Transmitter – KO Propo Servo – Montech IS200

May 29, 2017

Volker & Wilck join Rheinard on Reedy Race podium

Outgoing champion Ronald Volker and Viktor Wilck joined newly crowned 6-time Reedy Race Champion Marc Rheinard on the podium at Tamiya Raceway as the 12th & final round of racing at the legendary event determined Volker won the battle for second overall.  With Rheinard putting the title to bed early with his 7th win of the weekend in the penultimate round of racing, the interest of the concluding three races was on the podium battle between Volker, Wilck and Nicholas Lee.  Running in the first heat Lee, a winner of 3-races, would finish second behind Naoki Akiyama, with him having to wait to see if that was enough for him to make the Top 3.  Next up it was Wilck’s turn to see what he could do, the Swede claiming a 3rd from 6th on the grid with Jan Ratheisky taking the win.  Getting to go last, running in the last of the weekends 36 races, Volker had the advantage of knowing what he needed to do and duly brought home a P2 behind Ryan Cavalieri to secure second overall.  For Wilck and Lee it would come down to the tie breaker with Wilck’s extra win giving him the final step on the podium.  With Lee fourth, Day 1 overnight leader Meen Vejrak would finish 5th ahead of Akio Sobue, Sobue’s result combined with team-mate Rheinard’s win claiming the title of Manufacturers Champion for event debutants Infinity.  Having completely forgotten about the Manufacturers title despite winning it for Tamiya last year, Rheinard said, ‘this is a crazy achievement. I didn’t even think about until they announced we had won.  It further shows we are on the right direction.  Even though Akio was super unlucky today we still managed to become Manufacturers Champions, it caps off an great weekend for the team’.

Commenting on finishing runner-up, Volker said, ‘I knew I needed a P4 to secure second overall and off the line everything went well.  I was chasing Cav but could attack as he was just too quick’, the World Champion adding, ‘he should do more touring car’.  A 3-time Reedy Race Champion, the Yokomo driver said, ‘P2 overall was the maximum I could get this time because we struggled for pace in a few runs.  Aside from Round 11 I did good runs but Marc was fast all the time and didn’t have back luck so he is deserved to win’.  With his team-mate Lee missing out on the podium, he said, ‘In my opinion Viktor got a bit too lucky to finish on the podium as the referee didn’t see a couple things like his Round 12 corner cut.  I’m sorry for Nicholas that he got P4’.  Summing up the 20th Reedy Race of Champions, this its best entry of the current decade, he said, ‘this is the best racing we have in the year and maybe it is time to change the format of other events.  The amount of action and fun we have here is amazing’.

Reacting to making the podium, Wilck said, ‘my thinking before the race was a Top 10 if all goes well.  We were actually surprised by the performance of the car here and it was fun racing for the title’.  The Serpent driver continued, ‘a couple of races I had issues with others and my own driving and without this for sure it could have been close with Marc.  He still would have won because he had perfect races and was also the fastest on the track. Still it was good to finish on the podium’.

With one of the 24 spots for the Invitational Reedy Race of Champions going to the winner of the supporting Open Modified Class, Jin Sawada booked his place on the 2017 entry with victory over Offroad World Champion Spencer Rivikin.  With Sawada taking the TQ, the Destiny driver won the opening A-Main but Rivkin took A2 to force the fight to A3.  While Rivkin would pressure the Japanese driver for the entire race he would hold on for the win much to the absolute delight of mentor Terutaka Hanaumi.  Joining him & Rivkin the podium would be Singapore driver Dominic Quek.

View our event image gallery here.