Chassis – VBC Wildfire D08
Motor – Muchmore Fleta ZX 5.0T
ESC – Muchmore Fleta Pro V2
Batteries – Muchmore 5400 mah
Tires – Sweep (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Xpert
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R 2.0
Remarks – Korean ace E.C. Kim is running the latest version of the Wildfire called D08 in the short shock configuration. His car is also equipped with titanium screws, an aluminium chassis, hard compound c-hubs and a front brass suspension brace.
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Chassis – Destiny RX-10S
Motor – Muchmore Fleta ZX 5.0T
ESC – Muchmore Fleta Pro
Batteries – Silverback 6400 mah
Tires – Sweep (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R
Remarks – Destiny’s engineer Patrick Poon is racing here at RCI V2 running a close to standard version of the new RX-10S. The car is equipped with an aluminium chassis, titanium screws, front double joint driveshafts and harder suspension arms, hubs and steering knuckles. The characteristic steering system features a prototype steel rack that increases the reliability and optimises the weight distribution.
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Name – 2016 AOC Rd1
Host – RCI V2
Country – China
Location – Shanghai
Direction – Counter Clockwise
Surface – Carpet
The opening round of Scotty Ernst’s Asian Onroad Championship is again kicking off at RCI V2 in Shanghai, the track having hosted the season starter for the previous 2 years. RCI V2 is the 2nd iteration of the RCI facility, this purpose built track located in an office complex south west of the city having being built 2 years ago. A major difference for this year is the change from CRC to ETS carpet and the addition of corner dots, the previous version relying on wooden boards for the corners. While a privately owned track there is a club and members can use the facility 6 days a week, with Monday the closing day. As usual for Asian tracks there are pit rooms that can be rented, as well as two hobby shops and neighbour is a covered offroad track run by SMP Racing. Built so as to promote RC racing in China, high quality international facility having helped to improve the level of racing in the country, RCI V2 is one of 5 and the only privately owned track to have been selected by the Chinese sports council as an official government training centre.
In terms of track layout, it is very much influenced by the big US indoor events such as the IIC and Snowbirds, its size of 32m x 14.5m a major factor, with lap times just below 10 seconds in Modified Touring and just below 9 seconds in 1/12th scale. Asked about the track, reigning ETS Champion Ronald Volker says the addition of the dots and the change to ETS carpet has made the track much more comfortable to drive and he believes the layout will make for some close and tough racing. Adding that it’s “incredible what RCI have made with the facilities compared to 2 years ago”, when he was last here, he believes the key to running fast times on this new layout is to find enough steering as the track offers a lot of rear grip.
A driver making his first visit to the RCI facility and in fact his first trip to Asia ETS Formula Champion Jan Rathiesky, who is running 4 classes this weekend, really likes the track saying it was ‘incredibly smooth yet very tricky’. A ‘super cool track and really nice facility’ with the curbs on each side of the corners it was ‘safer than the ETS’ in that sense but added the end of the straight was very difficult as it is the only point on the track that doesn’t feature curbs, but a tight line is key to gaining time.
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Ryan Maifield snatched a last lap eBuggy victory over defending champion Ty Tessmann at the Dirt Nitro Challenge to successfully convert the first of the three TQ starts the TLR driver has secured this weekend at the Fear Farm. Leading the first 3-minutes of the race, a mistake by Maifield at the second step up would hand team-mate Dakotah Phend a lead. Starting 7th on the grid, the 19-year-old would only stay out front for a lap before he crashed coming into the right side triple. Allowing Tessmann to the front the Canadian looked like he would successfully defend his title as Maifield trying to put a pass on his team-mate at the berm caused the two cars to tangle. But with a lap to go the race would come alive as Maifield caught a slowing Tessmann making contact with the HB twice before the World Champion got out of shape allowing Maifield through for the win into the final corner. While further crashes would drop Phend back to 7th, a recovering Ryan Cavalieri who started third would complete the podium for Team Associated.
With the crowd appreciative of the exciting finish, Maifield was ‘stoked’ to add his first DNC eBuggy title saying the track conditions were ‘really crazy’. ‘Super tense’ early on in the race, the Arizona driver said couldn’t find his rhythm adding this was compounded by the electric buggies having ‘so much fricken power’. Describing his error on the left side step as ‘retarded’, he said he was searching all over for the right line through the difficult section and once he started using the far end side his 8ight 4.0 was dialled, as highlighted by his penultimate lap on which he set the fastest lap of the race. Catching Tessmann, who he said drove a good race’, Maifield said ‘While I didn’t set out to get into him it was the last lap and we had a big enough gap over third so I went for it. When we did hit I let him go. Then he cased the step-up and I could get by. Describing the race as ‘intense’ he said his car and electrics where dialled adding he ‘had plenty of battery left’.
Running two short packs in his Orion powered D815, Tessmann said the race was the best his car has been but he knew because of his batteries he had to drive more conservatively than before. However at the end his power started to fade with him having a cut out at the step-up leading to his late error. Declaring himself happy with how he drove he added ‘it just wasn’t to be’ but after his performance he said ‘Truggy will be good’. Commenting on the two incidents with Maifield, he said ‘he bonzai’d me. The first time it back fired and he took out Dakotah but he got me with the second one’.
Getting passed Tessmann on lap 1 before settling into third, Cavalieri said his race started off good until he crashed at the step up. Dropping back to 7th, he said with ‘bobbles from a few guys in front’ helped him make his way back to third and he was able to ‘hold on to it’ until the end. Behind Cavalieri, 2014 Champion David Ronnefalk would finish 4th the HB driver having held a podium placing before a mistake with 2-minutes to go. Tekno’s Joe Bornhorst and Kyosho’s Jared Tebo completed the Top 6.
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The 15 drivers who will battle it out to become the Truggy Champion at the 17th running of the Dirt Nitro Challenge tonight is complete. With the B-Main offering the Top 3 a place on the back of the A-Main grid, it was pole sitter Tanner Denney who controlled the 30-minute encounter from start to finish, the new TLR signing winning by 6.5-seconds from former team-mate Spencer Rivkin and TLR’s other new recruit Renaud Savoya. Finishing 4th, the 2013 Top Qualifier Adam Drake will for the first time since the DNC moved to the Fear Farm not be on the grid for the main event. It was a disappointing race too for Drake’s Mugen team-mate Barry Pettit, running a competitive 3rd just after the 10-minute mark last year’s direct A-Main qualifier would suffer a plug failure.
Booking his first DNC Truggy A-Main start, Denney said ‘I started 1st, drove smooth and didn’t make any mistake other than just one bobble so it was a good race’. Running Pro-Line X3 Holeshots on his 8ight-T 4.0, he said ‘it got sketchy towards the end allowing Spencer to catch me but I was putting around’. His first race with Reds Racing and fitting a new engine for the final, the 20-year-old said it ran great despite having only two tanks on it before the race.
Not happy with his own performance over the race, Team Associated’s Rivkin said ‘I made a few driver errors and didn’t drive very well but I still bumped up which was the main thing and now I have a chance to win the A-Main’. Running blue compound JConcepts Reflex tyres on his RC8T3, the 17-year-old said his truck ‘was good’ but he plans to make a few changes ‘right before the Main’ for the cooler conditions, the B-Main running in what are distinctly much hotter conditions than those experienced in qualifying.
Finishing just 3/10ths off Rivkin, Savoya described his race as ‘great’. The Frenchman, who was a buggy podium finisher in 2014, started from 8th on the grid said he found his race form after switching to a JConcepts Silencer body for the final. Struggling with a lack of steering in qualifying, he said his RC Concept powered 8ight-T 4.0 now had extra steering in the 180 corners which allowed him to be competitive. It was ‘the best feeling (he had) with the truck’ but due to his starting position he struggled to get the full benefit of the new found pace saying ‘driving in the middle of the pack was tough’. Getting some clear track he would close on the leaders over the final 10-minutes but with Drake 15-seconds behind and it being ‘fricking fast at the front’ he settled for the final bump position on what he added were difficult conditions due to the track and the heat.
In the eBuggy B-Main, Drake would win the 10-minute encounter comfortably ahead of pole starter Steven Harris who had a close battle with Mark Sousa with all three Mugens progressing to the Main event. While he would set the fastest lap of the final, new Mugen signing Mike Truhe, who qualified directly for the Truggy A-Main, would miss the cut finishing fourth 2.7-seconds back on Sousa.
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