October 22, 2018

Track Focus – Homestead R/C Raceway

Track Name – Homestead R/C Raceway
Hosts – Franco Desiderio and Jose Sanchez Jr
Country – United States
Location – Homestead, Florida
Direction – Clockwise
Surface – Asphalt

Seven years on from it hosting the 1:8 Onroad World Championship, IFMAR has returned to the Homestead R/C Raceway in Florida to for the 8th running of the the 1:10 200mm Onroad Worlds.  Situated at the back of NASCAR hosting Homestead-Miami Speedway’s main grandstand, the track is the typical US style parking lot set-up with boards determining the layout and the infield highlighted by green paint.  Featuring a 100m long straight the track has changed ownership since the 2011 Worlds with Franco Desiderio & Jose Sanchez Jr now in charge having taken over 3-years ago.  Both competitors in the event, the final entry expected to be around 120 drivers, in addition to being partners in running the track, Desiderio & Sanchez Jr are the Picco distributor for the US and dealers for Infinity through RC1 Racing.

Here to defend the title he won in Italy 2-years ago at the World class Gubbio circuit, Dominic Greiner described the HRCR track as more challenging than it looks saying, ‘It seems not so difficult but it is difficult’.  Liking the layout, the Serpent driver added it has a ‘good flow but the traction is low and we are also running a hard (handout) tyre’.  With any traction built up in the International practice days and the first official practice day washed away by overnight rain, the German also added that ‘very high wind’ was adding further to the challenge making it ‘not easy to be consistent’.  Asked the key features of the clockwise track’s layout he replied, ‘You must drive it tight but with this you risk hitting the rubber (boards).  There are dots in the chicane and you have to ride them to save some metres but they unsettle the car’.

Winner of the 1:8 World title here and featuring strongly in 1:10 practice having topped the first day of official practice  yesterday (Sunday), Robert Pietsch believes the track is better to drive with a 1:10 car.  The Mugen driver said, ‘The track suits better 1:10 than 1:8’.  He added, ‘the layout is good but grip is low and these low levels (of grip) means the car is not so easy to handle. The balance is not always perfect and so you are fighting this all the time.  Like Greiner, he also agreed that the chicane was a key place to making up time on a lap if the car ride the dots cleanly but it was also a place to very easily unsettle the car depending on how the car hit the dots.

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August 19, 2018

2018 ISTC Worlds Winning Car

Bruno Coelho (Portugal)

Xray T4 ’18/19 Hybrid – Hobbywing Xerun V10 4.5T – Hobbywing Xerun XR10 Pro – Sunpadow 5600mAh Gold Label – Montech Racer body – Sanwa transmitter – BR BC1863X Servo

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August 19, 2018

Volker & Wilck complete podium in South Africa

Ronald Volker and Viktor Wilck have completed the podium at the 10th running of the IFMAR Electric Touring Car World Championships this evening in South Africa. With Bruno Coelho already crowned the 2018 World Champion with a second win in A2, the third A-Main was a battle for the other two podium places.  Volker, who was only 10th in A2 after a mistake that ended his hopes of retain his title, Wilck and Freddy Sudhoff were the contenders.  With Coelho absent from the No.2 spot on the grid, Top Qualifier Volker had a comfortable start ahead of Wilck and while the Serpent driver kept him honest for a time Volker could manage the race and win A3 to claim 2nd overall – his 5th World Championship podium finish.  Having a bad lap half way through the race, Wilck would hold on to 2nd in A3 ahead of Sudhoff to secure 3rd overall and his second consecutive podium finish while Sudhoff first A-Main appearance was marked with 4th place ahead of Christopher Krapp and the new 1:12 World Champion Alexander Hagberg.

‘Going into the finals as Top Qualifier I wanted to win but getting my fifth podium finish is something I am proud of’, was Volker’s reaction after the race.  He added, ‘I can’t thank Hayato, Jurgen and all my sponsors enough for how they support me’.  On his A3 performance he said, ‘the first 2/3 laps were worse than A2, the car was more loose but then I got into my rhythm and pulled away from Viktor and at least after the first two finals I could secure Vice-World Champion’.

Summing up his podium finish, Wilck said, ‘I’m a little surprised actually that we had such good pace here this weekend especially as we didn’t test here before’.  Getting his podium in Beijing from 6th on the grid, the Swede said, ‘I got the third place starting position this time and I think I got everything possible out of the car this time.  It’s good to get another Worlds podium’.

Sudhoff said, ‘on one side I’m happy but on the other side I am disappointed of course to miss the podium’.  The Awesomatix driver continued, ‘Fourth is always the spot you don’t want to be but this is my first Worlds A-Main and the pace was there which is most important. From my driving mistakes I will learn and focus more’.  The German added, ‘We had two cars which shows pretty strong team work. It’s the first time for Awesomatix to be in the final’.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.