September 23, 2013

Chassis Focus – Ryan Cavalieri

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Chassis: Team Associated B4.2 w/ Centro C4.2 conversion
ESC: Team Orion
Motor: Team Orion
Batteries: Team Orion
Radio/Servo: Airtronics

Defending two time World Champion Ryan Cavalieri is running the Centro C4.2 conversion on the Associated B4.2 to convert it to mid motor. The conversion was originally developed in the UK for carpet and astro turf surfaces so Associated have developed some parts, used by only a few of the main team drivers, that changes the geometry to make it more suitable for US style tracks and surfaces.

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September 23, 2013

Chassis Focus – Ty Tessmann

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Chassis: Kyosho Ultima RB6
ESC: Team Orion
Motor: Team Orion
Batteries: Team Orion
Radio/Servo: Futaba/Savox

Current 4wd National Champion Ty Tessmann is running the Kyosho RB6 chassis in 2wd. A standard chassis he has made his own modifications, choosing to use the new Hot Bodies shocks from his 4wd as well as suitable new towers designed by Torrance DeGuzman. Due to the new shock package the Canadian is running a setup they tried back home, which is different to that used here at the Nationals so he is eager to get on track to try it here. Sponsored by Thunder Power, Ty had to switch to team Orion batteries for this event because none of the TP packs passed technical inspection.

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September 23, 2013

‘From Race Control’ – Day 1 of 2WD Buggy

From Race Control - Day 1 of 2WD Buggy

UPDATE (10:30 local time) – Due to the track having not fully dried the start has been now put back a further 2-hours to 13:00 local time.  We have been informed too by Masami that a recommendation has been made that timed practice be determined over 2-consecutive laps as the lap times are expected to be in excess of 30-secs.  The second delay to the start of the event means Day 1 will run under flood lighting so as to allow them get fully through the already reduced 7 rounds of practice.

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New to our event coverage we will post a short update under the heading ‘From Race Control’ at the start of each day giving a short run down of what lies ahead for the drivers.  Today is the first day of action at the 15th IFMAR 1:10 Electric Offroad World Championships here in Chico, California with seven 5-minute practice rounds on the schedule, down from the 10 rounds originally planned.  Due to heavy rain two days ago which resulted in the Silver Dollar RC Raceway track surface requiring to be repared and sugar treated, the start of the first day of 2WD action has been delayed until 11:00am local time to allow the track to dry.

Getting an update this morning just before 9am from r/c legend Masami Hirosaka, who is here as official race referee alongside Steve McLaughlin, he said he is confident that they should be able to get underway at the rescheduled 11am start time.  The multiple former World Champion said he expects the track to be ‘very dusty’ in the opening practice round with the plan being for track staff to clean the track with leaf blowers in the 1-minute between each heat adding this will only be done for FP1.  The closing practice of the day, set to start around 17:45, will be controlled with each driver’s 3-consecutive laps counting towards the only reseeding of the heats for tomorrow’s qualifying action which starts with one more controlled round of practice.

View our event image gallery here.

September 23, 2013

Track Focus – Silver Dollar R/C Raceway

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Track Name – Silver Dollar R/C Raceway
Owner – A-Main Hobbies
Country – USA
Location – Chico, California
Direction – Clockwise
Surface – Dirt
Previous key events hosted – 2013 US Electric Offroad Nationals

The 15th running of the IFMAR 1:10 Electric Offroad World Championships takes place over the next 7-days in Chico, California, at the Silver Dollar R/C Raceway which is only in existence a year & a half.  Owned by A-Main Hobbies, the track came about simple out of the passion for racing of company founder Kendall Bennett who 7-years ago set up the now giant online r/c retailer.  Having catered for the electric racing community with an indoor track that took up part of the A-Main Hobbies warehouse, which is located just a short distance away, Bennett wanted to create a new facility that would allow the hosting of major events.  Talking to A-Main Hobbies team manager Marty Korn about the facility he said his boss went all out making a ‘huge investment’ never with the intention to make money from it but to give racers a great facility to race at.

Landing the World Championship and ‘fortunately’ the US Nationals, Korn said preparations have been intense with daily meetings of between 17-25 staff members over the last four months.  Since hosting the Pre Worlds he added it has been a very step learning curve for the ‘giant staff’.  Its been all hands on deck pointing out that staff have embraced new roles for the Worlds, giving the example that one of their Customer Service Managers has been tasked with looking after the Tyre Tech area, continuing that every aspect of the event has been gone through ‘so many times’ to ensure everyone knows their role to ensure a successful event. Looking to the future the annual Labor Day Shootout will be one of the track’s main events but looking longer term Korn said their goal is to host the 2016 1:8 Offroad World Championships.

Since hosting the Pre-Worlds, the track is now on it fourth layout change with former Norcal Hobbies owner Kevin Jelick the man responsible for designing the track which will decide the 2013 World Champions.  Unfortunately yesterday (Saturday) it rained heavily in Chico but Korn said it didn’t hurt the track only the finished surface.  A ‘sugar track’, he said they will have to prepare the surface for tomorrow’s (Monday) opening day of practice.  Having evolved the process of sugaring the track since the Pre-Worlds he said they now have the method ‘dialed’ with the plan to put the sugar down just after sunset follow a full rolling of the track.  As a result the start to Day 1 of the event has been delayed by 3-hours and will see practice reduced to seven runs for the day, the last one of which will be the first round of controlled timed practice.  For the record the Pre-Worlds, a very different and more open track to what awaits drivers tomorrow, it was HB’s Ty Tessman who won both classes, while at the ROAR Nationals held in August he took the 4WD win while TLR’s Dakotah Phend taking the 2WD title.

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August 24, 2013

FEMCA title a ‘Special win’ for Hara

Podium

8-days on from making the shock announcement that after 13 years of racing for HB the had left the team, Atsushi Hara claimed a ‘special win’ today as he became the FEMCA 1:8 Offroad Champion after a near perfect day at Fengtai Raceway in China.  Racing as a privateer with a Mugen that he went out to a hobby shop and bought himself, the Japanese ace won the 1-hour final easily from Top Qualifier Dani Choi and Sheng Chie Huang who had a great battle towards the end of the race.

Hara

Starting from pole position, 2008 World Champion Hara was the class of the 12 car field which saw 7 different nationalities represented.  The only driver to record a 28-second lap in the main, he said afterwards he was ‘really happy’ with regaining the title he last held in 2010 as he said his announcement last week for sure brought a lot more attention to the event.  While he had a different chassis to get used to, he said the biggest change was actually not having his long time and much trusted mechanic Masayuki Miura, one of the most famous partnerships in the sport.  Working with the mechanic of top onroad nitro racer JJ Wang, he said while AI’s work was good it was having to communicate in English that was the biggest problem.  With that improving each day of the event he said having Wang on hand for finals day helped a lot and he thanked them both for the input in today’s victory.  In terms of the race Hara said his main worry was tyre wear.  Feeling white compound HB Grid Lock would have been his best option for the final he said a lack of tyres meant he had to run the medium red compound and this played a little on his mind early in the race.  Proving to last better than he expected he said once he stayed on the racing line running on the heavily worn tyres was no problem.

Choi Water

‘I was the fastest human in the race as Hara is not Human so I am very happy’, that was how Choi summed up his race.  The Sweep employee and designer of the  ‘Birdy’ bodyshell he ran all week here on his Kyosho said at the start of the race his MP9 steering was a little sensitive at the start of the race on the fresh set of Sweep Exagon tyres but then after was easy to drive.  Mishearing a call from the pits which he thought was for him he had one botched fuel stop.  On hearing the call he came into the pits but as it was not his crew who made the call they weren’t ready and so he had to exit the pits unfuelled returning a lap later to his now ready pit men.  Trying to stay calm after the incident Choi was able to close up on long time second placed Huang in final stages of the race.  After an entertaining battle, which was the highlight of the race, a mistake by the Taiwanese driver allowed Choi through for the runner’s up spot and his first international race podium finish.

Huang

Also claiming his first international podium finish, 28-year-old Huang was delighted with the result.  Having looked strong for second position for most of the race, the HB driver said his red compound HB Grid Lock tyres were finished when he was caught by Choi and there was little he could do to defend the position from the Korean. Other than this he said the D812 and Alpha engine performed perfectly.

Takashiro

Suffering an engine flame-out, 17-year-old Japanese talent Wataru Takashiro finished fourth. Starting from 8th on the grid, the Kyosho driver was disappointed at missing out on a podium having got his MP9 up to second before suffering an engine cut.  With fuel still in the tank, he said his MP9 felt really good and had his OS engine not stopped the buggy was good enough for a Top 3 finish.

Ryan Lee

Having missed out on the final at last year’s FEMCA Championship, which took place in Thailand, Sweep front man Ryan Lee was delighted to finish 5th overall with his TLR saying he ‘Maximum enjoyed’ the race.  Finishing on the same lap as Lee, British racer Tommy Chung completed the Top 6 with his Kyosho.

Kanai

The most significant retirement of the race was Yuichi Kanai, the Kyosho designer breaking a front suspension arm on his MP9 just after the mid point of the race leaving the 2000 World Champion to be classified last.  For the two Chinese drivers to make the Main, it was Hu Wei Ping driving his S-Workz who took the honour of best placed driver from the host nation finishing 8th overall with the Hong Nor of Lin Le Hua finishing one spot behind him in 9th as the last driver to go the full distance.

FEMCA 1:8 Offroad Championship Overall Result
1.(1) Atsushi Hara (JPN) – Mugen/OS Speed – 118/60:02.750
2.(4) Dani Choi (KOR) – Kyosho/Alpha – 114/60:15.448
3.(2) Sheng Chie Huang (TW) – HB/Alpha – 114/60:20.954
4.(8) Wataru Takashiro (JPN) – Kyosho/OS Speed – 113/60:01.650
5.(7) Ryan Lee (KOR) – TLR/Alpha – 109/60:03.082
6.(10)Tommy Chung (UK) – Kyosho/Novarossi – 109/60:32.754
7.(5) Chavit Saliguppa (TH) – Mugen/OS Speed – 105/60:11.539
8.(11)Hu Wei Ping (CN) – S-Workz/S-Power – 105/60:29.699
9.(12)Lin Le Hua (CH) – Hong Nor/Alpha – 102/60:11.150
10.(9)Liu Man Yet (SGP) – Mugen/OS Speed – 86/53:48.886
11.(3)Charlee Phutiyotin (TH) – Mugen/OS Speed – 68/38:12.688
12.(6)Yuichi Kanai (JPN) – Kyosho/RB – 60/32.01.664

View our event image gallery here. / Final video to follow on Monday