Neumann top seed for 4WD Qualifying

Joern Neumann is the top seed for qualifying at the 4WD Electric Buggy World Championship in Chico, the Durango driver posting the fastest two consecutive lap times in the first controlled practice with team-mate Ryan Lutz making it a 1-2 for the DEX410.  Such was Neumann’s new found pace the German was a full second faster than Ty Tessman who set the third fastest time.  For reigning champion Ryan Cavalieri it was a disastrous controlled practice as he completed just two laps before breaking a front arm on his Associated.  This left the American 24th fastest.  Although he put in some surprisingly fast Top 10 lap times in free practice with his Xray, the surprise of CP1 was A-Main Hobbies team driver Tyler Vik who ended up 4th quickest ahead of Lee Martin, Ryan Maifield and three time touring car World champion Marc Rheinard.

Having started to feature on the lap charts in the final free practice after motoring down his Orion powered prototype DEX410, said that he drove a lot better and smoother in CP1 and this was contributed to his two blistering laps.  Having used full size rear foams in his front tyres for the full 5-minute run he said this improved the car a little adding that the biggest single improvement over the day came from his motor change.  Happy with how Day 1 of 4WD has worked out and with how his buggy is now working he said he will leave everything as is for tomorrow as the track conditions means that its ‘more about the driving than the car now.’

Better than expected, lets hope we can keep it that way for the rest of the week, was Lutz’s response to his pace in controlled practice.  Having started the day with Durango’s standard production DEX410, he found good form when he switched the the prototype car but in FP8 he managed to break the car.  Bending the aluminum chassis, of which the team only have one per car, he had to revert back to his standard car for the final free practice giving him just 5-minutes to get it dialed in for the controlled run.  Happy with the speed of the standard car Lutz said the key difference is that it doesn’t land as good as the prototype, joking that he can be trusted to break something when there is only one available.

Controlled Practice 1 – Top 10 times
1. Joern Neumann – Durango – 54.434
2. Ryan Lutz – Durango – 54.883
3. Ty Tessman – HB – 55.448
4. Tyler Vik – Xray – 55.452
5. Lee Martin – Tamiya – 55.574
6. Ryan Maifield – Assocaited – 55.716
7. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 55.836
8. Neil Cragg – Associated – 55.895
9. Mike Truhe – TLR – 55.956
10.Kody Numedahl – Associated – 56.021

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Maifield sets pace in final free practice

Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield set the pace in the final free practice at the IFMAR 4WD Electric Buggy World Championships in California posting a 27.318 with team-mate Steven Hartson the closest to him on a best lap of 27.401.  Behind the two American’s Team Durango’s Joern Neumann enjoyed his most competitive run top setting the third fastest lap with a 27.435.

Despite not going the full distance in the final practice, breaking a rear arm on his B44.2 when he caught a ‘crazy hole’ at the end of the main straight, Maifield said he is happy with where he is at heading in to first timed controlled practice.  Set to bring the first day of 4WD action at Silver Dollar R/C Raceway to an end, the round will play a part in the seeding the 10 car heats  for tomorrow’s qualifying.  Describing his buggy as ‘fast & comfortable (to drive)’, Maifield plans to run everything as is for what will be the 10th round of practice the only difference being drivers will get to run a full 5-minute race time.

Hartson said he has finally got to where he is comfortable with his car.  Having changed to geardiffs early in practice he said he then went for a front sway bar and for the final run changed to a stiffer front shock adding he is now ‘pretty much done with set-up changes’.  Pleased with his performance in the final free practice having strung together a number of consecutive 27 second laps on the tricky high traction track, the 21-year-old said his aim to try an repeat that driving in the controlled practice.

Neumann said FP9 was by far the best he has ran all day.  The Euro Offroad Series Champion said having felt he was under powered this morning he motored up from a 6.5 motor to a 5.5 but for the last one reverted back to the slower Orion motor which made his prototype DEX410 easier to drive.  Planning to leave his set-up as in the controlled practice he said he will prep his front tyres differently to make them a little hard.  With all drivers having to run Proline Suburb tyres front & rear, the official handout tyre of the event, he said he will use a full rear insert in the front rather than cut it to size as he has done so far in the controlled tyre preparation area.

Fourth fastest having topped a number of the practice rounds Naoto Matsukura said his Yokomo is good and he will leave it the same for today’s final practice.  The multiple Japanese Champion, and world class onroad racer, said he has come to a point now where he has realised the key to the track is all about ‘patience’.

Ty Tessman posted the fifth fastest time, the HB driver describing his new HB D4-13 as the best it has been.  The US National Champion has switched from carbon to plastic inserts in the front arms as well as switching to a lighter swaybar.  Liking the feeling of the softer front end he said he will ‘go with what we have for now’ for the controlled practice.

Completing the Top 6 in terms of laps times, defending Champion Ryan Cavalieri said things are looking good adding he has been ‘happy with (his) car all day’.  Having only made minor changes over the 9 practice runs he said in the later part of the day he mostly worked on rotating tyres between runs.  For the controlled practice the 3 time 4WD World Champion said he will go with his Orion powered B44.2 as is adding he doesn’t expect to change the car much more over the remainder of the event.

Elsewhere Jared Tebo broke a rear shock tower on his prototype Kyosho.  Crowned the new 2WD Champion on Wednesday, the 2007 Champion is struggling a little with finding a way to get more steering from the new buggy.  The man who finished runner up to him in 2WD, Lee Martin has after a good start to the day lost some of his pace. The Tamiya Racing Factory driver said since breaking his prototype TRF511 in FP6, when he land badly in the path of another buggy, he has been struggling and he is ‘not sure why’.

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Matsukura back on top in FP6

In the sixth of the 10 rounds of practice on Day 1’s schedule of the 4WD Electric Buggy World Championship, it was Naoto Matsukura who returned to the top in terms of lap times.  Having set the early pace before breaking an arm on his warm-up lap for FP4, the Yokomo driver posted his best lap of practice on his 6th run posting a time of 27.329 with Durango’s Ryan Lutz second fastest with a 27.442 and Ryan Cavalieri third. Declaring himself ‘pretty happy’ with his pace, Matsukura said he is still trying different things on his B-Max4 III and for his next run he will try a heavier shock oil in an attempt to improve how the buggy lands off the bigger jumps.

Behind Lutz, defending World Champion Cavalieri said he has started playing around with set-up changes having did little to his B44.2 in the opening two rounds.  Running a lower rear wing mount due to the wind, he said he has reverted back to the standard mounting as he noticed little difference.  Changing to a stiffer front spring for FP6 he said this had one of the biggest effects on the buggy making it ‘a lot easier to drive’.  Chasing a fifth World title come Sunday evening, Cavalieri said he was pleased with how things are running so far.

Having suffered electric issues in FP3 & 4 which caused his car to stop on track,  Jared Tebo said they have since made ‘positive swings’.  The freshly crowned 2WD World Champion said he was ‘lacking some steering’ on his last run, with his prototype Kyosho too easy to drive but added that he is confident he can rectify this for his next outing.  Compared with Matsukura’s 27.329 time Tebo could only manage a best lap of 27.914.  Team-mate David Ronnefalk posted the 5th fastest time with a 27.599.

After changing diff oils on his HB D4-13, Ty Tessman was now working really well.  Designer of the new car Torrance Deguzman joked that most of the improvement came from ‘feeding the driver’, a quick trip to Tessman’s favourite eating spot Panda Express required in the short time drivers have inbetween runs.  For FP7 the US National Champion will try a swaybar change with Deguzman declaring himself as ‘quite happy’ with how things are running so far adding that things are ‘not as nerve racking’ as when the new buggy made its debut at the US Nationals here in August.

Finally officially unveiling their long over due replacement for the aging XXX-4 yesterday, it has not been the best of starts to the event for Team Losi Racing.  Billy Fischer was credited with the fastest lap of FP5 with a 26-second lap but overall the team’s expected challengers, Dustin Evans, Darren Bloomfield and Dakotah Phend, have been running off the pace.  Fischer said with such a new car its been a ‘crap shot’ for all the drivers in terms of finding a set-up.  Working off a set-up recommended by Mike Truhe, which he said is proving to be a good base set, Fischer said he is still changing stuff each run with each team given a specific change to try so they can gather as much information as possible.  For his next out he will try a harder spring on his Novak powered example of the TLR22-4.  Evans said for FP7 he will try running Fischer’s set-up adding his car looked the best on track.  The former Reedy Race winner said he is looking for more drivability.  Bloomfield said changing the droop made his buggy much better that time with it much easier and faster to drive.  With more changes he is confident he can make it even easier to drive but admitted he is a little concerned that it might be at the cost of speed.

Tamiya’s Lee Martin didn’t start the round after he got the jump section at the end of the straight, which the announcer is referring to as the quad, wrong.  Missing his landing on the warm-up lap, ending up on the opposite side of the following hairpin, he broke his prototype TRF511.

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Tessman fastest in FP4

US National Champion Ty Tessman topped the fourth round of practice at the World Championships in Chico, the HB driver posting the fastest lap of the morning, steering his HB D4-13 to a 27.330 lap of the Silver Dollar R/C Raceway track.  For early pace setter Naoto Matsukaru, a bad landing on the warm-up lap saw the Team Yokomo driver breaking an arm before the 5-minutes had even started.  Behind Tessman it was Team Durango’s Ryan Lutz who was second fastest followed by Lee Martin and Ryan Maifield.

Having lowered the rear wing on his new HB, Tessman said this was ‘a big help’ on what is another windy morning at the track.  Happy with the direction he has been going since FP2, the Canadian is focusing on his attentions on changes to the front and rear geometry adding that the buggy’s new shocks appear to be ‘very good’.

Having started the day with the team’s standard DEX410 buggy, Ryan Lutz changed to the prototype buggy Durango have prepared for the event.  Having seen team-mates Joern Neumann & Hupo Honigl perform well with the new car, he switched for FP3 but on that occasion it lacked steering.  Having to part build up the second car, he said its been a ‘hectic’ morning but changes for FP4 improved the set-up allowing him to run a 27.486 lap.  Lutz feels there is a lot more to come from the set-up and declared himself confident of being able to build on his pace.  Reigning Euro Offroad Series Champion Neumann described his first four runs as ‘so so’.  The German ace has run both versions of Durango’s buggy describing the standard car as being too ‘aggressive’ and the prototype as lacking steering.

Setting the fastest time over the 5-minutes with 10 laps in 4:41.772, Martin said his run was ‘pretty good’ adding that he is almost at a point where he doesn’t what to change anything else on his prototype TRF511.  Asked about the new buggy the British driver said it features a new chassis for better weight distribution which helps with getting the power down better.

Fastest of the Associated team, with a 27.563 lap, Maifield said he thinks his B44.2 is good commenting that it hard to get a good clean run due to the size of the heats and the speed difference between some drivers.  The American said his buggy is very consistent from run to run but it was a ‘tight rope’ getting the balance between steering or flipping over right.  Team-mate Steven Hartson posted the 6th fastest lap time behind Neil Cragg, the LA driver was much happier with his B44.2 after switching to geardiffs.  He said his focus for the next round was to work on improving his driving.  AE’s defending World Champion Ryan Cavalieri posted a best lap of 28.026.

In the Team Losi Racing camp it was the Novak powered 22-4 of Mike Truhe which was fastest.  Truhe managed a 28.051 while team-mates Dustin Evans & Darren Bloomfield posted 28.3 laps times, Dakotah Phend a further 2/10th off.

It wasn’t a good FP3 & 4 for 2007 World Champion Jared Tebo.  The newly crowned 2WD Champion had electric problems which saw him fail to complete any laps in the third round and retire managing only 5 laps in the fourth. Swedish teenager David Ronnefalk was fastest of the new prototype Kyosho runners on a 28.051 in FP4.

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