June 2, 2011

Amezcua & Tessmann top opening practice session

Travis Amezcua

A relaxed opening day to the 2011 US 1:8 Offroad Nationals at Thunder Alley saw Mugen’s Travis Amezcua and Hot Bodies Ty Tessmann top the single round of controlled practice for Buggy and Truggy respectively. Amezcua was fastest from Associated’s Ryan Cavalieri, Tessmann, Kyosho’s Mark Pavidis and the Losi of former US Champion Mike Truhe while in Truggy Tessmann set the pace over Adam Drake, Ryan Cavalieri and Chad Bradley.

Travis Amezcua Action

Running Ninja’s new JXB02 engine in his MBX-6, Amezcua said today’s run was all about learning the track, a layout which he feels is going to reward consistency.  Very happy with the smooth power delivery of his new engine he doesn’t plan on changing anything for the first of the two practice runs that make up tomorrow’s schedule, after which stage track conditions should start to settle and he can work on fine tuning his set-up for qualifying.

Ryan Cavalieri

Second fastest in Buggy and third in Truggy Cavalieri said he was ‘pretty happy’ with the opening day describing the track as really fun to drive.  Unfortunately for his Associated team-mate Ryan Maifield engine trouble in his buggy meant he spent a lot of time in the pitlane during his run forcing the Warm-up race winner to fit a new engine for tomorrow’s practice.

Ty Tessmann Action

Fastest in Truggy, which had to contend with the fresh track as they got the event underway today, Canadian Tessmann took his D8 around in the third fastest time. Having come directly to California from racing electric Touring Cars at the Reedy Race in San Fransisco last weekend, the talented teenager said his truggy was really good but he expects the track is going to change tomorrow and based on this he plans some changes to his D8 buggy.

Mark Pavidis

Despite having little or no time to prepare for the Nationals due to a heavy work load at AKA, former World Champion Pavidis was really pleased with his run.  Fourth fastest, the Kyosho driver said the layout created by track owner Rob Jackson, father of top racer Levi Jackson, is really good as it caters for everyone and not just the Pro drivers.  Kyosho team-mate Jared Tebo, the defending champion of both classes, did not feature high up on the time sheet but the Worlds Top Qualifier said everything ran very smooth and is looking forward to the track getting grooved up tomorrow.  World Champion Cody King, who had a problem with the transponder in his buggy, said the opening run was just about getting in laps and learning the track and he was happy with how that had gone.

Describing his practices as ‘solid first runs’ Mike Truhe was fifth fastest in buggy ahead of his TLR team-mates Matt Castellano and Adam Drake while Associated’s JR Mitch, Xray’s Josh Wheeler and JQ’s Marty Korn completed the Top 10.

View our event image gallery here.

June 2, 2011

New in the Pits – Part 1

New in the Pits - Part 1

With these ROAR Nationals such an important race for manufacturers, a lot of companies have brought with them some new products to showcase. Local company Pro-Line, based only 10 minutes from the Thunder Alley facility, have two new tires on offer. So new they don’t yet have the name on the tire sidewall. There is the new Blockade buggy tire and the Revolver 2.0 for truggy. The Blockade is an all new tire featuring a larger block with wider spacing between the rows along the circumference, giving good traction levels. Fitting into the range between the Caliber & Revolver tires and is great for racers running longer finals where durability is important. The Revolver 2.0 for truggy is bringing the same technology from the buggy tire, of the same name, to the larger format and is again ideal for longer finals.

Losi Servo Config

The Losi team are run a new servo configuration on their 8ight buggies and truggies which sees the throttle servo mounted in front of the steering servo and which is connected to a lever system by a long track rod to control both the braking and carburettor. The new placement brings the weight balance of the car more to the front. There is no concrete plans for the release of this update but all the main team drivers are running this new layout.

Orion Neo11 engine

Adrien Bertin has made his way over from France to take care of the CRF drivers and he has brought with him the new Team Orion Neo11 engine, a 3 port motor released to commemorate Jared Tebo’s win at the recent Neo11 race. Compared to the previously released 5-port engines, this new liner configuration is ideal for shorter tracks, such as the one we are racing on this week, offering plenty of bottom end torque. Adrien also showed us the new CRF crankshaft which sports a new shape crank bell and which has been lightened around the fuel intake area of the shaft. This crankshaft is being supplied as standard since the beginning of the year in all of the Orion buggy engines.

View our event image gallery here.

June 2, 2011

US Nationals underway in California

US Nationals underway in California

The 2011 US Nationals for 1:8 Offroad have just got underway at the impressive Thunder Alley facility in Southern California where some of the best drivers in the World will battle it out in both the Buggy and Truggy classes over the next 5 days in search of the most important title outside of the World Championships.  Entering the pits the importance of this event and market, the biggest in the World, is evident by the size of the team presence in what is one of the most colourful and well presented pit areas we’ve ever witnessed.

Thunder Alley

A little over six months ago at the World Championships in Thailand, American drivers dominated proceedings by first taking the TQ honours, then by securing over half the places on the grid of the final before Cody King went on to win the World title.  With so many drivers of a World class caliber, the stage is set for a thrilling event on a track track layout which most of the top drivers feel will lend itself to close racing.  132 Buggy and 90 Truggy entries have been published for the opening day of the event which breaks the drivers in gently with just one 7-minute round of practice for each class.

Jared Tebo

Picking a favourite for the win come Sunday is near impossible due to the standard of drivers present. Kyosho’s Jared Tebo is the defending champion having won both the Buggy and Truggy titles last year in Colorado but at the Warm-up event at the beginning of April it was Associated’s Ryan Maifield who was victorious in Buggy while Hot Bodies young ace Ty Tessmann won Truggy.  Thunder Alley previously hosted the Nationals back in 2008, when it was a Buggy only event, and on that occasion Team Losi’s Mike Truhe took the victory.

Ryan Cavalieri

Interestingly with Proline’s headquarters only ten minutes from Thunder Alley a number of their team drivers took advantage of the tyre company’s new test track yesterday to get into the groove for the event.  Due to a ROAR ruling Thunder Alley was closed to practice so Ryan Cavalieri, Ty Tessmann, Chad Bradley, Marty Korn and Dylan Rodriguez used the fresh Proline track to evaluate Proline’s new Blockade buggy tyre and Revolver 2.0 truggy tyre, both of which are designed as a long wearing tyre and are expected to feature in the finals here on Sunday.

European Champion Renaud Savoya is here but the now US based driver will have to wait another year before he can contest the US Nationals.  Under the rules for entering the championships competitors must be based in the country more than 12 months and having only moved out to Texas from France late last year he is not yet eligible to compete.  Instead the three time European Champion and World finalist will provide support to RB customers and his American Durango team-mates.  He also said he expects to learn a few things from watching his main rivals something he would not normally have the opportunity to do when he is competing himself.

View our event image gallery here.

April 14, 2011

New in the pits – Part 2

New in the pits - Part 2

We already had Serpent chief designer Michael Salven run you through the new Serpent 966 Evo update package. Alongside all those new features listed, he forgot to mention the new front wheel axles as well as the new aluminum clutch bell which they have been trying out to see if it will go into production.

New in the pits - Part 2

Mugen have a number of new parts here in Homestead including this all new clutch. The new configuration has the flyweights reversed compared to normal with the taper facing the clutch bell. They say this gives the clutch more punch as well as making it easier to adjust. Also new for the MRX-5 are some steel front bearing blocks which give additional weight to the car without the need to attach extra weights. New brake pads and a soft aluminium brake cam help give the car a smoother braking feeling as the previous version was a little too powerful and therefore aggressive. Finally Mugen also have some harder plastic parts specifically for this race, but racers like Robert Pietsch have opted not to run them as they prefer the flex from the softer parts.

New in the pits - Part 2

Kyosho have their prototype Evolva chassis here which is sometimes being used by Lamberto Collari as well as by Takashi Miyashita. The Japanese driver is the main designer of this car but has left the company and so believes that this car will never be made.

New in the pits - Part 2

Italian company Capricorn are giving their all new LAB-C801 1/8th scale chassis its big race debut at this event and so far it has been doing very well in the hands of factory driver Dario Balestri, who is currently sitting in the top 4.

New in the pits - Part 2

Used by Atsushi Hara, Takaaki Shimo and Josh Cyrul, OS Speed have their new .21 engine here called the 21XZ-R. Featuring all new crankcase internals, as well as new crankshaft and piston liner, they have created a motor with more torque and better fuel economy. The fuel economy is proving an advantage as Hara and Shimo are inside the top 4, running only one stop. The engine also sports a lightweight cooling head which is lower than its predecessor, coming down over the crankcase. It’s available from next month.

New in the pits - Part 2

Sanwa’s new SRG-BRX high end competition servo is making its international competition debut. Fitted in the car’s of their team drivers including Keisuke Fukuda and the rest of the Japanese Mugen team, the X in the name stands for extra torque, especially in the furthest points of the rotation. This high speed servo also features metal gears and is ideally suited for steering and throttle for both 1/8th on road and off road.

New in the pits - Part 2

Japanese company ZAC Project have released some new brass weights for the Mugen MRX-5, which are being run here by Atsushi Hara. They also have some new rear body stiffeners which are in use by a lot of the Japanese drivers.

View our event image gallery here.

April 13, 2011

Pietsch holds provisional TQ in Miami

Robert Pietsch

Robert Pietsch holds provisional TQ honours for the 2011 IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championships at the end of the first day of qualifying.  The German was fastest in both the rounds that made up today’s schedule but it was his Q1 time that puts him top of the ranking ahead of Dario Balestri, Atsushi Hara and Takaaki Shimo.

Top Qualifier at the last World Championships, Pietsch had an incident filled Q2 but said a faster time was never going to be possible as the warmer conditions made for a slower track.  Pushing much harder than in the morning, the Mugen designer was able to improve his outright lap time to claim the fastest lap of the round.  Facing a lot of traffic due to his lower starting order for the round Pietsch had a coming together with Italy’s Andrea Cristiani on lap 9 and then again when he braked too late during his first pitstop.  Missing his box this led to his pitman placing the car back out on top of Cristiani’s Serpent costing both drivers valuable seconds.

Daniele Ielasi

Setting the second fastest time, Daniele Ielasi was one of the few drivers to improve his time in Q2.  The Italian looked to be on target to take the round but in the final three minutes he encountered a clutch problem on his Picco powered Shepherd which dropped him back behind Pietsch and cost him a 37-lap run that would have put him in the elusive Top 4.  Ielasi, who ends the day fifth, said while the track conditions were not as good as the morning his car felt better and is very confident he can now make the Top 4 tomorrow.

Despite spinning his OS Speed powered Mugen as he put a pass on former World Championship Top Qualifier Massimo Fantini, Atsushi Hara was third fastest in Q2.  The spin cost the former 1:8 Offroad World Champion over 2 seconds and he missed out on making 37 laps but the 1:8 Onroad debutant still sits a very impressive 3rd overall.

Separating the Mugen’s of Pietsch and Hara in the overall ranking is Dario Balestri.  Second fastest in Q1 the Capricorn driver gambled on a harder shore tyre for his second outing but it was the wrong decision.

Takaaki Shimo

Having made changes he thought would better suit his Kyosho for the warmer track conditions Takaaki Shimo said they didn’t have the desired effect and his Evolva was very loose.  The Japanese driver was still able to post the fourth fastest time but was unable to better his morning time which puts the 2008 Finalist provisionally in the final direct qualifiers position.

Having driven poorly in the opening qualifier Paolo Morganti said he was better this time but the track was nowhere as fast as Q1.  Setting the fifth fastest time for Q2 he lies 7th overall as the Top Serpent and leading American.

Lamberto Collari

Chasing his 10th World title here at Homestead RC Raceway, 1:8 Onroad legend Lamberto Collari has not had a good start to his campaign.  Failing to finish the first qualifier, he did manage to complete the second with just a single fuel stop but the end result was quite a bit off the pace.

Due to the tyre additive scandal that caused the first day of qualifying to be cancelled, drivers have just 2 more chances tomorrow to post a quick time.  Tomorrow’s running order is Group 4 to 1 followed by 13 to 5 for Q3 and then in the afternoon for the final round Group 4-1 followed by 5 to 13.

Qualification Ranking after 2 of 4 Rounds
1. Pietsch, Robert (D) – Mugen/Novarossi – 37L/10:12.769 R1
2. Balestri, Dario (IT) – Capricorn/Novarossi – 37L/10:14.446 R1
3. Hara, Atsushi (JPN) – Mugen/OS Speed – 37L/10:19.342 R1
4. Shimo, Takaaki (JPN) – Kyosho/OS Speed – 36L/10:00.085 R1
——————-
5. Ielasi, Daniele (IT) – Shepherd/Picco – 36L/10:00.890 R2
6. Terauchi, Takehiro (JPN) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:01.206 R1
7. Morganti, Paolo (USA) – Serpent/Novarossi – 36L/10:02.815 R1
8. Romagnoli, Michele (IT) – Shepherd/Novarossi – 36L/10:04.437 R1
9. Verjak, Meen (THA) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:04.739 R1
10.Salemi, Walter (IT) – Motonica/Max – 36/10:04.889 R2
11.Shimazaki, Shinya (JPN) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:05.307 R1
12.Salven, Michael (D) – Serpent/Xceed – 36L/10:05.691 R2
13.Fukuda, Keisuke (JPN) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:06.490 R1
14.Vrielijnck, Rick (NL) – Mugen/Novarossi – 36L/10:06.710 R1
15.Elias, Flavio (BRA) – Mugen/Max – 36L/10:07.048 R1
16.Cyrul, Josh (USA) – Shepherd/OS Speed – 36L/10:07.384 R2
17.D’Hondt, Robin (BEL) – Motonica/G-mar – 36L/10:07.828 R1
18.Pirani, Andrea (IT) – Shepherd/Novarossi – 36L/10:08.615 R2

View our event image gallery here.

April 13, 2011

Pietsch TQs opening Qualifier

Robert Pietsch

2009 World Championship Top Qualifier Robert Pietsch has topped the opening round of qualifying at the 18th IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship.  The reigning European Champion was fastest from 2008 finalist Dario Balestri and class newcomer Atsushi Hara, the three being the only drivers to record 37 laps.

Pietsch was surprised by his own pace of a 10:12.769 as he drove within his limits to ensure he had a solid time should he encounter any problems in the remaining qualifiers.  Describing track conditions as good and happy that the wind which caused him problems yesterday had gone, he said his Mugen worked well as did his pitman who pulled off two very quick pitstops.

Balestri Action

Driving his Novarossi powered Capricorn Balestri said he lost some time during one of his two stops but other than that everything worked really well.  Like most of the leading drivers the Italian said he did not push too hard and now with a strong time to his credit he can push harder in the second of today’s qualifiers. With the skies having filled with clouds since the opening run the potential is there for much faster track times in Q2.

Atsushi Hara

Hara said the opening qualifier ‘worked as planned’.  Having predicted he could run a 37 lap run after setting the pace in yesterday’s extra practice, the Japanese ace achieved it.  Once he made 36 laps, the OS Speed team driver made a fuel stop to ensure he made the finish and hopefully that 37 laps is good enough to ensure him a spot in the Semis, he said he will now try to run just one stop at the 5 minute mark in the second qualifier and run straight through to the finish.

Takaaki Shimo

Having not featured in practice, Kyosho team driver Takaaki Shimo got everything right when it counted as he set the fourth fastest time.  A-finalist in Switzerland, the Japanese driver, who like Hara runs OS engines, made the run with just one fuel stop but said it was very close and this forced him to run a cautious second half of the run. Japanese drivers enjoyed a strong opening qualifier with 19-year-old Takehiro Terauchi setting the fifth fastest time with his Mugen.

Daniele Ielasi

Former 1:10 Onroad World Champion Daniele Ielasi took his Shepherd Velox V8 to the sixth fastest time.  Describing the run as good, the popular Italian said his factory Picco engine was a little too rich but he was happy to have a safe run in the bag.

Top Serpent for the round was Paolo Morganti who he said his 966 was really good but the driver was not and for Q2 the only thing he needed to change was himself.  The best placed American he also set the fastest lap for the round being the only driver to post a 15 second lap.

Lamberto Collari

For defending champion Lamberto Collari his plan to run just one stop did not pay off as his Novarossi powered Kyosho stopped after four and half minutes.  Runner-up at the last World Championships Mike Swauger continued to struggle with the clutch settings on the new Xray RX8 and he only completed 8 laps.

View our event image gallery here.