November 7, 2010

New in the pits – Part 2

New in the pits - Part 2

Continuing on with finding new stuff in the bits, we sat down with World Champion Atsushi Hara, who showed us his new self developed cab forward body shell. He has test this new body extensively and found it to have lots of downforce, thanks to not only the front cab, but the ridges going up the side of the cab as well as the rear winglets. This space behind the cab allows cleaner air to reach the wing for better balance, which he has found using one from another manufacturer. The body is expected to be released next month.

New in the pits - Part 2

Also new is the fact that Hara is no longer a contracted Pro-Line driver, something both parties agreed to. This enables him to use whatever tire is best for the specific track conditions, which for this race, he believes the HB tires will work best for him.

New in the pits - Part 2

Jason Ruona from JConcepts gave us a run down of the many new products that the Florida based company has brought with them for this event. As well as their new Inverse buggy wheel which we covered last month, they have their new Punisher rear wing. A flat deck, high-support design is matched with 4 different interchangeable side dams for increased tuning options. JConcepts also have a prototype of their Punisher RC8B fin body which helps increase high-speed stability, especially suited for this track with its high speed straight/sweeper.

New in the pits - Part 2

Jason has also brought two new tires with him for this event, the Hybrids and the 3Ds. The former are a combination of the most popular JC tires available. A mid-lug design with inner Crowbar centre lug, these tires are built for speed and high-speed control & handling. The 3ds are developed to be the ultimate Slick-groove tire, and combine the stability of a black groove bar tire with flexible pattern of finely spaced Double Dee lugs in one package.

View the event photo gallery here.

November 7, 2010

New in the Pits – Part 1

New in the Pits - Part 1

Team Associated are here with a big and experienced team and we took a look at Ryan Maifield’s car to see what the US company brought to the race in terms of equipment. To protect the shock ends they have removed the lower shock riser and placed them into modified wishbones. As this would affect the shock angle, they have produced new front and rear shock towers with different mounting holes.

New in the Pits - Part 1

Other changes on the car included a new longer chassis plate that allows the rear uprights to be moved more forward for more dogbone swing. The rear chassis brace has also been beefed up with a carbon fibre insert running along its entire length. Maifield has also chosen to run the old steering configuration used in the original RC8, which gives the car a more twitchy feel, an idea from their Spanish team mate Robert Batlle who has been running this setup for a while.

New in the Pits - Part 1

For Losi, apart from the chassis plate with steel inserts front and rear that we showed you previously, they have very little changes to the car. The made update is the new aluminium shock spring cups which are made from aluminium, that wont be affected by the heat, are stronger and sport a taller inside collar to prevent the spring from popping out. This part is held onto the shock shaft with a set screw.

New in the Pits - Part 1

Losi also have a new fuel tank that is 7cc bigger thanks to a new process that they use to bring the two ends of the tank together. Finally the team drivers are using a new lightweight body that is half the weight of the standard kit version.

New in the Pits - Part 1

Daniel Vega is here with his update Agama chassis, which features some updates including a new 10 degree front caster block, something he has been waiting for, for some time. A big improvement according to the Spanish team driver is the new pivot pin mounts which are no longer captured but held in place with nuts.

New in the Pits - Part 1

A new braking system helps improve the track performance, which now uses a steel disc along with Ferodo type pads. Something Daniel is trying, that we have seen on the car of Mike Truhe, is the replacement of the rear chassis brace with a shock absorber, which he believes will help the cars performance coming off the jumps. The car also has a new carbon radio plate and a number of aluminium option parts throughout including the wheel axles and drive cups.

View the event photo gallery here.

November 6, 2010

Drivers start to arrive at RCP

Neil Cragg & Craig Drescher

Saturday has come and gone here at RCP in Pattaya, Thailand with little or no activity apart from a few racers dropping by to check out the track. People’s first impressions is one of awe, with all those visiting for the first time expecting it to be a very difficult track to conquer. With race registration beginning tomorrow we expect all competitors and manufacturers to be trackside so expect more in the line of updates then.

Live RC crew

Brandon and the Live RC crew have been here setting up since Friday morning and are finally getting on top of things. Trying to wire the entire track takes time, as does setting up the mobile studio that they have arrived with, expect it to be an awesome show. In the meantime the preparation by the organisers continues with the rest of the track getting its coating of oil and with some final welding going on here as night falls, everything should be ready in good time for the main event.

View the event photo gallery here.

November 5, 2010

Final preperations underway in Pattaya

Pattaya RC powerboat track

Red RC have arrived in Pattaya, Thailand ahead of the 2010 IFMAR 1/8th scale World Championships. With registration only beginning on Sunday, the Pattaya RC Power boat track is pretty empty with staff putting the final touches to the track surface as well as painting and hanging banners. First impressions of the track are amazing, the photos simply don’t do it justice, it is like something from a computer game with its off camber corners, huge banked ‘straight’, doubles and triples. It will be a true test of man and machine, with a lot of drivers who have been here for testing needing hundreds of laps to get a clean run and we can now see why.

Pattaya RC powerboat track

We have noticed that the organisers have chosen to spray the track with a mixture of oil and diesel to protect the surface, if not the local environment, and it has given the track a hard packed feel. This is a different surface to that run by the big US test some weeks ago, so we wonder if this will have a big impact on the set-up and tire choices by those drivers. Stay tuned for more pre event updates.

View the event photo gallery here.

July 10, 2010

Savoya inflicts 3rd successful ‘Shark’ attack

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Three is a magic number and today Renaud ‘The Shark’ Savoya entered the sport’s history books as he notched up his third consecutive EFRA 1:8 Off Road European Championship.  The 30th running of these championships, the French ace won here in Portugal from Robert Batlle, the man whom he took the title from back in 2008.  Having struggled by his standards in qualifying, ending up only fourth, Savoya bounced back on the day it counted most. Switching to a Proline combination of Crimefighters on the front and Bowties on the rear of his RB powered MBX-6, he kicked off the day with an easy win in his Semi final even though he ran out of fuel on the last lap.  This cost him pole for the Main race, which went to Batlle, but Savoya made his intentions clear during the practice start for the big race.  ‘I made sure I passed him during the practice start to add a little more pressure on him ahead of the race’.

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The race started out very much as a three way battle with Top Qualifier Yannick Aigoin joining the pair as they left the rest of the field behind.  Savoya, having found a way passed the pole sitter in the opening laps, described the conditions as very difficult and they caught him out handing the lead back to Batlle.  Having learnt his lesson the Mugen driver said he switched his focus to making safe clean laps rather than pushing hard to catch his Spanish rival and risk another mistake.  Knowing he had one less fuel stop to make he continued with his plan and it worked as he took the lead 1/3 of the way into the race and never looked back.  Delighted to become Europe’s most successful buggy driver he said the last lap was full of tension but once passed the line his body went through the most amazing release of pressure.  Achieving this great feat of three in a row, Savoya was quick to thank his father Jean Michel ‘Moustache’ and Antoine Bernardo for the great work in the pits and his main sponsors Mugen, RB, Proline and Ultimate Racing.  With one of his two 2010 objectives achieved, the Shark’s attention now turns to adding a World title to his CV later this year.

Another driver to really turn up the heat today, Batlle was very dejected at having come so close to getting back his 2007 title.  The Associated driver was very short on words saying they had a great car today but a clutch problem in the final meant he could do nothing about challenging Savoya once he got out front the second time.

Top 3 finishers

Completing the podium in front of a very enthusiastic home crowd, Miguel Matias said he was very happy with third. The tall Portuguese ace said as always the start was a problem with his Losi 8ight having ‘some special magnetic field that always helps it to find crashed cars on the track’, but coming from last twice in the early part of the 45-minute encounter he said third was a great result. This completes a full collection of podium trophies for the 2003 Champion having finished 1st, 2nd and 4th in previous finals.

Missing out on a repeat of his 2009 podium finish Martin Bayer said he didn’t choose a good set-up for the race and over the opening 15-minutes he didn’t drive very well either so at the end fourth was not all that bad.  The big shock of the race was Yannick Aigoin’s seventh place finish.  The Frenchman, who looked so in control yesterday, said he didn’t make a good start but still felt he had the package to take the win despite Savoya and Batlle stepping up the pace.  Unfortunately at 19 minutes the 2006 Champion, and a great ambassador for our sport, had a flame which as he put it himself ‘killed his brain’.

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Making his Main Final debut here this week, the new European Junior Champion David Ronnefalk was very please with finishing sixth and at being the top Kyosho driver.  Not in anyway phased by the pressure of competing in the big race for the first time, the 14-year-old ran as high as third in the race but damage to the rear right shock, which lost all its oil, hampered the pace of the Swede’s Team Orion powered MP9 .

So 30 years on from the first every European Championship race for 1:8 Buggy the race here in Portugal has been a historic one and shows that Off Road is in a very healthy state.  Red RC would like to thank EFRA’s Carlos Gomez for his support during our coverage of this event and also our sponsors Team Durango, LRP and Mugen Seiki who made our trip here possible.

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Final results
1. Renaud Savoya (FR) – 65 Laps in 45:13.018 (Mugen/RB)
2. Robert Batlle (ES) – 65 Laps in 45:31.867 (Associated/NR)
3. Miguel Matias (PT) – 64 Laps in 45:28.502 (Losi/RB)
4. Martin Bayer (CZ) – 63 Laps in 45:00.230 (Losi/NR)
5. Jérôme Sartel (FR) – 63 Laps in 45:09.122 (Xray/RB)
6. David Ronnefalk (SE) – 63 Laps in 45:20.342 (Kyosho/Orion)
7. Yannick Aigoin (FR) – 63 Laps in 45:25.102 (Losi/NR)
8. Elliott Boots (GB) – 63 Laps in 45:34.519 (Mugen/RB)
9. Lee Martin (GB) – 63 Laps in 45:38.030 (Losi/NR)
10.Jérôme Aigoin (FR) – 62 Laps in 45:05.695 (Kyosho/NR)
11.Alberto Garcia (ES) – 60 Laps in 45:16.068 (Mugen/Reds)
12.Rodrigo Luis (PT) – 50 Laps in 37:16.472 (Mugen/OS)

Full results can be found online here.

View our event image gallery here.