January 6, 2017

Chassis Focus – Max Machler

Chassis – Awesomatix A800 X
Motor – LRP X20 13.5 Stock Spec
ESC – LRP Flow
Batteries – LRP 7500mAh Stock Spec
Tires – LRP (handout)
Radio/Servo – Futaba
Bodyshell – Protoform Mazda Speed6
Remarks – Awesomatix team manager Max Machler is testing here at the DHI Cup their latest version of the A800 called “X”. The new car features a longer chassis for an increased wheelbase, with the servo position also brought forward compared to the previous version. The sway bar mounts now feature ball bearings, and the top deck has been revised in shape and its centre mount is also new. The bulkheads and the spur mount have also been slightly updated in order to offer a better belt tension adjustment, while the shape of the wishbones has been changed to obtain more clearance to the rims at full steering lock. The linear steering system is now standard in the kit, and the hubs have been updated in the search for better handling in high bite conditions.

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January 6, 2017

Track Focus – DHI Cup Odense

Host Club – Odense R/C Minirace
Country – Denmark
Location – Odense
Venue – Stadium Arena Fyn
Track type – Temporary
Surface – Carpet (Onroad), Carpet & Wood (Offroad)
Direction – Anti-Clockwise (Onroad), Clockwise (Offroad)
Previous races hosted – 16 (Onroad), 5 (Offroad)

After recharging their own batteries and looking to get out of the food coma that resulted from the Christmas over indulgence, for drivers the DHI Cup in Denmark marks the dawn of the new season and for the last 17 years has been the traditional opening event of the international touring car race calendar. While the event may not have its once blue ribboned international driver line up, it still packs a punch in terms of the quality of its driver line-up and it quickly books out proving that it is still a favourite among racers. Based in Denmark’s third largest city of Odense, the famed international Touring Car event has also become an important European offroad event with both the offroad and onroad classes racing simultaneously on two back to back tracks that are separated by a huge drivers stand.

On the onroad track, the entry split into 90 Super Stock and 70 Modified entries, the first thing noticeable about the carpet is that it’s grey, the DHI Cup organisers not following the trend of running the now almost standard issue Black ETS carpet. Heading the large organisation team that put on the event and impressively deconstruct the entire set-up with military precision on Sunday night, Ulrich Rassmussen said the reason for continuing to run grey carpet is that they like that after some running on the brand new carpet a visual race line develops. As for the 2017 layout, defending Champion Ronald Volker was again tasked with coming up with the plans for the track design. While his 2016 design didn’t translate to how he had envisaged it, the Yokomo driver who is chasing his 8th DHI Cup win, said ‘they did a very good job’ with building the track this year. Describing his layout as ‘not too difficult or not too easy’, he added, ‘while it has a couple of hairpins it is quite flowing’. Pointing out the short angled wooden sections that are used to layout the curved sections of the track, Volker said they are a very good system as you can run up on them without flipping the car making them a much better option than the standard corner dots.

The Offroad track, the 160 entries split evenly between 2WD and 4WD Buggy, is made up using last year’s touring car track carpet. A total of 10 wooden jumps, mostly carpet covered, making up a lap of the track, the main feature is the wall section which having been in front of the drivers has now been moved to the front right side of the track. Defending 2WD champion Michal Orlowski said while the layout is fine, the grip is low adding ‘you can hear the wheels spinning as you drive around’.

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August 27, 2016

Volker finally gets his World title after dramatic A3 in China

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Ronald Volker has finally got the World title he so desperately chased for the last number of years.  Widely recognised as the one world’s best touring car driver as he reigned over the highly competitive Euro Touring Series for five consecutive seasons, the Electric Touring Car World Championship have eluded him and his long time Yokomo engineer Yukijiro Umino, but that all changed in a dramatic closing A-Main in Beijing this evening.  With Top Qualifier and A1 winner Bruno Coelho favourite to lift the title despite handing Volker a win with a mistake in A2, a change in track conditions would catch out the Xray driver.  Losing the rear of his car early in the opening lap and jumping the curbing, Volker would go to the front only to get hit by Coelho in the chicane bunching up the field and making for a dramatic couple of laps.  With Volker somehow getting back the lead he lost corners earlier as Coelho and Marc Rheinard came together, once in front he never looked back as further carnage gave him an unassailable lead.  Of the carnage the biggest benefactor would be Viktor Wilck, finishing 2nd in A3, he would take a surprise first Worlds podium finish getting third behind Coelho.

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‘I can’t describe how happy I am’, said Volker who hardly had any voice left by the time he made it down from the driver stand to a huge cheer.  The German continued, ‘I’m overwhelmed by all the people congratulating me and all the emotion, especially of the team.  It’s been a very very long road to achieve this amazing World title and I have to thank Umino the most.  I don’t know anyone else so passionate and I know he wanted the title as much as I did.’  Commenting on the title deciding race, he said, ‘After the storm after A2 we went softer 2 stops with the diff and I was on third run tyres which I think nobody tried.  I had a good feeling (they would be good) from pre worlds testing and right from the start Bruno got loose and I got ahead of him’.  He continued, ‘In the chicane he tagged me from the rear and I went on the dust while also not waiting for me, which was not clean.  After a few more laps I was in the lead and was then helped by the carnage behind.  The car was perfect right on time and I was just able to cruise and enjoy the drive.  I was super cruising’.  Helping Yokomo retain their crown as the World Champion manufacturer, he finished up by saying, ‘I have to thank everyone who supported me over the years, the hard work of LRP, everything was on top performance today. A big thanks to all my friends and especially my beloved girlfriend’.

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Pulling off after his second lap with a damaged car,  Coelho said, ‘the track changed a lot and we changed the car to get it safe but it was sliding in the rear a lot causing me to make a mistake’.  He added, ‘we were unlucky on the point of the weather’, a huge wind between A2 and 3 blowing dust and leaves across the track.  Not one to mince his words, the dejected Portuguese driver said, ‘I lost the race in A2 not this one’.   Having qualified 3rd team-mate Alexander Hagberg would come of badly from the carnage ending up P7 in A3 which saw the potential of a first Worlds podium evaporating into 7th overall.

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No more surprised by his podium finish than his competitors, Wilck said, ‘I drive many Worlds without luck but today finished with the right luck’.  The first World Championships for Serpent’s out of box design 4X, the Swede said, ‘the result is good for David (Ehrbar, the cars designer), the company and the car’. Asked about A3, he replied, ‘I know my car is good in low traction.  There were cars everywhere and I crashed with Chrissi (Krapp) and rolled over but somehow came out OK. Then I was able to stay ahead of Fischer’, his former team-mate get a third for A3.

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Equalling his previous best Worlds finish, 4th in Germany in 2010, Krapp said ‘fourth is the shittiest place to finish’.  The Tamiya driver continued, ‘maybe tomorrow I’ll be happy but today I’m pissed’.  Taking some consolation from the fact he was the highest placed Tamiya, finishing ahead of his 3-time World Champion team-mate Rheinard, he said my car was good and third was possible’.  On the last Main in which he got fourth ahead of team-mate Akio Sobue, who took sixth overall, he said, ‘I got hit from Viktor and was really mad with him but afterwards I looked at the footage and saw it was not really his fault.’  With China’s first hosting of an IFMAR World Championships impressive and hugely successful, drivers have 2 years to figure out what went wrong and prepare for South Africa where it might be third time lucky for Coelho.

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