April 15, 2016

Track Focus – RCI Shanghai

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Name – 2016 AOC Rd1
Host – RCI V2
Country – China
Location – Shanghai
Direction – Counter Clockwise
Surface – Carpet

The opening round of Scotty Ernst’s Asian Onroad Championship is again kicking off at RCI V2 in Shanghai, the track having hosted the season starter for the previous 2 years. RCI V2 is the 2nd iteration of the RCI facility, this purpose built track located in an office complex south west of the city having being built 2 years ago. A major difference for this year is the change from CRC to ETS carpet and the addition of corner dots, the previous version relying on wooden boards for the corners. While a privately owned track there is a club and members can use the facility 6 days a week, with Monday the closing day. As usual for Asian tracks there are pit rooms that can be rented, as well as two hobby shops and neighbour is a covered offroad track run by SMP Racing. Built so as to promote RC racing in China, high quality international facility having helped to improve the level of racing in the country, RCI V2 is one of 5 and the only privately owned track to have been selected by the Chinese sports council as an official government training centre.

In terms of track layout, it is very much influenced by the big US indoor events such as the IIC and Snowbirds, its size of 32m x 14.5m a major factor, with lap times just below 10 seconds in Modified Touring and just below 9 seconds in 1/12th scale. Asked about the track, reigning ETS Champion Ronald Volker says the addition of the dots and the change to ETS carpet has made the track much more comfortable to drive and he believes the layout will make for some close and tough racing. Adding that it’s “incredible what RCI have made with the facilities compared to 2 years ago”, when he was last here, he believes the key to running fast times on this new layout is to find enough steering as the track offers a lot of rear grip.

A driver making his first visit to the RCI facility and in fact his first trip to Asia ETS Formula Champion Jan Rathiesky, who is running 4 classes this weekend, really likes the track saying it was ‘incredibly smooth yet very tricky’. A ‘super cool track and really nice facility’ with the curbs on each  side of the corners it was ‘safer than the ETS’ in that sense but added the end of the straight was very difficult as it is the only point on the track that doesn’t feature curbs, but a tight line is key to gaining time.

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January 10, 2016

Tone to tone A1 win for Coelho

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World Champion Bruno Coelho made light work of the opening 4WD Buggy A-Main at the DHI Cup to take an easy tone to tone win over defending champion Jörn Neumann. His first year to attend the Danish event, the Top Qualifier immediately stamped his authority on the race setting the fastest lap on lap 2 with his rivals best 2/10ths of a second off. Starting from second on the grid, the morning’s 2WD Buggy winner Michal Orlowski would complete the Top 3 after two mistakes, the second letting Neumann get by him. A driver many hoped would take the challenge to Coelho, David Ronnefalk struggled to get by Orlowski retiring just after half way when his HB D413 sheered a drive shaft.

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Commenting on his win Coelho said, ‘My car was perfect like always and I made no mistakes’. With little else to say about the uneventful race, the Xray driver said, ‘I hope I can repeat it in A2’.

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‘I’m happy with second because I think Bruno is too fast to beat’, was Neumann’s reaction having started 4th. Describing his Serpent SX4 as feeling ‘OK’ for A2 he plans to try different diffs in the car which he said should give him better forward traction.

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Orlowski shared Neumann’s thoughts about Coelho pace. The 14-year-old said, ‘I tried to match Bruno but he was faster and I crashed’. After that he said he ‘tried to secure second place but crashed again’, the error with 3-laps to go dropping him behind Neumann. Planning a camber change for A2 to get better rotation from his K2 he said the goal now his an overall podium which he hopes he can lock up in A2.

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View the complete 4wd Buggy results here.

View the event image gallery here.

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January 10, 2016

Volker takes easy A1 win at DHI Cup

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Ronald Volker claimed an easy win in the opening A-Main at the DHI Cup this morning in Denmark. The Top Qualifier and reigning champion lead from start to finish with an anticipated challenge from Awesomatix driver Viljami Kutvonen failing to materialise. In the end, after a late roll by Kutvonen, Volker’s Yokomo would win by over 4-seconds with Xray’s Bruno Coelho a distant third.

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‘A good start to the day’ was how Volker summed up his win. Chasing his 3rd consecutive win at the famous Odense event, which he has won 6 times, Volker said while his LRP powered BD7 was ‘a little loose’ it was ‘the same for the entire run so it was predictable so it was not an issue’. Pushing hard at the start so as to try break away from the pack he said once he got the gap to around 1-second he was able to drive a controlled race. Coming up on a group of traffic, he said it wasnt a problem as at the same time Kutvonen had his roll so there was no pressure to force the issue with the group of battling cars, all driving being well informed of Volker’s presence by the race referee. Planning no set-up changes for A2, Volker said he will try to repeat his A1 strategy of trying to making an early break.

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Summing up his race Kutvonen said it was ‘Not perfect, I lost too much time over the first minute’. Setting the fastest lap of the race as he put on a push to try make back the time but he said the gap was too much and his recovery attempts lead to his roll which lost him over 2-seconds. Looking to A2, the Finn said ‘I guess I’ll have to win the next two finals’. In terms of his A800, he said he will do his tyre prep ‘slightly different’ with a view to having better pace early in the race.

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Putting a completely different set-up on his car for A1, which he said made little difference, fifth place starter Coelho said his result was only possible because Adrian Berntsen made contact with Alexander Hagberg, both having started ahead of him. The Portuguese driver is putting his lack of pace on his DHI Cup debut down to a bad set of tyres. Coelho’s team-mate Hagberg would finish 4th ahead of another of Xray’s drivers Marek Cerny. The Swede said, ‘Berntsen hit me and I flipped. And I was too slow to catch up’. After the contact Berntsen would fall to the back of the field, the Gizmo driver finishing last behind Meen Vejrak.

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In Super Stock, Top Qualifier Tim Benson took an easy win with his new Kyosho TF-7. Behind the German the big battle was between Xray’s reigning champion Marek Cerny and Jan Ratheisky for second. Cerny would see off the challenge of his team-mate, finishing 1-second off the leader.

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View the complete touring car event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

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