New pipe ruling keeps Sirio away

The Sirio factory team are noticeable absentees from this year’s 1:8 On Road Euros as the Italian manufacturer struggles to get its engines to work under the new 2008 EFRA pipe rulings. In an attempt to reduce noise levels, the sports European governing body introduced new specs for .21 exhausts for the 2008 season. The new pipes have reduced the noise but the design criteria has made it more difficult to tune engines as they now have a more critical sweet spot. Following the Warm-up race here in Valencia a number of manufacturer wrote to EFRA asking for the postponement of the new regs so as to give them more time to develop the new pipes but the ruling remains in place.

At the recent 1:8 Off Road Euros in Crete Sirio chief Andrea Rossi told Red RC they were experiencing problems with the new pipes and hinted that his line up of star drivers may have no choice but to sit out the Spanish event unless EFRA, to whom they had written, reconsidered its position. The team did not attend the Warm-up back in April for the same reason. In 1:8 Off Road the new pipe ruling has had a much lesser impact on engine tuning.

With the official Sirio team absent we will be without the talents of Francesco Tironi, winner of last month’s EFRA 1:10 Italian GP, and Dutch EP star Jilles Groskamp. It is unclear as to whether young Portuguese hot shot Bruno Coelho will race but so far the Mugen driver has not been seen at the track. Coelho’s father Cesar is one of the key organisers of the 1:10 200mm Worlds which take place in Portugal next month and it is understood important works to the Lisbon track have delayed their arrival here in Spain.

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Drivers still focussing on Run time

With no official times to work off it’s hard to tell who is quickest, but looking on the track and talking to drivers its clear that the Shepherd team of Pietsch, Schaefer and Spanish racer Carlos Peracho are quick, while for Serpent its Salven who is still turning fast laps along with Mark Green and Oscar Cabezas. For Mugen, Rick V is doing some very fast laps as is Motonica team driver Dario Balestri. A lot of the top guys, such as the Italians, that you would normally expect to be quick are still working on choice of body and engine pipe combination before focusing on putting in really quick times.

It is precisely that search for time that has lead some racers to try fuel with a lower nitro content, with some drivers trying both 20% and even in some case 16%. With Spanish fuel firm Merlin present trackside to support their drivers, it seems that those racers using their fuel are the only ones able to try this. Merlin team driver Oscar Cabezas, who tried the 20% mixture, believes there is little or no noticable power difference and he did get longer run time, but for him personally there is still some run time needing to be found.

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Europeans in Valencia gets underway

The European 1/8th scale circuit Championships are in full swing as the competitors go into their 2nd day of practice here in Valencia. The weather is very hot and humid and is causing more problems for the drivers than for the machinery as everyone tries to stay in the shade, even at this early stage in the day. All the top names are here, including current World and defending European Champion Lamberto Collari as well as the other usual supects made up of many previous National and International Champions.

So far the racers have been very happy with the track, a mix of high speed corners, flat out on and off the main straight, as well as slower 180 degree bends that test the car under braking and a tricky kink just left of the drivers stand where a lot of time can be won and lost. The traction is high and the kerbs are low, so the drivers have a wide sweet spot and they are presently trying the find the quickest way around. Racers that were fast yesterday were EFRA GP winner Robert Pietsch and his Shepherd team mate Patrick Schaefer, local ace Oscar Cabezas, Michael Salven who is on his first visit to the track and World Vice Champion Andrea Cristiani all racing Serpent. Practice is still underway so we will keep you posted throughout the day.

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