August 16, 2018

Track Focus – Welkom R/C Arena

Track Name – Welkom R/C Arena
Host – Antonio Caroli
Country – South Africa
Location – Welkom (2.5 hour drive SE of Johannesburg)
Direction – Anti-clockwise
Surface – Indoor asphalt

2018 marks the 10th running of the 1:10 Electric Touring Car World Championships.  Reaching such milestones should always be a special occasion and thanks to one man’s vision that it definitely happening as the event is set to take place on its greatest stage yet – the Welkom RC Arena.  When announced during the previous World Championships, hosted by China, that South Africa was going to be the destination to decide who is officially the World’s No.1 driver, what has greeted drivers on their arrival to Welkom didn’t exist, it wasn’t even an architectural drawing.  With the build started in July of last year, the final result is a track that can firmly lay claim to being the planet’s most impressive indoor onroad facility – yes the 2018 IFMAR World Champion will be decided on an indoor track for the first time since the inaugural running of the event at Yatabe back in 2000.  Don’t however let that fool you into thinking that means it is a small track – there is nothing small about Welkom RC Arena.  The building covers a floor space of 3500 sq metres, the huge track, which is up there with some of the best known outdoor tracks in size, is laid out in an area 70 metres wide by 32m deep for a lap length of approximately 320 metres. The facility also boasts a second floor which houses its restaurant and seating covering a total of 1200 sq metres.  The high drivers stand is 20 metres long and has a unique feature in that each of the 14 drivers positions are separated into individual cubicles.

The visionary behind this impressive Welkom RC Arena is Antonio Caroli.  An RC racer who is also the distributors for Xray in South Africa, when he originally made his application for the World Championships it was to be held at an existing track which he intended to expand.  On working on plans for the extension they couldn’t get the existing structure to work quite how we wanted and so the decision was made to use adjacent land and build from scratch with a whole new project.  In July 2017 the build was started. The asphalt was the last major part of the construction to be completed with a section of the first floor level designed to be higher in order to allow the specialist machinery access to lay the race surface inside the completed building structure.  With the official Worlds Warm-up Race held at the end of April, Antonio said the track was only 75% complete then and with the asphalt laid only 2-weeks earlier this is one of the reasons the event hasn’t attracted more participants. Given the efforts Antonio has put into creating a world class facility for our hobby and the industry it is a real shame more drivers are not here to be part of the event.  Having also constructed an outdoor dirt track as part of the facility Welkom RC Arena will apply for the 2020 1:8 Offroad World Championship and based off the show it has put on so far its would have to be a very serious contender.

Asked his thoughts on the venue, reigning World Champion Ronald Volker replied, ‘An awesome, amazing facility’.  He added, ‘its a long lap and a good layout although I am not sure about the red and yellow curbing.  You want to go on it for a shorter lap but sometimes they can make the car unbalanced’.  On specific areas where time might be lost and made on the track he said, ‘the chicane (on the right side of the track) is narrow and you enter it fast so you could touch it and fly off there but there is no specific bit where you could gain time.  All the performance is in the car’.  Winner of the Warm-up Race, Bruno Coelho said, ‘It’s an amazing facility.  There are no words to describe it for people that are not here’.  He continued, ‘It is a big track with a 23-second lap time.  Its got fast parts, its got technical parts but you cant use the curbs.  You might make a tenth over the curbs one lap but lose 3 or 4 tenths the next time round so its best stay off them.  The driver stand is high which I like and the divides are a good idea’.

Image Gallery

May 28, 2018

2018 RROC Invitational class winner – Focus

Marc Rheinard (Germany)

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May 28, 2018

Volker & Sobue complete final Reedy Race podium at Tamiya Raceway

Ronald Volker and Akio Sobue completed the podium at the 21st running of the Reedy Race of Champions, both drivers registering wins in the 12th and final round of racing at the legendary race’s final farewell to the Tamiya Raceway track.  With Marc Rheinard wrapping up his 7th Reedy Race title with a win in the penultimate round of racing, the final series of races was about deciding the podium with the first race up the important one in the fight for 3rd.  Contenders Sobue, Viktor Wilck and Christopher Krapp lined up together with Wilck also having an outside chance of taking second overall from Volker but his main focus was on keeping the final podium position he had held all day.  Starting on the front row, Sobue got the perfect start to take the lead and while Wilck tried to chase him down he couldn’t get by the Infinity driver. With Krapp having a rough race behind them, Akio would get the win snatching 3rd overall from Wilck on tiebreak.  With that position settled, the final race would see Volker and Rheinard line-up on the same grid and having duelled it out for the win all weekend until Volker suffered a DNF this morning, it would be a fitting end to the event as the pair but on a world class duel that highlight exactly why the Tamiya track has been such a hit with drivers.  Coming through the field, they battled over the win with Volker putting a great pass on Rheinard even complimenting his rival afterwards on his ‘nice move’ on him.  While Rheinard will go down as the last driver to win the Reedy Race at the Tamiya track, Volker has the claim of winning the last ever race.

‘That was a perfect finish to the event’, was Rheinard’s reaction to his battle with Volker.  He continued, ‘Ronald made a mistake and I got by and then somehow we both got to the front.  It was a good fight and it was a nice move he made on me’.  With Rheinard rolling as they touched he said, ‘it was definitely fair and a perfect way to sign off racing at this track.  I took the overall win and he took the last race win so we both have a special memory of the track’.

Asked about the race, Volker diverged for a moment saying, ‘I’m more sad at realising during Scotty’s (Ernst) speech that this is the last time here.  This was one of my first overseas races I made and I always loved it here and the track’.  Coming back to the race, the Yokomo driver who started 6th said, ‘I was staying patient behind the others and then tried to set-up a pass but Marc went by.  Then we ended up toe to toe in P1 and 2. I enjoyed that round a lot, it was the first time this year we had that situation. Considering I was not able to win because I had 3 bad runs today I am satisfied with the win and the pass’.

Claiming his first Reedy Race podium at Tamiya Raceway, but his second podium having previously done so at Norcal, Sobue was happy with his event saying, ‘today was a good comeback after a bad day yesterday, 3 wins and one second was a good day for me’.  The Infinity driver continued, ‘I have to congratulate my team-mate for his win, he is the best Reedy Race driver’.

Summing up his fourth place overall, Wilck said, ‘Ahh, a bummer. I knew I had to beat Akio to be on the podium.  He got by Julian (Wong) at the start so I didn’t he didn’t hold him up at the start and he drove without mistakes so I couldn’t get hold of him to attack’.  The Serpent continued, ‘that’s racing. I was third last year tied on points and this year I’m fourth tied on points’.  Behind the Swede, Krapp would finish 5th with Jilles Groskamp completing the Top 6 of the 24 invited drivers.

While no new or temporary home has been decided yet for the next Reedy Race of Champions, one driver who will be invited to race the with the best drivers in the World is Gonzalo Cortes.  Taking the TQ in the Open class, the Team Associated driver won the opening two A-Mains to secure the overall win with victory in A3 giving the Serpent of former Open Champion Felix Law second while Christian Lopez completed the podium. In the the other two classes, Eric Anderson took the 17.5 Stock Expert win for Awesomatix while German visitor Thomas Oehler took his ARC to victory in the 17.5 Stock Sportman class.

View our complete event gallery here.