April 28, 2017

Chassis Focus – David Ronnefalk

Chassis – HB Racing D817
Engine – Team Orion CRF Factory RS V3 WC
Tyres – JConcepts Detox R2 Compound
Fuel – Runner Time Top 25
Radio/Servos – Sanwa/ Highest D1000
Body – JConcepts Silencer
Remarks – The current IFMAR 1:8th World Champion, David Ronnefalk, is making his first appearance at the Philippine Masters and has displayed very enthusiastic emotions about being here and racing in Asia. The WC is running a basic version of the D817 with the addition of hard arms and carbon fibre stiffener inserts to give him the feel and response that he needs on this sugar/molasses coated track. With the temperatures near 32C, Ronnefalk has gone up in shock oil and diff oil to adjust for the hotter climates here in Manila.

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April 27, 2017

Track Focus – CV Offroad Track

The Philippines is not a country that springs to mind when one thinks of 1:8 Offroad racing but this weekend it will welcome some of the sport’s biggest names as they travel to Manila to complete in the Philippine Masters.  Now in its seventh year, the event has slowly grown each year but 2017 is certainly a year that should put it on the international calendar with the entry boasting 3 World Champions including the reigning champion David Ronnefalk.  First organised in 2011 by Dogbone RC, the country’s Mugen & Serpent distributor, the race moved to the current CV Offroad Track in 2014 where it started to enjoy an increasing profile.  With the Quezon City RC Car Club bringing in Scotty Ernst as an announcer for their first year of hosting the race, aiming to get international attention from such a move, things have just grown ever since.  With 2015 marking the first year of US star Adam Drake and Aussie Kyle McBride competing, this year they are joined by Ronnefalk, Ty Tessmann, Atsushi Hara, Richard Saxton with even HB Racing designer Torrance Deguzman coming out of international retirement to race.  Such a strong entry marks out the Philippine Masters as Asia’s main annual buggy event, a fact QCRCCC, which this year celebrates its 20th year since founding are proud of and keen to develop further.

Such is the international scale of this year’s Masters, when one of the local racers who is an airline pilot approached Philippine Airlines to support the event, the country’s flag carrier had no hesitation in coming onboard as one the race’s main sponsors.  Attracting drivers from 14 countries, one of the big selling points of the Philippine Masters is that in addition to taking part in the race, drivers have the opportunity to enjoy the country’s tourism.  This is something Ronnefalk will do after the race when he travels to Palawan for a few days which has been named as the best island in the world by a number of travel magazines.

As a facility, the track and pits cover an area of 2,500 square meters.  Built in 2009, in preparation for its ever increasing Master’s entry it has had its pit area more than doubled in size this year. Originally built more as a 1:10 Offroad track, it has evolved in to a 1:8 layout with club races attracting around 30 entries.  In terms of key events apart from the Masters, the track is the location for the Philippine Nationals which is a multi round championship with all races held at CV Offroad Track. One of the country’s top racers, Edward Sio was responsible for this year’s Masters layout. One key feature of the track surface is the use of molasses to bind the dirt and reduce the dust with a built in watering system also helping to maintain the surface.

With the race marking his first visit to the Philippines, Ronnefalk said , ‘the facility is great and the people here are super friendly.  I really enjoy coming to Asia now to race and it is becoming an important market’.  In terms of the track, the HB Racing driver said, ‘the layout is cool.  It is pretty challenging on the left side but overall it’s not difficult to learn’. Asked his favourite feature, he said, ‘I like the roller double into the left side of the track because its a place you can make up a lot of time or lose a lot’.  He added, ‘It is small compared to European tracks but its still fast and has high grip so I think it will make for good racing’.

Also on his first trip to the country, being one of the first drivers to arrive and admitting the venue far exceeded his expectations, Hara said, ‘overall its a really nice layout with a good balance and high grip.  It is not too difficult but the left side jumps combination is challenging’.  With 1:8 nitro, eBuggy and Truggy making up the race schedule, the Japanese driver feels the track may be ‘a little too tight for truggy’.

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February 19, 2017

Coelho takes TITC with ‘hardest win’ of career

Bruno Coelho has successfully defended his TITC title after a thrilling A3 at the Infinity Addict Circuit in Thailand with the Xray driver afterwards describing the victory as the ‘hardest win of (his) career’. Winning the opening final with ease, he would crash out of A2 while leading meaning the 15th running of Asia’s most famous race would be decided between him and A2 winner Nicolas Lee in the closing encounter.  Securing the overall TQ on a tie breaker with Infinity’s Jilles Groskamp, it was the Dutch driver who despite no longer being in title contention would put him under the most pressure as he had done in A2.  Running bumper to bumper, Groskamp would hit Coelho allowing Ronald Volker to go to the front but it was now the battle for second that got all the attention.  Having the fastest winning time, second would still be enough for Coelho to give Xray its third consecutive TITC win but having waited following the contact, Groskamp wanted to get the pass on the ETS Champion.  Applying intense pressure however he couldn’t get it done as Coelho, despite the Bangkok heat, kept his cool to get the all important P2 for a win even his great rival Volker said afterwards he didn’t get easy.  While Lee would get 2nd, something he was guaranteed after A2, Volker would somehow pull off an unexpected podium with 3rd thanks to his A3 win leaving Groskamp to miss the podium at what is now his home race.

‘I never had pressure like this before.  It was 5-minutes complete pressure and I have to say I don’t like the feeling’, was how a noticeably relieved Coelho summed up A3.  Reflecting on the event he continued, ‘It was a super hard weekend.  It was one of the hardest races going from being fastest in practice to struggling the first day of qualifying but we worked really hard to keep fighting for the win.  I don’t believe it was set-up.  We made changes and there was zero difference. Maybe it was the additive or cleaner we used but me & Alex had the same problem.  We made one week of work preparing and when we switch to race tyres everything changed but we fight to the end and even with the problems we got the win.  This is the hardest win of my career’.

‘I shouldn’t have backed off in A2’ was Lee’s reaction to finishing as the runner-up.  His first time to podium at the TITC he continued, ‘Obviously I am still with second but I was too close to winning’.  With the result decided by a tie-breaker, each driver having a win and a second and the fastest winning time the decider, Lee’s win was just 0.791 of a second slower.  On A3, in which he finished 5th, he said, ‘I tried to pass Alex (Hagberg) but he made no mistakes and I was stuck behind him all the way’.  Having led the Yokomo challenge all weekend, Lee said he was ‘happy’ to finish as the top Yokomo adding he hopes he can carry his momentum from the weekend into his next race which will be the first outdoor round of the current Euro Touring Series season which takes place in Spain in April.

The last non Xray driver to win at the TITC when he became champion in 2014, Volker said, ‘I have no idea how I should feel. I think I’m quite happy with 3rd after what happened on Friday but the whole weekend was crazy’. The World Champion went on to say, ‘I put on new tyres for A2 and was slowest of everybody’s lap time and then change to my A1 set and was totally on pace.  I did benefit from mistakes ahead of me to get the win, admittedly I would have been better if Nicolas could get the win’.  Set to go head to head next weekend in Germany with Coelho at the final carpet round of the ETS, he complimented his rival by saying ‘Congrats to Bruno as he didn’t have an easy weekend either’.

On a weekend when Infinity officially announced its EP program, Groskamp said, ‘I’m really happy, just with my performance.  It’s disappointing to finish 4th as it would have been nice to be on the podium with everyone supporting me here but the car was amazing’.  He continued, ‘I was all over Bruno but I just couldn’t get passed.  I knew he was in for the win and didn’t want to crash him again but it’s good he wins and I’m all over him’.  Having dominated the opening day of qualifying taking all three qualifiers, he said, ‘we were a bit unlucky here and there but I’m super happy with the cars performance and I think maybe I am the moral winner of this race’.  Behind Groskamp, Infinity team-mate Andy Moore would complete the Top 5.

In the other classes Jan Ratheisky took the TQ and win in Open Brushless 13.5 class ahead of local Kittipong with the podium being completed by the Tamiya of former TRF team-manager Kono Takayuki.  In Formula, the single 15-minute main having a mandatory tyre stop, it was Infinity driver Trin who took the win, thanks to a lightning quick pitstop, ahead of Serpent designer David Ehrbar and the Yokomo of Naoya Kitagawa with Top Qualifier Ratheisky fourth.  In the Front Wheel drive class Hong Kong legeng Stick King took the win while Non Boost 17.5 went to Patchara S. with Philippine driver Axo A. victorious in Tamiya Super GT.

View the event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

February 19, 2017

Chassis Focus – Jin Sawada

Chassis – Destiny RC-10S
Motor – LRP X20 4.5T
ESC –  LRP Flow X TC Spec
Battery – LRP 5600mAh
Tires (handout) – Sweep
Radio/Servo – KO Propo
Body – Protoform LTC-R

Remarks – Young Japanese driver Jin Sawada was running the Destiny RC-10S in Thailand with a number of new, soon to be released, parts as well as some already available option parts. The main new items are the new suspension mounts that now using inserts instead of ball for better tuning possibilities, 1mm lower bulkheads , a motor mount that is 1.5mm closer to the centre line and smaller diff and spool pulleys. In terms of setup he started with his standard setup and just played with the shock package, finally settling on softer springs and harder oil.

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