Drivers give first impressions of Worlds track

Drivers got their first taste of the 1:10 Offroad World Championship’s contentious astro turf track this morning at the Yatabe Arena with the overall layout getting a positive reaction however the track’s washboard section has been widely branded as ‘a stupid’ feature.  A completely new track build to that used for the warm-up and having had no running drivers reported the astro turf needs more time to get a groove however in terms of outright 2WD lap times it was the defending champion Jared Tebo who set the pace from former champions Neil Cragg and Ryan Cavalieri.  Over 3-consecutive laps it was Cragg who laid down the early pace ahead of Japanese star Kohta Akimoto.

A driver whose extensive preparation for the event hasn’t gone unnoticed, Tebo’s first reaction to the track was that ‘the layout is faster than it first looks’.  Describing the ‘turf’ as ‘weird’, the Kyosho/Orion star put this down to the different sections of the green astro turf having been ‘laid backwards’.  Overall liking the layout to drive, the American did add that it was going to make for ‘difficult racing’.  One of the few drivers to like the five section rubber strips, describing it as ‘pretty cool’, he said ‘at least its one section that can offer mistakes’.  Tebo’s Kyosho team-mate Naoto Matsukura, who is being heavily tipped for success in 4WD later in the week, the Japanese driver posted the fourth fastest lap time but was lacking any sort of consistency saying his car was ‘maximum soft’ and had too much roll.

2005 World Champion Cragg was ‘pretty happy’ with his opening practice saying he felt ‘pretty comfortable’ so it was a ‘thumbs up’ start to proceedings.  Asked about the layout, the Associated driver replied ‘it is what it is but at least it has plenty of features’.  The British driver added ‘I’m not sure about the ripples’ but felt he did ‘better than (he) thought’ through the section when it ‘caught a few others out’.

Team-mate Cavalieri said ‘everything is fun except for the black strips’.  The 2011 World Champion likes the flow of the track and said once he gets the washboard figured out it should be more enjoyable.  Commenting on his modified B5M, of which the AE are not allowing photos, the reigning US National Champion said it felt ‘pretty decent’ and the plan for the day’s four other practice runs was to ‘change one thing here and there’ as they get used to the track.

Heading the efforts of the Yokomo team, owners of Yatabe Arena, Lee Martin ran the fifth fastest lap time.  The reigning Euro Offroad Series champion, a championship run on carpet tracks, and winner of the new season’s opening round 2-weeks at the Nurburgring, the British ace is one of the 2WD title favourites.  Giving his initial thoughts on the track, he said ‘the astro is strange’ adding ‘it is not laid in sequence’.  In terms of the layout he described some of the jumps as ‘a bit odd’ pointing out the blind spot on the approach to the table table.  In terms of his car he raced his EOS car with the Warm-up set-up but the car had ‘too much punch’ and for the next practice he will switch to his ‘Worlds car’ to see how it feels.

Third fastest over 3-consecutive laps, Ryan Maifield initially responded with a silent look when asked for his thoughts on the track.  Describing the track as ‘really weird’ he said driving it felt like you had a broken servo.  The Team Losi Racing driver said this is was due to the astro having no groove yet adding he was ‘not sure how long that takes’.  Commenting on the washboard the American replied the ‘rubber things are stupid’.  Asked if they would be key to a lap, he said it was key not to crash there but the key was going to be putting clean laps together for the entire 5-minutes.

Elsewhere HB’s Canadian star and reigning 1:8 World Champion Ty Tessmann, who ran a Top 10 lap time, described the track as ‘pretty fun’.  Running a pre-production version of HB’s upcoming 2WD kit release he said he has ‘just moved around weight for astro’. Pointing out that unlike most other manufacturers they don’t have an ‘astro turf chassis’ plate, he said the track was a little slower than he thought it would be and so he will make changes for this for the next practice.

Another of the European’s expected to feature strongly, Joern Neumann ran the 7th fastest time over 3-consecutive laps.  The Serpent driver described the track as ‘tricky for everybody’, adding the grip is different with some sections having very high grip while others he is struggling for steering.  Describing the washboard as ‘stupid’, the German continued ‘for what, there is no need for this’.

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Track Focus – Yatabe Arena

Track Name – Yatabe Arena
Organisers – JMRCA
Country – Japan
Location – Tsukuba (70km East of Tokyo)
Direction – Anti-clockwise
Surface – Astro turf
Previous events hosted – 1995 1:10 Offroad Worlds, 2000 Electric Touring Car Worlds

The 16th running of the IFMAR 1:10 Offroad World Championships takes place at the World famous Yatabe Arena with the Japanese venue’s second hosting of the bi-annual event sparking much debate and divide within the offroad racing circles. With the World’s best drivers having fought it out for the sport’s greatest prize on dirt since the championship was first held in 1985, 30-years on the week long event will be run without a bit of dirt in sight.  After receiving a proposal from the Japanese hosts seeking to use an artificial surface, the sport’s governing body IFMAR accepted, allowing the Yatabe Arena to create the first astro turf World Championship track.  With many purists opposed to allowing an Offroad World Championship to be decided on a ‘touring car track with jumps’,  7-time Offroad World Champion & legend of the sport Masami Hirosaka sees a place for both dirt and astro turf tracks in the sport.

The Electric Section Chairman of FEMCA (Far East Model Car Association) and the legendary face of track owners Yokomo, Masami said the key reason for creating an astro turf track was to ‘bring something new’ to the Offroad World Championships.  With artificial track surfaces popular in Europe, the multi-round carpet surface Euro Offroad Series establishing itself as a competitive high profile championship, Masami feels this track type has great potential bring the sport to new places and help it grow grow adding its ‘very easy maintenance’ and much easier to bring astro or carpet to a shopping mall than dirt.

Originally built in October 1989,  the track is this time round housed in the newest extension to the facility which was erected in 2011.  Covering an area of 21.5m deep by 38m wide,  the track has been extensively redesigned since the Warm-up race held in June.  A track that was widely viewed as lacking obstacles, the new track design is a combination of driver and industry inputs with Masami saying ‘reactions from the internet’ also taken into account pointing out we ‘couldn’t ask just one person to design the track’. The biggest noticeable addition is the large tabletop which was built for the Warm-up race but left out as the JMRCA didn’t like the size of it. The other change is the roller which has been redesigned giving it a better angle which JConcepts’ Jason Ruona has now officially named as the ‘ high elevation roller’. One somewhat contentious addition to the track is the ‘washboard section’.  Made of five widely spaced rubber strips, drivers are expressing concerns over the height but Masami said the height was intentional so as to make the cars run more offroad than touring car ride heights.  Another key change is the moving of the main straight from in front of the drivers stand to the opposite side.  The timing loop has also moved to the straight which Masami said should leading to ‘exciting final laps’. One of the key people reasonable for ensuring the preparation of the track for the 150 drivers was facility manager Hiroshi Suzuki. Following the Warm-up race the track had to be completely taken up so a touring car carpet track could be laid which then had to be removed to make way for the Worlds track.  Under the astro turf are are two layers of wooden sheeting running criss-cross the depth allowing all the piping, strips and corner dots all to be screw securely into place.

While drivers will not get their first feel for the track until free practice tomorrow, defending 2WD World Champion Jared Tebo was positive about the new layout saying ‘it looks pretty good now that they added more obstacles’.  The Kyosho diver added ‘it looks fast but I’m ready to get on it’.  Asked about the addition of the rubber strips, the American said, ‘I don’t know till I get to run on them but hopefully it adds a spot where if you get reckless you’ll crash’.  Winner of 2WD at the Warm-up Race, Lee Martin echoed Tebo’s views saying ‘It looks good’ but adding he was ‘not sure about the strips, they could be good or bad’.  The Yokomo driver said the up face of the table top is a bit blind which could be a problem if a car crashes there but otherwise should be fine’.  Feeling having the straight at the back is better, he predicts the astro is going to need a few runs to break into the new layout.

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