Chassis: Capricorn C804 R
Engine: Ielasi Tuned GP9R Spec2
Exhaust: Ielasi Tuned / IFMAR 2185
Radio: KO Propo EX-Next
Servos (Steering/Throttle): KO Propo GrAsper II BSx4S One 10 / HCS RSx4S One 10
Body: Xtreme Hyper Diablo
Tires (handout): Matrix
Fuel (handout): Maxima
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Mugen Seiki’s Shoki Takahata is to defend the 1:8 Onroad World Championship title he won in California four years ago from P3 on the grid in Japan after a near perfect Semi Final performance. Starting the second of the half hour encounters from P2 on the grid, the Japanese driver would win from the Capricorn pairing of pole sitter Toni Gruber and Dominic Greiner, the later having to start from the back of the grid after calling time in the warm-up to change engine. In the first of the Semi Finals, Jesse Davis executed a text book race to repeat his 2019 performance when he booked himself into his first World Championship final. Behind the Australian, Infinity team-mate Naoto Matsukura secured his place in the 1-hour final ahead of a delighted Francesco Tironi, the Italian having bumped up from the quarter finals. As the drivers with the fastest two race times outside of the Top 3 Semi Final finishers, 2013 World Champion Tadahiko Sahashi and 1:8 Onroad World Championship debutant Kouki Kato complete the 10 car line up that will compete for the 23rd IFMAR World Title here at Infinity International RC Speedway.
Reacting to the performance that allowed him to the join Top Qualifier Simon Kurzbuch and Super Pole winner Dario Balestri at the front of the grid, Takahata was pleased with his race saying his car & engine were both good. With an impressive tyre stop that was almost a second better than that of Gruber, he said while the pace was very fast the race went pretty much as planned. With drivers changing all four tyres after 15-minutes in the Semi, Takahata described tyre wear as ‘high’ and he expects to change them at least twice in the final.
Commenting on his race, Gruber said, ‘in the end we made it and that was the goal’. Elaborating on his race he added, ‘It was good Dominic called time so we had time to make some changes to the car set-up. It was better to drive but still not the feeling I had the other days. It’s a 1-hour final and anything can happen but we need to think about the set-up and see what we can adjust’. Set to line-up fourth on the grid, he concluded, ‘I am happy to make the final but right now it will be a difficult race if we don’t find a better set-up’.
Clearly a mentally draining 30-minutes having started from the back of the grid, 2017 1:10 World Champion Greiner said he called time in the warm-up as he broke his engine. Calmly changing engine in pit lane under the watchful eyes of all his rivals and their mechanics, something he clearly practiced, an early flip in the race added to the intensity of the challenge ahead for the German. With Thilo Diekmann and Alex Thurston crewing him, the pressure in pit lane was also palpable with Capricorn boss Patrizio Rossi looking on. Greiner explained, ‘I flipped one time at the beginning so I tried to stay calm but overtaking here is not so easy’. On his car he added, ‘we moved the wing position and adjusted the set-up before the start because the car was loose but it made the car too easy to drive so we will good back to before for the final’.
‘Perfect’ was how Davis summed up his Semi win. Finishing 7th on his Worlds final debut last time out, he continued, ‘I had it on cruise mode and then just tried to control it at the front’. With very well executed pitstops from his crew, he said, ‘they did a good job and I hope they can keep it up for the final’. On tyre wear, he said, ‘there is a lot, at 15-minutes it was hard to drive but in the Main I should be able to stretch it to 20-minutes.’
‘I’m so happy to go to the final’, was Matsukura’s reaction after his race, the Japanese driver having failed to finish any of the 6 rounds of qualifying as he ran out of fuel. The 1:12, 1:10 Electric and 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Champion added, ‘I made a mistake in pitlane on my first stop but after that it was a pretty good race. My engine was a little off so we will change for a new one for the final’. Asked about tyre wear he said, ‘for me it was OK. I think 20-minutes is possible’.
A hugely popular result for Tironi, the Italian said, ‘I am super happy honestly’. He continued, ‘It was really close and I felt a lot of nerves but it all worked out well and we can make the final’. The Infinity driver said he was able to refuel on 4-minutes and he believes this might give him an advantage over his rival so he is feeling positive about the final.
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Chassis: Serpent 990
Engine: Ielasi Tuned GP9R
Exhaust: Ielasi Tuned / IFMAR 2185
Radio: Sanwa M17
Servos (Steering/Throttle): Sanwa PGS-XR II
Body: Xtreme Super Diablo
Tires (handout): Matrix
Fuel (handout): Maxima
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Chassis: Infinity IF18 III
Engine: Picco Monza 9
Exhaust: Max Power / IFMAR 2164
Radio: Sanwa ZZ
Servos (Steering/Throttle): JG TC1 / TC1
Body: Xtreme Super Diablo
Tires (handout): Matrix
Fuel (handout): Maxima
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15-years ago one of the icons of our sport claimed a race win that to this day he describes as the ‘highlight’ of his illustrious racing career. That driver was Atsushi Hara and the race in question was the 2008 IFMAR 1:8 Offroad World Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina. As anyone who races nitro well knows, it is very much a team sport. Today here in Japan, on the penultimate day of the 1:8 Onroad Worlds, that World title conquering combo of Hara, legendary race mechanic Masayuki Miura and the winning Hot Bodies D8 buggy were reunited for the first time in a decade and a half. As Red RC was in its infancy and didn’t cover its first 1:8 Offroad World Championship until 2-years later in Thailand, it was an opportunity to recreate the winning team photo of 2008 with our good friends Hara and Miura and do a ‘Retro Chassis Focus’ on the historic buggy.
The story of today’s reunion actually started back in September after Hara’s winning buggy, still complete with its red coloured Charlotte dirt, was discovered for sale on eBay by former US racer Tyler Vik. Following its win of the biggest prize in the sport in 2008, the buggy went on display at the Hot Bodies Headquarters but when the company ceased trading it disappeared. As we already reported, thanks to the generosity of the RC community who supported a crowd funding campaign to buy the car back, it was then sent across the Globe in bit of a Olympic Flame relay style journey that involved many big name racers helping to get it be delivered back personally to Hara – something the Japanese driver is truly grateful for. Today was the final piece of the reunion as Miura, who due to heading up the organisation of the Onroad World Championship here at Infinity International RC Speedway, only got to see the car for the first time today since its win in the USA. After getting the winning team photo it was a special moment to see Hara remove the D8’s bodyshell and hand it to Miura to start a trip down memory lane for the iconic offroad and onroad duo. Having had some time to study the car, the first thing Hara pointed out was how lucky he was to win that day having discovered the front CVD pin was working its way loose. Something he said, ‘5-minutes more and it would have been done’.
With the car attracting plenty of attention, one of the questions asked was what was the foil tape over the servo horns for to which Hara explained Muira’s idea behind it, ‘if the screw came loose the tape would stop it from falling out then it wouldn’t come off’. With everything original on the car as it came off the track that day, Hara said the only thing to change was the stickers on the bodyshell which have faded. Hara said even after all these years the car’s O.S engine and its bearings still feel perfect. Turning the engine’s flywheel by hand, onroad engine tuner Bertram Kessler acknowledged with a nod of his head that the engine did feel good 15-years on.
Unable to divulge the information back when they won, Hara shared an interesting story about the engine in the buggy. He said, ‘I was a factory O.S driver and they gave me plenty of engines but at the time French engine brand JP Racing had a special edition of the engine and Miura wanted to try it. So in the US we went to a hobby shop and bought one and that was what we used in the final. The only difference on the outside was the JP had a marking on the (cooling) head so we just switched that.’
Hara also explained how the race helped form his ‘very strong relationship’ with radio manufacturer Futaba. He explained, ‘Radios with built in 2.4Ghz were only new and the 4PX was the first radio from Futaba. Many Futaba sponsored drivers didn’t want to use the new radio at the Worlds because they were afraid it might give trouble. I was the only one to use it in the final, Futaba was super happy’.
The tyres on the buggy are the same set that he finished the 1-hour final on, he was able to verify this as they were an unmarked ‘prototype tyre’ from Pro-Line that would become the Revolver. He said, ‘after running bowfighter, Bowtie on the front and Crimefighter on the rear, he said because there was very little data on the new tyre all the other drivers stuck with that. When I switched to the new tyre I was 2-seconds a lap quicker in the final. It was an all Pro-Line podium but I was the only one with this tyre’.
Genuinely grateful to everyone who helped get the buggy back to him, explaining the reason it was hand delivered was that the guys involved in getting it back explained if the shipping company lost it then it would be gone for good, he said the win in the US was very special. ‘I was 28 at the time and it was the peak of my career. Everyone expected an American driver to win. Europe didn’t really have good drivers then and nobody thought I could win’. Asked about his plans for the buggy, he said, ‘after here it will go to my house to stay and I will get a glass cover for it’.
Click here to check out our Retro Chassis Focus of Hara’s D8 Buggy.
Chassis: Hot Bodies D8
Engine: O.S Speed VZB V Spec
Exhaust: O.S T2060SC
Radio: Futaba PK4
Servos (Steering/Throttle): Futaba BLS 353 / S9351
Body: Hot Bodies
Tyres : Pro-Line Prototype (would later go into production as the Revolver)
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