Red RC Events

July 27, 2010

New in the Pits – Part 1

New in the Pits - Part 1

We have finally arrived in Houston and going through the pit lane we have come across a number of new products, most stand out item being the Serpent DLS system. This new system uses links that through a simple rocker system ensures that when the car rolls both the rear tires remain evenly on the track on both sides. This gives consistent handling and provides more grip in the corners. The system was given to all Serpent drivers present, with the majority of the team drivers using this new system, with the exception of Chris Tosolini who stays with the standard 733 rear end.

New in the Pits - Part 1

German company Orcan have their new low CG cooling head in use here. A much flatter and lower design than the conventional cooling head seen on engines, in testing it actually cooled the engine better and because the weight is now a lot lower, the chances of grip roll when the traction comes up is reduced. This new system in use by all the Orcan drivers including Dirk Wischnewski.

New in the Pits - Part 1

New from LM, makers of the Sirio engine, is this optional chassis plate for the Mugen MTX-4. Seen on the car of Francesco Tironi it is 3mm thick, yet is wider than the standard plate and is said to provide a better feeling mid corner. The engine mounting has also been changed and now uses 4 fixed position holes which gives the perfect mounting position for the gear mesh, making it simpler to mount of dismount the motor.

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July 27, 2010

Qualifying gets underway in Texas

Gulf Coast Raceway

After 5 days of practice things start to get serious today here at the 2010 IFMAR 200mm World Championship as the first round of six scheduled rounds of qualifying get underway at the impressive Gulf Coast Raceway here in Houston, Texas. The fourth running of these World Championships all three title holders have made the trip to the USA as have nine of the 10 finalist from Portugal where Daniele Ielasi picked up his crown.

Daniele Ielasi

Ielasi has switched chassis since 2008 moving to Team Shepherd and the German manufacturer has on paper one of the best driver lines-up as they make their World Championship debut here. Joining the defending champion is the Top Qualifier from the last Worlds Jilles Groskamp and current 1:10 electric Touring Car World Champion Marc Rheinard along with Top American racer Josh Cyrul. Ielasi, who took third at the Pre Worlds back in March, said the track has been very different in practice but was happier with his Picco powered Velox V10 yesterday after making changes to the rear diff. Despite crashes in both runs the Italian found the car to be more consistent and is pretty confident heading into the first qualifier later today, the day being divided into A and B groups with the faster B group doing their first two rounds of qualifying in the afternoon. Like most of the top drivers Ielasi, who was 10th fastest in the reseed practice, said tyres are critical for this track with the rim hardness a major factor.

Jilles Groskamp

Team-mate Groskamp has not had a good start to his event after Sunday’s reseed finds him in the B group, but the Dutch driver believes he has found what may be the a key factor in his lack of pace. Last night he found the receiver pack in his Orion engined Velox was running on four rather than the five cells. Although running in the lower group of heats the European EP Touring Car champion believes this shouldn’t pose too much of a problem in terms of catching backmarkers having run in that group in yesterday’s two controlled practice runs. Rheinard set the pace in that practice run, with the three fastest consecutive laps, and the three times electric World Champion starts qualifying with No.1 on his Novarossi powered Shepherd in the top heat.

The Runner-up in Portugal, Chris Tosolini heads the Serpent challenge. Serpent failed to get any cars in the final at the last worlds but are looking a lot stronger with their 733 chassis. All the drivers with the exception of Tosolini are running a new back end on the car here which team leader Michael Salven says give the car a consistent camber during suspension movement. The Top Qualifier at the Pre Worlds, Tosolini has opted not to use the new rear end as he says he wants to run what he knows. Asked how practice has gone the American replied ‘terrible’. Having had some power issues with his Novarossi engines he adjusted the chassis set-up to compensate but having sorted the engines now he is struggling with that set-up. Winner of the warm-up race, Team-mate Paolo Morganti said practice ran well for him and they have a good base set-up for the opening qualifier. Although American, Morganti said he prefers European style track and believes the Gulf Coast circuit is really going to suit electric drivers.

Martin Hudy

Completing the podium at the last World’s was Team Xray’s Martin Hudy and the Slovak driver is pretty happy with how the last five days have gone despite finding the track very different to what he is used to in Europe. Team-mate and 2008 Finalist Teemu Leino summed up the track perfectly saying its like racing F1 in Monaco, one mistake and your done. The Finnish ace is already focusing his attentions on the finals as he believes consistency is going to be the key to a good result come Saturday. Asked what area of set-up he has been focusing on Leino, who runs Orion engines, said tuning the engine is important as you have a lot of 180 degree corners and then a decent length straight meaning you need a good balance between low and high end power. Described by many as the man who should have won in Portugal, Paul Lemieux is one of the pre-event favourites here. The US National Champion, is one of two American’s on the team who could give the US its first World Champion. Xray ran their own Challenge event here in May where Ralph Burch took the win against a really strong field and in the reseed here was top American with the fourth fastest time. Another of the Team Xray drivers who is set to feature strongly is European Champion Dirk Wischnewski. The German, who missed out on the final last time round after hitting trouble in his Semi, said his NT1 has been working perfectly since his arrival in the US and is confident he can make the final this time round having ranked 2nd fastest in the reseed.

Keisuke Fukuda

Mugen’s challenge comes from 2006 World Champion Keisuke Fukuda but the Japanese ace said he is having difficulty adapting to the track layout. Running Novarossi engines, the 29-year-old reigning Japanese Champion didn’t get to travel to the Pre Worlds and has had to use practice to learn the track and this has meant he is still not comfortable with the set-up on his MTX-4R which is hard to drive. Direct qualifier at the last World Championships Francesco Tironi thinks it is going to be difficult to repeat that here and says just making the final here will be a very good result. The Italian, who has a different chassis plate to his team-mates, believes the American’s have a distinct advantage on this track but is much happier with his Sirio powered example after making changes in the controlled practice that while didn’t make the car any faster made it far more consistent. Another quick Italian on the Mugen team is National Champion Giuseppe D’Angelo who was a direct qualifier at the Warm-up race with his Reds Racing powered chassis. The Italian had battery problems in the race but is now faced with a different problem, with 5-minute run time being a problem due to the high temperatures they have experience over the past few days. Mike Swauger is another to carry the hopes of Japanese manufacturer but the American 1:8 Onroad Vice World Champion admits he is not as comfortable with the smaller 1:10 cars.

Adrien Bertin

The first ever 200mm World Champion, taking the historic win in Brazil in 2004, Adrien Bertin heads the Kyosho squad. The Frenchman really likes the layout but his campaign took a bit of a set-back in Sunday’s final practice run. Suffering a one-way bearing failure on the straight his car came to halt just before the end of the straight and despite repeatedly calling it he was collected by 2008 finalist Dario Balestri’s Team Magic which resulted in both cars being binned. Bertin switched to the same set-up as Japanese ace Takaaki Shimo for his second car and although much harder to driver he was able to knock 4/10th off his times. Heading up the engine program for Team Orion he said an increase in oil content of the controlled Byron fuel has caught them out a little as he had prepared the engines for the lower 9% originally specified.

Balestri is hoping things will start to come together for him today having struggled in the practice. A member of the factory Novarossi team, the Italian said the track is totally different to anything he has raced on before and following his crash with Bertin, the rain yesterday made it difficult for him to truly gauge with his second car where he is against his rivals.

After the first round of qualifying we should get a more accurate picture of who is where in terms of pace over the full 10-minutes with the drivers’ fuel man set to play a key role. Yesterday, rain effected proceedings in the afternoon and forecast is giving rain again today and tomorrow but for now it’s dry despite plenty of clouds overhead.

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July 10, 2010

Savoya inflicts 3rd successful ‘Shark’ attack

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Three is a magic number and today Renaud ‘The Shark’ Savoya entered the sport’s history books as he notched up his third consecutive EFRA 1:8 Off Road European Championship. The 30th running of these championships, the French ace won here in Portugal from Robert Batlle, the man whom he took the title from back in 2008. Having struggled by his standards in qualifying, ending up only fourth, Savoya bounced back on the day it counted most. Switching to a Proline combination of Crimefighters on the front and Bowties on the rear of his RB powered MBX-6, he kicked off the day with an easy win in his Semi final even though he ran out of fuel on the last lap. This cost him pole for the Main race, which went to Batlle, but Savoya made his intentions clear during the practice start for the big race. ‘I made sure I passed him during the practice start to add a little more pressure on him ahead of the race’.

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The race started out very much as a three way battle with Top Qualifier Yannick Aigoin joining the pair as they left the rest of the field behind. Savoya, having found a way passed the pole sitter in the opening laps, described the conditions as very difficult and they caught him out handing the lead back to Batlle. Having learnt his lesson the Mugen driver said he switched his focus to making safe clean laps rather than pushing hard to catch his Spanish rival and risk another mistake. Knowing he had one less fuel stop to make he continued with his plan and it worked as he took the lead 1/3 of the way into the race and never looked back. Delighted to become Europe’s most successful buggy driver he said the last lap was full of tension but once passed the line his body went through the most amazing release of pressure. Achieving this great feat of three in a row, Savoya was quick to thank his father Jean Michel ‘Moustache’ and Antoine Bernardo for the great work in the pits and his main sponsors Mugen, RB, Proline and Ultimate Racing. With one of his two 2010 objectives achieved, the Shark’s attention now turns to adding a World title to his CV later this year.

Another driver to really turn up the heat today, Batlle was very dejected at having come so close to getting back his 2007 title. The Associated driver was very short on words saying they had a great car today but a clutch problem in the final meant he could do nothing about challenging Savoya once he got out front the second time.

Completing the podium in front of a very enthusiastic home crowd, Miguel Matias said he was very happy with third. The tall Portuguese ace said as always the start was a problem with his Losi 8ight having ‘some special magnetic field that always helps it to find crashed cars on the track’, but coming from last twice in the early part of the 45-minute encounter he said third was a great result. This completes a full collection of podium trophies for the 2003 Champion having finished 1st, 2nd and 4th in previous finals.

Missing out on a repeat of his 2009 podium finish Martin Bayer said he didn’t choose a good set-up for the race and over the opening 15-minutes he didn’t drive very well either so at the end fourth was not all that bad. The big shock of the race was Yannick Aigoin’s seventh place finish. The Frenchman, who looked so in control yesterday, said he didn’t make a good start but still felt he had the package to take the win despite Savoya and Batlle stepping up the pace. Unfortunately at 19 minutes the 2006 Champion, and a great ambassador for our sport, had a flame which as he put it himself ‘killed his brain’.

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Making his Main Final debut here this week, the new European Junior Champion David Ronnefalk was very please with finishing sixth and at being the top Kyosho driver. Not in anyway phased by the pressure of competing in the big race for the first time, the 14-year-old ran as high as third in the race but damage to the rear right shock, which lost all its oil, hampered the pace of the Swede’s Team Orion powered MP9 .

So 30 years on from the first every European Championship race for 1:8 Buggy the race here in Portugal has been a historic one and shows that Off Road is in a very healthy state. Red RC would like to thank EFRA’s Carlos Gomez for his support during our coverage of this event and also our sponsors Team Durango, LRP and Mugen Seiki who made our trip here possible.

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Final results
1. Renaud Savoya (FR) – 65 Laps in 45:13.018 (Mugen/RB)
2. Robert Batlle (ES) – 65 Laps in 45:31.867 (Associated/NR)
3. Miguel Matias (PT) – 64 Laps in 45:28.502 (Losi/RB)
4. Martin Bayer (CZ) – 63 Laps in 45:00.230 (Losi/NR)
5. Jérôme Sartel (FR) – 63 Laps in 45:09.122 (Xray/RB)
6. David Ronnefalk (SE) – 63 Laps in 45:20.342 (Kyosho/Orion)
7. Yannick Aigoin (FR) – 63 Laps in 45:25.102 (Losi/NR)
8. Elliott Boots (GB) – 63 Laps in 45:34.519 (Mugen/RB)
9. Lee Martin (GB) – 63 Laps in 45:38.030 (Losi/NR)
10.Jérôme Aigoin (FR) – 62 Laps in 45:05.695 (Kyosho/NR)
11.Alberto Garcia (ES) – 60 Laps in 45:16.068 (Mugen/Reds)
12.Rodrigo Luis (PT) – 50 Laps in 37:16.472 (Mugen/OS)

Full results can be found online here.

View our event image gallery here.

July 10, 2010

Renaud Savoya makes it 3 in a row

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Renaud Savoya has made history here in Guarda by winning his third 1:8 Off Road European Championship in a row. The Mugen driver won from Spain’s Robert Batlle, who lead for the first 1/3 of the race, with Portugal’s Miguel Matias completing the podium. Title favourite after TQ’ing the event, Losi’s Yannick Aigoin could not match the pace of Savoya and Batlle early on and after suffering a flame out struggled, eventually finishing only 7th.

Final results (provisional)
1. Renaud Savoya (FR) – 65 Laps in 45:13.018 (Mugen/RB)
2. Robert Batlle (ES) – 65 Laps in 45:31.867 (Associated/NR)
3. Miguel Matias (PT) – 64 Laps in 45:28.502 (Losi/RB)
4. Martin Bayer (CZ) – 63 Laps in 45:00.230 (Losi/NR)
5. Jérôme Sartel (FR) – 63 Laps in 45:09.122 (Xray/RB)
6. David Ronnefalk (SE) – 63 Laps in 45:20.342 (Kyosho/Orion)
7. Yannick Aigoin (FR) – 63 Laps in 45:25.102 (Losi/NR)
8. Elliott Boots (GB) – 63 Laps in 45:34.519 (Mugen/RB)
9. Lee Martin (GB) – 63 Laps in 45:38.030 (Losi/NR)
10.Jérôme Aigoin (FR) – 62 Laps in 45:05.695 (Kyosho/NR)
11.Alberto Garcia (ES) – 60 Laps in 45:16.068 (Mugen/Reds)
12.Rodrigo Luis (PT) – 50 Laps in 37:16.472 (Mugen/OS)

July 10, 2010

Savoya takes Semi B but Batlle on pole

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Renaud Savoya has won the second Semi final of the 2010 Euros despite his car flaming out on the last lap. The defending Champion was on target for a 29 lap run but his RB powered Mugen came to a stop a third of the way around the final lap. A marshal got the car but then ran across the loop giving him a faster run than Batlle but the time keepers removed the rapid 36 second lap and he will now start second in the final. Pole sitter Jerome Aigoin took second ahead of 14-year-old Kyosho team-mate David Ronnefalk who makes his first Euros Main and has already secured some silverware as he is the only Junior in the Top 12 meaning he is the new European Junior Champion. Xray’s Jerome Sartel is back in the final for the first time since 2007 after he finished fourth ahead of Rodrigo Luis who is on a real roll having started out the day in the 1/8 final. The final driver to make it into the 30th European Championship final is Alberto Garcia. The Spaniard called time delaying the start of the Semi B but still managed to bump up for a second time today. We lost another three of last years finalist with Daniel Vega, Teemu Leino and British Champion Neil Cragg not making the cut.

Semi Final B results
1. Renaud Savoya – 28 Laps in 19:48.702
2. Jérôme Aigoin – 28 Laps in 20:11.912
3. David Ronnefalk – 28 Laps in 20:25.987
4. Jérôme Sartel – 28 Laps in 20:28.868
5. Rodrigo Luis – 28 Laps in 20:29.401
6. Alberto Garcia – 28 Laps in 20:41.493
7. Javier Puche – 27 Laps in 20:00.929
8. Daniel Vega – 27 Laps in 20:04.212
9. Bruno Coelho – 27 Laps in 20:36.168
10.Teemu Leino – 26 Laps in 20:02.022
11.Carlos Duraes – 26 Laps in 20:04.969
12.Neil Cragg – 24 Laps in 20:26.819

Final starting order
1. Robert Batlle (ES) – Associated/Novarossi
2. Renaud Savoya (FR) – Mugen/RB
3. Yannick Aigoin (FR) – Losi/Novarossi
4. Jérôme Aigoin (FR) – Kyosho/Novarossi
5. Elliott Boots (GB) – Mugen/RB
6. David Ronnefalk (SE) – Kyosho/Team Orion
7. Martin Bayer (CZ) – Losi/Novarossi
8. Jérôme Sartel (FR) – Xray/RB
9. Rodrigo Luis (PT) – Mugen/OS
10.Miguel Matias (PT) – Losi/RB
11.Lee Martin (GB) – Losi/Novarossi
12.Alberto Garcia (ES) – Mugen/Reds

Full results can be found online here.

View our event image gallery here.

July 10, 2010

Big come back from Batlle

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Robert Battle has made a huge comeback in the the first of the Semi finals, the Associated driver getting the better of Top Qualifier Yannick Aigoin who made a number of mistakes during the 20-minute encounter. Aigoin set the fastest lap of the race but Batlle, who started 6th, was really on form and was the only one to record 29 laps which means he now holds provisional pole for the 45-minute title deciding race which is due to start at 16:00. Having bumped up from the 1/4 finals, outgoing Junior Champion Elliot Boots has secured himself a place in the Main for the first time finishing third ahead of 2009 podium finisher Martin Bayer. After a disastrous opening few laps to the race which saw him fall right back down the order, No.2 starter Miguel Matias worked his way back up to 5th, with massive encouragement from the local crowd, to ensure Portugal’s only European champion is still in the game here in Guarda. The final driver of this Semi to book himself a place in the final is British driver Lee Martin. The race saw the demise of two more of last year’s finalists with Darren Bloomfield finishing only 8th while Daniel Reckward failed to finish.

Semi Final A results
1. Robert Batlle – 29 Laps in 20:40.247
2. Yannick Aigoin – 28 Laps in 20:04.621
3. Elliott Boots – 28 Laps in 20:16.459
4. Martin Bayer – 28 Laps in 20:28.177
5. Miguel Matias – 28 Laps in 20:31.740
6. Lee Martin – 28 Laps in 20:32.273
7. Linus Thern – 28 Laps in 20:36.607
8. Jörn Neumann – 28 Laps in 20:41.007
9. Darren Bloomfield – 28 Laps in 20:44.182
10.Antonio Jesus Gomez – 27 Laps in 20:11.684
11.Daniel Reckward – 25 Laps in 18:34.027
12.Borja Hernandez – 25 Laps in 20:05.208

Full results can be found online here.

View our event image gallery here.