Willetts tops muddy opening qualifier

Mugen driver Simon Willetts set the pace in the opening round of qualifying at the 1:8 Offroad European Championships which got underway in less than ideal conditions and resulted in a few surprises at the top end of the time sheets.  Having completed the opening two days of practice under beautiful sunny skies, the weather took a turn yesterday evening as heavy rain arrived over Sand-am-Main.  Continuing to rain overnight, competitors arrived to a very wet track with a number of leading drivers making a request to officials to delay the start to allow some of the water to drain off.  Unfortunately for the first few groups of drivers the event started as originally scheduled and they had to contend with very difficult conditions.

First casualty of the wet track was TLR’s Martin Bayer.  Seeded No.1 after practice his group was first on track and just as the 5-minutes started his 8ight succumbed to water in the radio’s electrics.

Running in the fifth group to go on track, Willetts admitted he was lucky to not have been in the earlier heats but felt he had driven well and put in a good clean run.  Running super soft AKA City Block on his Orion powered MBX-6, the British driver said the crucial thing was staying on the line and he complimented the other drivers in his heat for giving him space to pass.

Making it a British 1-2 for the round Darren Bloomfield was very happy with second.  Running super soft Grid Iron from AKA on his Losi 8ight, the British Champion said he had an issue with France’s Jerome Sartel who  held him up for 2 laps.  Costing him a potential to TQ for the round, Bloomfield said despite being delayed he was very happy with second as he went into the opening qualifier with his fingers crossed for a Top 10 time.

Third fastest was Team Xray’s Teemu Leino. The 2009 Finalist said despite the track looking bad his run felt pretty good. Happy with the set-up of his LRP powered XB808 on Tuesday, the Finn struggled a little yesterday but says he is confident he can now maintain his pace.

Making it four different cars in the Top 4 Kyosho’s Jerome Aigoin summarised the challenge of the track by saying ‘I finished’.  Running AKA Grid Iron on his Novarossi engined MP9, the Frenchman said he had some problems with traffic due to all the cars looking the same as a result of being covered in mud.  Behind Aigoin German Mugen driver Stefan Byesse and Chris Doughty from Britain driving a Durango completed the Top 6.

Only 36th fastest, defending champion Renaud Savoya summed up his run in the muddy conditions by saying ‘I did what I could’. Running a clean run the Team Durango driver said the car was easy to drive and he didn’t put a wheel wrong but with the conditions changing so much over the first four groups it was going to be impossible to match the times of those who ran later.

Faring a little better with the 18th fastest time Yannick Aigoin said that while the conditions changed a lot,  following the schedule was probably the fairest systems as no one could predict whether it was going to dry up and rain more.  The TLR ace said the rest of the day could be all about the luck of the timing of your heat.

Practice pace setter David Ronnefalk was one of the drivers that wanted the start of qualifying delayed.  Running in Group 2 along with Yannick Aigoin, the young Swede said the track was really slow and with a mistake he ended up only 27th.

Warm-up race winner Robert Batlle failed to finish his run. The former champion suffered an engine flame out but said he struggled with the braking on his Mugen with the buggy always locking up under breaking.

Round 1 Qualifying – Top 12
1. Simon Willetts – Mugen/Orion – 10/5:12.846
2. Darren Bloomfield – Losi/Nitrotec – 10/5:13.069
3. Teemu Leino – Xray/LRP – 10/5:16.430
4. Jérôme Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi – 10/5:19.605
5. Stefan Byesse – Mugen/RB – 10/5:19.770
6. Chris Doughty – Durango/LRP – 10/5:21.807
7. Miguel Matias – JQ/RB – 10/5:22.095
8. Ricardo Monteiro – Losi/RB – 10/5:22.518
9. Edouard Hugon – Mugen/Alpha – 10/5:22.790
10.Simo Ahoniemi – Mugen/Ninja – 10/5:23.130
11.Ben Williams – Xray/Bullit – 10/5:23.281
12.Lee Martin – Tamiya/OS – 10/5:23.523

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Manufacturer Statistics

1:8 Offroad is a very important market for the various r/c manufacturers and that is clearly evident by the level of leading industry figures present here at the European Championship in Sand-am-Main, Germany.

With 175 drivers competing in the 31st running of these EFRA championships it is defending champions Mugen who are the No.1 choice of chassis with 40 drivers choosing the MBX-6.  Behind them Xray is the second most popular buggy with 23 racers running the XB808 followed closely by Kyosho who have 22 cars and TLR who have 19 users. Becoming a pretty crowded market at total of 20 different chassis brands are represented in the field.

In the engine department it is also the reigning champions that are the top choice with 39 drivers running RB. Novarossi are the number 2 choice with 23 users followed by OS with 19 and current World Champions Orion who are preferred by 17 of the 175 racers who represent 20 European Nations.

As full size tyre company Pirelli puts it ‘Power is nothing without control’ and one company that looks to have taken control of the buggy tyre market is AKA.  75 drivers, over 40% of the entry here, are using the American company’s rubber and recognising the importance of the European market they have former World Champion & one of the company’s founders Mark Pavidis on hand to offer support with choosing the right tyre.  Once the market dominator Proline are a distant second with 24 users followed by Spanish brand Pro Circuit which are being run by 20 drivers.

Special thanks to John Yves Ferte, Team Manager for Mugen Europe who took the time to compile the statistics.

Ronnefalk fastest on Day 2

Current European Junior Champion David Ronnefalk has set the pace on Day 2 of the 1:8 Offroad European Championships, the Kyosho driver posting the fastest time of the day in the second controlled practice when he outpaced Borja Hernandez and the morning’s pace setter Martin Bayer whose CP1 time was the second fastest of the day.

Fifth overall at last year’s championships in Portugal, Ronnefalk said his Orion powered Kyosho has been good all day but 2 mistakes in CP1 meant his pace went unnoticed.  Making some small set-up changes for CP2, the 15-year-old said his driving was much better and it was more this than the changes to his MP9 that allowed him to post the fastest 5-minute run and fastest lap for the round.  Running AKA Impact tyres in both rounds of practice Ronnefalk plans no changes to his set-up but will use this evening’s short 2-minute practice run of the reseeded heats to try AKA’s Grid Iron pattern.

Running a thicker shock oil for his second practice to reduce chassis roll, Hernandez said the change made his Mugen even easier to drive.  Continuing with AKA iBeam tyres the Spaniard, who last made a Euros final in Greece in 2008, said he feels he is in good shape for qualifying.

With their 8ight tipped to suit the unique hillside Sand-am-Main track, TLR enjoyed a strong team showing in CP2 with Bayer, Darren Bloomfield and Yannick Aigoin setting the 3rd, 4th and 5th fastest times. Bayer used the run to try AKA’s wheel stiffeners which he said made his buggy very consistent and feels the set-up would be good to use in the finals.  Not as fast as CP1 the Czech driver will run without the stiffeners for qualifying.

Runner up at the Warm-up race, Bloomfield said he made a big break through with his set-up.  Changing the shock oil and pistons, the more firm ride stopped his Nitrotec powered 8ight from double bouncing on landings making it easier to drive.  With the set-up making the buggy lean more on the tyres, the British Champion said he will continue to run Losi’s Red Blockhead tyre as they suit the new set-up.  Bloomfield plans to reduce the droop for the quick 2-minute blast this evening as he looks to make the buggy more precise to drive.

Using the first controlled practice to back to back tyre inserts Aigoin said it confirmed the data they had collected in pre-event testing. Using the 3-minute warm-up of CP2 to try Pro Circuit’s new and as yet unnamed tyre he switched to the Spanish company’s Square Impact for the timed 5-minutes.  Preferring the new tyre he will run it in the opening qualifier along with making some small adjustment to his nVision powered Losi to fine tune the set-up.

One of the stars of the recent 1:10 Electric Offroad World Championships in Finland where he finished runner-up in 4WD, Team Durango’s Joern Neumann set the 6th fastest time. Changing the to -1 degree rear hubs and adding more tow out on the front of his Picco powered DNX408 the German said it was now much easier to drive.  Running on JConcepts tyres, Neumann ran Barcode in CP1 but said while good on line they got very loose offline.  Switching to Hybrids for CP2 he said overall they worked better and he plans to stick with them for the morning’s opening qualifier.

Durango team-mate Renaud Savoya, who was second fastest in CP1, didn’t feature at the sharp end of the afternoons timing after going ‘wild’ with his set-up.  The 3-time reigning champion used his second run to try some ideas which he said were too much making his RB powered DNX408 too hard to drive.  Happy to have tried the changes knowing he already had a good set he will revert back to the CP1 setup for the first qualifier.

For Warm-up race winner & pre-event favourite Robert Batlle the second controlled practice helped them discovered why his Mugen has been nervous to drive throughout practice despite many set-up changes.  Changing tyres during the run they discovered that when up to working temperature one of the rear shock was binding. The Spaniard was relieved at finding the problem and said he can now looking forward to qualifying.

Controlled Practice 2 – Top 12
1.David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 11/5:13.832
2.Borja Hernandez – Mugen/Ninja – 11/5:16.990
3.Martin Bayer – Losi/nVision – 11/5:17.291
4.Darren Bloomfield – Losi/Novarossi – 11/5:17.412
5.Yannick Aigoin – Losi/nVision – 11/5:18.936
6.Jörn Neumann – Durango/Picco – 11/5:18.983
7.Daniel Reckward – Mugen/RB – 11/5:21.507
8.Jérôme Sartel – Agama/Bullit – 11/5:21.946
9.Dominic Bauer – Mugen/Novarossi – 11/5:22.983
10.Neil Cragg – Associated/LRP – 11/5:23.340
11.Ricardo Monteiro – Losi/RB – 11/5:24.063
12.Oscar Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi – 11/5:24.806

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