October 12, 2007

1/128th final Results

1/128th final Results

The rain is gone, the track is dry and the 1/128th finals are complete and it was a win in the even final for Daniel Tosso, 1 lap ahead of Martin Forms in 2nd and Francisco Rinaldi in 3rd. In the odd final it was a very easy win for Raul Alfageme who had a 7 lap advantage over Walter Siena in 2nd and Gabriel Funes a further 3 laps back.

128th Even Top 3
1. Daniel Tosso – 55 Laps 20:09.091
2. Martin Forms – 54 Laps 20:08.117
3. Francisco Rinaldi – 49 Laps 20:00.648

128th Odd Top 3
1. Raul Alfageme – 55 Laps 20:11.062
2. Walter Siena – 47Laps 20:04.151
3. Gabriel Funes – 44 Laps 19:26.923


October 12, 2007

Presenting your Top 4 qualifiers

Massimo Fantini

With rain causing the cancellation of the 5th and 6th rounds of qualifying, its Massimo Fantini who will line up first for the 1 hour long main final on Saturday. We talked to the Serpent 960 driver, and owner of Max engines, and he is very confident going in to the final, “To be honest we were very confident because my team mate Fabio and Andrea went for testing on the track and said the car works very good and also the engine. We had a big advantage for the 5 minutes we had almost no problem to run the qualification without any additional refuelling stop. I could push stronger in the heats and the car was good and the important thing is making no mistakes and i was able to make the top qualifier in all the rounds”. When asked about his chances for the final he said “we are checking our strategy and to be honest we are quite confident, the only thing is the final is very long and anything can happen, also the other competitors are strong, so i need to be cool and make no mistakes”. “I was already in the main final of a World Championship several times and what it is, is hardcore racing”.

Lamberto Collari

The 7-time World Champion Lamberto Collari, racing for Kyosho, lines up in 2nd spot and despite ending up 3 seconds behind Max on pole position he was obviously very confident going into tomorrows final, “Its difficult to know now what will happen. The 2nd position means I can do a good final and I am positive because I had one of the best qualifying times”. Asked if he feels he could have snatched the pole position if the final 2 rounds of qualifying had been run he was “I think for sure the track should have the possibility to be better and I could have done a better time, the reality is different”.

Adrien Bertin

French racer, and former World Champion, Adrien Bertin was very satisfied to make it directly into the final in 3rd position, the Kyosho race stated that “yes, I am really happy because it is now 10 years that I am taking part in the final of Worlds and for me it was very good because in the beginning with preparation (being limited) due the engine matters I am very satisfied and I would like to thank my sponsors and also the Picco company who support me, and hope to bring back a good result tomorrow”.

Chris Tosolini

Last of the top 4 racers and first of the American runners, Chris Tosolini is in confident form ahead of the main final and despite not making 34 like he wished, he said “Yeah, I’m happy, I was a little worried if we didn’t get the rain that someone could bump me out. I rebuilt the car for the final round of qualifying and found a few mistakes in the car so I think I can do 34. I wanted to make top 4 so I didn’t have to have any trouble in the semi thats the most important”. When asked whether he was confident of his chances for the final he said yes, “as long as I’ve been racing I’ve been confident and having a perfect hour, and I don’t get too nervous so I just want to have a perfect hour at a good fast pace and we’ll see. As long as we have no problems we have a good chance”.

Todays lower finals are just about to begin on a now dry track, and the organisers have put sugar water down to help bring up traction. We will bring you the results as we get them

You can view the sorted finals listing here (.xls).

View our event image gallery here.


October 12, 2007

More rain on Friday morning

More rain on Friday morning

Yet another day beginning with rain, the weather was dry earlier in the morning, but a heavy shower around 7.30am soaked the track again and now with the sun out the organisers are working quickly to dry the track so that racing can resume, but the likelihood that round 6 of qualifying will be run is looking increasingly unlikely. The more likely scenario is that the organisers will go straight into the lower finals when the track dries, but we will wait for confirmation of this. If this does happen, then its Massimo Fantini, racing a Serpent 960, that has claimed the TQ spot for this years World Championships ahead of Collari, Bertin and Tosolini.

UPDATE: Despite the track beginning to dry, it has not done so quick enough and round 6 has been officially abandoned. Lowers final will begin in a number of hours. We will have a report on your top 4 soon.


October 11, 2007

Racing for today is called off

Racing for today is called off

Today’s racing has been cancelled due to the heavy rain, that has kept coming, and with no chance of the track drying up the race control made an announcement calling a halt to today’s proceedings. Good news for those that didn’t get a chance to improve their time, all is not lost as tomorrow morning there will be one final round of heats to be run in the morning before the lower finals. We are now leaving the track as there is nothing happening here and unfortunately everyone else is leaving too, so we will have no one or nothing to photograph or any information to find out.

We will be back first thing tomorrow to bring you news from the last round of qualifying and the lower finals.


October 11, 2007

In the pits – New Products

Capricorn RC rear brace

With the rain still coming down, we now have a chance to write about a number of new items in the pits that we have seen in the last few days. The first is this CAP spider from Capricorn RC, which was seen on Chris Tosolini’s Kyosho in the pits and used to help him claim his 4th position in the overall standings. Essentially its a carbon fibre rear body support that prevents the sides of the body shell from folding in under high speeds and also part of the set, which it not all on Toso’s car, are carbon side body stiffeners, but aren’t being used because IFMAR allows the use of normal lexan stiffeners.

USE Motor

Also new in the pits, seen on the bench of Roelof Tooms, is a small engine project from a Dutch company called USE, who currently make optional metal parts like pinions and cooling heads. Made using moulds from an old engine project to have a basis with which to begin development, this 3.5cc engine features some innovative thinking inside its rather old fashioned crankcase. Similar to the Sirio engines, the liner and the top part of the external crankcase are combined, while the cooling head features an integrated combustion chamber and the crankshaft has also been developed to be very small and light. There is a lot of work still to be done and it is currently being made as a side project outside of office hours, we will keep you informed on any further developments.

Lightweight Wheels on Fantini’s car

Tires are one of the most critical pieces of equipment at these races and all the top drivers are experimenting with different wheels and foam combinations. Seen on a number of racers cars are new lightweight wheels from ATS, Enneti and Kyosho, which have been made using a lightweight and opaque material which provides huge benefits for the car due to reduced rotating mass, but they are difficult to glue the tires to and are in very short supply, with some teams taking to removing the old foam from the wheels to use them for a new set.

Serpent Tools

Seen on the work bench of Michael Salven is Serpent’s new tool set which seems pretty complete in the amount of tools provided and it comes in a handy carrying case which has not yet been finalised. The tools feature hardened tips and orange handles and they are expected to be released before the end of the year.

More to Follow


October 11, 2007

The rains have arrived

Rain comes and stops play

The racers have woken up to heavy rain on Thursday’s final day of qualifying, meaning that any chances of improving are pretty much zero as the rain is set to be here for the day, only set to stop very late in the day. We will keep you posted on what happens but as it is now (not official) there will be no running today and the 5th and 6th round of qualifying will be abandoned. We will go around the pits to try and get some pictures and product information, so stay tuned.