Red RC Events

July 22, 2008

New pipe ruling keeps Sirio away

The Sirio factory team are noticeable absentees from this year’s 1:8 On Road Euros as the Italian manufacturer struggles to get its engines to work under the new 2008 EFRA pipe rulings. In an attempt to reduce noise levels, the sports European governing body introduced new specs for .21 exhausts for the 2008 season. The new pipes have reduced the noise but the design criteria has made it more difficult to tune engines as they now have a more critical sweet spot. Following the Warm-up race here in Valencia a number of manufacturer wrote to EFRA asking for the postponement of the new regs so as to give them more time to develop the new pipes but the ruling remains in place.

At the recent 1:8 Off Road Euros in Crete Sirio chief Andrea Rossi told Red RC they were experiencing problems with the new pipes and hinted that his line up of star drivers may have no choice but to sit out the Spanish event unless EFRA, to whom they had written, reconsidered its position. The team did not attend the Warm-up back in April for the same reason. In 1:8 Off Road the new pipe ruling has had a much lesser impact on engine tuning.

New pipe ruling keeps Sirio away

With the official Sirio team absent we will be without the talents of Francesco Tironi, winner of last month’s EFRA 1:10 Italian GP, and Dutch EP star Jilles Groskamp. It is unclear as to whether young Portuguese hot shot Bruno Coelho will race but so far the Mugen driver has not been seen at the track. Coelho’s father Cesar is one of the key organisers of the 1:10 200mm Worlds which take place in Portugal next month and it is understood important works to the Lisbon track have delayed their arrival here in Spain.

View our image gallery here.

July 22, 2008

Drivers still focussing on Run time

Valencia track Tuesday

With no official times to work off it’s hard to tell who is quickest, but looking on the track and talking to drivers its clear that the Shepherd team of Pietsch, Schaefer and Spanish racer Carlos Peracho are quick, while for Serpent its Salven who is still turning fast laps along with Mark Green and Oscar Cabezas. For Mugen, Rick V is doing some very fast laps as is Motonica team driver Dario Balestri. A lot of the top guys, such as the Italians, that you would normally expect to be quick are still working on choice of body and engine pipe combination before focusing on putting in really quick times.

Merlin fuel cans

It is precisely that search for time that has lead some racers to try fuel with a lower nitro content, with some drivers trying both 20% and even in some case 16%. With Spanish fuel firm Merlin present trackside to support their drivers, it seems that those racers using their fuel are the only ones able to try this. Merlin team driver Oscar Cabezas, who tried the 20% mixture, believes there is little or no noticable power difference and he did get longer run time, but for him personally there is still some run time needing to be found.

View our image gallery here.

July 22, 2008

Euros 08 – New in the Pits

Back pressure adjustment

While the action on the track is heating up as the drivers finalize their setups, we took a look through the pits to see what was new here at the event. Most interesting thing being tried is this back pressure adjustment needle on the car of Massimo Fantini. Mounted in the pressure line, it can be adjusted to best suit the present conditions and is currently being tested as a way to help conserve fuel. As always at gas races conserving fuel is super important and other racers are trying similar things, with many of the front runners adopting the CRF Constant pressure device in an attempt to make the 5 minutes.

Lightened Collari axles

Also new, and spotted on the Kyosho Evolva M3 of Alberto Picco, are these Collari made lightened spring steel axles that are designed to be used together with wheel nuts to keep the wheels perfectly true. Available for both the front and rear of the car, they have been lightened through the milling of small grooves around the outside of the outer edge.

Serpent fuel tank

Another interesting thing to note is that a lot of the Kyosho Evolva M3 racers are running with a different fuel tank to the standard version. It seems the Serpent tank is the most popular and helps cure the fuel pick up problems that the original tank apparantely suffers from.

Steel Battery plate

New on the bench of Adrien Bertin are some new optional parts for the Evolva M3, some like the aluminium front upper suspension arm brackets we have seen before, but others like this steel battery plate are new and similar to versions on other cars, adding weight to this optimal place on the car.

Matrix disk wheel

Finally, for now, the front disks that come with the Matrix tires are in use by factory Kyosho racers Ilia Van Gastel and Adrien Bertin. Said to make the turn into the corner smoother, they remain as a seperate disk over the spoked wheel to retain the flex benefits of such a wheel combined with the better aerodynamics of the disk.

View our image gallery here.

July 22, 2008

Europeans in Valencia gets underway

European 1/8th Valencia underway

The European 1/8th scale circuit Championships are in full swing as the competitors go into their 2nd day of practice here in Valencia. The weather is very hot and humid and is causing more problems for the drivers than for the machinery as everyone tries to stay in the shade, even at this early stage in the day. All the top names are here, including current World and defending European Champion Lamberto Collari as well as the other usual supects made up of many previous National and International Champions.

European 1/8th Valencia underway

So far the racers have been very happy with the track, a mix of high speed corners, flat out on and off the main straight, as well as slower 180 degree bends that test the car under braking and a tricky kink just left of the drivers stand where a lot of time can be won and lost. The traction is high and the kerbs are low, so the drivers have a wide sweet spot and they are presently trying the find the quickest way around. Racers that were fast yesterday were EFRA GP winner Robert Pietsch and his Shepherd team mate Patrick Schaefer, local ace Oscar Cabezas, Michael Salven who is on his first visit to the track and World Vice Champion Andrea Cristiani all racing Serpent. Practice is still underway so we will keep you posted throughout the day.

View our image gallery here.

July 7, 2008

1/8th Buggy Euros – Full gallery online

1/8th Buggy Euros - Complete gallery online

As a wrap up to our coverage from the European 1/8th scale buggy Championships, which was brought to you thanks to Kyosho and LRP, we have now added 70 new images to our events gallery. Newly added are photos from all the finalists, action from the main final and the prize ceremony celebrations as well as close ups of the winning Mugen MBX5R of newly crowned European Champion Renaud Savoya.

Check out our event image gallery here.

July 5, 2008

Savoya is 2008 European Champion

French Mugen racer Renaud Savoya capped off a dominant performance at the European Championships in Crete by taking the European title ahead of former Champion Robert Batlle. The Spanish driver had taken the lead early in the race and pulled out a considerable lead, but a broken rear arm with 15 minutes to go meant that Savoya could come back in the late part of the race, and take the lead from the crippled Hobao driver with just over 10 minutes to go, and never looked back. Batlle ended the race in 2nd, only a few seconds behind, while new HongNor signing Richi Gomez from Spain rounded out the top 3.

The new European Champion commented following the race that ‘It was a very difficult race. At the start I saw Batlle pulling away and I made some mistakes. I think my tyres were better than his GRPs and I was faster, but his car broke and I was able to pass him for the win. I think if Batlle’s car did not break he would have won’. Savoya, who was on a different fuel strategy, had to make less stops than the defending Champion. Savoya believes the win will be good for his confidence ahead of the Worlds Warm Up race in two weeks time.

A clearly gutted Batlle, who had victory snatched away from him in the dying moments of the race, said ‘The car was really good and I had the pace to win but the rear arm broke. The car was then a struggle and I couldn’t hold onto the lead’. Batlle’s rear arm broke with 15 minutes to go but the Spaniard was not sure where or how it happened.

Third placed Richi Gomez was delighted with his Hong Nor debut ‘We only got the car last week and this was our first race so I am very very happy to finish on the podium. The car and engine worked really well.’ Fellow Spaniard Borja Hernandez was on for a podium placing but his receiver battery broke, losing him a lot of time, but the Spaniard admitted he did not have the pace to stick with Savoya or Batlle.

Jon Hazlewood, driving the only Xray in the final was pleased with fourth but said the heat was a struggle and his only drama in the race was an engine cut. Another Spaniard Miguel Almagro, driving a Mugen, had come up from the 1/8 final and was obviously delighted with 5th. He had a good race, and except for one engine cut in the pitlane as he came in for fuel, the rest of the race was pretty uneventful.

Finishing in 6th spot was LRP S8-BX racer Hupo Honigl, who lost a front shock absorber during the race, which his mechanics changed, only to then lose one on the rear. The Austrian racer said his car was the best it was all week and that fourth would have been a good finish, but it wasn’t to be. Former World and European Champion Daniel Reckward suffered a broken rear arm while running third. His Kyosho team managed to fix the MP777, which the German said was working really good but the time lost meant he only finished 10th.

Another racer to run into problems, while in a good position, was Associated racer Neil Cragg, who saw his back pressure pipe split that caused his engine to run lean and with that fixed he then had to retire when his receiver battery broke.

Although just missing out on making the final, young British racer Elliot Boots claimed the Junior European title, the 15 year old Team Associated racer finishing in 20th overall.

European Championship podium

Final standings (unofficial)
1. SAVOYA Renaud – 88 Laps in 01:00:01.434 (Mugen MBX5)
2. BATLLE Robert – 87 Laps in 59:25.638 (Hobao Hyper 8.5)
3. GOMEZ MALAGON Richi – 86 Laps in 01:00:34.825 (HongNor)
4. HAZLEWOOD Jon – 85 Laps in 01:00:24.298 (Xray XB808)
5. ALMAGRO Miguel Angel – 84 01:00:31.698 (Mugen MBX5)
6. HoNIGL Hubert – 83 Laps in 01:00:29.816 (LRP S8-BX)
7. HERNANDEZ Borja – 81 Laps in 01:00:15.163 (Hobao Hyper 8.5)
8. LUIS Rodrigo – 80 Laps in 01:00:21.792 (HongNor)
9. BAYER Martin – 77 Laps in 01:00:02.935 (Losi 8ight)
10. RECKWARD Daniel – 73 Laps in 01:00:33.522 (Kyosho MP777)
11. CRAGG Neil – 68 Laps in 49:05.507 (Associated RC8)
12. PERIN Riccardo – 59 Laps in 51:15.366 (Mugen MBX5)

Complete final results can be found here.

A big thank you to our Sponsors Kyosho and LRP, without whom our coverage would not be possible.

More photos to follow in our image gallery tomorrow, our reporter needs to get out of the sun and cool off first.