June 27, 2010

Fischer tops first Controlled Practice

Fisher tops first Controlled Practice

Corally factory driver Marc Fischer has topped the first controlled practice at the 2010 IFMAR 1:12 World Championship here in Burgdorf, Germany.  The German set the fastest three consecutive laps with his GM Racing powered SP12X by 8/100th from the LRP powered Associated of free practice pace setter Ronald Volker. Defending World Champion Naoto Matsukura maintained his competitive pace by once again putting his new Yokomo R12 inside the Top 3.  Fischer’s pace came after he switched from Magenta to Pink Jaco rear tyres and applied additive 1 hour ahead of his run rather than the 20 minutes he had been trying earlier.

The 65 drivers taking part in the 15th edition of the 1:12 Worlds are now taking a short time out from racing to take part in the official opening ceremony before returning to the track for a second round of controlled practice which will bring Day 1 to a close.  The times from Cp2 will be used to reseed drivers ahead of tomorrow’s six rounds of qualifying.

Controlled Practice Top 10 times
1. Marc Fischer (D) – Corally – 0:41.178
2. Ronald Völker (D) – Associated – 0:41.265
3. Naoto Matsukura (JP) – Yokomo – 0:41.393
4. Marc Rheinard (D) – Associated – 0:41.429
5. Hideo Kitazawa (JP) – Corally – 0:41.552
6. Hayato Matsuzaki (JP) – Yokomo – 0:41.580
7. Juho Levänen (FIN) – Associated – 0:41.629
8. Josh Cyrul (USA) – CEFX – 0:41.680
9. Jilles Groskamp (NL) – CRC – 0:41.772
10.Olly Jeffries (GB) – Associated – 0:41.805

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June 27, 2010

Volker sets early pace

Volker sets early pace

After three rounds of free practice it is Ronald Volker who is setting the pace at the 1:12 World Championships. The German recorded the fastest three consecutive laps to top the time sheets from Britian’s Olly Jefferies and defending World champion Naoto Matsukura.  Also recording the fastest lap so far, with a 13.654, the LRP factory driver said his car feels OK despite the low traction.  Running an Associated chassis he was 2/10th faster than the similar combination of Jefferies who was in turn 15/100th up on Naoto.  The current German National Champion says he really likes the track layout and in particular the boards admitting to not being a fan of curbs in 1:12 scale.

Jefferies set his fastest consecutive three laps in the second practice after changing his tyre prep for FP3. Resulting in the car having less grip the European Championship finalist will revert back to his early tyre preparation for the final free practice.  His Associated team-mate Juho Levanen could only managed the 12th fastest time but the Vice World Champion is playing the waiting saying he is saving his good tyres for when track conditions improve.

Naoto who is running Yokomo’s new R12 also set his best time in FP2. Trying different tyres in his third run the Japanese ace said the car didn’t feel as good.  Asked about chassis set-up he said the car is working fine and his focus is on tyres.  For the final free practice he will try another different tyre which are currently being prepared by 1:12 scale’s most successful World Champion Masami Hirosaka.

Markus Mobers

The man responsible for Serpent’s 1:12 programme, Marcus Mobers is very happy with the start to his World Championship as he lies fourth fastest.  The German is running a number of prototype parts on his S120 which he says are working really well.  Unlike his rivals Mobers feels the traction are not going to come up as expected due to the hot conditions.  Running his own Mobgums brand tyres he plans to use the rest of the day’s runs to try different tyre combinations.  The Serpent team are running well with two cars in the Top 10 with Jan Asmer currently seventh fastest.

Grid start

With the fifth fastest time Elliot Harper is top CRC driver after Frank Calandra worked his magic on the young British driver’s car. Harper struggled in the opening two runs but the CRC founder put his ‘Big race set-up’ on the Speed Passion powered Gen-X and it transformer the car giving the teenager a major performance boost. For his team-mates Hupo Honigl and Jilles Groskamp the day hasn’t started off well as the lie only 24th and 34th fastest respectively.

Completing the Top 6 is factory Corally driver Marc Fischer.  The German said his car is OK in the opening two minutes of the run but after that gets very loose.  Complimentary of the track layout, he plans to try different tyre compounds and more additive in FP4.

Elsewhere V-Design have two cars in the Top 10 with Mark Stiles 8th fastest just ahead of team-mate Chris Kerswell.  At Xray Alexander Hagberg is fastest of the XII drivers in 13th with team-mate Paul Lemieux 21st.

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June 27, 2010

Electric Worlds gets underway in Germany

Naoto Matsukura

Two years of waiting to lay claim to the greatest crown in the sport are over for the World’s top electric drivers with the 2010 IFMAR Electric Track World Championship having just got underway here in Burgdorf, Germany.  Kicking off the event is the 15th running of the 1:12 World Championship with 8 of 10 Finalists from Thailand including reigning Champion Naoto Matsukura present.  The now 16-year-old Japanese protege of r/c legend Masami Hirosaka, is very relaxed despite having the huge weight of defending his title on his shoulders and this has been further increased by the fact he is debuting Yokomo’s first competition 1:12 chassis.

Naoto Matsukura

The Japanese company have two examples of its R12 running here with former 2WD Off Road World Champion Hayato Matsuzaki driving the other.  With Matsukura switching from Team Associated to Yokomo this leaves Juho Levanen to head the challenge of 1:12 scale’s most successful manufacturer. The 2008 Vice World Champion hopes to go one better this time round despite having only done one 1:12 race this year. Opting to sit out his National series, the one race the Finnish ace did was the ultra competitive European Championships back in March and he won that ahead of Ronald Volker who is the reigning German National Champion.

Hupo Honigl

The other podium finisher in Bangkok two years ago was Hupo Honigl and he carries the hope of specialist 1:12 manufacturer CRC here.  The versatile Austrian racer says 1:12 is his favourite class and he is confident about the event with the carpet track putting more emphasis on car set-up rather than the asphalt track of Thailand which was all down to having the right tyres. The current IIC 1:12 Champion Honigl is being supported in Germany by CRC founder Frank Calandra, who is himself racing, and has two very capable team-mates to work with in the form of 2008 Worlds Finalist Jilles Groskamp and young British talent Elliot Harper.

Reigning Touring Car World Champion Marc Rheinard missed out on the podium last time but believes the more European style track will suit him better.  Having run a Hot Bodies chassis, which the Japanese company are now no longer producing, the German was expected to run the new Yokomo chassis but its late arrival meant he opted to run an Associated, a car he is familiar with having used it to finish Runner-up at the competitive German Nationals behind Volker.

Another of the finalists running under a different banner following the withdrawal of Hot Bodies is Hideo Kitizawa who has joined 2006 1:12 World Champion manufacturer Corally.  The Japanese driver has only raced the Dutch chassis once before, finishing second to Matsukura at the Asia Cup at the Yatabe Arena in April.  Interestingly the Futaba employee is one of the few drivers who prefers racing 1:12 on asphalt rather than carpet.  Kitizawa is part of a very strong Corally team with 1:12th scale specialists Simo Ahoniemi and Marc Fischer also in their line up.  Simo was the top Corally finisher in 2008 with seventh in the A-Main and the Finnish National Champion is hopeful of a much better result this time round on the carpet surface.  Although he was absent in Thailand Fischer has been a leading contender in European 1:12 competitions.

Andy Moore

The other 2008 Finalist competing in Burgdorf is Andy Moore.  The factory Hot Bodies driver is running as a privateer in 1:12 and is using an Associated chassis.  With Hot Bodies having their new TCX Touring Car chassis, the former World Champion said that class is his focus and he is using 1:12 more as a warm-up to the second half of the week.  His HB team-mate Atsushi Hara has opted to sit out 1:12th scale. The two finalists not in action are Xray’s Teemu Leino and former Hot Bodies driver Dasiuke Yoshioka but there are plenty of quality drivers who will be looking to be in the World’s Top 10 for Tuesday’s finals.  American Champion Josh Cyrul did not travel to Thailand but is on top form in 1:12 adding the Snowbirds title to his ROAR crown.  Running his own CEFX Griffin chassis design the seasoned veteran is really upbeat about his prospects saying the track surface, which is brand new CRC, and layout are all familiar territory. Running the same car all year he said there are not much excuses he can give if he is not mixing at the front.

Paul Lemieux

Xray have a slightly reduced 1:12 team with Juraj & Martin Hudy forced to pull their entries due to the work load at the Xray factory but they still have two heavy hitters in the form of American star Paul Lemieux and Swedish ace Alexander Hagberg. Serpent have a strong challenger in 1:12 specialist Marcus Mobers as do V-Dezign which is being led by the cars designer Vesa Yli and European stock champion Chris Kerswell.

Burgdorf track

With brand new carpet the opening two practice runs have really only served to get some traction down and allow the 70 drivers to get settled in to the large technical track the German race organisers have perfectly prepared.  The opening day’s timetable consists of four free practice sessions followed by two controlled 8 minute runs after which we will have the opening ceremony.

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