October 31, 2019

Chassis Focus – Jeff Hamon

Chassis – Serpent 989
Engine – Max RP9.5 WC
Fuel (handout) – VP Racing
Tires (handout) – Hotrace
Radio/Servos – Sanwa M17/Sanwa
Body – Protoform X15

Remarks – Jeff is running Serpent’s new 989 which he describes as ‘pretty standard’ but like all drivers he is doing what he can to stiffen up the car for Steel City RC Speedway’s ultra high traction.  With the grip something he has ‘never experienced before’ and having ‘never flipped an 8th scale before’ due to having too much grip, to the adapt the car for the conditions he is running optional carbon inserts in the rear arms and the optional front top deck brace.  While the 989 comes with an aero front bumper, he has reverts to an ‘old school’ version saying it helps to make the car less aggressive.

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October 31, 2019

Kurzbuch finds his groove to take Q2 at Steel City

Simon Kurzbuch appears to have finally found his groove after taking the second round of qualifying at 1:8 World Championships in California.  Only 5th in the opening round, the Shepherd driver would pass Q1 winner Naoto Matsukura on track to top the times by 8/10th over his long time Worlds rival Dario Balestri who again had issues with engine tuning.  The second of today’s 4 round of qualifying would also see a marked improvement from Dominic Greiner who from the second fastest heat set the third quickest time ahead of Matsukura. Backing up their impressive Q1 performances Jeff Hamon and Jesse Davis ran the 5th and 6th fastest times respectively.

A clearly relieved Kurzbuch said, ‘That was a really good run. The car was a bit better than this morning.  I had more steering and it still didn’t want to flip so I had a good feeling and was able to drive it better’.  The Swiss driver explained, ‘we didn’t change the set-up just a new body which had a different mounting position.  I think with this set-up we were just right for the track at the time of the run.  We will see how the track is the next one or if it will be different but we have two good results from the first two so I think we can fight for the TQ’.

‘Once again the engine was rich, this time in the middle’, explained Balestri after Q2.  The defending Champion added, ‘Massimo needs to check it (the engine) for sure’.  Suffering a mistake over the 4-minutes, the Italian said, ’cause the engine was rich it was not changing to second gear when you expect and this caught me out.  The car is good we just need to adjust the engine correctly’.

Summing up his improvement, Greiner said, ‘I was completely lost in the morning.  We tried a crazy set-up and it was completely off.  Jeff had a good Q1 so we copied his set-up except for the body and it was good’.  Serpent’s lead driver continued, ‘I have to learn more how the car is driving now and how I can push it to the limit.  We were just ready in time for Q2 and in the rush to change the set-up the camber was not correct but we will fix this for the next one’.

Having called his TQ run in Q1 ‘lucky’, Matsukura said his P4 was also helped by luck as he ‘made many mistakes this time’.  The Infinity driver explained, ‘we expected the track to have more grip so we lowered the camber and the car super push.  The grip was now lower than before’.  With temperatures rising quite a bit from Q1, he said he also had engines issues with his engine getting hot during the run and with this in mind he plans to fit a larger cooler head for Q3.

Pleased to back up his opening performance and to assist team-mate Greiner with finding his normal form, Hamon said, ‘I had a little traffic but other than that it was another good run.  I left the car the same. I was very comfortable with the car and my pace is consistent’.  Looking to the third qualifier, the Australian said, ‘I might change the camber after talking to Dominic but maybe I will leave it for the next one as it’s 3 to count and I already have two good runs’.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

October 31, 2019

Chassis Focus – Alessio Mazzeo

Chassis – Xray RX8
Engine – Max
Fuel (handout) – VP Racing
Tires (handout) – Hotrace
Radio/Servos – Sanwa/Sanwa
Body – Xtreme Super Diablo

Remarks – Xray’s lead onroad nitro driver, Alessio is running the Slovakian manufacturer’s RX8 platform on which they are testing some new parts for the 2020 edition of the car.  Asked what was new on the car, the likeable Italian replied, ‘We are testing something new for next year.  I don’t want to point out the new parts.’ Jokingly adding ‘those with a sharp eye will spot some of them in the photos’.  That sounds to us like a challenge for our site visitors!

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October 31, 2019

Matsukura from Balestri in opening Qualifier

Naoto Matsukura has taken the opening round of qualifying at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships at Steel City RC Speedway.  After high winds forced the cancellation of the start of qualifying yesterday, the first of the now reduced to 4-minutes qualifiers saw an Infinity duel for top spot.  Shadowing his Infinity team-mate & top seed Dario Balestri throughout the run, Balestri having about half a second advantage, Matsukura was handed the TQ run when the reigning Champion started to run out of fuel on the final lap.  Running the second fastest heat, Jesse Davis would make it an Infinity Top 3 followed by fellow Australian Jeff Hamon who also ran in Group 11 of 12.  While crossing the line third fastest in the top heat, Simon Kurzbuch had to contend with a P5 for the first of his 6 qualifying attempts with Mugen’s JJ Wang completing the Top 6.

‘Lucky’ was Matsukura’s reaction to his TQ saying, ‘he was empty so I could take him on the last lap but before this he was 0.5 in front’.  The reigning 1:10 World Champion continued, ‘my car was pretty good but a little nervous.  I think the traction will be higher the next one so we need to change the car for this and also for to make it easier to drive.  My engine was very good.’  Happy to have run a very clean 4-minutes, the Japanese ace concluded, ‘I need two more TQs but I have to keep my driving clean and make sure I get more points’.

Explaining his Q1 drama, Balestri said, ‘the conditions changed to day.  It is super cold this morning.  We opened the carburettor and start too rich, too safe, and I need to push a lot to go fast.  This finished the fuel and we lost everything on the last lap’.  With the temperature now starting to rise, the Italian concluded that other than re-tuning his engine we will ‘leave all the same’ for Q2.

Summing up his strong start to qualifying, Davis said, ‘I just drove nice and smooth to get a good first result.  I didn’t expect to be that high up’.  He added, ‘I always felt the car was had a good consistent pace.  I was not the fastest over 3-laps but I knew it would be good for 4-minutes’.  Looking to Q2 he said, ‘I’m going to leave the car the same and with a safe one in the books I’m just going to drive a bit harder’.

Commenting on his impressive P4 time, Hamon said, ‘It was good.  I made a mistake on the first lap but apart from that it was nice and easy.  I was surprised when they were calling me in second’.  A new signing for Serpent this season, the 2017 Semi Finalist added, ‘the car was awesome.  I had a couple of moments in the warm-up on big tyres but after that it was really good.  I ‘m really proud of myself on the body front.  I’m running Protoform’s X15 and my set-up is working pretty well with this combo’.  Asked if he planned any changes for Q2, he replied, ‘I’m in two minds but I might put in what I think is my good engine.  The engine I just used wasn’t so good the last time I ran it but I changed the clutch and it is working good now’.

‘It was OK’, was how Team Shepherd’s Kurzbuch summed up Q1 adding, ‘the car was now a bit pushing so I just tried to get a clean run.  One and a half seconds off Matsukura’s time, the former World Champion and 2017 runner-up said, ‘The car was too safe now which is OK for Quali as you need your points but we will look at what we can change to see if we can attack for the TQ’.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

October 31, 2019

Chassis Focus – Lamberto Collari

Chassis – Infinity IF18
Engine – Max
Fuel (handout) – VP Racing
Tires (handout) – Hotrace
Radio/Servo – Sanwa Exzes ZZ/Sanwa
Body – Xtreme Diablo

Remarks – Lamberto is running ‘a completely standard’ IF18 but his car does feature stiffeners and extra weights he would not normally use in an attempt to try and adapt it for Steel City RC Speedway’s super high traction levels.  A drivers who has experienced more World Championships than most, the 22nd 1:8 Onroad World Championship’s ‘very unique’ grips levels has seen the 9-time Champion get creative and cut up an old radio plate to make stiffeners for the car.

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