Red RC » Eoghain O Briain

July 1, 2014

On the Grapevine – Luxembourg Hockenheim & Austin

On the Grapevine – Luxembourg, Hockenheim & Austin Some things need to be experienced in order to be truly appreciated. One of Formula 1′s most famous corners is Spa-Francorchamps’ Eau-rouge, which seeing it on television does no justice to the true gradient of this spectacular piece of Belgian race track. I have had the pleasure of travelling to Spa a number of times with work and each time I was taken a back by the scale of the climb cars make racing up Eau-rouge. My first trip there was with two drivers I was promoting, one of whom was racing there for the first time in a round of the European Formula Ford Championship. Like any driver making their first visit to a track and having clocked up hours learning it on the Playstation he wanted to check it out for real but at 7km long and it getting late walking it was not really an option. The next best thing was to borrow his team’s pit bike and together with his race engineer they set off for a sighting lap which while on a 50cc was never going to be quick would beat walking but it wasn’t long before they found themselves on foot. Half way up the famous corner the bike simply ran out of steam with both of them having to jump off – thats how steep it is. The reason for reminiscing is that this rather funny moment came back into my head when I travelled to Round 5 of the Euro Touring Series in Luxembourg.

Continue reading On the Grapevine here

June 30, 2014

Maifield bids farewell to Associated

With Team Associated having confirmed his exit from their team, effective July 1st, Ryan Maifield has sent us the following statement bidding farewell to the team that gave him his big break some 13 years ago.

As most of you have heard Associated/Reedy and I have parted ways. I have had a lot of success, fun and great experiences with the guys at Associated over the years and I will always cherish those memories. I want to thank them for everything they have done for me so far in my career, especially Brent Thielke, Richard Saxton, Sean Cockran, and Cliff Lett. Without their guidance and support I couldn’t have accomplished what I have accomplished. Especially early on in my career, they gave me everything I needed to be successful in this industry, on and off the track and I will always appreciate that. I hope to remain friends with everyone at Associated and I wish them luck in the future.

June 28, 2014

Team Associated confirm Ryan Maifield exit

Associated confirm Ryan Maifield exit

Team Associated have confirmed that they are parting ways with multiple ROAR National Champion Ryan Maifield effective July 1st. In a message on their FB page, which lists the impressive collection of victories achieved together since they signed the young Arizona racer back in 2003, Team Associated said the following.

Discovered by industry legend Mike Reedy as a young teenager, Ryan burst onto the scene in 2003 by taking an impressive victory at the prestigious Cactus Classic with the just released RC10B4. For more than a decade the dynamic combination of Associated, Reedy, LRP and Maifield compiled a list of championships that is one of the most impressive to date. Team Associated and Reedy have nurtured many champions over the years, and Ryan Maifield will go down in history as one of the best. All of us at Team Associated and Reedy have cherished the time helping Ryan grow into the champion he is today, and wish him the best of luck in all his endeavours; both on and off the track.

Continuing to run with other main sponsors JConcepts and Novarossi, Ryan is expected to confirm his new car and electronics sponsor (expected to be TLR and Orion) in the coming days/weeks ahead of the 2014 ROAR Electric Nationals in Florida and the IFMAR Worlds which will take place later this year in Italy.

Source: Associated [teamassociated.com]

June 26, 2014

The New Generation (Part II)

In my last column, I wrote about encouraging more new drivers into our sport. I had a lot of comments from racers about ways that they think we could help to get more youngsters into the hobby. That’s great! Make sure you don’t just keep your ideas on internet forums or in emails, go and talk to your local club and help get the ideas started! This time, however, I wanted to look at what is perhaps the “next stage” for drivers. I’ve been fortunate to grow up with friends from racing across the spectrum – for the classic club drivers through to drivers at the top of the international fields.

Continue reading Oli’s column here

June 23, 2014

Phend claims first nitro title in thrilling Truggy final

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After 45-minutes of intense racing Dakotah Phend is the new US National Truggy Champion. The TLR driver claimed his first nitro title from the defending champion Ty Tessmann after a thrilling race in Hutto, Texas, where they shadowed one another the entire race. In a completely different league to the other 13 finalists, the race came down to the final corner with the pair tangling as Tessmann, who was chasing a third consecutive title, made a last attempt to deny the Top Qualifier his first win. After marshalling it was Phend who would get the win on the dash to the line by 3/10ths of a second. Over a lap down Team Durango’s Ryan Lutz completed the podium at Thornhill Racing Circuit.

Continue reading this report here or our complete event coverage here.

June 21, 2014

Phend does TQ double at US Nationals

Despite the best efforts of defending Truggy Champion Ty Tessmann, Dakotah Phend completed the TQ double at the US National Championships in Hutto, Texas. Needing to take the final qualifier, Tessmann did just that but on tie break the HB driver, who is chasing a hat trick of titles in the class, lost out by 3/10ths of a second to Phend. A rough round for Phend, the Q1 & 2 pace setter only 4th fastest, it was Kyosho’s Cody King who would post the second fastest time behind Tessmann. Also enjoying his best round of qualifying, Xray’s Josh Wheeler completed the Top 3.

Continue reading this report here or our complete event coverage here.

June 21, 2014

Phend rolls his way to Buggy TQ at US Nats

Dakotah Phend literally rolled his way to becoming Top Qualifier at this year’s US National Championship taking the third qualifier at Thornhill Racing Circuit despite running out of fuel coming out of the final corner. Benefiting from the hill off the last corner’s step down, the Team Losi Racing star would take the penultimate qualifier from Q1 pace setter Ty Tessmann by 1.255 seconds, the HB’s driver himself after problems with a late mistake. With the tie-breaker being the combined times of the two best runs, even if Tessmann was to take the final qualifier his running out of fuel in Q1 which cost him from going 10 laps means Phends two 10-lap TQ runs can’t be beaten. Behind the two early title favourites, Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield backed up his Q2 performance by again completing the Top 3.

Continue reading this report here or our complete event coverage here.

June 21, 2014

First TQ run for champion Tessmann in Q3

Defending US National Truggy Champion Ty Tessmann claimed his first TQ run this morning at Thornhill Racing Circuit when he narrowly outpaced yesterday’s qualifying dominator Dakotah Phend in Q3. With the two drivers running almost identical lap times, Tessmann with a 44.764 compared to Phend’s 44.778, the pair where separated by 1.2 second at the end of the 7-minute qualifier. The championship’s most successful driver, Ryan Maifield, who has been Truggy Champion 3-times, enjoyed a good start to Day 2 of qualifying after a disappointing day yesterday as he completed the Top 3.

Continue reading this report here or our complete event coverage here.