July 11, 2013

Ronnefalk TQ’s opening Reims Qualifier

Ronnefalk TQ's opening Reims Qualifier

Team Kyosho’s young star David Ronnefalk has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the 1:8 Offroad European Championships in Reims, France,  the Swede navigating the chalk track 3-seconds faster than World Champion Robert Batlle with Xray’s Martin Bayer completing the Top 3 in a close encounter which saw the next 6 drivers covered by just 3-seconds.  For defending champion Darren Bloomfield two mistakes left him down the order with the 20th fastest time, the British driver saying he just pushed too hard.

View our complete event coverage here.

July 10, 2013

Jerome Aigoin top seed for qualifying in Reims

Jerome Aigoin

Kyosho’s Jerome Aigoin is the top seed for qualifying at the 1:8 Offroad European Championships after the quiet Frenchman topped the second round of timed practice in France from Kyosho/Novarossi team-mate Elliott Boots with Mugen’s Lee Martin putting in a much improved run to post the third fastest time.  Having posted the fastest time of the day in the morning’s opening timed practice, Kyosho’s David Ronnefalk lost around 7-seconds after a coming together with a slower buggy and ending up only 10th fastest.

View our complete event coverage here.

July 10, 2013

Ronnefalk fastest in 1st timed practice

Ronnefalk fastest in 1st timed practice

Kyosho’s David Ronnefalk has topped the opening timed round of practice at the 1:8 Offroad European Championship in France, completing 8 laps of the unique chalk surface track 2.7-seconds faster than Associated’s Yannick Aigoin with Kyosho’s Elliot Boots completing the Top 3 a further 2.3 seconds adrift.  Defending Champion Darren Bloomfield took his TLR to the 6th fastest time over the 5-minute run which will count towards a reseeding of the heats for qualifying which gets underway tomorrow.

View our complete event coverage here.

July 9, 2013

Euro title contenders content at end of Day 1

Darren Bloomfield

With no official timing available from the three rounds of practice that made up the schedule for today’s opening day of action at the 1:8 Offroad European Championships in France, it is hard to decipher which driver has best mastered the conditions of the unique chalk surface Reims track but at the end of a very hot day all the main contenders have declared that they are happy with the direction in which they are headed although some seem more convincing than others.

View our complete event coverage here.

July 9, 2013

33rd 1:8 Offroad Euros underway in Reims

33rd 1:8 Offroad Euros underway in Reims

The 33rd running of the 1:8 Offroad European Championships got underway this morning in France with Day 1 of the event, which will come to a conclusion on Saturday, set to be a rather uneventful affair with just 3 rounds of untimed practice making up today’s schedule.  Having had the Warm-up race cancelled just as the Semi-finals got underway due to rain, the hot sunny weather that has greeted drivers on their arrival to the famous Champagne producing city has created a totally different set of track conditions with tyre choice set to be the key factor to the outcome of the race.

View our complete event coverage here.

July 8, 2013

PSM Racing RB-One R shock towers

PSM Racing RB-One R shock towers

PSM Racing have produced new front and rear shock towers for the 1/8th RB-One R. The front shock tower is made from glossy 5mm Carbon Fiber, its pretty lightweight at only 21.5 grams and like the rear tower helps solve the problem of breaking the stock towers. The rear shock tower is made from glossy 4mm Carbon Fiber and weighs only 19.5 grams.

View the rear shock tower here

July 7, 2013

Matsukura makes it seven 1/12th titles in a row

Matsukura makes it seven 1/12th titles in a row

The Japanese JMRCA 1/12th scale nationals were held this weekend at the World famous Yatabe Arena. 3-time World Champion Naoto Matsukura was looking for his 7th consecutive 1/12th scale National title having dominated the class in his home country for close to a decade. Qualifying would go the way of the Yokomo driver who would start from pole position ahead of Hideo Kitizawa (Corally) in 2nd. On to the finals and Naoto would not have the best of results in the opening leg, a mistake dropping him down the order eventually recovering to 3rd, while Kitizawa took the win. The 2nd and 3rd final were business as usual for Matsukura and he wrapped up yet another title with Kitizawa taking 2nd spot despite a bad 2nd leg, while Hayato Ishioka (CRC) rounded out the top 3.

Image: Naoto Matsukura

July 6, 2013

Raiola Carmine is 2013 Italian Champion

Raiola Carmine is 2013 Italian Champion

Having previously written about the final round of the 2013 Italian 1/8th scale Championship which took place at the fantastic Cassino track we neglected to mention the title fight which was won by Raiola Carmine. The Xray driver was already very close to the championship title after taking the win in Gubbio and being 4th in Bologna. On Saturday, only two rounds of qualifying could be run due to the rain. Carmine finished 6th but had a good pace for the finals. In the finals we saw a thrilling one hour race. Carmine was driving safe to keep the 3rd place which was enough for the overall victory. His competitors who need to win were driving hard to get the win. Carmine avoid any kind of fighting and his 3rd final position in the race brought him the 2013 national champion title, quite an achievement against some of the best drivers in the world.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

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