Red RC » Electric

July 30, 2009

Tamiya end Euros Day 1 on top

Day 1 of the 2009 EFRA Electric Touring European Championships has been completed and it is the Tamiya team who top the time sheets. The final practice of the day saw defending Champion Marc Rheinard set a new fastest run as both he and Jilles Groskamp broke into the 17 laps. Having had a run time issue in the third practice, Rheinard switched to SpeedPassion’s new Competition 3.0 motor for the final outing of the day and now plans to stick with the motor after posting the 17/5:17.356 run with plenty of power left aferwards. The German will make a small change to the gearing but said overall he was confident that his run time shortfall was a one off. In terms of the car, the World Champion said it was a little loose but feels that is down to track conditions rather than set-up.

View our full event coverage here.

July 30, 2009

Volker setting pace in Euros Practice

With three rounds of free practice completed here in Luxembourg it is last year’s Top Qualifier Ronald Volker who is setting the pace from reigning champion Marc Rheinard. The Yokomo driver recorded the fastest run time (16/5:00.987) in the second outing, and has also laid down the fastest lap (18.364) around the large circuit. Topping the timesheets again in the third session, with a slower run of 16/5:03.894, the German ran different shocks on his BD5 but found they made the car feel unstable and he will revert to the shocks used earlier for today’s fourth and final practice.

View our full event coverage here.

July 27, 2009

Mark Stiles wins Summer Shootout Rd3

Sunday 19th July saw round 3 of the Action Model Centre supported 1/12th scale ‘Summer Shootout’ take place at Chesterfield, the home of 1/12th scale racing in the UK. The driver line up was one of high quality, despite the fact that 1/12th scale racing is relatively quiet over the summer in the UK. Pre-event favorites included the Hot Bodies pairing of Mick Farrell and Chris Smith, Corally’s Andy Sawyer and Serpent’s Peter Craig. Joining them in the hunt for victory was Mark Stiles, who has recently switched from Hot Bodies to the V-Dezign team. Mark immediately got off to a good start with his new chassis, being fastest in all 5 rounds of qualifying and took TQ by over a lap ahead of Mick Farrell and Chris Smith. Mark got a clean start in the A-final and went on to comfortably lap the entire field with an almost faultless run. Mick Farrell recovered from an early crash to finish 2nd, while Peter Craig improved on his 4th placed grid slot to complete the podium. With 3 of the 4 rounds completed, Mick Farrell heads the championship table by virtue of having competed in all of the rounds. However, a top three finish at the 4th and final round on 6th September would see Mark take the overall title.

Source: V-Dezign [v-dezign.net]

July 24, 2009

Cragg & Martin take Southport BRCA National

oOple are reporting on the 4th round of the 2009 BRCA 1/10th off road National Championship series held last weekend at the popular Southport buggy track. After a domination by XFactory drivers during the 2WD series thus far, it was looking a similar story with XFactory cars taking the first couple of qualifiers in the hands of Phil Sleigh and Mark Stanley respectively. Round three saw Neil Cragg’s Associated B4 on top and to make it four different drivers from four, Danny McGee put his Losi/Atomic Carbon hybrid CR2 in the top spot. Despite some great pressure especially from Mark Stanley, Neil Cragg dominated the finals – winning all three legs to take his first 2WD National of the season. Reigning 4WD champion for the previous two years, Lee Martin, went out meaning business in the wet early morning of the 4WD event – taking the first three rounds of qualifying before Neil Cragg took the final round. Like Neil had done in 2WD – Lee Martin took all three legs to take the victory after some intense and exciting racing.

Check out the full report, with video and lots for photos, here.

Source: oOple [oople.com]

July 23, 2009

Naoto Matsukura retains his JMRCA 1/12th title

Last weekend saw the annual 1/12th scale JMRCA National take place in the Yatabe Arena in Tokyo. Despite the usual low grip conditions when running the 1/12th class on asphalt, this years race proved to be quite a challenge for all drivers with most experiencing traction roll already from the first practice. In what was a very close competition, current World Champion and reigning national Champion Naoto Matsukura kept his cool and was able to take both the TQ spot and go on to win the title with his Yokomo/Nosram package.

Source: Nosram [nosram.com]

July 21, 2009

Steven Weiss wins middle Germany Rd3

The third qualification round for the German Championship, middle division, was held at the Rüsselsheim Ractrack three weeks ago. The conditions were very good for this race and following qualifying it was Yokomo driver Ronald Völker who won the first two Rounds of Qualifying in front of Xray Driver Steven Weiss, Marcel Geiger was in third and Martin Kruse in fourth. The other two Rounds of Qualifying were won by Steven Weiss in front of Roanld Völker. Steven set the TQ with the two fastest Rounds of Qualifying, Ronald was in second and Marcel Geiger in third. The first final went the way of Völker after a little mistake from Weiss but Steven came back in the second and third final to take the overall win in front of Volker, with Marcel Geiger in 3rd.

Thanks to Steven Weiss for the report.

July 21, 2009

Ryan Maifield defends ROAR Truggy title

Utilizing his Factory Team RC8T and recently released Reedy 121 VR engine, Ryan Maifield dominated the competition at Leisure Hours Raceway in Joliet, IL at the ROAR 1/8 Truggy Nationals. In qualifying, Maifield lead the field each round by beating the best in the country time after time. Even after securing the top qualifying spot by round three, Maifield chose to run round four to test a chassis adjustment. Starting from the pole position for the main event, Maifield got off to a good clean start and never looked back. By going over nine minutes between pit stops his RC8T/Reedy 121 VR combination never missed a beat and lapped the field up to second place and set the single fastest lap time. By the conclusion of the 45-minute main event, Maifield had built a 13+ second lead over second place Jared Tebo, with Josh Wheeler in 3rd, and was the only driver to make 83 laps.

Source: Associated [rc10.com]

July 20, 2009

Grainger & Bowden take BRCA TC Rd3

The fast flowing track at Cotswolds provided the venue at the weekend for round three of the BRCA 1:10 touring car championship. Wind and heavy rain made racing very difficult but a full entry of a 130 drivers braved the conditions for the two day meeting. In the Super Touring class Chris Grainger picked up where he left off at round two taking the victory with his Schumacher Mi4, second was Olly Jefferies for Associated with Ben Cosgrove third for Hot Bodies. Colin Price set FTD with his Mi4 and in the process set a new Cotswolds track record, the first in the UK nationals for a LiPo powered car. Motor problems for Colin in the finals saw him finish fifth just behind the Hot Bodies Cyclone of Andy Moore. Many of the top drivers then jetted straight off to Luxemburg after the event to practice for the Euros. In the Pro Stock class it was the Hot Bodies Cyclone of Johnny Bowden, winner of round 2, that took victory in front of a very impressive and on form Ayrton Anderson, Adam Meakin completed the podium with a very well deserved third place.

Click here to see the Pro Stock podium