August 26, 2013

LRP Touring Car Master 2014 – Announcement

LRP Touring Car Master 2014 – Announcement

The 2014 LRP Touring Car Masters will take place the weekend of the 16th of March 2014 at the Großsporthalle in Rüsselsheim near Frankfurt/Main. For the 17th edition of the prestigious race a new larger venue was found that allows for more space for drivers and spectators with the local VfR Rüsselsheim club hosting the event. The proven concept of the TCM remains the same as in the years before, in addition to the Masters class the successful national LRP-HPI-Challenge will be run. More information about the race can be found on LRP’s website once all details are fixed.

August 24, 2013

FEMCA title a ‘Special win’ for Hara

FEMCA title a 'Special win' for Hara

8-days on from making the shock announcement that after 13 years of racing for HB the had left the team, Atsushi Hara claimed a ‘special win’ today as he became the FEMCA 1:8 Offroad Champion after a near perfect day at Fengtai Raceway in China.  Racing as a privateer with a Mugen that he went out to a hobby shop and bought himself, the Japanese ace won the 1-hour final easily from Top Qualifier Dani Choi and Sheng Chie Huang who had a great battle towards the end of the race.

View our complete event coverage here.

August 24, 2013

Hara on pole for FEMCA final

Hara on pole for FEMCA final

Atsushi Hara is on pole position for the 1:8 Offroad FEMCA Championships after the Japanese ace convincingly won his Semi final in the faster time.  A lack of clarity in the ruling meant there was a long wait before the grid was finalised with officials disagreeing on the interpretation of the rule. JMRCA representatives were adamant that the rule should see the pole position go to the winner of the odd Semi final as this was deemed the faster race as it contained the Top Qualifier. With Sheng Chie Huang beating Top Qualifier Dani Choi this would have but the Taiwanese driver on the pole for the 1-hour title deciding race. In the end a call to IFMAR’s Sander De Graaf saw the ruling interpreted as the driver with the fastest time from the 2 Semi finals getting pole position, Hara’s time being 2 laps faster than that of Huang.

View our complete event coverage here.

August 22, 2013

Choi Top Qualifier at FEMCA Championship

Dani Choi

‘Can’t believe it’ was Choi’s reaction to the result.  Going into the final qualifier tied on points with Hara he said he just tried to ignore Scotty Ernst’s commentary but towards the end of the race he found himself battling with two world champions.  Running the same set of Exagon tyres he used to TQ the penultimate round of heats, he said his MP9 was really good and the hardest thing was actually trying to stay calm as he ran wheel to wheel with Hara and Vejrak.  Looking forward to Saturday’s Semi Finals, Choi said with his buggy performing so well and also being extremely good in terms of tyre wear, his tyres after two 10-minute qualifiers still looking like new, he said the plan is just to fully rebuild the buggy and for the race itself keep calm.

View our complete event coverage here.

August 22, 2013

Hara takes damp 4th FEMCA Qualifier

Hara takes damp 4th FEMCA Qualifier

Atsushi Hara took the fourth round of qualifying at the FEMCA Championship in Beijing as day 2 of qualifying got off to a damp start at Fengtai Raceway. Despite the slippery conditions, the Japanese ace backed up his Q1 topping performance to record a new fastest 10-minute run of qualifying finishing 12.5 second clear of overnight provisional TQ holder Dani Choi with Yuichi Kanai a further 7/10th off the 2008 World Champion’s pace.

View our complete event coverage here.

August 21, 2013

Meen V TQs 3rd FEMCA qualifier

Meen V TQs 3rd FEMCA qualifier

Reigning Nitro Touring Car World Champion Meen Veijrak ended Day 1 of qualifying for the FEMCA 1:8 Offroad Championship with a TQ run making him the third driver to top the times at the Chinese event.  The Thai driver took his Mugen to the fastest time of the day outpacing Q2 pace setter Dani Choi, who having finished all the qualifiers in the Top 2 holds the provisional overnight TQ honours, with Kyosho’s Yuichi Kanai completing the Top 3 with his fastest run of the day.  For Q1 pace setter Atsushi Hara Q3 would prove difficult with a series of crashes leaving the pre-event favourite only 14th fastest.

View our complete event coverage here.

August 21, 2013

Choi takes Q2 in China

Choi takes Q2 in China

Korea’s Dani Choi took the second round of qualifying at the FEMCA 1:8 Offroad Championships in China heading Q1 pace setter Atsushi Hara by 5.5 seconds with versatile Thai ace Meen Veijrak completing the Top 3. Choi said despite the track being a lot dustier than in Q1 his Sweep Exagon equipped Kyosho had better traction allowing him to improve his opening time by 5 seconds.  Describing the track as having got more bumpy in Q2, something he said he was able to drive around on this occasion, he said he will monitor the surface before Q3 to decide what changes he might need adding that he is pretty sure he will run a different spring on the MP9.  Running for the first time Alpha’s new Ryan Lutz exhaust to match up with the same named engine, he said it worked really well giving the engine a lot more bottom end power.

View our complete event coverage here.

August 21, 2013

Video – Exclusive interview with Atsushi Hara

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XonvNt0fei4[/youtube]

Following his recent shock announcement to leave HPI Racing, we talked with 2-time World Champion Atsushi Hara who is attending the FEMCA Championships in China, about his decision to leave long time main sponsor, to dispel some rumors and talk about what the future holds for the Japanese superstar.

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