December 4, 2012

Batlle TQs first qualifier in Argentina

Robert Batlle has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the 1:8 World Championships in Buenos Aires, the factory Mugen driver topping the 10-minute run by 4.3 seconds from TLR’s Dakotah Phend and the Xray of Martin Bayer.  With the teams and drivers expecting to wake up to a wet track this morning the forecasted rain stayed clear and the action was able to get away at 09:00 with Heat 1, made up of fastest Top 12, something that took many by surprise.  Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield, who was in that heat, was very critical of the event saying it was the ‘worst’ World Championships he had been to as there was a complete lack of communications. He continued that the schedule is being followed and the re-sort for the qualifying was not done how it was supposed to be done.  He finished his criticism with ‘where is IFMAR?’.

View our complete event coverage here.

December 3, 2012

Boots top seed for qualifying

Elliot Boots is the top seed for qualifying at the 1:8 Offroad World Championship which is scheduled to get underway in the morning but with heavy rain expected to arrive once again in Buenos Aires there is the strong possibility that we may see no action at all tomorrow. After a four hour delay to the start of racing today due to over night rain, the normal 2-minute practice run held after controlled practice to ensure the timing for the reseeded heats is correct was cancelled with track officials wanting to get the track covered before the arrival of the wet weather.

View our complete event coverage here.

December 3, 2012

Boots tops first controlled practice

Kyosho’s Elliot Boots set the pace in the first controlled practice, the 19-year-old marginally faster than TLR’s Dakotah Phend over the timed 5-minutes run with 2008 World Champion Atsushi Hara posting the third fastest time.  Overnight rain and high winds in Buenos Aires resulted in a 4-hour delay to the start of Day 3 of the 1:8 World Championships as officials waited for the track, which again received a covering of wood shavings, to dry out. The high winds left Team Associated having to rebuild their pit area after the tents were a tangled mess when the team arrived at the track this morning.  Credit to Boots, JQ and Ryan Lee the three drivers getting stuck in to try to clear the heavy area of water from the track.

View our complete event coverage here.

December 2, 2012

Free Practice complete at World Championships

Free practice for the 1:8 Offroad World Championships in Argentina has been completed with the fastest lap of the fourth & final practice run being set by Ryan Lutz who posted a 44.039 lap followed by Lee Martin who managed a 44.056 and Jerome Aigoin who did a best lap of 44.235. Lutz said his prototype Durango was much better in the final practice after he ran a longer wheel base and switched to AKA Moto tyre which he said absorbed the bumps much better. The American didn’t finish the full run as having changed Alpha engines he said the tuning was too lean and it eventually stopped with 2 minutes to go.  While timing for each of today’s three 10-minute runs where published the times count for little more than a guide for the drivers, most of whom were focused more on testing set-ups for later in the week rather than being top of the timing sheets.

View our complete event coverage here.

December 2, 2012

Tessmann tops 2nd practice in Argentina

Hot Bodies’ Ty Tessmann started day 2 of the 1:8 Offroad World Championship in Argentina at the top of the time sheets taking his D8’12 around the Buenos Aires track in a 43.274 second lap in the second Free practice with Mugen’s Robert Batlle second fastest with a time of 43.550 and Kyosho’s Jared Tebo third with a best lap of 43.615.  Running Proline’s new Diamond Back tyre, US National Champion Tessmann said his buggy felt really good on the new tyre but added the track which received some overnight repairs to fill ruts which appeared after yesterday’s single practice round had a lot more traction.  Running the tyre for the entire 10 minutes the Canadian said he will use the second of today’s three scheduled runs to back to back test the Diamond Back against the Blockade tyre. In terms of set-up Tessmann will change to a heavier oil in the centre diff.

View our complete event coverage here.

December 1, 2012

Subdued start to 1:8 Offroad Worlds

Day 1 of the 1:8 Offroad World Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina, can be best described as a rather subdued affair with the timetable consisting of just one 15-minute round of practice. Lacking the air of excitement that is normally associated with the opening day of a Worlds, most drivers treated their single run as a systems check and to learn the track layout which has been reversed since teams attended the Warm-up race held at the end of September. For the first group of drivers to take to the track, HB’s Tyler Vik being one of them, it was nothing more than a cleaning exercise with the dust causing a rapid evacuation of the grandstand situated next to the drivers stand. The heavy dust was due to recent flooding of the track after a nearby river burst its banks and further rain yesterday which led organisers to spread wood shavings on a number sections to help dry the surface as much as possible in time for the 14:00 start time.

View our complete event coverage here.

November 30, 2012

Alex Hagberg wins at Asian ORCA Cup final

The final race of the Asian ORCA Cup series was held in the small village of Kota Raja, just outside Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. The race saw some 100 entries split on two classes: 13.5T turbo timing and 17.5T blinky classes. In the 13.5T class it was Alexander Hagberg who was considered as the pre-event favorite. The best Malaysian drivers, Azri Amri, and Jacky Siow were also both very fast on this track with their extensive track knowledge and stock class experience. As traction was very low, also in combination with the hard Ride R36 controlled tire, car set-up was very difficult. The difference between new and old tires was also very big, as always on asphalt. Using a clever tyre strategy, only three sets of tyre were allowed, Alex Hagberg won all five qualifying rounds and used his TQ position and two sets of new tyres to win the first and second A final. The second place went to Jacky Siow with Wong Kok Wai, who was able to win the third final, taking the remaining spot on the podium.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

November 25, 2012

Volker & Sugiura dominate at Yatabe Arena

Yatabe Arena in Japan played host to their Asia On Road and Off Road Championships this past weekend and the event attracted some international drivers in both classes with the likes of Volker, Rheinard, Groskamp, Levanen & Jasmin attending the TC race while Meen V and Charlee made the trip to take part in the Buggy race. Qualifying for the touring car race saw Ronald Volker dominate qualifying ahead of Yokomo team mate Naoto Matsukura in 2nd, while Marc Rheinard would end up in 3rd. In the final it was more of the same from Volker who won the first two legs of the A-main to secure the win while Naoto took the Leg 3 win to take the runner up spot ahead of Rheinard. Current World Champion Groskamp would recover from a 7th place on the grid to take 4th overall.

Continue reading the report here

Tonisport
Mibosport
LC Racing
VP Racing
T-Works