Red RC » International

June 29, 2009

Alberto Picco warms up for World title

The warm up race for this years big event, the 1/8th scale World Championships in Lostallo, Switzerland, took place at the weekend and was attended by a lot of big names, with racers coming from as far away as Japan and America, along with the usual batch of super quick European racers. Qualifying went the way of Bumod GP winner Robert Pietsch, who was 3 seconds clear of Mugen team mates Andrea Pirani in 2nd and Alberto Picco, another 3 seconds back, in 3rd, with Kyosho team driver Takaaki Shimo from Japan taking the last direct final spot in 4th. The Semi finals saw Andrea Cristiani win his race while in the other Semi it was Patrick Schäfer who was gifted the win after actual winner Daniele Ielasi was DQ’d due to an underweight car and Marc Vanni who finished 2nd was also DQ’d because the body was too high. This allowed Salven and Tironi to be able to bump up along with Cristiani, Bertin, Green and Schäfer, to join the top 4 in the one hour long final. In the race, Michael Salven was the first to hit problems, breaking his engine at the first corner, he would later rejoin with a newly installed motor, while Andrea Pirani would also break an engine after 14 minutes putting him out of the race. Meanwhile up front it was Pietsch leading but a very quick Alberto Picco was closing and when Robert’s motor flamed out the Italian could clear away out front, followed by Shimo in 2nd, while Mark Green would work his way up to 3rd and stay there till the end of the race. And that was how it would finish with Alberto Picco winning from Takaaki Shimo in 2nd and Mark Green in 3rd.

Click here to see the final results

June 29, 2009

Jilles Groskamp wins Euros Warmup

Last weekend the official Warm up race for the EP TC European Championships was held at the large and tricky Mini Circuit “Ville de Luxembourg”. Following practice it was Marc Rheinard who was setting the pace, getting the only 17 Lap run seen so far on the track. In qualifying it was Viktor Wilck who would set the early pace with a fast 16 Lap run in round 1, but rain showers would ruin any chance to improve for the rest of the day despite some drivers managing some more dry running later in the afternoon. With 3 more rounds of qualifying on Sunday morning, and Marc Rheinard now absent due to a prior commitment, Viktor Wilck would take the TQ spot ahead of Jilles Groskamp and Alex Hagberg, with Wilck, Groskamp and Yannic Pruemper sharing a round win each on Sunday. The 3 leg finals would see International TC race winner Groskamp win the first leg from Hagberg in 2nd and Wilck 3rd, while in the 2nd Leg it was Wilck from Marc Fisher and Elliot Harper, to set up a show down in the final leg. Unfortunately it again started to rain and with Wilck electing not to go on track and Groskamp taking the leg win, the Dutch man would claim the overall win from Tamiya team mate Wilck in 2nd, with Elliot Harper taking 3rd for Xray. A lot of the racers will now continue to test on the track for the next few days in order to fine tune their machinery even more in preparation for the Euros at the end of July.

Click here to see the final results

June 28, 2009

Meen Vejrak wins KM Asia Cup Rd3

The 3rd round of the KM Asia Cup took place recently at the TRC race track in Yuen Long, Hong Kong. Although it was meant to be held on the facility’s brand new outdoor race track, the race was actually run indoor due to heavy rain on Friday that gave the organization a tough decision to make. The track itself was one of the biggest challenges for everyone, because of its slippery condition which made the right setup hard to find, not to mention the driving skill required for this type of traction. Usually traction will come up gradually as the race goes on, thus, traction in the finals would be higher than in qualifying, but this indoor track is totally different getting more slippery as the event went on.

Click here to continue reading the report

June 27, 2009

2009 Kyosho Masters Videos

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0rwCZM6NBE[/youtube]

We briefly touched on the Kyosho Masters race, that was held last weekend outside Paris, France, last Sunday. For those who want to see the action, our friends at RC Mag have released some video footage from both the Elite buggy final (above) and the truggy finals (below). Check them out in the embedded players.

Click here for some truggy final action

June 24, 2009

Euro Touring Series – Round 5

The 2008/2009 Much More backed ETS season finale (round 5) will once again take place at the awesome Andernach track, close to Koblenz in the West of Germany from the 17th to the 19th of July. A great event to cap off this years series, the organizers are once again planning a highly competitive race for both the Modified and Pro stock racers, as well as a fun relaxed atmosphere with plenty of other activities to keep drivers occupied between heats. Once again attracting the cream of European racers, like local World Champion Marc Rheinard, Jilles Groskamp, Ronald Volker, Viktor Wilck and many more, the ETS also expect more surprise international entrants in the build up to the race. In addition to the regular classes their will also be a hobby class run for Tamiya TT01 chassis’ split over a number of classes. For more information about the event and where it takes place go to the Series page on our site here.

Racers can enter round 5 of the ETS (and find more info on the hobby class) by going to rcracecontrol.com.

June 21, 2009

King & Aigoin win 2009 Kyosho Masters

RC Mag are reporting on the Kyosho Masters race which was being held this weekend at a track outside Paris. With a lot of international racers in attendance from all around Europe as well as Japan and the USA, it was to once again be an exciting event to showcase the products of the Japanese manufacturer. In the Elite buggy class it was Jerome Aigoin that took the top spot in qualifying in front of Linus Thern in 2nd, while in the truggy class it was again Jerome Aigoin who was fastest ahead of Cody King. In the buggy semi, Jerome had problems and wouldn’t move up to the main event which would see Linus Thern on pole position. In the race itself, it was Cody who would win the event, setting the fastest lap in the race, to finish in front of newly crowned Euro B Champion David Ronnefalk from Sweden, with another American, Tyler Vik claiming 3rd. In the truggy final, Jerome was able to make amends for his poor buggy race by winning the final by 7 seconds ahead of Linus Thern, while young David Ronnefalk took his second podium of the day in 3rd.

Click here to see the full results

June 16, 2009

Stefan Pregnolato is European ‘B’ Junior Champion

Forgotten at the prize ceremony during the European ‘B’ Championships in Cassino 2 weeks ago, EFRA have confirmed that 14-year old Shepherd driver Stefan Pregnolato is the European B Junior Champion. Already in qualifying Stefano showed great potential by driving the 3rd best time with his Velox V8 and reaching the main final directly. During the final he was on the third place for quite a long time but unfortunately in the last lap he dropped down to 5th position. Nevertheless this was enough to claim the titel of Europe’s best under 17 driver at this years Championships.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]

June 16, 2009

Grainger & Jefferies win 2009 MMUKGP

This years running of the annual Much More UK GP took place last weekend at the Stonehaven circuit in Scotland. Qualifying for the modified class went the way of current British National Champion Chris Grainger, just in front of Olly Jefferies in 2nd and Dutch driver Niels Koenekoop in 3rd, while in the Pro Stock class, it was Graham Kenny up front followed by Tom Jefferies and Scott Kenny. Conditions remained dry for most of the day, however a rain shower after the first leg of mains mixed things up a bit but dried quickly. Schumacher racer Chris Grainger carried through his pace from qualifying to take the overall title with 2 leg wins, with Niels Koenekoop driving the TOP Photon won leg 3 and took 2nd overall. Team Associated driver Alan Bickerstaff completed the podium in 3rd. In the Pro Stock class, Graham Kenny won the first leg but struggled in the next two, while Tom Jefferies won the final 2 legs to take the overall class title from Scott Kenny in 2nd and Mark Musgrove in 3rd.

Click here to see the final results & pro stock podium