Red RC » Racing

April 27, 2008

Christoffer Svensson dominates NXC 08

Neo Buggy are reporting on a fantastic weekend for Christoffer Svensson at the Nordic Xray Challenge, who dominated the whole race from start to finish with double TQ, double pole position and wins in both the buggy and truggy classes. In the buggy main, Svensson took the lead from pole before dropping to 2nd on lap 2, and then retaking the lead before driving away. Hazlewood battled early on with Gustafsson, with Gus eventually opening a gap from Hazlewood, but was unable to fully catch a hard-charging Svensson. In the end Gustafsson was denied a worthy second place by clutch issues and this left Hazlewood in 2nd and Mikael Palsson in 3rd. In the truggy class Svensson started out front but was passed early by Hazlewood, and then proceeded to battle each other for a while, but fast consistent driving and good pit stops gifted Svensson the lead on lap 16. Hazlewood had 2nd place wrapped up until lap 38 where center diff issues forced him to retire and this allowed Henrik Nilsson up into 2nd and Niclas Brunsberg in 3rd.

Source: Neo Buggy [neobuggy.net]

April 27, 2008

Viktor Wilck wins TC WC Warm-up

The finals at this years Pre Worlds in Thailand have been run under dry conditions as the expected rains didnt show up. Leg 1 of the main final saw Masami Hirosaka take the win for Yokomo as early leader Viktor Wilck clipped a kerb which allowed following pair of Marc Rheinard and Masami through, though Marc went wide leaving Hirosaka into the lead and on to take the win. The 2nd leg saw a good battle at the front as Atsushi Hara worked his way to the front after some great passing moves, and the Hot Bodies racer continued to lead until 1 minute to go when his car shut down, allowing Wilck back into the lead followed by Rheinard and Serpent driver Billy Easton. This all meant the winner would be decided in leg 3 and it was Viktor Wilck that jumped straight into the lead with Hara in2nd, managing to get past Rheinard early on. This was how it stayed until again close to the end, when Hara had another shut down, leaving Marc up into 2nd and Hayato Matsuzaki up into 3rd. This result gave Viktor Wilck the overall win ahead of Tamiya team mate Marc Rheinard in 2nd, while Masami Hirosaka took 3rd after a tie break with Matsuzaki and Easton.

Click here for the final standings… content

April 26, 2008

TC WC Warm-up – Viktor Wilck TQ

TC WC Warm-up - Viktor Wilck TQ

Qualifying for this weekend’s Pre Worlds in Thailand has taken place and despite the rain coming down last night, and threatening to come down later on in qualifying, the organisers managed to get 5 rounds of qualifying in, with the best 3 counting. In the end it was Swedish Tamiya driver Viktor Wilck that has come out on top, ahead of his team mate, and former World Champion Marc Rheinard in 2nd. Next up was Atsushi Hara, quickest after controlled practice, he will start tomorrow’s triple mains from 3rd, just ahead of Hot Bodies team mate and 2wd buggy World Champion Hayato Matsuzaki in 4th. Notable drivers not to make the final are current World Champion Andy Moore who is sitting in 12th, and Kyosho driver Shin Adachi, who was 2nd quickest in controlled practice but only ended up in 14th after qualifying. Tomorrow will see all mains run, but unfortunately the weather is not looking so good.

Click more for the final standings… content

April 25, 2008

Atsushi Hara rejoining Team Orion?

Seen in the pits at this weekend’s Worlds Warm-up race in Thailand, is Atsushi Hara testing what looks like the new Team Orion Vortex motor in his Hot Bodies Cyclone. The former World Champion left the Swiss company at the end of 2006 to join Team Checkpoint, but the US company appears to have done little in the way of development in recent times and this appears to have left the Japanese driver looking for alternatives. Also spotted on Hara’s workbench are some Team Orion cells, and this new combination seems to be working as he is currently fastest after today’s controlled practice although we dont know if he will run with this motor in qualifying.

Image: Pre Worlds [thailandwc08.com]

April 25, 2008

TC WC Warm-up – Controlled Practice

Atsushi Hara sets pace at WC Warm-up

The Warm up event for this years Touring car World Championships in November is being run at in Thailand this week under mixed weather conditions. Following 2 rounds of controlled practice today, it was Hot Bodies racer, and former World Champion, Atsushi Hara from Japan that was setting the pace. Sitting 4 seconds clear at the top, Hara set his quickest time in the first of the 2 sessions and now sits nearly 4 seconds clear of Kyosho Factory driver Shin Adachi (pictured), who is currently in 2nd. The 3rd and 4th position are held by Tamiya team drivers Viktor Wilck and Marc Rheinard, while rounding out the top 5 is Masami Hirosaka, driving a Yokomo.

Click more for the results from today’s timed practice… content

April 24, 2008

Daily News Round-up

A summary of other news pieces from around the internet today in our Red RC Round-up:

> Report from Schumacher BTCC Rd1 Stafford – Link [racing-cars.com]
> MMR Electric Challenge ’08 report – Link [serpent.com]
> 8th Edition of the Di Monaco Championships – Link [serpent.com]
> More images and info on the Jammin X2 – Link [radiocontrolzone.com]

April 24, 2008

Schaer wins Swiss 1/10th Nats Rd1

The opening round of the Swiss 1/10th 200mm National Championships was run recently at the MRCL club’s track in Langenthal. Taking place under dry but cold conditions, qualifying saw Dirk Stammler take the pole position ahead of Beat Wälti in 2nd, Traugott Schaer in 3rd and Marc Bösiger 4th. The start of the main final saw Stammler go straight into the lead followed by Beat and Traugott, the latter taking over 2nd place when Walti made a small mistake. Only 4 minutes in and Dirk’s car came to a stop allowing Schaer into the lead, where he stayed, conserving his tyres until 4 minutes to the end when his car ran out of tyres completely, meaning an unscheduled stop. This allowed Walti into the lead but he too had to make an unscheduled stop before the end and this allowed Schaer back into the lead where he could take the win, ahead of a recovering Walti in 2nd and Giovanni Bonetti in 3rd.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

April 24, 2008

Spanish EFRA 1/8th GP – Videos

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-nc0gpPCNA[/youtube]

Our friends at Merlin Fuel were present at the Spanish EFRA GP, or European 1/8th scale Warm up as it was billed, in Valencia Spain last weekend and while there they made some videos of the action. The video above is from practice and some sub finals while the video below is from the main final, that was eventually won by Shepherd Velox driver Robert Pietsch.

Click more to see the main final video… content