August 26, 2016

Volker capitalises to take Q3 at WC

Volker capitalises to take Q3 at WC

Ronald Volker has TQ’ the third round of qualifying, the Yokomo driver capitalising on a number of mistakes from Q1 & 2 pace setter Bruno Ceolho.  Running in the second fastest heat at the World Championships, Akio Sobue would set the benchmark for the top heat with an impressive time which Volker would just manage to better, his advantage over the 5-minutes only 0.095 of a second.  For Coelho, who ran a slower time than Q2 while everyone else went faster, the round would give the Xray driver a P3 ahead of team-mate Alexander Hagberg.  Having struggled in the opening two qualifiers just scraping Top 10 times, Q3 would be a big step forward for Marc Rheinard as he posted the fifth fastest time the gap to the TQ pace down from over 5 to 1.8-seconds.

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August 26, 2016

Coelho again in Q2

Coelho again in Q2

Having concluded yesterday’s action by taking the opening round of qualifying, Bruno Coelho continues to be the man to beat at the Electric Touring Car World Championships in China. With four rounds of qualifying on today’s schedule, the Xray driver opened the third day of the event with a second TQ run again having the edge over Yokomo Ronald Volker. With Volker setting the early pace, its a blue sky sunny morning in Beijing, Coelho would put in a strong second half to top the times by 1.4 seconds. Behind them Alexander Hagberg would complete the Top 3, the Swede getting ahead of Q1 P3 finisher Viktor Wilck.

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August 26, 2016

2018 ISTC Worlds awarded to South Africa

SouthAfricaWorlds

South Africa will host the next IFMAR ISTC World Championships. The decision to award the 10th running of the Touring Car Worlds along with the 1:12 World Championship was made during the current World Championships taking place in Beijing, China. A former host country, with the city of Krugersdorp venue of the 2002 Worlds won by Surikarn Chaidajsuriya, the 2018 event will take place in the city of Welkom at the Welkom R/C Club facility. With it originally expected no applications would be received from the FAMAR Block, therefore the hosting of the next Worlds falling back to the current FEMCA hosts, South Africa was the only country to submit a presentation. While no dates have been set it is expected the race with most like run in the month of May which is the end of their Summer.

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August 26, 2016

Yokomo BD8 coming soon

Yokomo BD8 coming soon

Yokomo have officially announced that the all new BD8 1/10th touring car is coming. The Yokomo factory team are running prototypes of the new car in Beijing, China this week at the IFMAR Worlds, and we are told that the new platform is scheduled for an October release. Stay tuned for more information.

UPDATE: View our Ronald Volker Chassis Focus for more details and photos


August 25, 2016

Wilck top seed at Beijing Worlds

Wilck top seed at Beijing Worlds

Viktor Wilck is the top seed for qualifying at the Electric Touring Car World Championships in Beijing, the Serpent driver having topped a much faster second round of controlled practice.  With wind causing many drivers problems in the first round, the sun came out for driver’s second attempt at a 3-consecutive lap time and with the wind dying off the track would prove over a second faster.  Having set the pace so far at these unique Worlds, in that no one drove the newly surfaced track prior to the first round of free practice yesterday morning, Bruno Coelho would finish second fastest 0.125 off of Wilck’s pace, their fastest lap times almost identical with only 2/1000ths of a difference between them.  Ronald Volker would complete the Top 3, the Yokomo driver a further 3/10th back.  For World Champion Naoto Matsukura a though first day didn’t get any better with his title defence starting in the 5th fastest qualifying group.  It wasn’t a good controlled practice for his Tamiya team-mate Marc Rheinard either, the 3-time Champion only able for the 13th fastest time.

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August 25, 2016

Coelho masters difficult conditions in 1st control practice

Coelho masters difficult conditions in 1st control practice

Bruno Coelho mastered difficult track conditions on Day 2 of the Electric Touring Car World Championships in Beijing this morning to top the first round of controlled practice.  Having topped yesterday’s six rounds of free practice, the Xray driver again was fastest but with wind effecting track conditions it was not a repeat of the 1-2 the Slovakian manufacturer witnessed on the opening Day.  With Hagberg managing only P10, pulling up with a minute to go as he clearly struggled with his car, there was a marked improvement from reigning manufacturer champions Yokomo.  Only p5 in free practice, Ronald Volker would set the second fastest time, albeit 7/10ths off Coelho over the best 3-consecutive laps, with team-mate Loic Jasmin completing the Top 3.

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August 24, 2016

Simon Kurzbuch takes Swiss 1/8th Nitro On-road title

Simon Kurzbuch takes Swiss 1/8th Nitro On-road title

Last weekend the fifth round of the Swiss 1/8th On-road Championship took place at the Minidrom Sitterdorf. The weather was not the best meaning only one dry round of qualifying could be run. Simon Kurzbuch was the fastest and secured himself the TQ in front of Silvio Hächler. On Sunday the weather improved so was it possible to race all the finals under dry conditions. The main final was dominated once again by Simon who crossed the finishing line in first position some three laps in front of Mattia Pesenti with Remy Hasler completing the podium another two laps down. With four wins out of five races Simon Kurzbuch already secured himself the 2016 overall Swiss Championship title.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]


August 24, 2016

Day 1 complete in Beijing, Xray in control

Day 1 complete in Beijing, Xray in control

Day 1 of the Electric Touring Car World Championships is complete in Beijing with Xray having controlled proceedings.  Opening the day at the Fengtai R/C Model Area asphalt track at the top of the time sheets, after 6 rounds of free practice it was still an Xray 1,2 with Bruno Coelho fastest from Alexander Hagberg.  While the pair would fail to improve on their 3-fastest lap time from FP4, Coelho would still top the times sheets for the final practice ahead of Tamiya’s Chrishopher Krapp. Krapp’s FP6 time would see him the best of the rest as he turned around his performance over the day to finish P3 ahead of TRF team-mate Marc Rheinard although the gap was substantial at over half a second.  Unfortunately for defending champion Naoto Matsukura he couldn’t replicate the turn around of his team-mates ending up on page 2 of the time sheets with the 39th fastest time.  The Japanese driver said despite making changes to his set-up each run his car ‘still feels the same’.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.


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