Red RC » R On Road

May 5, 2009

Thomaes & Vekemans win Belgian Nats Rd2

After the first round held on a technical indoor track, the 2nd round was hosted by the MRCZ outdoor track. Again, the track was very technical and demanding for the drivers, but weather was not on the drivers side at the beginning of the day as Q1 had to be run on a wet/drying track. Around 11.30 am, the sun started to shine and stayed for the rest of the day. In the EFRA class Benoit Thomaes took the TQ spot, 4 seconds ahead of Olivier Buyltink and Nick Joossens, while in the Superstock class it was again G.Vekemans who took the first spot. Benoit Thomaes went on to take the EFRA class win, controlling the race ahead of Buyltink and Joossens, while in the Superstock class G.Vekemans took the win in front of N.Logie and Stephane Roufosse.

Thanks to Benoit Thomaes for the report.

May 5, 2009

2009 CanAm Challenge & Midwest Series Rd1

Celebrating its 40 year anniversary, the Midwest Series is the oldest on road racing series in the world. To start their 2009 season, the first event was held in Toledo, Ohio (USA) host to this year’s ROAR US Open Nationals in September. With over 80 entries and picture perfect weather, the One Eighth Racers of Toledo hosted an outstanding event. Consisting of 8th open, 8th Masters, 1/10th Touring, and GT classes the Top qualifiers were Bobby Flack (Xray) in 1/10th Touring, Mike Cooper (Kyosho) in GT, Eli Ezrow (Shepherd) in 1/8th Masters and Josh Cyrul (Shepherd) in 1/8th Open.

Continue reading the report

May 5, 2009

Merlin Depta wins German Nats Warm-up

Last weekend saw the warm-up race for the German nationals take place in Hildesheim. With 24 drivers and dry, almost warm weather conditions, everyone was looking forward to a nice race. Jens Stark TQ’d the event with is Max powered 966 in front of Stefan Hanauer, Steven Cuypers and his father Jürgen Stark. After the qualification Serpent driver Merlin Depta was in 6th, starting from position 1 in his semi-final. After finishing 1st, he was also able to help his friend Thomas Plöger in the pit, who finished 3rd and would also take part in the main final too, also with a 966. After 30 minutes Merlin finished the race two laps ahead of Tobias Hepp and Jens Stark, completing the all Serpent podium.

Thanks to Merlin Depta for the report.

May 4, 2009

Freddy Südhoff takes European 1/10th ‘B’ title

Following qualifying on Friday and Saturday for this year’s European 1/10th scale ‘B’ Championship in Austria, Sunday say the main finals get underway to decide who would claim the 2009 title. At the start of the 45 minute final Gerhard Kandelhart and Freddy Südhoff got off to a clean start and started to make gap on the rest of the field, also having the advantage of only needing to refuel every 6:45. Around the 13 minute mark Freddy managed to get passed Kandi to take the lead and began to pull a gap and at this time the leading pair had a lap advantage on the rest of the field. Later in the race Rico Kröber, who was in 3rd, started to decrease the gap to Kandi and managed to unlap himself to get back on the lead lap and following some quick laps he managed to catch Kandi again once more, this time for position with 3 laps to go. Going into the fast sweeper, the pair touched and Kandi went off and flamed out, something which would lose him the podium position, dropping to 4th by the time he restarted. This incident moved Daan Jacobs up to 3rd behind Kröber in 2nd, with Freddy Südhoff clear up front to take the European title.

Click here to see the final results

May 2, 2009

Gerhard Kandelhart TQ’s 1/10th Euro B

This weekend sees the European 1/10th 200mm ‘B’ Championships take place in Aigen, Austria. With 112 drivers present from 17 different countries, qualifying got underway yesterday in perfect conditions after some rain earlier in the week threatened to put a dampener on the whole event, however in the evening a thunderstorm did manage to interrupt the opening ceremony. Today it was again very sunny with clear skies, and a lot of spectators around the track watching, as the final qualifying sessions to determine the starting order for the finals got underway. With 4 rounds each to set your quickest time, pole position went to former European Champion Gerhard Kandelhart from Austria driving an Xray NT1, the only driver to get 25 laps, in front of top electric racer Freddy Sudhoff from Germany also with an Xray. Kyosho managed to place a car directly into the final with Rico Krober in 3rd also from Germany, while the final direct qualifying spot went to Dutch front runner Daan Jacobs in 4th, also with an Xray.

Click here to see the qualifying results

April 28, 2009

Puerto Rico Championships Rd4

After been dedicated full time to the off-road class, Mugen Team Driver, Tory Santiago return to the on-road this weekend at the 4th round of the Puerto Rico Championship at Barceloneta. Qualifying in the 5th position in the A-Main, Tory was able to win the class by five laps over Kyosho Driver Pedro Alvarado in 2nd, while finishing in 3rd place was Jesus Rivera driving a Serpent. In the outlaw class was Edgar Betancourt driving a NT1 who TQ’d, but had mechanical problems in the main giving Edgar Tirado and his Serpent 720 the win, while in 3rd place was Jose Salas, also with a Serpent. In the 1/8 class, Kyosho Team Driver, Pedro Alvarado took TQ and won the class, six laps over 2nd place Carlos Fuentes with his Power Racing with Amaury Alvarez taking 3rd with a Kyosho.

Click here for the other A-main podium shots

April 28, 2009

Tim Wood joins Savox team

CML in the UK have signed the current 1/8th scale British Champion Tim Wood to run Savox Servos in 2009. Tim will use the Savox SC-1258 servos to power his Serpent 966 car and joins David Crompton, Elliot Boots, Ellis Stafford & Jon Hazelwood all running the servos with great success. After Tim’s first test at Halifax, he had the following to say:

Having tested the servos I am extremely happy with the performance. I found them to have excellent holding power and feel so much smoother than any I have ran before. Add to this the light weight, and I think many drivers will be switching to Savox.

Source: CML [cmldistribution.co.uk]

April 27, 2009

F1 RCGP Round 4 report

The 4th round of the Japanese F1 RCGP series was held at the RC Stadium Seiki indoor circuit recently. This indoor track allows drivers to concentrate on setting up the car without worrying on the weather conditions which had caused problems at previous rounds. For this round of the championship Japanese gas racing Champions Tadahiko and Yuya Sahashi entered the race. In the F1 GP class pole sitter Kamibayashi Hiroshi took the 1st corner and led the race followed closely by the Sahashi brothers. Tadahiko started to put pressure on the leader but was passed by brother Yuya after he made a mistake at the chicane. The tail to nose battle between Kamibayashi and the Sahashi brothers lasted for a while with Kimura Shinya sitting in 4th. Kimura waited his time and then sensationally got passed both brothers and almost managed to take the lead but for a small mistake in the last corner of the last lap. So Hirosho Kamibayashi took the win from Kimura Shinya in 2nd and Tamura Hideki in 3rd driving the brand new Tech F125.

Continue reading the report