Red RC » R On Road

May 18, 2009

Ronald Voelker confirms move to Yokomo

Over the weekend the news emerged (thanks to all the people that mailed me) that former European Champion and World Championship runner up Ronald Voelker had joined Yokomo. Having raced for Hot Bodies in previous years and been very successful, the LRP backed driver is looking forward to the season ahead with his new sponsors. We contacted him for a statement on the move.

First of all I would like to thank Hot Bodies and especially Toshihiko Hara for their support over the last 3 years! I’ m really looking forward to racing the new Yokomo BD5 and I am happy to have the opportunity to race in such a world class team with so much success behind them.

Ronald’s first race is this weekend’s Reedy Race and in preperation for that event the German driver took the opportunity to shake down his new ride last weekend at a local race.

May 18, 2009

Tim Wood wins BRCA 1/8th Rd2

The second round of the BRCA 1/8th national took place yesterday at the Halifax track. The weather forcast was for rain showers all weekend so the track became very busy when dry patches formed between the showers. On Saturday, it was Mark Green setting the pace followed by Neil Diver, Pete Hastings and Richard Hicklin, while on Sunday it was bright and the track was almost dry for heat practice. Rain then started to fall but soon stopped and for the final heat, it was 90% dry. Mark Green in this heat set TQ and in doing so, the cars behind him put in good banker times for if the rain came again. In Round 2, it was fully dry and a good time would secure a main final position. All the top drivers improved to into the 20 lap bracket, apart from Tim Wood, who ran out of fuel, but was on for a good 20 lap result. Up front however, Mark Green continued his recent dominance at the Dutch GP by setting TQ and a new lap record of 21 laps in 310 seconds. This result being a clear 3/4 of a lap clear of Richard Hicklin. Round 3, and Mark Green did not improve on his previous time, but heat 4 saw improvements to bump Adam Catchpole, Andy Hastings, and Dan Bancroft into the top 10. Round 4 was a washout, since a big rain shower returned.

Continue reading the report

May 14, 2009

La Gara del Cuore – Announcement

Our friends in Italy sent us the announcement for a race that they are running in June, on the 6th – 7th, in aid of the victims of the recent Abruzzo earthquake. The race takes place in Gubbio and is open to both 1/8th scale and 1/10th scale gas classes and all proceeds from the event will go to the Italian Red Cross. Its for a good cause, so if you wish to test on the host track of this year’s European Championships for 1/10th 200mm and you missed out on last weekend’s GP then you may as well go and support a good cause while you are at it. You can enter the race by going to the track site here, with more info (in Italian) here.

May 13, 2009

Guiseppe D’angelo wins Euros Warm-up

Last weekend saw the Warm up race for the European 1/10th scale 200mm European Championship held at the ‘Mario Rosati’ track in Gubbio, Italy. Qualifying saw the pole position go to Mugen/Sirio driver Francesco Tironi, 4 seconds clear of of Mugen/SM driver Guiseppe D’angelo in 2nd, using a new prototype SM engine, while Robert Pietsch and Dino Giacalone rounded out the top 4. In the final Tironi had problems at the 5 minute mark, dropping him down the order and this allowed D’angelo to take the lead, a position he held until the end of the race. Guiseppe won by over 2 laps from Dino Giacalone in 2nd, who had inherited the place from Pietsch who retired at the 15 minute mark, while Xray driver Niki Duina claimed the final podium placing in 3rd.

Click here to see the final positions

May 12, 2009

Yannick Aigoin wins Euros Warmup

The warm up for this year’s European buggy Championships took place last weekend in Oberwolbing in Austria under hot and dry conditions. The track presented to the drivers, which included some US drivers over for the race, was super fast with 2 straights and a tarmac banking, which constantly challenged the drivers. The A-main was super fast with current European Champion Renaud Savoya, Adam Drake and Yannick Aigoin fighting for the lead. Savoya and Aigoin were a little bit faster and fought for the whole race, but Yannick was able to make one less stop which gave the Losi driver the safety margin he needed to keep in front until the end of the race. Renaud Savoya took 2nd for Mugen ahead of British driver Neil Cragg in 3rd for Associated.

Source: Racing Experience [racing-experience.fr]

May 12, 2009

Teemu Saarinen take round 1 in Finland

Last weekend in Hyvinkää, Finland, the opening round of the Finnish 1/10th scale National Championships took place. Qualifying had seen Mugen driver Teemu Saarinen take the pole position for the 45 minute final, and he was able to carry that pace through into the finals, winning the race by a lap from Xray driver Pekka Kolvula in 2nd, with Tony Raikas running a Mugen, 3 laps further back in 3rd spot.

Source: Mugen [mid-mugen.eu]

May 12, 2009

2009 IIC Las Vegas – Announcement

Our good friend Scotty Ernst is once more running his World famous IIC race in Las Vegas, with this year’s edition running from the 7th – 12th of September, the week after labour day. Now in its fifth year, the 2009 event presented by Jaco/SMC will again be held right in the heart of Las Vegas, at the Rivera hotel on the world famous strip. As it proved so popular last year, this year’s event will once again finish up on Saturday, giving everyone the chance for a relaxed drive home on Sunday, meaning people dont have to take Monday free from work. In the past the IIC has been seen as a barometer for upcoming trends in RC racing, the event being the first major brushless event, the first to allow LiPo packs and the first to offer brushless handout motors, and this year its no exception, with all the 1/12th classes and both WGT classes required to use 1 cell LiPo batteries making this years IIC the first all LiPo event ever. Registration for this awesome event will open June 7th at 8pm Est/5pm Pst on the official site, which also contains all the rules and further details, and which can be accessed here.

May 12, 2009

Alexander Hagberg wins Swedish Nats opener

Merlin Fuel have a report from their team driver Alexandar Hagberg, who last weekend took part in his first gas race in Växjö, southern Sweden at the opening round of the Swedish Nationals. Qualifying went well for the Xray driver as in the 3rd round out of 4 he could secure the overall TQ with a 2 second gap over the 2nd placed Kyosho driver Magnus Vässmar. In the finals Alex lead for the first 20 minutes until his engine flamed out, which gave Vässmar the lead ahead of Alexander. With 2 minutes to go Vässmar lost his 2nd gear and was running slowly around the track and this allowed Hagberg to take back the lead and with it the win, about half a lap down to 2nd placed Vässmar and another lap in front of 3rd placed Mugen driver Mikael Fransson.

Click here to see the final results