Red RC » R On Road

March 24, 2009

Robert Pietsch takes French EFRA GP win

The opening 1/8th scale EFRA GP of the year was held last weekend outside Paris in a town called Aulnay. The 81 drivers, split between 4wd Open and 2wd Classic, were presented with a fast smooth track and the weather, while cool, stayed dry. Qualifying for the 4wd class saw Mugen racer Robert Pietsch take the pole position in front of the Serpent pairing of World Vice Champion Andrea Cristiani and John Ermen, with another Mugen, that of Rick V. taking the final direct qualifying position in 4th. The 45 minute final started with Robert going straight into the lead, but a mistake behind from Cristiani saw him lose a lot of time in the pits to repair a broken crystal. Behind Pietsch the battle was between John and Rick, but then Ermen too had mechanical problems and had to join early retiree Walter Salemi in watching the race from the stands. With the top 2 positions locked out, the battle was for 3rd spot and this was between Shepherd main man Patrick Schaefer and French racer Louis Christophe with the German holding the 3rd spot, but a crash while passing a lapped car lost the Velox driver over a lap and allowed Louis into the 3rd spot to take the final podium place behind Rick V. in 2nd and Robert Pietsch in 1st, a lap clear up front.

Click here to see the final results

March 24, 2009

Lemieux & Blackstock take ROAR Carpet Mod titles

The 2009 ROAR Electric Carpet Nationals took place last week at the Gate in Cleveland Ohio and the race attracted 284 entrants. In the blue ribboned Modified classes it was Paul Lemieux that took the win from pole position with his Trinity powered Xray ahead of young Associated racer Keven Herbert in 2nd and Josh Cyrul, driving the self designed TOP Racing Photon, in 3rd spot. In 1/12th Modified it was Associated racer Mike Blackstock that won, in a close battle with CEFX designer Josh Cyrul who ended the day in 2nd, while Serpent racer Paul Ciccarello took 3rd spot.

Full final results can be found here.

Image: RC50 [rc50.com]

March 23, 2009

Mark Green retains Merlin Fuel backing

Following previous announcements by World and European finalist Mark Green, the multiple British National Champion has confirmed his final sponsor going into the 2009 season, Merlin Fuels. The Spanish company has backed Mark in previous seasons and continues their support with Mark having already tried their latest batch of fuel, which he says works really well in combination with his new Novarossi engines. The Serpent 966 racer has been testing recently and is pleased with both his car, engine and fuel, as well as the new light weight Xceed wheels, which he feels offers a big advantage, especially upon acceleration.

March 19, 2009

Western Canadian Indoor Championship Series

Finishing off an exciting year of indoor carpet racing, the Western Canadian Indoor Championship Series had it’s final stop at the CarCar RC club in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The series has had stops in Calgary, Edmonton and Lethbridge, Alberta, and Regina, Saskatchewan. There was over 100 entries for the 4 day event, with practice Thurs evening and Friday, and qualifiers and mains on Saturday and Sunday. We received the following report from the event.

March 16, 2009

Hagberg dominates Danish Nats Rd6

Last Saturday, Broendby Racing Club in Denmark organised the 6th round of the Danish championships, which took place in the middle of a big shopping centre, just outside Copenhagen. There were 50 drivers in attendance in both SuperStock and Modified 1:10 Touring Car Classes. The venue was right in the middle of the center, and with all the shops open, there were a lot of spectators throughout the day making it a a perfect showcase for the sport.

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March 16, 2009

Sabrina Lechner to race Serpent 966

Top German female racer Sabrina Lechner has confirmed her move to Serpent for the 2009 season. Previously racing the Shepherd Velox, she will now run the new 966 1/8th scale in races this year, and has confirmed that she will continue with the Picco made IDM engines, as well as ATS tires. Sabrina will be running a busy racing schedule this year, competing in the European B Championships, German Nationals, EFRA GPs, World Championships in Lostallo as well as running 1/10th scale too.

Source: Fun & Drive [scuderia-fun-and-drive.com]

March 15, 2009

F1 RCGP Round 3 report

The 3rd round of the Japanese F1 RCGP series was held last weekend at the famous 1/8th GP track, KeiTuen Racing Speedway in Chiba. The unique part of the F1 RCGP is that the race will start in rain or even snowy weather conditions and there was no exceptions for this round. Track conditions was semi wet for the first round and most of the drivers started with rubber tires but apparently sponge tires were a better choice. Heavy rain started falling after lunch break and some drivers spread glue on the sponge tires surface which works pretty well. To win this round not only driving technique but right tire choice is extremely important. In the F1 GP class it was Miura Masayuki starting from 2nd who was in a different league managing to have a safe lead over 2nd placed Ishikawa Mamoru, who never got a chance to put any pressure on the leader. Yashima Sadaaki beat National off road champion Kimura Shinya to secure his 3rd place.

March 14, 2009

Josh Cyrul teams up with Shepherd Racing

Shepherd Racing have announced that multiple US National Champion and multiple World Championship podium finisher Josh Cyrul has joined their international racing team. From now on Josh will use the Velox V8 for all 1/8th On-Road scale events and of course will also race with the upcoming Velox V10 as soon as it is available. As he has many years of experience with nitro on-road cars, his feedback will help the company finalizing the design of the V10 as well as improving the V8. Josh will attend all major US events, the Pre-Worlds and the World Championship in Lostallo. He has sent us the following statement:

Heading into the 2009 season and especially looking forward to the coming World Championships, I am extremely excited to join Shepherd Micro Racing. The Velox 1/8 car has already more than proven it’s capabilities and I’ve been impressed with the car since the moment I saw it. Now, actually going through the kit and holding one in my hand I’m even more happy and looking forward to a great future with Patrick and everyone at Shepherd.

Additonally his company CEFX will take over the exclusive distribution of Shepherd Micro Racing products for North America. Soon the homepage will be updated with the full information about Shepherd products. We are sure that CEFX will guarantee a premium support for all Shepherd customers in the US. With the existing contacts to hobby shops all over the US, CEFX has the possibilty to ensure a wide parts availability.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]