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Volker to start P2 as Coelho complete quali clean sweep

Posted: 03 Dec 2016 10:23 AM PST

Ronald Volker will start second on the grid for the first A-Main of the new season of the Euro Touring Series. With the Top Qualifier already decided in the penultimate round of qualifying when reigning champion Bruno Coelho made it three out of three, Q4 was about deciding how they would line up behind the Xray driver. While Coelho would complete a clean sweep, even surviving clanging his car on the steel boards in the sweeper at the end of the straight, him topping the final qualifier would by default secure Volker the No.2 spot. Volker, winner of 5 of the 7 ETS races held in Hrotovice, would conclude qualifying with a P3 as Viljami Kutvonen broke into the Top 2 although the result changed nothing for the Finn who will start third. On for a potential Top 3 run, last year’s race winner Rheinard would roll his Tamiya on the penultimate lap but the result wouldn’t have changed his starting position and he lines up fourth.

‘Didn’t feel much different to the other qualifier, Bruno was still a bit too fast’, was how Volker summed up the last qualifier adding, ‘I was matching pace with Viljami’. The Yokomo driver continued, ‘we got the car better in terms of it being easy to drive but we need to get more steering for A1 to have a chance’. Feeling the track was now ‘in better condition’, the World Champion felt ‘the track improved and the tyres are improving but the set-up was too conservative for the conditions, but we can fix that for A1’. With team-mates Yugo Nagashima (P8) and Naoki Akiyama (P10) joining him in the finals, the German said, ‘It is great that Naoki and Yugo are also in the A-Main. It’s Yugo’s first ETS race and making the A-Main is a great result’.

‘The plan was to secure 3rd on the grid and beating Ronald that time was a bonus’, said a pleased looking Kutvonen after Q4. Having crashed out of Q3, the Awesomatix driver who will be joined by team-mate Freddy Südhoff (P9) in the A-Main, said, ‘the car is now pretty consistent for the 5-minutes. It’s good now’. Enjoying two podium finishes last season, looking to the first of the triple finals, he said, ‘we’ll just wait and see what happens’.

Not overly frustrated by his late roll, Rheinard said, ‘I was struggling at the beginning and had Alex (Hagberg) behind me so I let him by but then he made a mistake and I was in front of him again. The car started to work pretty ok towards the end but then I went and had a nice roll on the curbing. Even if I didn’t, my overall starting position would have been the same’. Describing the track conditions for the last round as ‘kind of better but still weird’ he said his TRF419 is ‘still hard to drive because it’s loose’ and they ‘need to find something for the final’. Starting behind Rheinard will be his TRF team-mate Akio Sobue who lines up ahead of Hagberg.

In the Xray Pro Stock a very pleased Christian Donath took his first overall ETS TQ. Taking the final qualifier to add to his Q2 topping run the Tamiya driver become the Top Qualifier on the tie breaker with Q1 & 3 pace setter Olivier Bultynck. French driver Alexandre Duchet will line up third ahead of Noah Asendorf as reigning champion Jan Ratheisky completes the top half of the grid. In the Scorpion Power Formula class, David Ehrbar is Top Qualifier. The Serpent designer took a third TQ run in the final qualifier helped by the early exit of Bultynck who broke his Q2 topping Roche 3-laps into the deciding qualifier.

View the complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Video – Modified Qualifying Rd4

Posted: 03 Dec 2016 09:36 AM PST

Chassis Focus – Lars Hoppe

Posted: 03 Dec 2016 08:03 AM PST

Chassis – ARC R11 ’17
Motor – Muchmore (handout)
ESC – Muchmore (handout)
Batteries – LRP 7500mAh Stock Spec
Tires – Volante (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Bodyshell – Blitz GS-F
Remarks – German ARC factory driver Lars Hoppe is running the 2017 version of the R11 here in Hrotovice. His example features low friction transmission parts, a pre-production aluminium chassis, hard plastic parts and harder, lightweight ball studs. Lars is also using an interesting servo, a result of the cooperation between ARC and Savox, that is mounted directly on the chassis thanks to a one-piece mount.

Image Gallery

Video – Pro Stock Qualifying Rd4

Posted: 03 Dec 2016 07:57 AM PST

Coelho to start ETS defence from pole position

Posted: 03 Dec 2016 07:15 AM PST

Bruno Coelho will start the defence of his Euro Touring Series title from pole position, the Xray driver becoming Top Qualifier at the season opener in Czech after he made it three out of three in the penultimate qualifier. His 5th ETS career TQ, Coelho would again set the pace ahead of Ronald Volker in Q3 even surviving flipping his car. With Top 3 pace setter from Q1 & 2 Viljami Kutvonen crashing out in third qualifier when he ran a wide line on the main straight and then understeered into the boards at the sweeper breaking his Awesomatix, this would allow last year’s Top Qualifier Marc Rheinard to post his best round with a P3 ahead of Alexander Hagberg and Elliott Harper.

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

Coelho to start ETS defence from pole position

Posted: 03 Dec 2016 07:12 AM PST

Bruno Coelho will start the defence of his Euro Touring Series title from pole position, the Xray driver becoming Top Qualifier at the season opener in Czech after he made it three out of three in the penultimate qualifier. His 5th ETS career TQ, Coelho would again set the pace ahead of Ronald Volker in Q3 even surviving flipping his car. With Top 3 pace setter from Q1 & 2 Viljami Kutvonen crashing out in third qualifier when he ran a wide line on the main straight and then understeered into the boards at the sweeper breaking his Awesomatix, this would allow last year’s Top Qualifier Marc Rheinard to post his best round with a P3 ahead of Alexander Hagberg and Elliott Harper.

‘Having one point already is a very good start to the season’, was Coelho’s reaction to claiming the overall TQ which carries a bonus championship point. Describing his Hobbywing powered T4 as ‘awesome at the start’, he said when he heard he had just posted a fastest lap time of the weekend he pushed even more but suffering a flip this was ‘a signal to stop (pushing) and manage getting the car to the end’. While his ‘car was amazing for the first 3-minute he said he had ‘the same problem as before in the last 3-laps’, the car getting loose in the rear. Asked about dealing with his continuing issue in the finals, the World Championship Top Qualifier said, ‘for sure if I am fighting for the win it will be a problem but all (drivers) are having the same issue so it’s a problem for both sides’.

A ‘similar story to the other qualifiers’ was how Volker summed up his run. The World Champion continued, ‘we changed two things on the set-up and it changed a little the handling of the car but it is still not good enough to catch up’. While the car was now ‘more predictable in the end than before’, he will make ‘another small change for Q4’. A 14-time ETS race winner & 20-time Top Qualifier he said, ‘we need to maintain P2 on the grid which is still open’, two of the four qualifiers counting.

Rheinard said Q3 was ‘for sure a little better’ adding ‘but it’s still a flight (to drive the car)’. Changing to harder shock oil, lowering the diff and switching to a different front spring, the 4-time World Champion said while this improved the car he may also have benefited from the track not being any better (feeling) but a little faster’. Currently sitting P4 on the grid, the Tamiya driver believes ‘the finals are going to be interesting with everyone struggling in the last minute and a half of the 5-minutes’.

‘A bit better, we were closer to the front’, was Hagberg’s view of his P4. He continued, ‘we are still struggling the last minute for rear traction’. Losing time as Kutvonen crashed in front of him and finishing 2/10ths of Rheinard he said ‘maybe without this I could have got third’. For the final qualifier, the 2015 European Champion plans to make further changes to his ORCA powered T4 by going more in the direction they took ahead of Q3.

After spinning while on ‘a really fast run’ in Q2 this morning leaving him 24th fastest, with an improved set-up on his Schumacher Mi6 Harper would enjoy make up for the earlier error to get a P5. The British driver said, ‘we fixed the spinning around thing and that time I could drive harder for all the 5-minutes’. Not wanting to divulge what set-up changes they had made to improve the car he said they included the car’s rear end. A side effect of the change was the car lost steering and so they will now fine tune the set-up to get the car ‘more consistent for the last one’ with a change to their additive routine also planned.

Making his ETS debut in Hrotovice, Yokomo driver Yugo Nagashima would round out the Top 6 for Q3. The reigning 1:12 Japanese National Champion put his improved performance down to a clean run. With ‘too many mistakes’ in the first two heats, the 21-year-old said his car is also getting better each outing but the focus for the final qualifier is on trying harder with his driving. Behind Nagashima fellow countryman Akio Sobue took seventh ahead of the impressive German teenager Thimo Weissbauer with Naoki Akiyama in 9th followed by TRF’s Christopher Krapp.

The Xray Pro Stock class saw Olivier Bultynck put in a second TQ run meaning the Top Qualifier will be decided in Q4. Behind the Belgian Awesomatix driver, reigning champion Jan Ratheisky would enjoy his best heat so far with a P2 ahead of fellow Xray driver Noah Asendorf. The third qualifier of the Scorpion Power Formula class also produced a repeat TQ, this time for Serpent’s David Ehrbar who will fight it out with Bultynck for the first overall TQ of ETS Season #10.

View the complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Chassis Focus – Ronald Volker

Posted: 03 Dec 2016 07:01 AM PST

Chassis – Yokomo BD8
Motor – LRP X20 4.5T
ESC – LRP FlowX
Batteries – LRP 5600mAh LCG
Tires – Volante (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Highest
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R
Remarks – Reigning World Champion Ronald Volker is debuting with the new BD8 at the opening round of ETS #10 in Hrotovice. The German’s car is fitted with an aluminium chassis and extra-hard suspension arms. It also features prototype shock springs, the front ones being progressive. Ronald is also running a final pre-production version of LRP’s all new speedo, the LRP FlowX and interestingly is not using a motor fan, the temperatures of his X20 staying pretty low with no need for extra cooling.

Image Gallery

Video – Modified Qualifying Rd3

Posted: 03 Dec 2016 05:28 AM PST

Video – Formula Qualifying Rd3

Posted: 03 Dec 2016 04:32 AM PST

Coelho again in Q2 at Czech ETS

Posted: 03 Dec 2016 03:02 AM PST

Having opened Season #10 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series with a TQ run in the Czech Republic last night, Bruno Coelho got Day 2’s proceedings underway with another in Q2. The Xray driver was again the class of the field, his rivals failing to get on terms with the reigning Champion who again topped the times comfortably by ETS standards. Over 2-seconds off Coelho, Ronald Volker was again his closest rival however the German only just managed to finish ahead of Viljami Kutvonen, the Q2 Top 3 a repeat of the opening qualifier. After a number of mistakes left Akio Sobue P10 in the first round, the number 2 seeded driver kept it clean in Q2 to post the fourth fastest time ahead of last year’s event winner Marc Rheinard with top seed Alexander Hagberg completing the Top 6.

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

Coelho again in Q2 at Czech ETS

Posted: 03 Dec 2016 02:49 AM PST

Having opened Season #10 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series with a TQ run in the Czech Republic last night, Bruno Coelho got Day 2’s proceedings underway with another in Q2. The Xray driver was again the class of the field, his rivals failing to get on terms with the reigning Champion who again topped the times comfortably by ETS standards. Over 2-seconds off Coelho, Ronald Volker was again his closest rival however the German only just managed to finish ahead of Viljami Kutvonen, the Q2 Top 3 a repeat of the opening qualifier. After a number of mistakes left Akio Sobue P10 in the first round, the number 2 seeded driver kept it clean in Q2 to post the fourth fastest time ahead of last year’s event winner Marc Rheinard with top seed Alexander Hagberg completing the Top 6.

‘Very good for sure’ was how Coelho summed up the second of the four qualifiers. He continued, ‘I could pull away at the beginning as the car was amazing and with less stress I could then just manage it to the end’. Claiming his first podium finish on carpet in Hrotovice last year when he finished third behind Rheinard and Volker, he said the qualifying was not without its challenges with him admitting ‘for the last few laps I was struggling with the rear being very loose’. With rear traction a big issue for drivers this weekend but his package appearing to be dealing with it better than his rivals, when asked what he felt is the cause of it, the Portuguese driver said, ‘The tyre, additive or carpet batch could be slightly different but I think the idea of the carpet is out because when we tested at the (Hudy) Arena we had the same problem there. The tyres bring a lot of fluff’.

‘Right away Bruno was pulling away’, was Volker’s reaction to Q2. The Yokomo driver continued, ‘the car felt OK in the beginning and I pulled away from Viljami but half way through it got loose and I was fighting to the end with the car trying to snap away in the rear’. With his best lap time over 2/10th off that of Coelho, he said his struggles at the end resulted in ‘a heads up with Viljami and Akio for second’ while out front ‘Bruno was gone’. Looking to Q3, the World Champion said, ‘We will discuss set-up and tyre prep but we need to find something to get closer to P1’.

Kutvonen was not overly happy with his P3 saying ‘it was ok’. The Awesomatix driver continued, ‘I lost a lot of time at the beginning because in Q1 I started out with wet tyres but the officials changed it now that you must start with dry tyres and I struggling with this so we need to find a way to make it better at the start now’. With this dropping the Finn to ‘2nd to last at the beginning’, after 1 and a half minutes his LRP powered A800 got better but by the end it was ‘so difficult to drive’ – something he admits is the same problem for everyone so his focus is to get the car to work better at the start and just deal with the traction fall off at the end.

‘The car is ok but the carpet is not good, there is still no traction’, was Sobue’s summary of Q2. The Tamiya driver added, ‘the first 3-minutes were OK but after it was loose and too difficult to drive. We need to change something’. The closest driver to match Coelho in terms of outright lap pace, the Japanese driver wants to get his TRF419 ‘easier to drive’ by improving rear traction and will change rear shock and diff oils.

TRF team-mate Rheinard said he had ‘no grip’ and he was ‘just trying to hold the car on the track’. The winner of 14 ETS races, the German said he wasn’t sure why everyone is experiencing the strange drop off in traction adding, ‘we have no idea about these conditions so we don’t know what we need to do’. For Q3 he plans to ‘play with the diff position’ in his Muchmore powered TRF419.

Asked how the changes he made after Q1 worked out, Hagberg replied, ‘not very good’. The Xray driver and former ETS carpet round winner said, ‘the car is super hard to drive. We have to try something new for the next one’. Looking to ‘find more grip at the end of the run’, he continued, ‘I seem to struggle more than the others at the end’.

In the Xray Pro-Stock class Christian Donath, fresh from returning from the Tamiya World Cup in Japan, took his TRF419 to a TQ run in the second qualifier ahead of Alexandre Duchet with former Hrotovice winner Lars Hoppe third. Olivier Bultynck would TQ in the Scorpion Power Formula class ahead of David Ehbrar, who took Q1, while reigning champion Jan Ratheisky recovered from a tough first day to post the 3rd fastest time.

View the complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

T-Works Project 4X 4.5mm hard aluminium pivot balls

Posted: 03 Dec 2016 02:23 AM PST

Made for Serpent’s Project 4X touring car are T-Works’s new hard-coated 4.5mm aluminium pivot balls. Machined from aircraft-grade 7075-T6 material and coming with a hard-coated surface the ball ends offer a low weight and exceptional durability. They are equipped with a 2mm hex head and come in sets of four or 16 pieces.

Source: T-Works [rc-tworks.com]

Murfdogg Demon X spring car kit

Posted: 03 Dec 2016 02:15 AM PST

Murfdogg have released their new Demon X spring car kit. Based on the company’s successful Demon gearbox platform, the new kit represents the next step in high-bite foam tyre sprint car racing. The car features a 2.5mm carbon fibre, engineered flex, dedicated direct-drive chassis that makes for optimised performance in high-traction wet clay, asphalt, and carpet track conditions. Murfdogg’s most complete sprint car offering to date, the Demon X includes a wide cage with newly designed machined side panels, hood, tail tank, lightweight 6×6″ wing and a “pretzel” front bumper system. The kit is available now.

Features:
– Lightweight 2.5mm quasi-directional carbon fibre chassis plate, front and rear shock towers, battery mounts, and trans brace
– Black anodised aircraft alloy aluminium 25deg front and 0-2 rear suspension mounts
– Optimised dual bellcrank steering system
– Machined Delrin front suspension arms with optimised Ackermann and integrated sway bar mounting provisions
– Machined Delrin rear suspension arms
– Authentic Lunsford Titanium turnbuckles
– Hex-Drive, broached ballstuds throughout
– Kimbrough servo saver and 64P 120T spur gear
– Nickel-Teflon coated “No Pressure” IRS Racing shocks equipped with RC4LESS springs
– MurfDogg ABEC-3 rubber seal bearings throughout
– MurfDogg Tru-Spin aluminum rear axle drive washers
– Black anodised .125″ aluminium precision wheel spacers
– Black anodised aluminium direct drive unit w/Murfdogg Silicon Nitride diff and thrust balls
– Hardened steel lightweight direct drive outdrives
– Genuine MIP steel CVDs included

Source: Murfdogg [murfdogg.com]

Team Associated SC28 Lucas Oil ready-to-run truck

Posted: 03 Dec 2016 01:52 AM PST

Coming from Team Associated’s Qualifier Series of RTR vehicles is the SC28 Lucas Oil ready-to-run short course truck. Sporting Carl Renezeder distinctive livery the SC28 comes complete with everything needed in one box – ready to rip around the corners, fly over the jumps and speed across the finish line. The 175mm long 2WD micro truck weighs in at about 100g and it comes including an integrated speed controller/receiver unit, 2.4GHz radio system and the Carl Renezeder replica bodyshell.

Source: Team Associated [teamassociated.com]

Video – Modified Qualifying Rd2

Posted: 03 Dec 2016 01:31 AM PST

Coelho kicks off ETS title defence with TQ run

Posted: 02 Dec 2016 01:16 PM PST

Bruno Coelho kicked off the 10th season of the Euro Touring Series & the defence of his title in the best way possible as he ended the opening day in the Czech Republic with a TQ run in the first round of qualifying. The Xray driver topped the times by an impressive 2.2-second margin over Ronald Volker with Viljami Kutvonen making it three different manufacturers at the top of the time sheets in what most drivers are describing as ‘strange’ track conditions. Having topped seeding practice, mistakes would mean Alexander Hagberg would miss out on the 21-lap pace of the Top 3 and get a P4 ahead of Meen Vejrak.

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