Red RC - RC Car News

Overnight TQ for Volker & Hofer at EWS International

Posted: 09 Dec 2017 12:03 PM PST

Ronald Volker has taken the honours of being the first non-British driver to secure the overall pole position at the EWS International as Yokomo continued their strong showing from practice, in both Modified and Super Stock classes, as qualifying got underway. The fifth running of the race, now firmly established as the highlight of the UK racing scene and a fixture on the European calendar, saw the TQ position confirmed for the current World Champion after he set the pace in all three rounds of Qualifying held today. “All the qualifiers went well” was Volker’s reaction. Explaining that his focus had been on trying different springs throughout the day, he is searching for confidence with the car to make it as “comfortable on the bumps” as possible.

Second behind Volker in the overnight standings, and the only driver so far to show a sign of challenging the Yokomo dominance, is arch-rival Marc Rheinard. The Infinity driver, making his first appearance at the EWS International, said it was “hard to find the perfect setup” and had “tried lots”, working well with team-mate Andy Moore. He further explained that his car “starts good, but drops off too much”. His aim for the final qualifier in the morning will be to secure second on the grid.

The Yokomo team have clearly got the BD8-2018 working well, as Christopher Krapp and Yannic Prumper sit third and fourth. With Krapp, who has experience from attending every EWS International so far, commenting that the “team is working really well” and that as always he is “enjoying racing in Essex”, he feels that he has the pace in the car, but a few driving mistakes cost him the place to Marc. Team mate Prumper said that his car was better in the early rounds and when he tried the same shock settings as his team mates he found the car “really bad” and so will revert to his Q1 setup. Olly Jefferies, the defending race winner, sits fifth overall for Xray, in front of Schumacher’s Elliott Harper, VBC’s Lucas Urbain and the Capricorn of the winner of the first edition of the event, Kyle Branson.

In the Super Stock class, Yokomo’s impressive results continued as Martin Hofer sat on the overnight TQ spot, taking two rounds to Awesomatix’s Max Machler one, who sits second. Hofer described his car as “good”, as he was “getting to grips with the grip level”. Feeling that now there was “more grip than ETS races”, he will continue to look for more steering tomorrow by adjusting the rear track width. He added that it was “great to finally TQ something – even if it’s just overnight” and that the whole team had worked well. In terms of the event, him having attended the third running of the race in early 2016, he said that this year felt a “big step forward” and praised the EWS team for their work and noted that the event really now felt like a major highlight of the calendar.

In Formula, Ben Cosgrove took the first two rounds, before technical problems in Q3 allowed Serpent designer David Ehrbar to take the fastest time and put himself in contention to secure pole position tomorrow.

Destiny RX-10SR competition touring car kit

Posted: 09 Dec 2017 11:54 AM PST

Destiny have introduced the new SR version of the Reedy Race winning RX-10S 1/10th 4WD electric touring car kit. The car makes use of a 2.25mm USA high-grade carbon fibre chassis and it received some subtle updates such as front and rear aluminium suspension mount whose composite inserts allow to fine-tune the suspension toe angle in 0.3 degree increments. In addition different width suspension mounts make for a wide 40.7mm to 49.5mm track width adjustment window.

Also new are new low-profile front and rear aluminium bulkheads that lower the diffs by 1mm while the updated alloy motor mount incorporates forward or rearward motor mounting positions to fine-tune cornering characteristics. Other new parts include a single-piece aluminium servo and steering mount with chassis flex adjustments while the new transmission design allows to run three different internal ratios, using 37T/20T (1.85), 38T/20T (1.9) or 40/20T (2.0) diff/layshaft pulley combinations to adapt the car to stock and modified classes. The SR version is rounded out by new front and rear shock towers and the car will hit stores in two variants, as 37T diff pulley “Stock” and 38T diff pulley “Modified” variant about mid-December.

New features:
– New design 7075 aluminium front and rear suspension mounts. Three different suspension mounts width for 40.7-49.5mm adjustment range
– New design plastic eccentric bushings for the suspension. Fine adjustment on toe-in and toe-out angle in 0.3 degree increments
– New design front and rear lower 7075 aluminium bulkheads. 1mm lower transmission
– New design 7075 aluminium motor mount. Changeable forward/backward motor position
– New design single piece 7075 aluminium servo mount and steering mount. It allows change of chassis flex to improve steering
– New design transmission ratio changeable to compatible with difference race classes, track size or condition. 37T/20T in ratio 1.85, 38T/20T in ratio 1.9 and 40T/20T in ratio 2.0
– New design front and rear shock towers. Made by USA high grade graphite materials

Source: Destiny [destinyracing.jp]

Volker leads Yokomo 1-2-3 after EWS practice

Posted: 09 Dec 2017 10:30 AM PST

Controlled practice concluded this morning at the EWS International, and Ronald Volker will carry the number one on his car throughout the four rounds of qualifying. Volker seemed very upbeat as he said he had made “small changes” to his car, diverting slightly from his “normal European setup”. He also wanted to mention how the whole team had worked well throughout the morning’s practice rounds to improve the car – Yokomo being also represented at the event by factory international drivers Yannic Prumper, Christopher Krapp and Loic Jasmin. Volker’s returning team-mate Prumper explained that he had just built his BD8-18 “out of the box with only some changes to the springs and oils” and was clearly happy to back with his former team.

After flight delays yesterday meant he missed out on the three free practice runs, he was pleased to be up to speed working with his high-profile team mates. Christopher Krapp set the third best time to complete Yokomo’s dominance at the front, with Infinity lead driver Marc Rheinard taking fourth, with Elliott Harper best of the Brits in fifth and defending race winner Olly Jefferies in sixth.

In Super Stock, Zak Finlay paced the field by just under two tenths of a second. The British Xray driver, defending the race win here, was very pleased with carrying the number one sticker on his car throughout qualifying and said after yesterday’s free practice had left him wondering what to do, he switched to his second car, fitted with an alloy chassis, and described the difference as “night and day”. Second quickest was Awesomatix team-manager, Max Machler. Machler explained that he was continuing to find more speed every run, adapting his car from a typical ETS setup by making it softer to deal with the unique bumps of the EWS circuit. Third fastest was Richard King, also running an Awesomatix. The head of the EWS track building team, he was understandably very pleased with his result, saying that his car was basically running “my normal EWS setup, with just a small change to the front suspension”. His aim will be to start qualifying with a steady run to bank some points, and build speed from there.

Samix TRX-4 brass pivot ball set

Posted: 09 Dec 2017 09:18 AM PST

Coming from Samix and made for the Traxxas TRX-4 trail truck is a full set of brass pivot balls. They are machine from high-quality brass material and sport a polished surface for looks and smooth operation. The set adds 22g of weight and it is a direct replacement with all needed pivot balls included.

Source: Samix [rcsamix.com]

EWS International – Practice update

Posted: 08 Dec 2017 11:31 PM PST

The fifth running of the EWS International event got underway yesterday, Friday, with many drivers taking the opportunity of three rounds of free practice on the Friday evening of the ever-growing event in the south-east of the UK. In the Modified class, World Champion Ronald Volker set the best three laps, just ahead of compatriot Marc Rheinard Ronald seemed happy with his Yokomo, and said whilst he was used to the bumps in the track after racing at the previous edition of the event, he liked the kerbs which allowed him to drive “fully on it”.

Running close to Marc on the track in each of the rounds, he said he thinks they have a similar pace but also noted that “Olly [Jefferies] is fast as expected”. Marc, making his first visit to the EWS venue, said he plans to leave his Infinity chassis as it is for tomorrow, and now focus on running in race tyres. A fan of the layout, he, like Ronald, expects the racing to be close tomorrow but plans on closing out 2017 with a win.

Olly Jefferies set the third best time, noting he needed focus on improving the consistency of his Xray, but described it as “not a bad start” and that he had chosen to use the evening running to scrub in his race tyres. Fourth fastest was France’s Lucas Urbain, the VBC driver another to be making his debut at the EWS venue. Pointing out the similarities to his home venue, MRC Longwy, he said he loved the venue and the layout, and the bumps made the track challenging and left his car, which often he finds too easy, a little hard to drive. Brits Kyle Branson and Andy Moore completed the top six.

In Super Stock, Jimmy Maddison set the best three-lap time, four tenths of a second ahead of event returnee Martin Hofer. Jimmy, making his official debut appearance driving for Yokomo, described the start to the event as simply “Mega”. Expanding more, he said whilst he was really happy with the car, he still needed to decide whether to run a carbon or alloy chassis, with his focus on making the car easy to drive over a five minute run. Martin said his car was “fine”, and echoed Jimmy’s thoughts that an easy-to-drive car was needed. Complimentary of the venue, describing it with just the word “fabulous”, he noted that he was enjoying the track layout, and was a particular fan of racing “on carpet but with kerbs you can actually drive” – the unique EWS kerbs making the track drive more like an outdoor circuit. Daniel Blake was best of the Xray crew, setting the third fastest time, with Ashley Wiffen and Richard King rounding out the top five. Defending race winner Zak Finlay set the sixth best time.

In Formula, British driver James Millbank set the best time, in front of ETS Champion and Serpent designer David Ehrbar. The event continues today with seeding rounds and qualifying.