Red RC - RC Car News

Cragg again in Q2

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 11:33 AM PST

Neil Cragg has capped off a perfect Day 1 of the Euro Offroad Series in Germany, the Team Associated driver backing up his TQ run in the opening 2WD qualifier with another fastest time in the second round. The result leaves the British driver the overnight TQ holder ahead of Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski, the reigning champion having a much better second attempt to stop the clock in the second fastest time. Enjoying a marked improvement on his first round HB Racing’s David Ronnefalk would complete the Q2 Top 3 ahead of Martin Bayer who sits P3 overnight. For championship leader Bruno Coelho it was another tough round. Getting his Xray stuck up on the wall, the Xray driver would recover from that running a Top 3 position but on the last lap he would go to tight in the corner table top and get stuck dropping him down the order. With an overnight reseeding of the heats, he just managed to remain in the top heat sitting 10th in the ranking.

View complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Video – 2wd Qualifying Rd1

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 10:33 AM PST

Cragg TQs opening qualifier at EOS Daun

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 10:29 AM PST

Neil Cragg has TQ’d the opening round of 2WD qualifying at the Euro Offroad Series in Daun, Germany. Having topped seeding earlier in the day, the Team Associated driver took the first of the four qualifiers ahead of Xray’s Martin Bayer and the Schumacher of Joern Neumann, all three drivers putting their results down to making less mistakes than their rivals. Championship leader Bruno Coelho who had the fastest car on the track set the early pace but his run was filled with errors and it was a similar story for reigning champion Michal Orlwoski with them finishing 10th and 6th fastest respectively.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete coverage here.

Cragg TQs opening qualifier at EOS Daun

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 10:22 AM PST

Neil Cragg has TQ’d the opening round of 2WD qualifying at the Euro Offroad Series in Daun, Germany. Having topped seeding earlier in the day, the Team Associated driver took the first of the four qualifiers ahead of Xray’s Martin Bayer and the Schumacher of Joern Neumann, all three drivers putting their results down to making less mistakes than their rivals. Championship leader Bruno Coelho who had the fastest car on the track set the early pace but his run was filled with errors and it was a similar story for reigning champion Michal Orlwoski with them finishing 10th and 6th fastest respectively.

‘If a young driver was driving my car he’d do real damage’, joked Cragg after his TQ run. A former EOS Top Qualifier but yet to win an event, the former World Champion continued, ‘I’m pretty pleased. It is always hard going from 4WD back to 2WD but the car is going good. I knew there was going to be a lot of crashes especially at the jump after the banked corner. It’s really hard to get the down ramp right and it caught out a lot of guys but I seemed to be pretty good through there. I just tried to keep the head and stay cool and it got me the TQ’. Not planning any changes to his B6 for Q2, the final run of the day, he concluded, ‘It is not the fastest out there but for now it’s a pretty good start’.

Having had a resurgent start to the new season of EOS finishing runner-up to team-mate Coelho in both buggy classes, Bayer described his P2 as ‘OK’. The Czech native continued, ‘all week I have been pretty sick and I feel pretty low in power. I didn’t sleep so I’m struggling’. Setting the TQ pace for a time he would have ‘a stupid mistake’ at the corner table top and with ‘the marshal very far away (I) lost a lot of time so I am very happy to get second’. Asked about his car set-up, he said, ‘The car is good, I just don’t feel right. I didn’t change it since the start.’

‘It was money, like the Americans call it’, was how Neumann summed up his opening qualifier. Running in the second fastest heat having struggled to get in two strong consecutive seeding laps, the former Champion said, ‘I was not so fast, I just didn’t crash’. Running the car unchanged from the final practice, for the second qualifier the German will run a softer diff saying, ‘in the tight corers I need more rotation’.

Setting the fourth fastest time, Hupo Honigl said, ‘It’s a really good start. I haven’t been up there in a long time’. The former race winner put his improvement down to a car change. ‘I changed my car to my spare car and it was a lot faster. My race car felt amazing to drive in practice but was super slow’. With the two Xray’s set-up 95% the same, the Austrian said, ‘It feels the same to drive but it is a lot quicker. I have no idea why’.

Completing the Top 5 Lee Martin was annoyed with himself after having a ‘huge crash on the second lap’. Rolling over his Yokomo he said it cost him 4-seconds otherwise it was an ok run. In terms of his car, the World Championship podium finisher said, ‘We need to find a little more corner speed. The best lap is not quite as good as Michal or Bruno but I know if I can do a decent run we should be ok’.

View complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Orlowski quickest in 4WD practice

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 09:38 AM PST

Michal Orlowski was quickest over the three rounds of 4WD practice for the second round of the Euro Offroad Series in Germany. Having posted the second fastest time in 2WD practice behind Neil Cragg, the Schumacher driver topped reigning champion Bruno Coelho over 2-consecutive laps in the final round. Behind them, failing to better their times from the opening seeding round, David Ronnefalk and Lee Martin made it a similar story to 2WD with four different manufacturers at the top of times. Making his EOS debut as a Schumacher driver, multiple former Champion Joern Neumann was 5th fastest.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete coverage here.

Orlowski quickest in 4WD practice

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 08:32 AM PST

Michal Orlowski was quickest over the three rounds of 4WD practice for the second round of the Euro Offroad Series in Germany. Having posted the second fastest time in 2WD practice behind Neil Cragg, the Schumacher driver topped reigning champion Bruno Coelho over 2-consecutive laps in the final round. Behind them, failing to better their times from the opening seeding round, David Ronnefalk and Lee Martin made it a similar story to 2WD with four different manufacturers at the top of times. Making his EOS debut as a Schumacher driver, multiple former Champion Joern Neumann was 5th fastest.

Summing up his performance Orlowski said, ‘It didn’t start off well. I broke in the first one on the first lap. I had no rear drive and stopped after a lap’. He continued, ‘We made small changes to the car for the last practice. We went to a shorter rear link for more rotation and it felt really good. I think we are looking good for qualifying’.

‘Very good I think’, was Coelho’s reply when asked how 4WD practice had gone. Winner of 3 from 5 races en-route to last season’s 4WD title, he continued, ‘I had some mistakes in the last practice so didn’t get the 2-laps I wished for but the car is there. It’s very good’. Asked about tyre wear, the Xray driver replied, ‘that was the third round on the same set but now it’s time to change so the wear is normal’.

‘Coming here we didn’t know what to expect because I had moved to Spain and my car was the same as I raced at the DHI Cup’, was Ronnefalk’s reaction after practice. The HB Racing driver continued, ‘at the DHI they had EOS carpet but here it feels different. The car works better here’. Trying ‘stuff’ for the final practice, the Swede said, ‘It didn’t work out’ but overall the car is ‘pretty good but not fast enough to keep up with Bruno’ having run behind the Champion on track. He concluded, ‘I want to do well but we are here to learn and test new things on the car’.

Pausing to give his response on how practice went Martin described it as ‘strange’. He said, ‘the track is high speed and in the turns you are on throttle and our car is lifting. We need to stop rear of car dumping down. We need a couple more practice’. The Yokomo drivers added, ‘I haven’t been on a track this fast before so it’s a new problem for this car. It is an age old problem’.

View complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Jean-Pierrick Sartel FX-powered for 2018

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 08:13 AM PST

FX Engines have announced that French frontrunner, Jean-Pierrick Sartel is joining the FX Engines team for 2018. JP will attend races such as the French Nationals, the Euros and the Neo Race and he had the following to say about the deal:

I am very happy to join the FX team for this year 2018. I cannot wait to start this season with the FX engines. The performance and reliability of FX engines is great and it will allow me to win many races. I am grateful for this opportunity.

Source: FX Engines [fx-engines.com]

Serpent SRX2 HT Team 2WD buggy kit

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 07:56 AM PST

Serpent’s popular SRX2 1/10th 2WD buggy platform is now also available in the HT Team edition. HT stands for High Traction with the transmission layout and included options making the kit ideal for all high traction conditions such as carpet, astroturf and prepped clay. Based off of the laydown mid motor SRX2 MHT configuration the HT Team variant included option parts such as a narrow 7075-T6 lightweight aluminium chassis with separate aluminium front kick-up plate, titanium-nitride-coated shock shafts, 3.7lbs rated front and 2.1lbs rear springs, machined 2×1.3mm shock pistons as well as a smooth gear differential, a low cab forward MH body shell and aluminium battery plate nuts. The kit is shipping now and will hit stores very soon.

Source: Serpent [serpent.com]

Chassis Focus – Neil Cragg

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 07:19 AM PST

Chassis: Team Associated RC10B6
Motor: Reedy Sonic 6.5T
ESC: LRP Flow X
Batteries: Reedy 3600mAh
Radio/Servo: KO/Reedy
Tires: Schumacher (handout)
Body: Pro-Line Elite
Remarks – Long time Team Associated driver Neil Cragg topped 2WD seeding here in Daun driving a B6 that sports a number of option parts. The front suspension arms are the flat one used on the B6D, while the rear ones are taken from the B64. Neil is also using chassis weights, a front brass bulkhead and a Pro-Line front wing. The shock pistons are made by TMG.

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JConcepts YZ-2 DTM Punisher 2 body shell

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 07:18 AM PST

Coming from JConcepts and made for the Yokomo YZ-2 DTM is the Punisher 2 body shell. The lid takes design elements of both the S2 and F2 bodies and sports a raised nose/hood section, taller cab and rear end force features. The sidepods are once again “JC chamfered” to provide that legendary look and the secondary window screams JConcepts styling. The cab drops off quickly and runs deep toward the rear giving plenty of drift to the newly added winglets. The tall, rear fin stabiliser acts as a vane to keep the buggy tracking in the proper direction while also maintaining a rigid roof-line even with lightweight materials. The package is available as standard or lightweight variant, arrives complete with two Aero S-type wings as used by Ryan Maifield to claim the 2017 IFMAR World Championship.

Source: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]

PSM R6 battery positioning system

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 06:27 AM PST

PSM have introduced a O-ring retained battery positioning system for the Team Associated R6 1/12th scale pan car. It was designed to hold the battery securely in place while maintaining the option to move it forward and backwards using a set of adjustable carbon fibre brackets that hold the battery in place. In addition PSM have added the possibility to hold the battery down with the included O-ring to make battery changes a lot easier. Because of its special design, the retaining system will not affect the chassis flex at all and it is manufactured from high quality carbon fibre, comes included all necessary hardware and adds only 7g of weight.

Source: PSM [psmfactory.com]

Cragg tops 2WD practice at EOS

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 05:53 AM PST

Neil Cragg has topped 2WD practice at Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series in Daun, Germany. A new venue on the Season #7 calendar, the Team Associated driver set the fastest two consecutive laps of the large track from reigning 2WD Champion Michal Orlowski with championship leader Bruno Coelho completing the Top 3 times in seeding. Behind them Yokomo’s Lee Martin made it four different manufacturers at the top of the time sheets ahead of Cragg’s young team-mate Joona Hataanen.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete coverage here.

Sutrisno & Kusnowo win at Jakarta GP opener

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 05:49 AM PST

The opening round of the Jakarta Grand Prix 2018 was held at the Sunter International Speedway in Jakarta, Indonesia. The event attracted a total of 35 racers to compete in the 1/8th on-road and GT classes with low grip welcoming the racers in the early qualifiers but things got better towards the finals. In the 1/8th on-road class track owner Sadikin Sutrisno (Xray/O.S.) converted his TQ in to a win in front of Tjokki Hasan (Serpent/O.S.) and Jeffry (Mugen/O.S.). Over in the GT category it was TQ holder Rusman Kusnowo (Xray/O.S.) who brought home the win with a 2-laps margin from Sadikin Sutrisno (Xray/O.S.) and Teddy Syach (Serpent/O.S.).

Source: Serpent [serpent.com]

Cragg tops 2WD practice at EOS

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 05:19 AM PST

Neil Cragg has topped 2WD practice at Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series in Daun, Germany. A new venue on the Season #7 calendar, the Team Associated driver set the fastest two consecutive laps of the large track from reigning 2WD Champion Michal Orlowski with championship leader Bruno Coelho completing the Top 3 times in seeding. Behind them Yokomo’s Lee Martin made it four different manufacturers at the top of the time sheets ahead of Cragg’s young team-mate Joona Hataanen.

Opening his weekend in the best way possible after a tough time at the season opener in Poland, Cragg put his improved performance down to a number of factors. Now wearing glasses, the former World Champion is feeling more confident driving with them on. The British driver is also a lot happier with his 2WD having gone in a different direction with set-up following a Team Associated open day run in the UK by CML. With drivers getting to try each other’s cars and sharing information on set-up, Cragg made some interesting observations driving one car in particular that lead to him making ‘positive changes’ to his standard set-up. Another contributing factor to his practice pace is parts he is using on the car with B6D arms and shock tower on the front and B64 arms on the rear. He also running Pro-line’s Elite body liking how it makes the car a little more aggressive in the front.

Summing up his three practice runs, Orlowski said, ‘It went Ok. We didn’t change much’. The Schumacher driver continued, ‘because the traction is very high we only adjusted the rear camber link by 1mm’. Chasing his 4th EOS career win in 2WD in the hope of closing Coelho’s early lead in the standings, he added, ‘It’s not the fastest but I never want to TQ practice. Overall I’m pretty happy with the car’.

‘I had some mistakes but the feeling is good’, was Coelho’s reaction to setting the third fastest time. The Xray driver said he ‘didn’t change anything on the car’ instead focusing on ‘getting more of a feeling for the track. With drivers now to switch to 4WD practice before ending Day 1 of the event with the first 2WD qualifier, the Portuguese ace said, ‘It’s looking all good in 2WD’.

Reflecting on his morning at the controls of his 2WD, Martin said, ‘It started slow but got better towards the end’. The reigning European Champion continued, ‘I feel I can go a bit faster because my perception at the back section of the track is still not perfect’. Asked about the track layout, the British driver replied, ‘some bits are OK, some bits are awkward. I like the fast sections in the front but the carpet is very rippled in sections which is causing the 2WD to pop wheelies. Also they have taped the carpet in weird sections which can flip the car’. On his car he concluded, ‘we still need more corner speed but overall it’s not at a bad place’.

View complete event results here.

View the event image gallery here.

Xray XT8E’18 E-Truggy conversion kit

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 05:06 AM PST

Xray have introduced a chassis conversion kit that helps to transform the XT8 nitro truggy into an electric-powered machine. The set includes a composite battery tray for 4S brick or two 2S LiPo battery packs, hook and loop battery straps as well as a 2-piece aluminium sliding motor mount, carbon fibre diff plate, steering servo plate as well as a composite receiver box along an assortment of small parts. The conversion easily adapts to the existing XT8 and allows for easy power train swaps if running in one or the other class it preferred.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]
https://teamxray.com/xt8e/2018

Track Focus – Daun

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 04:24 AM PST

Venue – Sporthotel & Resort Grafenwald
Race Hosts – EOS
Country – Germany
Location – Daun (180km West of Frankfurt)
Direction – Anti-clockwise
Surface – Carpet
No. of EOS Races hosted – 0

Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series takes place at an all new venue with the Sporthotel & Resort Grafenwald in Daun, Germany, experiencing an RC invasion for the next two weekends as after the EOS the best touring car drivers in the world will also descend on the same venue for their second round of the ETS. A holiday resort in the German countryside, the race is taking place in the venue’s 2,600 square metre sports hall while racers stay in cabins at the resort. In terms of the track, the build was completed by the same ATA crew that built the track in Poland for the Season #7 opener. Covering an area of 830 square metres, they have been able to create a unique and rather long lap. Featuring a 38 metre long straight, the track takes advantage of the hall’s courts layout with the centre of the track stretching to 30 metres wide in the centre section. Also new is the use of red carpet for the jumps which makes them more clearly defined.

Heading both buggy championships after dominating the season opener, Bruno Coelho described the track as ‘very technical’ adding, ‘It is one of the most difficult tracks of the EOS’. The Xray driver continued, ‘the car is not really important here it is more on the driver and making no mistakes because it’s such a big lap’. One element challenging drivers are ripples in the carpet in a number of sections which ‘make it easy to flip’. Asked his thoughts on the track, reigning 2WD champion Michal Orlowski replied, ‘It’s different, the shape is different and it’s pretty big’, The Schumacher driver continued, ‘It is a very long lap which makes it hard to be consistent but the red jumps are much better. You can see them easier’. Like Coelho, he said, ‘some parts of the carpet are not flat and the carpet is joined with tape so if you hit these wrong you flip’.

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Rafael Panayi TQs & wins at ENEOS Cup

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 03:08 AM PST

The TQ RC Raceway off-road track of Nicosia, Cyprus played host to the recent ENEOS Cup race. Good weather made for perfect racing conditions, however the bumpy, low to medium traction track conditions were a bit of a challenge for the drivers. Xray’s Rafael Panayi was in control of things all day, taking the hattrick of TQ, win and fastest lap to round out a perfect weekend. Savvas Savva (Xray) came in 2nd from HongNor driver Charis Kkolis in 3rd.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

Rivals out to stop Coelho extending EOS points lead in Germany

Posted: 26 Jan 2018 01:45 AM PST

Following Bruno Coelho’s domination of the Euro Offroad Series season opener back in October, his rivals will be looking to prevent the reigning 4WD Champion from stretching his points lead as the championship visits an all new venue in Daun, Germany, this weekend (26-28 January). In Warsaw, Coelho and the Xray team completed a clean sweep with the Portuguese star taking the TQ and the win in both classes while his team-mates joined him on either side of both the 2WD and 4WD podiums. Having had 3-months to regroup following the deep defeat, rival teams will be aiming for a better showing on the first of the two German stops on the Season #7 calendar.

As the reigning 2WD Champion Michal Orlowski, who a year earlier did the double in Poland, his home event proved tough with 4th the best he could manage behind Coelho, Martin Bayer and EOS debutant Ty Tessmann. In 4WD things were worse as he ended up 9th. The Schumacher driver however comes into the second round off the back of a successful DHI Cup where he took the double win and the World Championship Top Qualifier also now has the benefit of a quick team-mate in multiple former Champion Joern Neumann. While Neumann has had some lean season’s of late, the German is still the most winning driver in the EOS and he’ll be keen to kick off his EOS campaign as a Schumacher driver by adding an 18th career win.

Former champions Yokomo have become World Champions since the first round and they will be looking for a strong result to get them back in the title chase of the EOS. A champion in both 2WD and 4WD, World Championship podium finisher Lee Martin opened 2018 with a win on carpet at the British Off-Road Grand Prix ahead of Neil Cragg and Orlowski in 2WD and finished second to the young Pole in 4WD. Martin’s Yokomo team-mate Marc Rheinard struggled in Poland but the EOS race winner has been busy testing at various tracks ahead of his home event.

With Joona Hataanen leading the Team Associated charge at the season opener, the iconic offroad brand will be looking for a better presence in the A-Main. Neil Cragg had a disappointing trip to Poland and will be looking for a better performance in Germany. In addition to the young Hataanen, 13-year-old star of the DHI Cup Elias Johansson from Sweden will be looking to back that up with a strong EOS showing.

David Ronnefalk made his return to the EOS at the season opener after some time away and the 1:8 World Champion is aiming to be in the mix. The HB Racing driver was the best non Xray driver in 4WD in Poland but finishing on the podium in both 2WD and 4WD at the World Championships in China in November he will be looking for a good showing in both classes this time round.

Elsewhere former 1:10 Offroad World Champion and Serpent designer Billy Easton will make his EOS debut this weekend heading the team following Neumann’s departure.