Red RC - RC Car News

Bruno Coelho is the top seed in the Volante Modified class for the opening round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Vienna Austria, having improved upon his first round time in the 2nd controlled practice. Taking the round ahead of Freddy Sudhoff and Ronald Volker and a much improved Marc Rheinard, the Xray driver said while it was a very good run, he also made too many small mistakes. Putting them down to pushing the car to find its limits, he said ‘everything is looking good for tomorrow and we will see in the morning if we need to change anything for Q1’, the modified class having their opening qualifier first thing tomorrow morning.

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

The post Defending Champion Coelho is top seed in Vienna appeared first on Red RC - RC Car News.

Yokomo have announced the signing of young British front runner Harley Eldridge. The 17 year old young lady, began with RC at 4 years old with her father who still strong contender in UK touring sedan racing scene. A multiple BRCA National and EWS finalist, Harley will join Team Yokomo as a factory driver along with Jimmy Maddison and Oli Meggitt in the UK and will also join the ETS with Ronald Volker and Christopher Krapp as a Factory driver at the opening round this week in Vienna. Harley had the following to say about the deal:

Firstly I would like to thank Ronald Volker, Michal Bok and Micheal Ball for the support that they have gave me over the 4 years, I am very happy to join the Yokomo factory team and will work very hard and to get the best of results in the coming events.

Source: Yokomo [teamyokomo.com]

The post Harley Eldridge joins Yokomo Factory team appeared first on Red RC - RC Car News.

Qualifying tomorrow is very early so we will see how awake I am before we decide on any changes.

Bruno Coelho

Bruno Coelho is the top seed in the Volante Modified class for the opening round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Vienna Austria, having improved upon his first round time in the 2nd controlled practice. Taking the round ahead of Freddy Sudhoff and Ronald Volker and a much improved Marc Rheinard, the Xray driver said while it was a very good run, he also made too many small mistakes. Putting them down to pushing the car to find its limits, he said ‘everything is looking good for tomorrow and we will see in the morning if we need to change anything for Q1’, the modified class having their opening qualifier first thing tomorrow morning.

Sudhoff declared CP2, ‘a little better, small steps’ as he further improved his setup and fastest time to end the round in 2nd. The Worlds finalist said his Awesomatix was improving minute to minute and if he was to pick out any issue he would say that perhaps for the first minute the car could be a little better and ‘then it would be the perfect car.’

At least its faster, but we are still missing something, its hard to drive without mistakes’

Marc Rheinard

Taking third for the run, while Volker seeded in 3rd with his CP1 time, Infinity driver Marc Rheinard felt his car was improved from the first run but they are still lacking something saying that before the car was pushing too much and now in that run it was too loose. ‘At least its faster, but we are still missing something, its hard to drive without mistakes’, ending by saying ‘we will make little changes and try to keep it on the track.’

In the Pro Stock class, defending champion Jan Rathiesky jumped to the top of the times with his Xray T4 19 to becoming top seed ahead of Simon Lauter who failed to improve in the 2nd run. Jan said ‘I used the OneTen series setup, which I also used at the AOC the week after, nothing has changed apart from the electronics’. Using Rd1 to run in his race tires, for CP2 he didn’t push, simply running a stead qualifying pace. Max Machler, Tim Benson and Frederik Mikkelsen complete the top 5 in seeding.

Andreas Stiebler is the top seed in the Scorpion Formula class, who along with 2nd placed Rathiesky had to rely on their CP1 times. The Xray driver would take the round ahead of Stiebler while Simon Lauter improved to take 3rd for the round and the seeding. Matej Dobnikar, Ben Cosgrove and Oliver Bultynck would complete the top 6 in the overall ranking.

The Infinity Masters 40+ class again saw Alexander Stocker at the front, but this time only 0.3 seconds ahead of Toni Mateo, with last year’s inaugural champion Thomas Oehler improving to take 3rd. For the Yokomo Stock class it was again Daniel Pöhlmann in CP2 with Marwin Riedelbauch jumping to 2nd in front of 3rd placed Kevin Sparbier.

View complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Chassis – Schumacher Mi6 EVO
Motor – Hobbywing 5.0T
ESC – Hobbywing Xerun XR10 Pro V2
Batteries – EZ Power 6.600 mAh Graphene
Tires – Volante (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Highest
Bodyshell – Protoform Type S

Remarks – New Team Schumacher signing Olly Jefferies is having his ETS debut with the British company’s Mi6 EVO. Having only raced it once last week with different tires, the Brit declared himself pretty happy with how his race started given the lack of experience. His car is equipped with a number of option parts, such as front double joint CVDs, an aluminium chassis and ultra-short shocks.

Image Gallery

The first of two rounds of controlled practice are complete here in Vienna and in the Modified class it is Ronald Volker, running the all new Yokomo BD9, who was quickest over 3 laps ahead of Bruno Coelho, Freddy Sudhoff and Yannic Prumper. The German driver said that he continued to switch cars between practice runs and has now settled on the car with the standard rear suspension having also tried the RTC system. Feeling ‘very comfortable with the balance and corner speed’, he plans to only make minor changes going forward in order to improve the car in mid corner.

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

The post Volker fastest in CP1 at ETS season opener appeared first on Red RC - RC Car News.

The first of two rounds of controlled practice are complete here in Vienna and in the Modified class it is Ronald Volker, running the all new Yokomo BD9, who was quickest over 3 laps ahead of Bruno Coelho, Freddy Sudhoff and Yannic Prumper. The German driver said that he continued to switch cars between practice runs and has now settled on the car with the standard rear suspension having also tried the RTC system. Feeling ‘very comfortable with the balance and corner speed’, he plans to only make minor changes going forward in order to improve the car in mid corner.

With times that close it will be for sure interesting.”

Bruno Coelho

Reigning ETS Champion Bruno Coelho was 2nd fastest, less than 100th of a second behind, enjoying a ‘very clean round’. Pointing out that the times are very close at the front, the top 14 covered by 1 second, the Xray driver said ‘with times that close it will be for sure interesting’.

Awesomatix team driver Freddy Sudhoff declared his CP1 run a ‘decent start for the weekend’ with the ‘car already good from the first run. Aiming to now only fine tune his setup he said the most important thing here ‘is to be consistent because of the layout, a simple crash could lose you a lot of time’.

Practice is one thing, qualifiers are always a bit different.”

Simon Lauter

In the Xray Pro Stock class, new Awesomatix signing Simon Lauter was happy with his first timed practice run, saying ‘pretty good, lap times fast. Its the same for 4 minutes no problem’. The German was nearly 3 tenths ahead of reigning class champion Jan Ratheisky in 2nd with Max Machler, Tim Benson and Frederik Mikkelsen completing the top 5 for the round.

In the Scorpion Formula class Andreas Stiebler, running the Hawx F1 car, topped the times with Jan Ratheisky again 2nd, with fellow Xray driver Matej Dobnikar in 3rd. Running a Carisma chassis, British driver Ben Cosgrove made a welcome return to the ETS putting in the 4th fastest time in front of Max Weffers, Simon Lauter and Jacques Libar.

The Infinity 40+ Masters class saw former Pro Stock Champion Alexander Stocker top the timesheet by over a second from Marcus Askell in 2nd and Mirco Thallheimer, Lasse Ilvessalo and current Champion Thomas Oehler completing the top 5. In the new for 2018/19 Muchmore Stock class Daniel Pöhlmann, driving an Awesomatix is the man to beat edging out Kevin Sparbier and Krystian Kopacki in CP1.

View complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Track Name –  Messe Wien
Club – Kroni RC
Country – Austria
Location – Vienna
Direction – Anti-clockwise
Surface – Carpet
No. of ETS Races hosted – 1

The 12th season of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series kicks off this weekend in Vienna, Austria as part of the ‘Modellbau 2018’ hobby exhibition at Messe Wien in the heart of the city. Hosting the opening round for the first time last season, this popular venue sees the track situated amongst many other exhibitors including slot cars, train, planes, drift cars, crawlers and much more. Expected to attract some 50,000 visitors over this holiday weekend, the track has this year been prepared well ahead of the event with the build starting last Friday with the Kroni RC crew from Wiener Neudorf, led by Andrea and Rene Kronsteiner. Due to the surface of the hall, which has cabling channels running at intervals along its entire surface, the floor had to have wooden plates laid to give a flat surface upon which the ETS Carpet would be placed. Similar to last year the race track covers an area of 34 metres long by 20 metres wide, with the pitting area off to one side.

Since taking his 3rd consecutive ETS title last season, Bruno Coelho has also won his first World title in South Africa, when asked his impressions of the track the Portuguese ace said ‘its ok, maybe too narrow’. He continued ‘Normally the track is wider, but it looks good and has a good flow’ but also felt that it may be very difficult to pass on. Last year’s winner, Marc Rheinard echoed those sentiments, but added ‘what track isn’t hard to pass on these days’. Also liking the track layout he described it as ‘technical with some long corners, so a good mix’ but did point out that the centre chute away from the drivers stand has a tricky curb that stands away from the corner and so you have to drive out wide to be sure you don’t hit it.

The new season of the ETS also sees a number of changes over last year. From a technical point of view, and one of the most talked about rule changes, is the minimum weight of the race ready bodyshell, which has been set at 90 grams. For race classes this year we see the addition of a new 17.5T touring class, using handout Muchmore motors and there will also be a 40+ ranking within the regular Formula class. Also new is the addition of bump ups for all classes, which will see all lower finals with 8 cars and so for leg 1 of the triple mains, the top 2 drivers from each final will progress up, with only 1 bumping up from the B-main to make an 11 car A-main. This will set the grids for the remaining 2 legs of mains.

Image Gallery

Robert Pietsch has won Super Pole at the 200mm World Championship in Florida booking himself a direct spot on the grid for Saturday title deciding 1-hour final alongside Top Qualifier Dario Balestri.  Qualifying 5th overall, the Mugen driver was first to go and his 17.762 lap was the final lap of 6 was to start.  First to challenge the German was reigning Champion Dominic Greiner but suffering a mistake in the middle of his attempt his best lap was 0.122 slower.  Andy Moore then stood up to the mark but the Q3 Top Qualifier couldn’t break 18-seconds leave him last of the three to run so far.  Taking two rounds of qualifying including the last round, Naoto Matsukura was the final challenger to run but having won Super Pole on his 1:8 Worlds debut last year he it wasn’t going to be another direct A-Main debut for the 200mm rookie.  Completing the 3-minute warm-up, the Japanese driver immediately complained of being unable to see as light faded at the Homestead RC Raceway but continuing to put in his 6-laps his best time came on lap 4 but it was 28/1000ths off Pietsch’s.  Unfortunately for Pietsch after a short live celebration, an official protest by Matsukura to have Super Pole re-run meant official confirmation of the result was delayed by more than an 1-hour,  IFMAR’s international jury unanimous in deciding the result would stand.

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

The post Pietsch wins Super Pole in Florida appeared first on Red RC - RC Car News.

Robert Pietsch has won Super Pole at the 200mm World Championship in Florida booking himself a direct spot on the grid for Saturday title deciding 1-hour final alongside Top Qualifier Dario Balestri.  Qualifying 5th overall, the Mugen driver was first to go and his 17.762 lap was the final lap of 6 was to start.  First to challenge the German was reigning Champion Dominic Greiner but suffering a mistake in the middle of his attempt his best lap was 0.122 slower.  Andy Moore then stood up to the mark but the Q3 Top Qualifier couldn’t break 18-seconds leave him last of the three to run so far.  Taking two rounds of qualifying including the last round, Naoto Matsukura was the final challenger to run but having won Super Pole on his 1:8 Worlds debut last year he it wasn’t going to be another direct A-Main debut for the 200mm rookie.  Completing the 3-minute warm-up, the Japanese driver immediately complained of being unable to see as light faded at the Homestead RC Raceway but continuing to put in his 6-laps his best time came on lap 4 but it was 28/1000ths off Pietsch’s.  Unfortunately for Pietsch after a short live celebration, an official protest by Matsukura to have Super Pole re-run meant official confirmation of the result was delayed by more than an 1-hour,  IFMAR’s international jury unanimous in deciding the result would stand.

Commenting immediately after taking the Super Pole, Pietsch said, ‘Its incredible.  I can’t believe it.  It’s unbelievable’.  Having earlier said he felt not being the youngest of the drivers in Super Pole might go against him, he continued, ‘I knew from before that the track would be worse than the last qualifier for Super Pole because of the break.  In Gubbio I also was the first to run and the conditions were super bad but I was hoping not many people had been walking on the track so it would be good.  In my Warm-up it all felt good and then once I got some 17-second laps I knew I had a chance and for the last lap I kept on the throttle at the loop.  I’m so happy’.

Speaking prior to his protest, a very frustrated Matsukura said, ‘It is not fair.  I can’t see.  It was too dark I can’t see especially at the sweeper’.  Repeatedly shouting from the driver’s stand that he could not see during his timed laps, the Infinity driver concluded, ‘I’m not happy, this is not fair’, before setting about protesting the conditions most drivers and onlookers agreeing the timing of Super Pole was not ideal given how quickly the sun sets in Florida.

Greiner summed up his effort by saying, ‘It was difficult.  I don’t know why but the balance was different again from the last qualifier’.  Only managing two 17-second laps and making a mistake on his 4th attempt, the Serpent driver continued, ‘I was also nervous so my fastest lap was not perfect’. Missing the Super Pole in Gubbio but going on to win from P3 on the grid, he said, ‘maybe this is a repeat and sometimes it is not a bad to to run the Semi Final’.  He will start 2nd on the grid for his Semi behind Matsukura.

After an impressive qualifying performance, on Super Pole Moore said, ‘It was just too dark and the track changed too much’.  The Infinity driver added, ‘the track cooled down too much and my car was way too stable plus it was difficult to see at the end of the straight especially the sweeper’.  The British driver will now vie for his second 200mm Main start from pole in the Even Semi final.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Chassis – Shepherd Velox WC ’19
Engine – Novarossi Mito WCS
Fuel (handout) – Maxima
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo –Futaba/Futaba
Body – Xtreme Hammer

Remarks – Better known as one of the quickest 1:8 drivers in the World but a 1:10 Worlds Podium finisher, Simon is making one of his rare 1:10 outings with Shepherd’s new 2019 Velox.  Unlike team-mate Eduardo Escandon who is running the preproduction car of the 2019 kit, Simon is running a full production kit which went on sale last week.   The key feature of the new car is an updated rear end.  A new rear axle allows the use of shorter arms which now mount lower in the car.  A new shock tower is also added to accommodate mounting the shocks to the new arms.

Naoto Matsukura took the sixth & final round of qualifying at the 200mm Worlds Championship in Florida.  The Japanese driver continued Infinity’s reign over the qualifiers as he registered the fastest time ahead of team-mate Teemu Leino.  Matsukura’s second TQ run of the day, having opening proceedings with a TQ run, it was to be the fastest of the event with the round also seeing Leino join the elusive 24-lap run group, 1-second off.  Robert Pietsch would complete the Top 3 as only the fourth driver to make 24-laps a further 3/10th off Leino while Mugen team-mate Shoki Takahata ended up fourth fastest.  Top Qualifier Dario Balestri was left counting his blessing that he wrapped things up a round earlier as faulty power connector ended his run just before the 3-minute mark.

‘I’m super happy to make a new record in my total time but we made a little set-up change that made the car easier to drive but also a little less pace on the best lap’, was how Matsukura summed up his TQ run.  Qualifying second overall in between team-mate Balestri and Andy Moore, meaning he will go last in the Super Pole, he continued, ‘I will go back to my set-up from before for Super Pole but for the final I will use the set-up I just ran’.  The class rookie also made an engine change for his final run but said, ‘It was also good but it made a lot of smoke so we will adjust this for the Super Pole’.

Failing to make Super Pole, ending up 9th in the final qualifying classification, Leino was pleased with was his best run of qualifying.  The reigning European Champion said he could have been in contention for Super Pole but a flame out during refuelling in the previous round robbed him of a top run.  Overall though the Finn was happy with the pace he had shown in the concluding qualifier adding ‘now the car is good and the engine which is good going into the Semi Final’.

Pietsch, who qualified fifth overall behind reigning champion Dominic Greiner who got a Stop & Penalty in the final qualifier, was content with his P3 for the round despite suffering a brake issue.  Top Qualifier the last time the 200mm Worlds was hosted in the US he explained, ‘in the beginning (of the qualifier) it was better and I could challenge Naoto but after 5-minutes the brake started getting tight and I had to adjust my driving and lost pace’.  Asked about the pending Super Pole, the 2nd to 5th place qualifiers having 6-laps each to set the best time and join Balestri directly in Saturday’s final, laughing he replied, ‘It will be very difficult.  I’m not the youngest in the Super Pole session’.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Chassis – Infinity IF15
Engine – Max XL3 World Edition
Fuel (handout) – Maxima
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Body – Xtreme Hammer

Remarks – The Top Qualifier here in Miami, Dario says he is running a standard IF15.  Unlike team-mate Andy Moore who is running a soon to be released less flex chassis plate, he has stuck with the standard version also pointing out that he is also using the standard shock springs, again Moore using springs from a new range Infinity will release.

Image Gallery

Dario Balestri is the Top Qualifier at the 1:10 200mm World Championship in Miami.  The Infinity driver pulled off his third consecutive Worlds pole position in as many years with another TQ run in the penultimate round of qualifying.  Having made a mistake in the day’s opening qualifier, the reigning 1:8 World Champion put in a perfect Q5 making 24-laps to top the times for a third time and deny team-mate Naoto Matsukura and Andy Moore the chance of a first nitro World’s TQ.  Having taken the third round of qualifying, Moore had issues in the pits in his fifth run while a mistake from Matsukura while setting the TQ in front of Balestri ended his hopes and he ended up 5th for the round.  It would be Dominic Greiner who was closest to Balestri but missing out on going 24-laps.  Simon Kurzbuch would complete the Top 3, matching his surprise P3 in Q1, only this time the Shepherd driver took a more traditional route and made a fuel stop like everyone else during the 7-minute qualifier. Robert Pietsch made it four different manufacturers at the top for the round also equalling his best performance so far, while Mugen team-mate Shoki Takahata completed the Top 6.

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

The post Balestri is Top Qualifier in Miami appeared first on Red RC - RC Car News.

Dario Balestri is the Top Qualifier at the 1:10 200mm World Championship in Miami.  The Infinity driver pulled off his third consecutive Worlds pole position in as many years with another TQ run in the penultimate round of qualifying.  Having made a mistake in the day’s opening qualifier, the reigning 1:8 World Champion put in a perfect Q5 making 24-laps to top the times for a third time and deny team-mate Naoto Matsukura and Andy Moore the chance of a first nitro World’s TQ.  Having taken the third round of qualifying, Moore had issues in the pits in his fifth run while a mistake from Matsukura while setting the TQ in front of Balestri ended his hopes and he ended up 5th for the round.  It would be Dominic Greiner who was closest to Balestri but missing out on going 24-laps.  Simon Kurzbuch would complete the Top 3, matching his surprise P3 in Q1, only this time the Shepherd driver took a more traditional route and made a fuel stop like everyone else during the 7-minute qualifier. Robert Pietsch made it four different manufacturers at the top for the round also equalling his best performance so far, while Mugen team-mate Shoki Takahata completed the Top 6.

Top Qualifier at the 2016 Worlds in Gubbio and at the 1:8 World last year in France which he went on to win, Balestri said, ‘I have no words.  Honestly I try to change somethings in the car but my experience from the years told me to change something small.  So I made a super small change and it saved my life because Naoto is really fast’.  Having struggled by his standards in practice, just making the top heat with the 10th fastest time in seeding, the Italian continued, ‘I have to thank Max, Kenji San, Antonio San, Massimo San, everybody.  We now also have a car that is safe for the final’.

Reacting to his run Greiner said, ‘I made a little change and for sure it was better but I had to pass Collari again.  He never opens the door.  I lost time a little but was not the difference there was to Dario’.  The reigning champion continued, ‘I am pretty pleased with the car now and with Super Pole taking place in cooler conditions it is better for our car and if that doesn’t work our car is now working good for the Semis’.

‘I really needed that run’, was Kurzbuch’s reaction.  The Swiss driver continued, ‘In the last one (Q4) I drove too slow and the pit stop was not good but this time we tried something on the car and it paid off’.  Currently sitting 5th overall, the last position to make this evening’s Super Pole the winner of which will join Balestri directly in the A-Main, the 2015 1:8 World Champion said, ‘I need to somehow get into the Super Pole.  I know the car is super good in the evening conditions and I have good feeling in my mind for the final qualifier’.

Commenting on his latest performance, Pietsch said, ‘I tried something on the car compared the run before and it took the best out of it.  The car was not on the same pace as the run before.  Still it was an OK run’.  Suffering from ‘big traffic’ in Q4 which cost him 2-seconds he said he was lucky not to crash out of that one after he slid out of the corner and almost collected him’.  Looking to the final qualifier, the 1:8 World Champion at this track in 2011, said, ‘we need to find something again for the conditions to be as fast as earlier’.

A frustrated Matsukura reacted with, ‘Aaah, I made a mistake’.  Having started the day with a TQ run after some issues yesterday, he continued, ‘I made two mistakes.  I was leading and it hit the board on the inside of the corner and then had another mistake 2 laps later’.  Holding the fastest qualifying time of the event, the Japanese driver said, ‘my car was ok that time but the engine was a little rich.  Before the fuelling it was very good but after it had a different feeling.  Still I think I am in the Super Pole and there is still one more to go so I will try for another TQ run’.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Chassis – Capricorn C03 EVO
Engine – Maxima TRI Miami Edition
Fuel (handout) – Maxima
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Power HD
Body – Protoform P47

Remarks – Seeded in the top heat of qualifying here in Miami, Meen is running Capricorn’s latest chassis offering with the stand out features of the former World Champion’s car being the new black chassis and optional flex radio plate.  The Maxima team driver is also running a special Miami edition of the Thai company’s Novarossi based TR1 engine.

Image Gallery