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Balestri continues to set the pace at Worlds

Posted: 29 Oct 2019 01:25 PM PDT

Dario Balestri continues to set the pace at the 1:8 World Championships with the Infinity driver topping the second round of seeding practice at Steel City RC Speedway. Slightly slower track conditions saw Balestri go fastest over 3-consecutive as Japanese drivers came to the fore with Infinity team-mate Takaaki Shimo putting in the second fastest time ahead of Shoki Takahata and 2013 World Champion Tadahiko Sahashi. While Carmine Raiola had an improve run setting the fourth fastest time for some of the expected title contenders it was a tough round. Simon Kurzbuch was only 28th as he struggled with his car traction rolling, a problem which also left Dominic Greiner uncompetitive for the round. Star of the star 1:8 Worlds, Naoto Matsukura had a spectacular exit from the round when his steering came off as he turned off the straight resulting in his car being firmly buried under the track barrier.

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

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Balestri continues to set the pace at Worlds

Posted: 29 Oct 2019 01:20 PM PDT

Dario Balestri continues to set the pace at the 1:8 World Championships with the Infinity driver topping the second round of seeding practice at Steel City RC Speedway. Slightly slower track conditions saw Balestri go fastest over 3-consecutive as Japanese drivers came to the fore with Infinity team-mate Takaaki Shimo putting in the second fastest time ahead of Shoki Takahata and 2013 World Champion Tadahiko Sahashi. While Carmine Raiola had an improve run setting the fourth fastest time for some of the expected title contenders it was a tough round. Simon Kurzbuch was only 28th as he struggled with his car traction rolling, a problem which also left Dominic Greiner uncompetitive for the round. Star of the star 1:8 Worlds, Naoto Matsukura had a spectacular exit from the round when his steering came off as he turned off the straight resulting in his car being firmly buried under the track barrier.

Commenting on his latest run, Balestri said, ‘I am still first so it’s all good but I still think we can improve something in the car’. The defending Champion continued, ‘It is too much on the limit. I don’t really know what to change to improve it but I think maybe we will change the body for the next one’.

Running a prototype of Infinity’s next 1:8 chassis release along with Lamberto Collari while the rest of the team run the current IF18, Shimo said, ‘the car was good but my clutch was slipping a little’. Improving the car the multiple World Vice Champion said, ‘I made the car lower. The first round it was not bad but I lowered the ride height .5mm and it made it easier to drive’. Asked if he had more changes planned for the 3rd of the 4 seeding rounds he said, ‘the car is good so I will leave it and just tighten the clutch’.

Having tried a different set-up for the first run of the day which he described as ‘not good’, Takahata returned to his ‘good’ free practice set-up for the second run and in doing so returned to form. Running a front chassis stiffer from Yurugix on his Mugen, which he says has improved his car a lot of the high traction conditions here in California, the 25-year-old Worlds podium finisher wants to try to make his car quicker from the start of the run. Like the majority of drivers, he said his car is not good at the beginning of the run and this is an area he wants to focus on improving ahead of qualifying tomorrow and he will now discuss with his team what possible changes to make for this.

Sahashi was happy with his run claiming his car was now good from the start of the run right through to the end of the 8-minutes. Changing to a softer rear spring he said this made the car easier to driver particular in the left side chicane’. With former 1:10 World Champion Keisuke Fukuda as his pitman this week, he plans to discuss further set-up changes for the third round which should take place at the hottest time of the day.

‘It was better this round’, was Raiola’s reaction to his P5 time. Only 20th on his first seeding attempt, the Italian explained, ‘we changed the shock oil to harder and and made the ride height super down in the rear. It made it want to flip less so I able to drive now. We will try harder oil in the front now and see what happens’.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Balestri tops opening seeding round

Posted: 29 Oct 2019 11:34 AM PDT

Dario Balestri has picked up from where he left in free practice yesterday to go quickest in the opening round of seeding at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships in California this morning. The Infinity driver set his fastest three laps before getting caught out by the extra high morning traction with a roll that chunked at rear tyre and ended his run a minute & a half early. Behind the reigning Champion, JJ Wang surprised even himself with the second fastest time, the Mugen driver running in the heat before that of Balestri. Making a return to World Championship action after some time out from the sport, Steven Jovanovic was another surprise at the front of the times sheets as he posted the 3rd fastest time for the first of the 4 rounds of seeding practice. Next up it was Dominic Greiner in fourth place followed by Silvio Hachler and 2011 World Champion Robert Pietsch. For 2015 World Champion Simon Kurzbuch the extra traction caused him problems and his Shepherd made contact with the Steel City RC Speedway barriers leaving him 8th fastest.

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

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Balestri tops opening seeding round

Posted: 29 Oct 2019 11:27 AM PDT

Dario Balestri has picked up from where he left in free practice yesterday to go quickest in the opening round of seeding at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships in California this morning. The Infinity driver set his fastest three laps before getting caught out by the extra high morning traction with a roll that chunked at rear tyre and ended his run a minute & a half early. Behind the reigning Champion, JJ Wang surprised even himself with the second fastest time, the Mugen driver running in the heat before that of Balestri. Making a return to World Championship action after some time out from the sport, Steven Jovanovic was another surprise at the front of the times sheets as he posted the 3rd fastest time for the first of the 4 rounds of seeding practice. Next up it was Dominic Greiner in fourth place followed by Silvio Hachler and 2011 World Champion Robert Pietsch. For 2015 World Champion Simon Kurzbuch the extra traction caused him problems and his Shepherd made contact with the Steel City RC Speedway barriers leaving him 8th fastest.

Summing up his effort Balestri said, ‘It was ok. I just did not drive so good but anyway it was enough’. The calm and very collected Italian continued, ‘there was again more traction and I was not able to drive perfect and I rolled’. Asked if changing the car or adjusting his driving style was the best solution, he replied, ‘the problem is if you stop the flip you stop being fast. Even with the best set-up in these conditions you have to manage the driving. I think it’s the same for everyone’.

‘I’m pretty surprised to be honest’ was Wang’s reaction to his 3-laps which were just 6/100th off Balestri. The American driver continued, ‘the car was super hard to drive in the beginning so I just wanted to get the run over with. I didn’t see that (time) coming’. Hoping he can maintain his strong start to the day he will try to improve the car for his second run saying, ‘Everyone is having difficulty at the start, the traction is so high but we will make a few changes and it should be better for the next one’.

Reacting to his time, Jovanovic said, ‘I cant complain, the car is good and the engine is super good’. The Australian, who is running Capricorn’s new 804 Prototype, explained, ‘the first time I drove the car was when I got here and we got the set-up right pretty quickly after a day or so’. He continued, ‘clutches and engines were the biggest issue but we got that sorted now and as a combo it’s now working great’. Looking to his next run, he said, ‘If I can be a little more consistent in my driving we will be alright’.

‘Better’ was Greiner’s reaction to his P4 time. The Serpent driver continued, ‘now it’s on four wheels all the time but we need a little more steering, then it is good’. The German also felt he lacked power from his engine saying, ‘the engine was not good so we will change to another one’. He concluded, ‘things are looking better now than they were yesterday’.

Enjoying consistency in his form having had strong runs throughout free practice, Hachler said, ‘It was a good run I think’. The ARC driver said, ‘now there is more grip like two days ago and my car is so easy to drive’ before jokingly remarking ‘I hope the traction will increase’. Happy with his car’s performance, the Swiss racer who finished 5th at the previous Worlds in France two years ago said, ‘we will just change to another engine for the next one to make sure we have three good engines ready for qualification and the racing’.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Factory Team logo T-shirts

Posted: 29 Oct 2019 09:32 AM PDT

Associated Electrics have introduced their new Factory Team logo T-shirts. These white tees are an American-made blend of soft 100 percent cotton and available in six sizes of S to 3XL. The redesigned Factory Team logo is on the front, marking its wearer as a hop-up expert.

Source: Associated Electrics [associatedelectrics.com]

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Alain Sarafyan doubles at Turkish Off-road Nats

Posted: 29 Oct 2019 08:04 AM PDT

The Turkish National 1/8th Off-road Championship was hosted by the Luleburgaz RC Yildizlar track last weekend. The 3-day event was held in 1/8th Nitro and Electric classes and when the dust had settled it was Alain Sarafyan with the overall in Nitro Buggy as Can Soykal and Emre Bozdoğan came in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Over in E-Buggy it was again Alain Sarafyan with the overall win as Bora Mumcu and Serkan Tumer completed the top 3 result.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

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Czech Masters Rd1 – Report

Posted: 29 Oct 2019 07:41 AM PDT

The opening round of the Czech Masters, a new electric off-road series in the Czech Republic, was held at the Sport Arena Prague last weekend. The schedule saw four rounds of qualifying followed by triple A-mains, however due to unfortunate tech issues in the morning, qualifying had to be cut short to three qualifiers. Young Max Götzl was in control of things in the 2WD Buggy, 4WD Buggy and Stadium Truck class as he was able to top qualify all of them. In the Truck class it was Frank Hempel 2nd and Miroslav Loupy 3rd, in 2WD and 4WD Jiri Mara lined up 2nd on the grid and Michal Blahovsky was 3rd in 2WD and Dominik Vlasek 3rd in 4WD.

Max and Jiri then had a great fight in the opening A-main of 2WD. Max was easily pulling away at first and already had a comfortable lead, but because of a mistake of Max, Jiri was able to pass him with a few laps to go, however Max was able to take the win as he got past Jiri in a last corner manoeuvre. A2 was similar, but this time Max made the mistake earlier, so the fight was on from the first laps. Max made a nice pass on Jiri and then lead the race to the finish line to take the overall win. Jiri took overall 2nd and Matej Sulc 3rd, after some bad luck in the A3.

The 4WD finals there were a pretty straight forward affair for Max as he was able to stay on all four wheels the whole time in A1 and A2 to take the overall win. Jiri finished again in 2nd place and Michal Blahovsky took an overall 3rd.

In Truck Max was able to take an easy win in A1 and A2 to take the early overall, in front of Frank Hempel in 2nd and Miroslav Loupy in 3rd place.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

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Phend & Marasco sweep Masters of Dirt

Posted: 29 Oct 2019 06:41 AM PDT

Beach RC of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina hosted the Masters of Dirt race last weekend, attracting nearly 280 entries. The event was held in Modified and Stock 1/10th off-road classes and in Pro 2WD Mod Buggy it was TLR‘s Dakotah Phend with the overall TQ and also the win in the single 10-minute A-main event, leaving behind Team Associated‘s Dustin Evans in 2nd. Team Associated‘s Aydin Horne would round out the top 3 result in front of TLR‘s Aaron Kothman and Yokomo‘s Max Flurer.

4WD Modified Buggy funnily brought the same result with Dakotah taking the TQ and win from Dustin in 2nd, Aydin in 3rd, Aaron 4th and Max in 5th place.

Modified Truck saw Dakotah Phend complete the sweep by taking the TQ and win, leaving Dustin behind for his third 2nd place result that weekend as Aaron Kothman came in 3rd overall. Donnie Ward Jr. and Rob Meyer Jr. would round out the top 5 results.

17.5T 2WD Buggy would see AJ Marasco dominating as he took the TQ and win in the single 10-minute A-main from Mitch Zeck in 2nd. Behind the two it was Joshua Alfero in 3rd, Patrick Rossiter in 4th and Jim Bronson in 5th.

In 13.5T Wheeler it was again AJ Marasco with the TQ and win as Patrick Rossiter came in 2nd, already a lap down. Joshua Alfero would end the 10-minute race in 3rd, Jim Bronson in 4th and Ryan Harris completed the top 5.

AJ Marasco would complete the Stock class sweep by taking the TQ and win in 13.5T Stadium truck, leaving behind Ryan Harris in 2nd, Dillon Latour in 3rd, Shon Harding in 4th and Dave McEwen in 5th.

Over in 40+ Mod Buggy it was veteran racer, Billy Easton with the TQ and win from Allen Horne 2nd, Mike Sontag 3rd, Rob Meyer Jr. 4th and Dave McEwen in 5th.

Over in 40+ 4WD Buggy it was John Bernard Jr. with the overall TQ and win from Mark Unrath 2nd and Rob Meyer Jr. in 3rd. Monty Reeder came in 4th and in front of Terry Decker 5th.

Source: Trinity [teamtrinity.com]

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Fenix G56 aluminium chassis & pod plates

Posted: 29 Oct 2019 04:46 AM PDT

Coming from Fenix are new aluminium chassis options for the G56 series 200mm and 235mm wheelbase pan cars. First up is a 7075 aluminium main SWB short wheelbase chassis plate that us usable for pivot and link-type cars. A direct replacement for pivot-style kits the chassis is also usable on V-link cars, however it shortens the wheelbase by 11mm and does not allow the use of standard-size “touring car” LiPos. The chassis comes black anodised and with laser-etched logos. Also new are 7075 aluminium pivot-style power pods for 200mm and 235mm wide cars. Like the main chassis the lower pod plates come machined from high-quality aluminium while a black surface coating ensures factory looks and added surface protection.

Source: Fenix [fenixracingshop.com]

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Wesley van Helmond wins at Winter is Coming Race

Posted: 29 Oct 2019 01:38 AM PDT

The Mach-One Helmond track in Helmond, The Netherlands held their 2019 Winter is Coming race last weekend in 1/8th nitro and electric off-road classes. In the Nitro Buggy category, attracting 44 drivers, it was Jarno Pijpers (SWorkz) with the overall TQ after taking two of the three qualifying rounds. Wesley van Helmond (SWorkz), who won a single qualifying round, came in 2nd. The 30-minute A-main event then saw Wesley getting past Jarno on the second lap and from there he never looked back to take the win a lap in front of Jeffrey Halsema (Team Associated) while Jarno Pijpers rounded out the top 3 results.

View the final results here:
1. Wesley van Helmond – 46L 30:11.165
2. Jeffrey Halsema – 45L 30:05.700
3. Jarno Pijpers – 45L 30:18.879
4. Kay Koops – 45L 30:28.861
5. Sander Van Genechten – 44L 30:16.665
6. Oane Storm – 44L 30:32.141
7. Matthias Reckward – 43L 30:00.498
8. Max Glantschnig – 42L 30:22.051
9. Andre Kuchenbecker – 41L 30:01.246
10. Danny van Orsouw – 41L 30:14.790
11. Jeffrey De Jong – 41L 30:15.673
12. Paul Rooijakkers – 19L 14:07.299

Image: Wesley van Helmond

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CS-Electronic Space X3 Competition Duo charger

Posted: 29 Oct 2019 01:25 AM PDT

Coming from CS-Electronic is their new Space X3 Competition dual output AC/DC multi-chemistry charger with wireless charging ability. The compact device features a powerful 600W power supply for up to 16A of charge current and 300W of charging power per channel. Integrated and calibrated 2S to 6S XH balancers ensure swift and secure balance charging of LiXX batteries and using CS-Electronic’s optional regenerative 200W discharger the device is capable of discharge currents of up to 15A. Other features include integrated servo and motor testers, a 5V/2.1A USB port and the ability to power wireless charging capable smartphones etc. by simply placing them on top of the charger.

Features:
– Two independent 16A outputs
– 2x 300W charging power both in AC and DC mode
– 1A balancing current
– 15A/200W discharging with optional discharger unit
– 3.5 inch colour display
– 5V/2.A USB port
– Wireless charging function
– Integrated servo tester
– Integrated motor tester

Source: CS-Electronic [cs-shop.de]

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Yokomo YD-2 aluminium ball diff kit

Posted: 29 Oct 2019 01:05 AM PDT

Yokomo have introduced an aluminium ball diff kit for the YD-2 series of RWD drift cars. The lightweight unit features aluminium outdrives that weigh in at only about one third of the weight of steel outdrives, making for lower rotational masses and thus quicker throttle response and a reduced gyroscopic effect. The set includes all needed parts and as well as thrust bearing and diff ball grease.

Source: Yokomo [teamyokomo.com]

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Balestri fastest as free practice concludes at 1:8 Worlds

Posted: 28 Oct 2019 06:16 PM PDT

At the conclusion of two days of free practice at the IFMAR 1:8 World Championships in California it is reigning Champion Dario Balestri who was fastest. The Infinity driver set the fastest 3-consecutive laps in the tenth & final free practice run topping the times from a much improved Simon Kurzbuch, the two great rivals separated by just 12/100ths of a second over the best respective 3-consecutive laps. Shoki Takahata added variety to the top of the time sheets at Steel City RC Speedway taking his Mugen to the 3rd fastest time, his best laps also set in the final round of practice. Behind the top three, the margin a little bigger, Jeffrey Rietveld posted the fourth fastest time followed by Silvio Hachler and former champions Lamberto Collari & Robert Pietsch. Tomorrow drivers face four rounds of seeding practice to determine the order of the heats for qualifying which gets underway on Wednesday.

Reacting to topping the times with ‘it’s ok’, asked why it was only OK, Balestri replied, ‘because maybe I can find something more. The car is fast but not perfect’. The Italian added, ‘it’s consistent but I think we can make it faster over the full run. At least that’s what I will try for tomorrow’.

‘Finally’ was how a much more upbeat Kurzbuch described his finish to free practice. The Shepherd driver said, ‘the last two rounds were really good as I finally had feeling in the car. Now it is going in the right way’. Having struggled with the tracks high traction he said, ‘we tested so much that last few days but we started from zero again today and now we are on the right way. It has been a hard four days for the whole team and my dad. Tonight we can go for dinner happy.’ Asked what the improved set-up was, the 2015 World Champion replied, ‘It is tending to flip less and now I can push for good lap times. We are back in the game’.

Takahata said his time was a culmination of putting the best of all the set-ups he tried in the two days of IPD running and yesterday opening free practice day together adding he was ‘satisfied’ with how his car is performing, not just over 3-laps but also over the entire run. Asked what he thought of the track, the 2017 Worlds podium finisher said, ‘It looks easy but it’s difficult. It is totally different to anything we have in Japan and the traction is different everyday so I have to adapt the car for this’. On a track where horsepower is a big part of performance due to the high traction, the factory OS driver said the new engine he has been supplied with from the Japanese manufacturer is ‘working very good’.

‘Not too bad’ joked Rietveld when asked how his day went. The Dutch driver continued, ‘engine is super important on this track and we finally made a selection of the good engines. Now we know what is fast and not fast and it is looking really good’. On car setup the Infinity driver said, ‘we have run the same set-up for 6 or 7 practices. The car is amazing so we could just focus on doing a lot of stuff with engines’. Commenting on the track layout, he said, ‘it’s an awesome track. One of the most fun I have driven. It has everything you want as a driver’.

Giving his thoughts on free practice, Hachler said, ‘yesterday was better than today but we are very competitive all the time. We have a good car and good engines. We are more than ready for qualification’. Asked why he felt yesterday was better, the ARC driver replied, ‘the track changed a lot from yesterday. There was a lot more traction yesterday and for my car it was a lot easier to handle the super high traction’.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Davis set early pace at Worlds as drivers battle high traction

Posted: 28 Oct 2019 01:49 PM PDT

Australia’s Jesse Davis is the early pace setter at the IFMAR 1:8 World Championships in California, the Infinity driver fastest in the opening day of official practice and again after 2 of the 5 scheduled rounds of today’s action. Behind, Dominic Greiner is second fastest today after topping the Round 7 of practice from reigning World Champion Dario Balestri and reigning 1:10 World Champion Naoto Matsukura. Next up it is ARC’s Silvio Hachler with the Mugen of 2018 World podium finisher Shoki Takahata completing the Top 6 times for this morning’s opening two runs. Super high winds overnight and this morning meant a delayed start to today’s schedule with the traction sprayed Steel City RC Speedway surface acting like a magnet to the dust blown in by the winds, winds that are forecast to return again on Wednesday when qualifying is to begin. As a result of the delay, drivers now have shorter run but already the traction is back up to the ‘super high’ levels drivers are finding difficult.

Commenting on his pace, Davis said, ‘the car is good. We came out here before the testing cut off for 4-days and got a good feeling with everything. We’re trying to keep that going now and work through engine by engine to make sure they are all good’. He continued, ‘we are doing a little with the set-up and fine tuning it as we go and trying to keep calm’. Asked about the traction, he replied, ‘it’s quite high and we have got to run new tyres every run so it’s important to take caution at the start but the traction has levelled out now. It’s not what we are used to or expect at a 1:8 Worlds but its good fun’.

‘Difficult’ was Greiner’s description of practice so far. The Serpent driver added, ‘I was having problems with traction roll. Every corner I am on 2-wheels and then when I try to throttle out of the corner it is doing strange things’. The German continued, ‘we will try a different shock set-up now and see’. Asked if the track was changing much between runs he said, ‘we are changing so much things (on the car) every run it is hard to say if the track is changing much, but for the evening we know the traction is even higher so it is even more difficult’.

With 3 more practice runs today and then a day of seeding practice tomorrow, Balestri said, ‘It’s going ok. We are just testing. We have a lot of time for this’. The Infinity driver added, ‘we know the basic set-up from yesterday and the traction is back to the same as yesterday now’. For his next run the Italian will test harder plastics on his car concluding he was just going through his planned programme.

Making a huge impact on the world of nitro onroad when he made his nitro racing debut at the previous 1:8 World Championship in France, where he lead the final, Matsukura was happier with his car in Round 7 of practice after struggling with the high traction yesterday. He explained, ‘we came 2-weeks ago and the track was different so yesterday I can’t drive without flipping but now its getting better so now we can get back to our normal programme’. Asked how he liked the track, the Japanese ace said, ‘I really like it. The layout is like Japanese style and it also has the high traction’.

View the complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Video – Free Practice Rd7

Posted: 28 Oct 2019 01:40 PM PDT