Friday, October 16, 2009
3rd edition of ETS underway Categories - Racing, Report - comments closed
The third season of the Euro Touring Series is underway with over 200 drivers here is Kastellaun, Germany for the opening race of the six round Xenon Racing backed 2009/10 Series. One of the biggest changes to this season’s ETS is the switch to LiPo batteries and walking through the pits driver’s tables are a lot less cluttered with chargers and dischargers than normal.
The switch to LiPo has seen most of the top drivers using the opening practice rounds to play around with motor choice with everything from 4.0 to 6.5 being tried by the leading competitors. Current World Champion Marc Rheinard, the winner of this event 12 months ago, tried a 4.5 Speed Passion in his new Tamiya 416X but said the choice of gearing he ran meant he had too much power and he wants to play around with different ratios. This is his first touring car race since finishing runner up at the European Championships in Luxembourg, although the German has been busy winning the 1:10 4WD European Championships between races. Tamiya team-mate Viktor Wilck, who is running the 416WE, has started out with a 4.0 motor with the curve on his Speedpassion speedo set to the lowest setting. The Swede said it felt ok but plans to try a 4.5 later.
2007 Kastellaun winner Juho Levanen, who has plenty of LiPo experience having used them at the Reedy and IIC races over in the US, is using a 5.0 LRP motor in his factory Associated TC5. The Finnish driver, who will be doing all six rounds of 2009/10 ETS, is hopeful of repeating the win he claimed here three years ago but said the quality of the entry this weekend is going to make it a difficult challenge. That quality entry includes 2006 World Champion Andy Moore. With the British National Championship introducing LiPo batteries this year and a 6.5 motor limit the factory Hot Bodies driver has plenty of experience outdoor with LiPo but said it will be interesting working with the lower 1350 gram weight limit here on carpet. Moore has started out with what he knows best, running a 6.5 Team Orion motor in his Cyclone TC.
The Xray team have a strong line up here this weekend with their team drivers running the soon to be released T3 chassis. Team leader Teemu Leino was responsible for much of the development work on the new car and said the new platform is easier to driver and has a lot better traction than the T2. The Finn who hasn’t raced since the European Championship in August as he was busy getting married said he is confident his wedding ring won’t slow him too much! Leino is running a 5.5 motor which he said is plenty for indoor.
Making his ETS debut, Elliot Harper is another with the new T3 chassis. The young British talent has done a lot of testing with the new Juraj Hudy creation and last weekend gave the Slovakian made car its debut win after taking victory at Round 1 of the RugRacers Series in England. Harper says the new car is a big improvement having tested it at two different tracks in preparation for this event.
Heading the Yokomo challenge Ronald Volker is feeling a bit secondhand this weekend after injuring his back during the week while playing badminton. The former European Champion, who has been excused from marshalling duties by race director Scotty Ernst, has done a lot of LiPo testing with the BD5 and is much happier with the overall balance of the car now. Fresh from winning the German Outdoor Nationals last month Christopher Krapp represents Kyosho hopes. The ultra professional teenager is playing around with the positioning of the weight he must carry on his car following the switch to LiPo and is also working on tyre preparation as he becomes familiar with the new ETS control tyre from Xenon Racing.
Interestingly there are a number of big name nitro drivers competing here. Current 200mm European Champion Dirk Wischnewski is competing in the modified as is top Italian racer Michelle Romangnoli. A former Italian EP champion Romangnoli has switched to Tamiya for this event having collected on his arrival to Germany a brand new 416WE which was built for him by Toni Rheinard. Better known for racing 1:8 Oroad racing in which he is a factory driver for Shepherd, Eric Dankel is competing in Pro Stock driving an Xray and earlier this year won the German Indoor Nationals in the class so we can expect to see him feature strongly against the regular ETS frontrunners like Alexander Stocker, Matthias Lang and Daniel Wohlgemuth.
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Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Capacity entry for Xenon Racing Euro Touring Series opener Categories - Announcement, Racing - comments closed
The third season of the Euro Touring Series kicks off this weekend when a capacity entry from 17 different countries will descend on the town of Kastellaun in Germany for the opening leg of an expanded six round 2009/10 race program. Welcoming a new title sponsor in Xenon Racing Products, who also become the official controlled tyre supplier of the series, the growing popularity of the ETS is reflected in the star line-up that will battle it out for this season’s title honours. Due to his recent relocation to Asia, defending champion Jilles Groskamp will not be going for a hat trick of titles. Despite his absence the title battle, which ended in a tie break last season between Groskamp and current World Champion Marc Rheinard, is expected to be even more closely fought than ever with many of electric touring car’s biggest names entered for Round 1.
Heading the entry for the top flight Modified class, which will adapt the recently passed IFMAR World Championship ruling on LiPo batteries, is two time World Champion Marc Rheinard. The German, who took the win in Kastellaun last year, faces a quality line up of rival factory drivers including his own Tamiya team-mates Viktor Wilck and last year’s Warsaw race winner Yannic Prumper. Hot Bodies will be present with 2006 World Champion Andy Moore, Yokomo will have the super fast Ronald Volker, flying Finn Teemu Leino and British young gun Elliot Harper front the Xray challenge, Associated are armed with Juho Levanen, a previous winner in Kastellaun, while German Champion Christopher Krapp heads up the Kyosho assault.
Biggest of the three classes that make up this season’s ETS is Pro-Stock with 125 drivers booked in for Round 1. Also switching to LiPo power, the class will run a 13.5 turn motor supplied by Speedpassion. Having taken victory at the previous two season openers in Kastellaun, Alexander Stocker heads the entry looking to make it a hat trick of Pro Stock wins but faces huge competition in the category that produced 5 different winners last season. Joining the schedule on a permanent basis after a number of successful experimental appearances during the 2008/09 Series is the Hobby class. Open to Tamiya TT 01, LRP Maverick Strada and HPI E10 Touring cars, the class is an important breeding ground for the future stars of the sport allowing them to hone their driving skills on the international stage.
Commenting on the upcoming 2009/10 Xenon Racing Euro Touring Series, race director Scotty Ernst, who together with Uwe Rheinard is responsible for bringing the ETS across Europe, said, ‘I can’t believe we are about to embark on our third season of the Euro Touring Series. It feels like my conversation with Uwe that led to us creating the ETS was just last week. The capacity entry we have for Kastellaun is a great endorsement for what we are doing and looking down through the names on the entry list we have all the ingredients for producing some awesome racing.’
The opening round of the Xenon Racing Euro Touring Series, which is also supported by Speedpassion, will kick off with practice on Friday and the event can be followed throughout the weekend on RedRC.net who will be in Kastellaun to report live on all the action.
