Euro Touring Series » Riccardo Acciari

February 6, 2016

Chassis Focus – Lucas Urbain

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Chassis – VBC Wildfire D08
Motor – Muchmore Fleta 5.5T
ESC – Muchmore Fleta Pro
Batteries – Silverback 6300mAh
Tires – Volante (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R
Remarks – French team driver Lucas Urbain is at his first ETS outing with the newly released Wildfire D08. The car features new bulkheads, a new motor mount, a new chassis design and a different plastic compound. Lucas is driving an example that sports a pre-production aluminium chassis and prototype lower shock towers and shorter shocks.

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February 6, 2016

Chassis Focus – Oliver Bultynck

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Chassis – Roche Rapide Formula 1
Motor – Hobbywing (handout)
ESC – Hobbywing (handout)
Batteries – LRP 4300mAh “Stock Spec”
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Futaba
Bodyshell – Protoform F15
Remarks – Top Belgian driver and Formula class front runner Oliver Bultynck is another driver debuting a new car here in Muelheim-Kaerlich, running the brand new Rapide Formula 1 from Hong-Kong based company Roche. The design features a floating servo mount and a very narrow chassis with plastic mounts for the links. Front camber and caster are adjustable by changing or rotating the upper plate, while the rear roll centre is adjustable simply by adding or removing shims on the axle support.

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February 6, 2016

Pit Focus – Alexander Hagberg

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Team: Xray
Neighbours: Martin Hudy (front), Dyonis Stadler (left)
Charger: ProSpec R
Tools: Hudy
Setup Tools: Hudy Setup System, Prolevel RC tweak board, Tworks tweak stick, Hudy downstop gauge
Car Stand: Hudy
Lipo Bag: Hudy
Transport Bag: Hudy
Features: CA Glue/Activator, Hudy pit lamp, Zero outdrives grease, ORCA program card, Sony Xperia Z3, Hudy tools bag, Moleskine notebook, Hudy fibre tape, Hiro Seiko parts tray, Balisto cereal (chocolate) bar, a random pinion.

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February 6, 2016

Chassis Focus – Juho Levanen

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Chassis – Associated TC7
Motor – Reedy Sonic 4.5T
ESC – Reedy 410R
Batteries – Reedy 6000mAh
Tires – Volante (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R
Remarks – Finnish AE factory driver Juho Levanen is debuting the all new TC7 from the American company, the car having being completely re-designed with only the diffs and the driveshafts being the same as in the TC6. As for option parts, Juho is using an aluminium chassis and front double joint driveshafts.

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February 6, 2016

Chassis Focus – Bruno Coelho

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Chassis – Xray T4 ’16
Motor – Hobbywing Xerun 4.5T
ESC – Hobbywing XR10 Pro
Batteries – EZ Power 6200mAh
Tires – Volante (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Bodyshell – MonTech Silvy
Remarks – After topping the times during practice, Xray factory driver Bruno Coelho took Q1 running the ’16 version of the T4. His car is equipped with an aluminium steering system, low friction belts and a front brass suspension mount which add 8 grams to the very front end of the car. He is also using a new aluminium chassis that features cuts in the central section to allow for a better flex.

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February 5, 2016

Coelho tops brief practice after carpet change at ETS

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Over a short 2-minute practice at the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Germany it was Bruno Coelho who laid claim to being fastest on eventful Day 1 at the second round of the championship. The biggest race of the ETS to-date, with over 440 entries, a hidden problem would arise during practice when an incorrect batch of carpet left racers struggling for traction. With no sign of conditions improving, the carpet fluffing up, the championship’s promoters made the brave call to resurface the track. Having to wait 4-hours for the delivery of the correct ‘ETS Black Carpet’ all the way from the centre of the Netherlands, a pre-selected crew which included the current World Champion Naoto Matsukura did an impressive job to rebuild the track in just 2-hours. With the two planned rounds of practice on the busy schedule having run on the bad carpet, a reshuffle of the timetable during the track resurfacing allowed a quick 2-minute practice round to give drivers a feel for the regular carpet racers have become accustomed too. The difference in the carpets was immediately clear as Coelho went from a 44-seconds 3-consecutive lap time to a 41.364.

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Having done 2-days of testing at the Hudy Arena, where they have ETS carpet, as preparation for the ETS, Coelho said they got a ‘big surprise’ when he put his Hobbywing powered T4 on the track this morning. ‘Completely different’, he said his car was ‘impossible to drive’. With a rumour quickly circulating that they may rebuild the track he said he changed the car slightly to make it possible to do laps and use the next practice to learn the flow of the track. Putting back on his Hudy Arena set-up for the new carpet, the Round 1 podium finisher said ‘it was amazing, really amazing’. With last year’s Muelheim-Kaerlich event marking only his second carpet race, the Portuguese driver as he put it himself ‘flipped’ his way to 10th on the grid, but with a lot more experience on carpet now he is hopeful of a better outcome tomorrow when all four rounds of qualifying will be run.

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Making his ETS carpet debut, Naoto Matsukura would set the 2nd fastest time. Having not raced his touring car for 2-months and not raced on carpet for a few months prior to that, the Tamiya driver said he got a bit of ‘surprise’ when practice started and was relieved to find out the lack of traction was a carpet issue. Running just one car, team-mate Marc Rheinard running two cars in the 2-minute practice, Matsukura said his TRF419 was ‘good’ and on the proper carpet so was the track layout. Feeling his car was understeering a little, he will tweak his set-up changes for qualifying adding ‘then it will be perfect for tomorrow’.

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Winner of this race last season, ending a 5-year winning drought on carpet, and taking the win at this season’s opening race in Czech Republic, Rheinard would record the 9th fastest time. The 4-time World Champion described it as ‘an interesting day’ adding ‘but at least we ended up on good carpet, it was definitely a good call’. With only a 3-quick laps to get the feel of each car, the German said while difficult to fully tell he said the second car felt better and it is this he will run in qualifying leaving it unchanged for Q1.

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Setting the third fastest time, Team Yokomo’s Meen Vejrak was pleased with his comparative pace but said ‘I needed more time to test’. Another driver to run two cars over the short practice, the former Nitro Touring Car World Champion said of his two Scorpion powered BD7s, which ran different set-ups, the second one was better. While he will use this for the opening qualifier, he feels the car needs to be more stable and so he will make some small set-up changes.

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Sixth fastest behind Olly Jefferies (4th) and Viktor Wilck (5th), reigning ETS Champion Ronald Volker said the change was good and that decision was reflected in the lap times. Adding that the rebuild came ‘just in time’, he said the 2-minute practice was ‘tough’ in terms of getting a proper feel for conditions and the car. Overall the Yokomo driver ‘wasn’t too happy with the feeling of his car’ and they have to come up with a better set-up for qualifying.

View the event image gallery here.

February 5, 2016

Chassis Focus – Cyril N’diaye

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Chassis – TM E4 RS III +
Motor – LRP X20 4.5T
ESC – LRP Flow
Batteries – LRP 5600mAh
Tires – Volante (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Bodyshell – Protoform LTC-R
Remarks – French ETS veteran Cyril N’diaye is running a pretty standard version of the new RS4 III “plus” from Team Magic. The features of the new car include a single piece front arm mount, aluminium pivot balls and a shorter wheelbase, with the front arms placed 1mm towards the back, while the only option used is a set of titanium screws.

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February 5, 2016

Pit Focus – Naoto Matsukura

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Team: Tamiya
Neighbours: Takayuki Kono (front), Akio Sobue (left)
Charger: Muchmore “Double Accel”
Tools: Muchmore/Tamiya
Setup Tools: Hudy Setup System, Muchmore setup board
Car Stand: Muchmore
Lipo Bag: Muchmore
Transport Bag: OGIO
Features: Schwip-Schwap bottle, Monster Energy can, wallet, iPhone 6+, Lucky Charm, Airwave chewing-gums, Muchmore digital scale, Ferrari Watch, Muchmore pit lamp.

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