Euro Touring Series Rd6 – Friday Action
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Chassis Focus – Ludovic Leflon
Chassis – StreetJam ST-F01
Motor – Hobbywing Xerun 21.5 (Handout)
ESC – Hobbywing Justock Club Spec (Handout)
Batteries – Speed Energy
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Bodyshell – StreetJam McLaren MP-48
Remarks – Best known as the frontman for ETS tyre supplier Ride, Thai based French driver Ludo is running a brand new chassis from StreetJam. The Japanese company, well known in Asia for its drift cars, is bringing some innovation in the Formula class, with the biggest feature being the rear pod linkage. It consists of a 3 ball system that allows the rear pod to remain parallel to the ground throughout the whole suspension travel. The interesting rear end also sports two shocks instead of the usual single flat shock. The front end is characterised by adjustable front width – useful to adapt the car to foam tires – and an interesting multiple position caster block, that allows four different setting from 3° to 9°.
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Volker tops seeding at ETS Finale
Newly crowned Yokomo Euro Touring Series champion Ronald Volker showed no signs of resting on his laurels as he topped seeding for qualifying in a super close final practice at the Hudy Racing Arena in Slovakia. The Yokomo driver just pipped reigning World Champion Jilles Groskamp by 2/1000th of a second over three consecutive laps with the stage set for some exciting qualifying action as the Top 7 drivers where covered by just 2/10th. Having set the pace in the first timed practice Xray’s Alexander Hagberg completed the Top 3 for practice thanks to his opening time.
Only 6th fastest in the opening run having struggled for overall traction, Volker said a change to the geardiff in the rear of his LRP powered BD7 was a big step forward. Describing his car as a little difficult for the first minute, the German said after that it steadily improved and setting his best 3-laps towards the end of the run he was very encouraged as traditionally the start of a run is the time when everything is at its best for quick laps. Looking to make the car a little easier to drive for Q1 he said they will make some small tweaks to the set-up but was coy about the exact details. Commenting on how closely matched the Top 7 drivers ended practice, he said going into qualifying this evening things are ‘totally open’.
‘Can’t complain about that’ was Groskamp’s response to his run, the Dutch ace posting the fastest outright lap time of the final practice as he got ‘more confidence’ on his first visit to the Arena. The Tamiya Racing Factory driver said he hasn’t been this close to Volker for quite a few races adding overall the weekend was starting off pretty good for the Tamiya team. Changing to a lighter rear diff oil, this gave him better rear grip making the car easier to drive but without loosing any speed. Running in the second highest practice group, he said his only concern is the wind with one gust leading to all the drivers in that heat having a slower lap, Groskamp’s own times dropping by a full second.
Changing the shock position on his ORCA powered T4, Hagberg said he ‘lost a lot of steering’ as a result and for Q1 he will revert back to his previous set-up. Predicting it will be very close at the top of the time sheets, the Swede is ‘hop(ing) for the best’ in the opening qualifier, which is set to see the top heat on track just after 19.30, this statement making reference to the fact his car is best when track conditions are hot.
Fourth fastest Marc Rheinard, who is battling for second in the overall championship with Hagberg, said his Tamiya was ‘consistent but not crazy fast’. Expecting the track to be both quicker and totally different for Q1, due to the cooler evening conditions, the 3-time World Champion said they will make some small tweaks for the expected condition changes.
Managing only half a run after pulling a corner off his Yokomo, Atsushi Hara ended practice 5th fastest despite improving his time. Changing his shock oil for the run the Japanese star said his BD7 ‘feels almost as I want it to’ but at the expense of bringing on a litte understeer. After rebuilding the car, which he said luckily didn’t suffer any chassis damage, he would revert back to the oil he ran in the first timed practice and instead change the rebound. Also changing his speedo profile, this made the car ‘more comfortable’ to drive.
Former team-mate Andy Moore completed the Top 6. The factory HB driver said changes to his heavily prototyped TCXX made it a little better in spots but unless he hit the perfect line ever lap it didn’t have any consistancy. Going even slightly offline he said the car struggled with understeer so for Q1 they had little choice but to make some changes.
The only other driver along with Hagberg who failed to improve, Yannic Prumper ended practice 7th fastest. The Yokomo driver had one of his tyres come partly unglued but said overall he was very happy with his BD7. Planning on not making any changes to the car for Q1, he said he was ‘confident for qualifying’.
Having suffered a gluing issue with his tyres in the first timed practice after heavy contact with the curbing, managing only 2-laps, Viktor Wilck posted the 8th quickest time. Adding extra glue to his tyres for the second run, the Swede said he might have overdone it on the sidewall but overall the car felt ‘OK’. With the times very close, the former race winner said he was ‘not so worried’ for qualifying adding if he gets a good set of race tyres everything should be fine for Q1. Behind Wilck, Xray’s Marco Kaufmann and Tamiya Akio Sobue completed the Top 10 with Awesomatix’ Freddy Sudhoff, who is playing catch up having missed yesterday’s open practice, 11th followed by American factory HB driver JJ Wang.
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Hagberg sets practice pace at Hudy Arena
Alexander Hagberg set the pace in the opening timed practice for the season finale of the Yokomo Euro Tourig Series at Hudy Racing Arena in Slovakia. On a track the Team Xray driver knows better than most, the Swede set the fastest 3-consective laps to top the times from the Yokomos of Yannic Prumper and Atsushi Hara. In contention for taking the runner-up position in the championship behind already crowned champion Ronald Volker, Hagberg was exactly half a second ahead of his only rival in the points fight with Marc Rheinard posting the fifth fastest time.
Chasing his second win of the season this weekend, Hagberg said due to hot conditions at the time of the practice the track was slow and over the 4-minutes his Xray T4 didn’t feel so fast but added this seemed to effect his rivals more. Describing his car as ‘pretty good’ when the track is hot he said when its cooler the other teams seem to be a little quicker adding luckily most of the qualifiers will be run when the track is hottest. For the second & final controlled practice he plans to use the time to try a slightly harder shock set-up.
‘Now better’ was how Prumper summed up his run. Having had a disastorious outing at Round 5 in Luxembourg, where he failed to make the A-Main and dropped out of contention for making it a Yokomo 1-2 in the championship, a switch from a 5K to 3K rear diff on his BD7 gave him a much more stable car. Running in free practice the rear shocks spaced further back on the car, having seen Xray try this with good effect, he also reverted back to the standard mounting. His mechanic Tony Rheinard said they plan to play around with the idea more but just ran out of time to test it fully here and for the final practice session they will leave the car the same so as his driver can get more used to the set-up in preparation for this evening’s opening qualifier.
Having requested a car built by Yokomo’s famed race engineer Yukijiro Umino, who has master minded Volker’s four in a row ETS titles, Hara said his BD7 was ‘not too bad’ and it now just needed some small tweaks. Starting out with Umino’s ‘more stable set-up’ he said in yesterday’s free practice they moved towards his ‘more aggressive set-up’ but maybe it was now maybe a little too aggressive. Feeling his shocks are a little too soft for the final practice he will make a very small change in oil weight adding that a spring change would be too much. After some ‘really bad results’ since joining the Yokomo touring car team the former World Champion said he was encouraged by his time adding he hopes now he can race for a good position.
Setting the fourth fastest time was HB’s Andy Moore. One of 5 World Champions racing in Trencin this weekend, the British ace said his car, which they have been trying many World Championship prototype parts on in free practice, felt not too bad. In free practice he said the set-up was ‘hit and miss’ depending on what they were trying but now they have a good based car to work from with the plan for the rest of the event now just small tweaks.
Rheinard said his Tamiya was not as good as it had been in free practice and he has no idea why other than maybe the hotter conditions. Describing his Much More powered TRF418, which like a lot of team cars this weekend features development parts being tested ahead of the Worlds, as feeling good in free practice he said it was still OK and consistent, while in the timed practice was ‘only just not as fast’. As he has no explanation for the loss of pace the German said he is not sure whether to change the set-up or not and instead wait to see if the track conditions change further.
‘Free practice was better’ was how Volker summed up his first timed run as he set only the 6th fastest time. The German said he had less overall traction than before and they needed to check why but added the extra heat and a heavy wind, which they didn’t experience yesterday, probably had a bit to do with it. Winner here last year, he said while he really likes the track it’s already actually quite challenging without the addition of the wind, the strength of which could be seen when it blew off a section of crowd control barriers being used to hang sponsors banners.
Echoing the same views of his Xray as Hagberg, 20-year-old Marco Kaufmann set the 7th fastest time. The German said while in cooler conditions he had to content with some understeer, on hot track his T4 was great. Planning to leave his set-up the same for the final practice, he will make a power adjustment by changing the rotor in his 4.5 motor. In the track’s infield section he said he had too much power which led to the car being a little difficult to drive.
Making his debut at the track, reigning World Champion Jilles Groskamp would end up 8th fastest. The Tamiya driver said practice has been really ‘up & down’. 3/10th faster than his rivals in the morning’s free practice he said now he was 8/10th off the fastest and he had no explanation why. Saying that the wind was for sure adding to his Orion powered TRF418 being loose he said the small set-up changes he made should not have resulted in such a huge difference in his pace. For the final practice he said he will switch to a set-up for loose conditions, the biggest change involved being changing to a lighter rear diff.
Returning to the ETS having missed Round 5, Team Associated’s Juho Levanen was 9th fastest. The Finn was pleased with the run saying he ‘kept it together and didn’t crash’. Describing his Reedy powered TC6.2 as ‘pretty good’, the former race winner said most of the improvement needs to come from the driver as he was a ‘bit inconsistent’.
Reigning nitro touring car World Champion Meen Vejrak, another first time visitor to the Hudy Racing Arena, completed the Top 10. The Thai driver said having struggled with his Yokomo being ‘very loose’ in free practice, a softer rear diff really helped. Describing the track as looking easy to drive he said it’s not, with the left hand kink in the main straight being its biggest challenge. With Yokomo team manager Robert Itoh as his mechanic this weekend, he said for the final timed practice they will make some small tweaks to try and improve the cars forward traction.
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Track Focus – Hudy Racing Arena
Name – Hudy Racing Arena
Country – Slovakia
Location – Trencin (120 km North East of Bratislava)
Host – Hudy/Xray
Surface – Asphalt
Direction – Anti-clockwise
No. of ETS Races hosted – 1 (2013)
Previous Winners – Ronald Volker (Mod)/Viljami Kutvonen (Pro)
Having had the honour last year of being the first international race to be held at the Hudy Racing Arena in Slovakia, the Yokomo Euro Touring Series is back for a second visit to the world’s greatest RC facility. Hosting its second international race earlier this year when the Euro Offroad Series travelled to Trencin, the Arena continues to leave a lasting ‘wow’ impression on visitors. Built in 2006 on the grounds of a former soccer stadium, the massive 25,000 square metre facility also includes the factory of both Xray, the only true r/c car manufacturer in Europe, and Hudy but it is the Arena which dominates the grounds. In typical Hudy fashion everything at the Arena is about attention to detail with even the food being served at the tracks upstairs restaurant being of the highest quality.
Housing three tracks, two asphalt and one carpet, the ETS is running on the 320 metre outdoor asphalt track. Featuring a 75 metre long straight away the 4.5 metre wide track covers a depth of 28 metre with the Ride Modified class running 18-lap seconds. Making his first visit to the Arena this weekend, reigning World Champion Jilles Groskamp summed up the common reaction of all visitors by saying the place is ‘unbelievable’. A former Xray team driver, when the now Tamiya Racing Factory driver was here before the Arena had not yet been build but said knowing Juraj Hudy he is not surprised by the high standard of finish and detail to everything from the track to the drivers stand. Commenting on the track, the Dutch ace said the ‘layout is really nice’ adding the Hudy’s have done an impressive job of incorporating so many different corner types in to the layout. With the surface as ‘smooth as snooker table’ and ‘curbs perfect’ he said the long straight with its left hand kink is quite challenging as there is just one line through there.
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‘From Race Control’ – Day 1, Practice/Qualifying
Although the majority of racers availed of a full day of free practice yesterday, today is officially the first day of action at the Yokomo Euro Touring Series at the amazing Hudy Racing Arena in Slovakia. A lovely morning here in Trencin, on the schedule for the 250 racers are two rounds of free practice that will be followed by two more timed runs from which each driver’s fastest three consecutive laps will determine the seeding for the qualifying. The day will conclude with the first of the event’s 4 rounds of qualifying.
World class conclusion to ETS #7
The conclusion of Season #7 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series this weekend (4-6th July) will have a truly World class affair as the sixth & final round of the championship travels to the amazing Hudy Arena in Slovakia where the 260 strong entry will include no less than 6 World Champions. Joining championship regulars Marc Rheinard and Andy Moore, current World Champions Jilles Groskamp and Meen Vejrak along with all round legends of the sport Atsushi Hara and Lamberto Collari will all race at the track for the first time, this being only the ETS’ second to the race facility that is located next to the Xray factory.
With Ronald Volker having already wrapped up his fourth consecutive Ride Modified title last month in Luxembourg at Round 5, in the premiere class the big championship focus is on who will finish runner to the Yokomo ace. That battle is set to between Rheinard, the Tamiya driver currently second in the standings, and Team Xray’s Alexander Hagberg. Unlike Rheinard, Hagberg has been a race winner this season and the Swede would love nothing better than to make that two at his team’s home track. Rheinard has never went a full season of ETS without a win and with Tamiya really upping their support of the 3-time World Champion in this world championship year he will be more determined than ever to get the job done this weekend.
Having made a popular return to the ETS at Luxembourg after over a season’s absence and claiming a podium finish, Groskamp will be relishing the opportunity to build on that result. The Tamiya Racing Factory driver remains the championship’s 3rd most winning driver behind Volker & Rheinard and would like to add to his tally of wins on his first visit to what is widely recognised as the world’s greatest RC facility.
While this will be Hara’s first time to race at the Hudy Racing Arena, it is not his first visit. The former Electric Touring Car & 1:8 Buggy World Champion, travelled last year to the event with the championship’s official tyre supplier Ride in a development role. Only arriving on the Saturday he was unable to compete himself but to the delight of all competitors they did get to see him drive albeit only a few laps in the reverse direction of the track. A late addition to the A-Main ‘Dash for Cash’ event, he borrowed Xray designer Martin Hudy’s car for the run. This year Hara’s track time will be of much more importance as he forms part of Yokomo’s factory line-up.
Reigning 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Champion Vejrak and 9-time 1:8 Onroad World Champion Collari both make only their second ever ETS appearance. Vejrak made his championship debut last season when he travelled to Gran Canaria while Collari had his first real go at electric touring car racing in 2012 when the championship travelled to the Italian’s home country. Having just missed out on making the A-Main, ending up BQ, Vejrak will be targeting an A-Main performance for Team Yokomo, while for nitro specialist Collari the event is more about enjoying the atmosphere for which the ETS has become World famous.
While the Ride Modified and Formula titles have already been decided, in the championships biggest class, the Xray Pro-Stock class, things still have to be decided. Thanks to his win and TQ at Round 5 defending champion Marek Cerny put himself back in contention to successfully defend his title. The factory Xray driver has just one title rival and that is his team-mate Jan Ratheisky with both drivers tied on 619 points going into the season finale. Having successfully defended his Formula title this season, Ratheisky has 3 wins compared to Cerny’s two meaning the Czech driver needs to pull off the perfect win to deny the German his first Pro-Stock title, something which would be a first for the ETS – a champion of two classes in one season.
Video – Mod, Pro Stock & F1 A-main Leg 3
