Euro Touring Series

January 19, 2013

Chassis Focus – Marek Cerny

Chassis Name – Xray T4
Motor – Speed Passion (handout)
ESC – Speed Passion (handout)
Batteries – ORCA
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servos – Sanwa
Remarks – Marek Cerny is running the kit standard T4 from Xray having only recently moved the Slovakian manufacturer. Taking the top qualifier spot here in his home country, the only change he has made to his car for this event is to remove the top deck screws from above the spur gear blocks to give more rear end grip. While he says this makes the car understeer slightly, it is safe to drive and allows him to carry lots of speed through the corners.

Image Gallery

January 19, 2013

Chassis Focus – Freddy Sudhoff

Chassis Name – Awesomatix A700EX
Motor – LRP
ESC – LRP
Batteries – LRP
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servos – Sanwa
Remarks – Freddy is running the latest EX version of the A700 here in the Czech Republic. On a track that appears to suit the Russian manufacturers car the latest version sports a number of improvements over the previous version most of which the German is running. On the rear the toe track rod is now mounted to the rear bulkhead instead of a separate plate, that along with the different orientation of the ball allows for better range of adjustment. Other new items which Freddy has the prototype versions of but not the final versions as seen on the car of Kutvonen is the new wider chassis plate with the flex slots on both the front and rear. The slots can be closed with a screw which stiffens it up or left open for more flex. The final other new part is the floating servo mount, a standard now for all EP touring cars.

Image Gallery

January 19, 2013

Q3 Update – Volker fastest

In the 3rd round of qualifying for the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Hrotovice it was Ronald Volker who set the pace from Team Serpent’s Marc Fischer but only after Finnish star Viljami Kutvonen rolled his Awesomatix into retirement while on a blisteringly fast run. The 20-year-old, who set the fastest lap of the event so far with an 11.999 during his run, clipped the curb in the final 2-minutes of the run launching his A700 into the fast centre section of the track where it was collected by another car. The heavy impact flattened the bodyshell and damaged the rear wing forcing Kutvonen to pull up. Afterwards he said that his nerves led to the mistake and he was really disappointed to throw away the run as the car felt so good. He plans to take a safer approach to the final qualifier to back up his 3rd in Q2 in the hope he can secure a place in the all important A-Main.

Freddy Sudhoff set the third fastest time ahead of Awesomatix team-mate Dionys Stadler the 16-year old putting in an impressive drive that saw him just 4/10th off the Q2 pace setter. Despite a coming together with Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp on their last lap which cost both drivers time Yannic Prumper ended up 5th fastest ahead of Marc Rheinard. Overall the third qualifier saw a better performance from the Tamiya team with Viktor Wilck finally producing a Top 10 run with the 8th fastest time but the TRF pairing are still along way off posing any threat for the win this weekend.

Having experienced the high of taking his first international win last weekend Team Xray’s Adrian Berntsen is experiencing the crueler side of the sport today as his run of bad luck continues. Having stripped a spur gear in Q1 and traction rolled on his opening lap in Q2 which left him way down the order, the talented Norwegian suffered another stripped spur gear in Q3. Alexander Hagberg was to be the fastest T4 taking his example to 9th ahead of team-mate Zdenko Kunak.

In the Xray Pro Stock class top Czech driver & ETS Gran Canaria winner Marek Cerny posted his second TQ of the event taking Q3 ahead of team-mate Martin Lissau and Q2 pace setter Viljami Kutvonen. In the Speed Passion Formula class Jan Asmer secured the overall TQ honours as he topped the time sheets for a third time in front of Dai Sakaguchi and defending champion Herbert Weber. Marc Rheinard set the fourth fastest time with his Tamiya F104 V2.

Ride Modified Q3 times
1. Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 25/5:06.362
2. Marc Fischer – Serpent – 25/5:06.405
3. Freddy Sudhoff – Awesomatix – 25/5:07.657
4. Dionys Stadler – Awesomatix – 25/5:08.059
5. Yannic Prumper – Yokomo – 25/5:08.592
6. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 25/5:08.749
7. Dominik Fleischmann – Yokomo – 25/5:09.390
8. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 25/5:09.619
9. Alexander Hagberg – Xray – 25/5:09.633
10.Zdenko Kunak – Xray – 25/5:11.581

Xray Pro Stock Q3 times
1. Marek Cerny – Xray – 23/5:02.330
2. Martin Lissau – Xray – 23/5:03.942
3. Viljami Kutvonen – Awesomatix – 23/5:04.696
4. Dominic Vogl – Awesomatix – 23/5:05.516
5. Morten Iversen – Awesomatix – 23/5:06.454
6. Oliver Franke – HB – 23/5:06.596
7. Jan Asmer – Serpent – 23/5:06.862
8. Bernard Bopp – HB – 23/5:07.162
9. Tobias Vogel – Xray – 23/5:07.426
10.Manuel Wagner – Xray – 23/5:07.942

View complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

January 19, 2013

Awesomatix head Q2 in Czech Republic

Team Awesomatix put in an impressive performance in the second round of qualifying at the ETS in the Czech Republic with their drivers putting the A700 top of the time sheets in both the Ride Modified and Xray Pro stock classes. Freddy Sudhoff upped the pace in the premiere class to take the round from Q1 pace setter Ronald Volker while in the series’ largest class Viljami Kutvonen headed Marek Cerny who last night took his Xray to the fastest time in Q1.

Sudhoff said car was a lot better after he lowered the roll centres and he doesn’t plan to change anything for Q3 with his aim for the round to work on the driver. Once again the German found himself knocked out of his rhythm when he had to avoid Martin Lissau’s Xray which shut down on the main straight with a minute left on the clock. Setting the fastest lap of the round with a 12.041 lap, Sudhoff said the round was a great result for the Awesomatix team and he hoped they could continue the form for the rest of the event.

Also securing 3rd in Modified, Kutvonen said his car was suffering with a little understeer on the first two laps but that was really good. Inspecting his car after the run the 20-year-old found the rear diff was about to expire and he is confident with a fresh unit the car will be even better for Q3. Commenting on his Pro Stock A700, the Finn said his Q2 was a ‘good clean run’ and he plans on running everything as is for his next outing.

Volker said the second qualifier was pretty exciting as himself and Sudhoff battled over the TQ time admitting he was driving ‘maximum’ on the limit. Chasing his 7th ETS win this weekend, the 2 time defending champion said his BD7 was a little ‘twitchy’ this time round and this was particularly a problem at the chicane. While Sudhoff had his moment with Lissau, the Yokomo star had a moment of his own when he made contact with the Xray of Zdenko Kunak.

Running in the second highest heat grouping Marc Fischer took his Serpent to the 4th fastest time. The German said his 411 was better this time round after changing to a harder rear shock and he believes it now has the pace to match Sudhoff and Volker, that is if he can eliminate the driver errors. Like in Q1 he said he again made a number of small mistakes which ultimately add up. In terms of his set-up for Q3 Fischer said if anything he had a little too much steering so he plans to reduce the amount of additive he uses on the front tyres.

Dominic Fleischmann enjoyed another strong run setting the 5th fastest time ahead of Yokomo team-mates Yannic Prumper and Eric Dankel. Prumper said his BD7 was ‘really hard’ to drive following changes and he plans to revert back to his Q1 set-up. Dankel said his car felt really good but in the middle of the run it just wanted to traction roll. Planning to change his tyre prep he will also add more glue to the walls of the controlled Ride tyre.

Setting the 8th fastest time Magnus Vassmar was quickest Xray for the round just ahead of team-mates Marco Kaufmann and a much improved Alexander Hagberg. Adrian Berntsen’s luck didn’t improve in Q2 as he traction rolled right at the start of his run loosing him 4 seconds. The Norwegian said after that he just made to many driver errors as he tried to make up the time but added his T4 was not good and he is not sure why. For the third heat he will try a different tyre prep.

Elswhere Marc Rheinard and Christopher Krapp both failed to finish. Having gone for a heavier rear diff oil in his Tamiya, Rheinard said the change made his TRF417 feel even worse on-power. The diff eventually cried enough just after the 3:20 mark forcing the German to stop. Describing his Kyosho TF6 as ‘super dialed’ following some fine tuning after Q1, Krapp said he maybe ‘over pushed’ resulting in a crash that caused the steering servo mount to tweak putting him out of the race after just 1-minute of driving.

In the Xray Pro Stock class behind Kutvonen and Cerny, who were separated by just .183 of a second, it was defending champion Zdenko Kunak who set the third fastest time. Runner up at the season opener behind Oliver Franke, Dominic Vogl took his Awesomatix to the fourth fastest time ahead of the German’s HB while former race winner Steffen Leinburger completed the Top 6.

In the Speed Passion Formula class, Mülheim-Kärlich winner Jan Asmer made it two TQ runs from 2 rounds setting the pace in convincing fashion. In Q1 he was comfortably faster than Dai Sakaguchi while in Q2 he had a similar margin over the similar Tamiya of class debutant Marc Rheinard.

Ride Modified Q2 times
1. Freddy Sudhoff – Awesomatix – 25/5:07.158
2. Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 25/5:07.515
3. Viljami Kutvonen – Awesomatix – 25/5:08.142
4. Marc Fischer – Serpent – 25/5:08.447
5. Dominik Fleischmann – Yokomo – 25/5:10.461
6. Yannic Prumper – Yokomo – 25/5:10.543
7. Eric Dankel – Yokomo – 24/5:00.470
8. Magnus Vassmar – Xray – 24/5:00.722
9. Marco Kaufmann – Xray – 24/5:00.902
10.Alexander Hagberg – Xray – 24/5:01.357

Xray Pro Stock Q2 times
1. Viljami Kutvonen – Awesomatix – 23/5:04.267
2. Marek Cerny – Xray – 23/5:04.450
3. Zdenko Kunak – Xray – 23/5:05.811
4. Dominic Vogl – Awesomatix – 23/5:05.882
5. Oliver Franke – HB – 23/5:06.497
6. Steffen Leinburger – HB – 23/5:07.545
7. Martin Lissau – Xray – 23/5:07.656
8. Morten Iversen – Awesomatix – 23/5:08.030
9. Jan Asmer – Serpent – 23/5:08.130
10.Valentin Hettrich – Xray – 23/5:08.611

View complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

January 19, 2013

Volker takes first Czech qualifier

The opening qualifier at the second round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series saw a familiar name at the top of the time sheets in the Czech Republic with Ronald Volker setting the pace. The defending champion managed 25 laps in a time of 5:07.313 with Awesomatix Freddy Sudhoff the German’s closest rival 1.8 seconds adrift. Volker’s Yokomo team-mate Yannic Prumper completed the Top 3 a further 6/10ths off the TQ pace.

Volker said having had trouble with traction roll in yesterday’s practice his engineer Yukijiro Umino made a good call on set-up for the first qualifier with his BD7 very safe to drive. With danger man Adrian Berntsen going out on the opening lap due to a stripped spur gear on his Xray, Volker said his focus was just on putting in a clean consistent run and that approached paid off. The dominator of the season opener in Germany he added that despite setting the equal fastest lap of the round with Sudhoff and posting a TQ run, for the next qualifier they are going to have to make some changes and try and find a little extra overall speed.

The pace setter over yesterday’s four practice runs, ‘Fast Freddy’ described his run as ‘overall clean & safe’ with the car very easy to drive. The German had a moment when a marshal just missed stepping on his A700 EX as he went to retrieve another car which he said put him out of his rhythm for a few laps but overall he was happy to start qualifying a with a second. Running LRP Carpet-2 tyre additive he said he will stick for this for Q2 and the only change he will make is to the roll centres.

At the track at 06:00 this morning to avail of open practice, Prumper said they made big improvements to his BD7 over the three battery packs they got to run. Running a different shock insert this gave it a feel that was better suited to the ETS Austria winner’s aggressive driving style. Mechanic Toni Rheinard said for Q2 they will change to a harder rear shock and a softer sway bar which he said should reduce the amount the car was diving in the first heat.

Setting the 4th fastest time Dominic Fleischmann said his Yokomo was ‘super easy’ to drive. The German said he is ‘maybe lacking outright pace’ but feels just a very small change will give him that very small amount of extra steering he is looking for. Fleischmann plans to try a different tyre prep but said he may also look at adjusting his shock oil.

Another driver to hit the track early and avail of the free practice was Kyosho’s Christopher Krapp. With the car’s design Chikuba traveling over from Japan to the event to help with improving the TF6 on carpet, Krapp said they had a very productive morning. Running the rear diff higher in the car the German said his made for a big improvement to the rear traction and he said the plan for the rest of the day is to focus on just fine tuning the set-up as he is very happy with the development parts Kyosho brought over for the car. Setting the 5th fastest time he said while the car felt good he was not happy with his driving in Q1 and he will be looking to improve on that a lot in Q2.

Tamiya Racing Factory’s Marc Rheinard completed the Top 6 but he is ‘just not fast enough’ and the result was only possible because it was a very clean run. The 3-time World Champion said he will try a heavier oil in the rear diff for Q2. Team-mate Viktor Wilck could only manage the 13th fastest time.

Team Serpent’s Marc Fischer set the 7th fastest time but felt he had a similar pace to that of Prumper. Making a couple of mistakes over the 5-minutes he said he lost a total of around 2-seconds as a result. Happy with how his 411 ERYX, which he took to a podium finish at last weekend’s DHI Cup, is working he will run a harder rear shock in Q2 as he expects conditions in the hall to warm up thus increasing the risk of traction roll.

Elsewhere Xray will be hoping for a better second qualifier. With Berntsen failing to get a run, team leader & ETS race winner Alexander Hagberg struggled with understeer and traction roll and was only able for the 21st fastest time. The Swede said he needs to find a set-up that gives him a car that his better suited to his driving style. Marco Kaufmann was the best placed Xray, the German setting the 8th fastest time just ahead of T4 designer Martin Hudy.

Having endured a 32 hour trip to get to the event Keven Hebert’s luck didn’t improve as the Team Associated failed to make the start of his first qualifier after losing the screw from the steering of his TC6. Team-mate Juho Levanen struggled with a lack of grip in Q1 only managing 30th but the Finn is confident that Q2 will be a lot better.

Ride Modified Q1 times
1. Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 25/5:07.313
2. Freddy Sudhoff – Awesomatix – 25/5:09.168
3. Yannic Prumper – Yokomo – 25/5:09.760
4. Dominik Fleischmann – Yokomo – 25/5:10.730
5. Christopher Krapp – Kyosho – 25/5:5:10.950
6. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 25/5:11.000
7. Marc Fischer – Serpent – 25/5:12.009
8. Marco Kaufmann – Xray – 24/5:00.255
9. Martin Hudy – Xray – 24/5:01.500
10.Lucas Urbain – Yokomo – 24/5:01.536

View complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

January 18, 2013

Video – Modified Practice Rd4

January 18, 2013

Travel chaos no match for ETS drivers

Normally we start our coverage from an ETS event with an update on early practice but as anyone who has been on Facebook over the past 24 hours will know the big news from the second round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series is the navigational challenges presented to many of the record entry as they tried yesterday to get to Hrotovice. While the Dakar Rally which is currently underway in South America is designed to present drivers with the greatest motorsport navigation test in the World the closure yesterday of Vienna Airport due to snow presented ETS drivers with a similar challenge. Although the race is taking place in the Czech Republic, Vienna in Austria is the closest international airport and the timing of its closing couldn’t have been worse as Thursday is travel day for the vast majority of the 300+ drivers.

While there are a lot of very tired looking faces in the pits we are glad to report that everyone has arrived safely. Opting to withdraw from the event so as he can study for a University Exam on Monday, Team Durango’s Elliot Harper will be relieved he made that call as the British ace was scheduled to fly into Brataslava airport which also closed down due to yesterday’s heavy snow. The last driver to complete the journey to Hrotovice was factory Serpent driver Marc Fischer. Setting out from his home yesterday at 9am the German was originally set to fly from Cologne to Vienna and had passed security before his flight was cancelled. With no other options to get to the event from that airport he had to get his bag back from security and drive to Dusseldorf where he could get a flight to Prague via Zurich. If dealing with cancelled flights was not enough, on the drive between airports Fischer found himself pulled by the police. Stopped at traffic lights he missed the green light as he searched the glovebox for his phone charge but the police suspected he was looking for something else and pulled him so as they could search his car which took 40-minutes. Making it on time to catch his flight to Zurich his dramas weren’t yet over as he was to miss his connection to Prague. Forced to overnight in Zurich he got the morning flight and then rented a car to complete the journey but his late arrival meant he missed the first practice, the start of which was delayed by an hour due to the travel problems of all the driver, and not having enough time to set-up his equipment for the second practice he had to borrow Jan Gehrig’s car for the run. In total the journey took 26 hours but Team Associated’s Keven Hebert trumped everyone including yours truely with his 32 hour adventure.

Leaving from Quebec airport bound for Newark the flight was delayed causing him to miss his connection to Munich. Rescheduling to fly to London and on to Vienna when he landed in London he was notified that his baggage had gone missing. Luckily the Canadian had both his TC6 cars in his hand luggage albeit without a transmitter but his problems weren’t finished. Having boarded the Vienna bound plane it was cancelled and everyone had to disembark again. Another set of tickets were issued which would get Hebert to Linz via Dusseldorf. Eventually making it to Hrotovice with only his cars, Dai Sakaguchi would come to Hebert’s rescue in terms of a radio with the pair set to share the German’s Futaba while a host of other drivers have provided everything else he needs to go racing for which he said he was very grateful.

ETS race winner and factory Kyosho driver Christopher Krapp made a good call after his flight from Hamburg to Vienna was cancelled. Accompanied this weekend by Kyosho designer Chikuba, who has come over from Japan with development parts that they hope will improve the TF6 on carpet, he decided to rent a car and drive to Hrotovice pulling up at the hall at 6am this morning. Having had the option to wait a day and arrive late he said with them needing all the track time they could get they opted to drive and this was a wise call as today’s flights from Hamburg were also cancelled after industrial action by staff at the airport. Only time for a shower on arrival Krapp said he is looking forward to getting to bed tonight.

Luckily for Hot Bodies Andy Moore and Stefan Chodzynski popular ETS character Bernd ‘Jorge’ Wellerdiek had organised a bus for 22 German drivers to travel to the event. Having had their original flight to cancelled from Birmingham the pair managed to reschedule to Vienna through Frankfurt but on arrival in Frankfurt Vienna airport had closed and they were offered train tickets to Vienna but the trains were also experiencing delays. Through the power of social media the ‘ETS Fun Bus’ as is has officially been named was passing by Frankfurt and so Moore & Chodzynski got a taxi to a motorway Burger King where the 22 Germans took on the extra passengers at 19:15 who duely arrived in Hrotovice at 05:15 this morning. While there are many more tales about the journey to what is set to be the biggest ETS race ever the one thing that did come out of all this was the great friendship there is among racers as they all helped each other to get to the race.

In terms of the racing Michael Bok and his father have once again put together a superb track for the return of the ETS to the very popular facility which is home to Bok’s very successful Mibo Cup Series. When everything got up and running, practice was an Awesomatix affair with Freddy Sudhoff fastest in the Ride Modified class and Viljami Kutvonen, who got to within 15 minutes of landing at Vienna airport before being diverted to Budapest, setting the pace in the Xray Pro Stock class.

Sudhoff, who is running the EX version of the A700 and described the black carpet track layout as ‘really nice’, said he didn’t make any changes to the set-up focusing instead on tyre additive. Running the fastest 3-consecutive laps in the fourth & final practice, the Awesomatix team leader said while he was able to run a few fast laps over the run it was not a very consistent drive and for the opening round of qualifying, which has been moved to tomorrow morning, he will try yet another additive.

Behind the German, having been fastest at the end of three rounds of practice Team Xray’s Adrian Berntsen said he was very happy with his start to the event. The Norwegian, who is highly motivated after his DHI Cup win last weekend, said his T4 is ‘super good’ to drive over 5 minutes and he is looking forward to getting on with qualifying. Making his return to the ETS, Xray team-mate & defending Pro Stock Champion Zdenko Kunak set the fourth fastest time in the Modified class with team leader Alexander Hagberg down in ninth. Hagberg together with Martin Hudy and Francesco Martini spent a day at the Hudy Racing Arena prior to coming to Hrotovice to work on a high traction set-up after what their experience at the season opener but Martin said so far the track here is lacking traction.

Traction is also proving a problem for the TRF squad with Marc Rheinard, who is debuting Much More’s new speedo this weekend, only able to post the 15th fastest time with Viktor Wilck further down the order in 24th position. Rheinard who is making his ETS Formula class debut, setting the fastest time of practice, said his Touring Car has ‘zero traction’ and he is lost as to why. Running a very different set-up and many different parts to his Swedish team-mate he said both cars are acting the same which is worrying.

Defending Champion & winner on the ETS’ last visit to the Czech Republic race, Ronald Volker completed the Top 3. The Team Yokomo ace who dominated the season opener said his BD7 was ‘pretty good’ and once he finds a bit more steering he is confident he can find the 2/100ths he was missing in today practice.

View our event image gallery here.

January 18, 2013

Chassis Focus – Christopher Krapp

Chassis Name – Kyosho TF6
Motor – Team Orion
ESC – Team Orion
Batteries – Team Orion
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servos – Sanwa
Remarks – Christopher Krapp is running an updated version of the TF6 chassis as they work to improve the car on carpet. Here in the Czech Republic with the car’s designer Yoshiyuki Chikuba the car features a number of new parts including new centrally mounted servo mount, harder front wishbones and c-hubs as well as an all new top deck with the option to mount posts to increase the stiffness of the car. Other changes include the return to standard drive pins in the driveshafts in place of their unique ball drive system to make it easier for the standard driver to maintain. Finally there is a new rear anti-roll bar which is wider and longer and mounted further to the outside of the wishbone. The new parts will most likely be part of an update for the current car but no firm plans regarding a release are in place yet.

Image Gallery