Euro Touring Series

October 15, 2010

New in the pits

The first round of the new Yokomo Euro Touring Series has seen a number of companies come out with updated and completely new products. Schumacher have a first production version of their new Mi4CX here, driven by Belgian team driver Manuel Henriet, which is an update to their British Championship winning chassis. The main changes are the new front and rear drive axle mounting blocks which have been put on a diet, while attached to those blocks are new composite lower wishbone mounting brackets which replace the current aluminium versions. Due to the reduced materials used in the areas, an updated chassis sporting additional mounting points for the blocks help increase stiffness. Up front the car also has a new spool and beefier front drive shafts.

New in the pits

Xray are present in a big way, debuting their new T3’11 that was only announced recently. Driven by a large number of the Xray drivers here, it is performing well, with Eric Dankel heading up the Pro Stock field following practice. In modified the team is taking a bit longer to get up to speed with Adrian Bernsten the fastest of the T3’11 drivers, sitting in 10th overall, heading into qualifying.

New in the pits

MR33, the brand of 3 time World Champion Marc Rheinard have released a number of new items, the most interesting of which is this body mounting hole positioning system. Solving the problem of marking your body post positions when trying to cut out a pre painted body, the set includes 4 posts that sit snuggly on the top of your body posts, set into which are magnets. You sit the body on the car, place the 4 supplied magnets onto the body and they find the magnets on the body posts. They are slack enough to allow you to position your shell and once in position you mark the hole position through the hole in the magnet. Simple and a big time saver. MR33 have also released a complete range of high quality shock oils as well as bottles of CA.

New in the pits

Released only recently, Hudy’s new lightweight limited edition tools are making their international race debut and as a primary sponsor, Hudy have given each of the Pro Stock and Hobby class drivers a 1.5mm wrench with ETS engraved on the handle. Regular racers of the series should end up with a complete set of tools by the end of the season with the Slovakian company giving away a different limited edition tool for each round.

View the image gallery for more images of these products.

October 15, 2010

Practice ends with Volker on top

Ronald Volker continues to set the pace in Germany at the opening round of the 2010/11 ‘Yokomo Euro Touring Series’. The Yokomo/LRP team driver improved his 3-consecutive lap time slightly to once again top Marc Rheinard on the time sheets. The German is clearly the man to beat here this weekend but while is BD5 is working better than then opposition he said like the rest of the field he is struggling with the car getting loose on the high speed sweeper at the end of the main straight. Despite this Volker said he will not make changes to his car for the first qualifier, which has now been rescheduled to run tomorrow morning, as the car is very good around the rest of the track.

Making a bigger improvement than Volker in terms of time, Rheinard described his Tamiya as ‘pretty bad’. The reigning champion said the car is very loose and stringing three decent laps together was difficult and he has a lot to do to have a good car for qualifying. His team-mate Viktor Wilck also improved his time to set the fourth fastest time but is also struggling with a very inconsistent car.

Practice ends with Volker on top

In between the Tamiya pairing with the third fastest time was Team Associated’s Juho Levanen. Extremely happy with how his TC6 is working he said it feels really fast and his focus now is to get consistency over 5-minutes from himself as a driver. Ranked 5th at the end of practice Hot Bodies’ Andy Moore said his pace was was ‘alright’ feeling he needs to work on his tyre prep as the car starts bad, feels good in the middle and then gets loose again in the last part of the run. Completing the Top 6 was European Finalist Loic Jasmin just ahead of Adrian Berntsen who once again was the fastest Xray.

In the Xray Pro-Stock class back to back German National Indoor Champion Eric Dankel improved his time to stay on top ahead with his Xray T3 ’11 ahead of the Hot Bodies of Alexander Stocker. Setting the third fastest time was young German Tamiya driver René Klöckner who moved ahead Team Yokomo’s Martin Hofer who failed to better his P3 time. The huge Pro Stock field along with those running in the Speed Passion Hobby class have their opening round of qualifying this evening.

Xenon Modified (Top 10 after P4)
1. Ronald Volker – Yokomo – 10.044
2. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 10.091
3. Juho Levanen – Associated – 10.154
4. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 10.167
5. Loic Jasmin – Tamiya – 10.168
6. Andy Moore – Hot Bodies – 10.174
7. Freddy Sudhoff – Hot Bodies – 10.200
8. Elliot Harper – Tamiya – 10.229
9. Yannic Pruemper – Yokomo – 10.263
10.Adrian Bernsten – Xray – 10.264

Xray Pro Stock (Top 10 after P4)
1. Eric Dankel – Xray – 10.686
2. Alexander Stocker – Hot Bodies – 10.688
3. Rene Klockner – Tamiya – 10.793
4. Meik Niemann – Hot Bodies – 10.820
5. Steffen Leinburger – Xray – 10.861
6. Martin Hofer – Yokomo – 10.868
7. Carsten Madsen – Tamiya – 10.899
8. Yukijiro Umino – Yokomo – 10.902
9. Rob Janssen – Corally – 10.904
10.Tim Wahl – Xray – 10.951

View our event image gallery here.

October 15, 2010

Volker sets practice pace

Yokomo’s Ronald Volker is the early pace setter at the opening round of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series taking his LRP powered Yokomo BD5 around the Kastellaun track in the three fastest consecutive laps by a considerable margin over defending champion Marc Rheinard. Recording a time of 10.060 compared with Rheinard’s 10.188, the European Indoor Champion has made little changes to his car in the opening three practice runs and plans to run the same set-up for the fourth and final run.

Rheinard described his Speed Passion powered TRF416, he will get the new TRF417 next month when he attends the Tamiya Fair event in Japan, as very inconsistent and said he is having to drive with great caution because if he steers to much the back end of the car steps out. In an attempt to cure the problem he plans to increase the toe in along with moving the rear shocks to a more upright position for the final practice.

Putting in an impressive performance setting the third fastest time is 17-year-old Adrian Berntsen. The current Norwegian and Indoor European Junior Champion is driving the new Xray T3 ’11 powered by LRP and has not touched the set-up from the opening practice run, waiting instead for the track to come to him and that plan is working well as he has outpaced the entire Xray factory line up of which Teemu Leino is the fastest in 10th.

Juho Levanen

Team Associated’s Juho Levanen described his new TC6 as very good as he set the fourth fastest time. The Finnish ace is another who has waited for the track to come to his car and believes that over a full five minutes his pace is even better and he is looking forward already to the opening round of qualifiers which will bring Day 1 of the event to a close. Last year’s winner Viktor Wilck is next up just ahead of team-mate Elliot Harper. The Swede’s Tamiya is easy to drive but at the cost of outright speed so a number of set-up changes are planned. Having found a large chunk of time in P3, Harper plans a number of changes to his TFR416 as he plays around with getting the car to his liking.

Lucas Urbain

Having build up a bit of following with Losi owners around the world, France’s Lucas Urbain once again continues to perform wonders with his aging JRX-S. Posting the 7th best 3-lap time in the high quality field he has had to do little in terms of set-up and the car is just getting better with each outing as the traction comes up. Having a lot of experience with the car on carpet he believes better is to come the higher the grip levels get. Just behind him by 1/1000th of a second is Andy Moore. The factory Hot Bodies driver is struggling with high speed rear stability on his Moore Speed powered TCX and is having to back off at through the sweeper at the end of the straight which is costing him time.

Eric Dankel

In the Xray Pro Stock class it is leading nitro racer Eric Dankel that heads the times with his Xray. The German said his new T3 ’11 was better than this morning’s opening two practices but plans to switch to a softer rear anti-roll bar as the car is loose for the opening part of the run. Just behind him is defending champion champion Alexander Stocker. The Hot Bodies driver also said his TCX is better than this morning but he is still ‘not satisfied’ with his set-up. Chasing his fourth consecutive Kastellaun win his TCX gets very loose when he pushes hard. Pitting next to him and next to him in the times is Martin Hofer. The German tried two different cars this morning and has opted for the car fitted with the new chassis plate which was used by Volker to win the outdoor Euros. Compared with the harder, original BD5 chassis plate, the new version gives the car better steering response. Making it four different cars at the top of the early Pro Stock time sheets it is Corally’s Rob Janssen. Despite his pace over three laps the Dutch racer is not happy with the consistency of the car and being his first big race on carpet he is unsure what changes to make.

Xenon Modified (Top 10 after P3)
1. Ronald Völker – Yokomo – 10.060
2. Marc Rheinard – Tamiya – 10.188
3. Adrian Berntsen – Xray – 10.268
4. Juho Levanen – Associated – 10.280
5. Viktor Wilck – Tamiya – 10.280
6. Elliot Harper – Tamiya – 10.305
7. Lucas Urbain – Losi – 10.311
8. Andy Moore – Hot Bodies – 10.312
9. Loic Jasmin – Tamiya – 10.360
10.Teemu Leino – XRAY – 10.360

Xray Pro-Stock (Top 10 after P3)
1. Eric Dankel – Xray – 10.710
2. Alexander Stocker – Hot Bodies – 10.752
3. Martin Hofer – Yokomo – 10.868
4. Rob Janssen – Corally – 10.908
5. René Klöckner – Tamiya – 10.944
6. Carsten Madsen – Tamiya – 10.958
7. Yukijiro Umino – Yokomo – 11.016
8. Tony Streit – Tamiya – 11.058
9. Daniel Wohlgemuth – Xray – 11.138
10.Felix Wiessmann – Tamiya – 11.162

View our event image gallery here.

October 15, 2010

Record entry gets Season 4 underway

The hall here in Kastellaun is a hive of activity with a record entry in attendance for the opening round of the 2010/11 ‘Yokomo Euro Touring Series’. Season four of what has become the largest electric touring car championship in the world has not just attracted the biggest entry in terms of numbers but also in the quality of the entry with a growing number of factory squads committed to the entire series.

Record entry gets Season 4 underway

Heading the entry here in Germany in the Xenon Modified class is defending champion Marc Rheinard. Having designed the track layout for this event, even the three time World Champion admits that this is set to be the toughest ETS encounter yet. Tamiya have been champions for the last three season and won here last year with Viktor Wilck. The Swede, who also took TQ honours 12 months ago, is aiming to repeat his only ETS win of the 2009/10 season but also agreed with his team-mate that the competition is greater this time round. Within their own squad the they will have to watch out for their young team-mate Elliot Harper who is making his debut at the Kastellaun event.

Ronald Volker

One of the biggest challenges to Tamiya’s domination comes from Yokomo. Having become the title sponsor of the series the Japanese company have been enjoying a run of success with Ronald Volker. Last year was only the German’s second carpet event with the BD5 and that was reflected in qualifying as he lined up 7th before going on to take a very impressive second splitting the Tamiya’s of Wilck and Rheinard. Now fully up to speed with the car on carpet having won both the DHI Cup and the EFRA Indoor Euros the European Champion is really looking forward to his weekend. Yokomo will also be strong contenders in Pro-Stock with Martin Hofer, runner-up here last year, and Yukijiro Umino who is here not just as Volker’s mechanic but also as a racer.

Teemu Leino

Another factory outfit signing up to a full ETS program is Xray. The Slovak company, who are a primary sponsor of the series and will have the Pro-Stock class named after them, are here with their new T3’11 chassis which will debut in the hands of Teemu Leino, Alexander Hagberg and Martin Hudy. Leino, who is just back from 1:8 Buggy testing in Thailand, said his first few runs are going to be used to re-adjust his driving back to onroad. Hagberg on the other hand is ready to get straight down to business, the fast Swede hasn’t raced since the 1:10 Nitro Euros in Gotenburg back in August but with a preference for carpet racing he is looking forward to the event and having tested the new car at home is confident of a good showing.

Andy Moore

Andy Moore and Freddy Sudhoff form the factory Hot Bodies line-up. Former World Champion Moore has been doing a lot of carpet testing with the TCX back in England which has been very productive but says the carpet used here is different but thinks that shouldn’t be too much of a problem once the traction comes up. Hot Bodies are the clear favourites for the victory in the Xray Pro-Stock class with Alexander Stocker. The defending champion and only driver to ever win here in Kastellaun this is only the German’s second race with the TCX chassis and his first on carpet.

The winner of the first ever Euro Touring series race here four years ago Juho Levanen is the sole entry for Team Associated. The Finnish ace has been doing a lot of carpet testing at home as he gets used to the new TC6. Although the car he is running is still a pre-production version, he expects his first production kit next week, he said he is pretty pleased with how that testing as gone, but this weekend will give him a true indication of where they are at with the car in terms of indoor set-up.

With 2009/10 Champion Michal Orlowski having graduated to Pro Stock the third of the ETS categories, the Speed Passion Hobby Class, is wide open this year. Today’s schedule will see four rounds of practice followed by the first of five rounds of qualifying. A reseed of the heats will be made based on each drivers best three consecutive laps from the 3rd and 4th practice runs when we should start to bring you news of where the various teams are in terms of pace.

View our event image gallery here.

October 11, 2010

Hudy to sponsor 2010/2011 ETS

Hudy primary sponsor of ETS

Hudy is proud to announce that they will be one of the primary sponsor of the Euro Touring Series 2010/2011. Moreover, the organisers together with the Slovakian company have prepared a very special and unique promotion for every Hobby and Stock Class racer. At every round of the ETS series, Hudy will provide one unique tool from the new 25 Years Anniversary exclusive tool line. That means that at every race, a different Hudy tool will be given for free to every racer in the Hobby and Stock categories, so those drivers who participate at all 6 rounds will have (at the end of the season) a nice collection of the most frequently-used RC tools.

Hudy primary sponsor of ETS

The 25 Years Anniversary limited edition of the Hudy Exclusive Tool Line features super-lightweight CNC-machined Swiss 7075 T6 aluminium handles that reduce weight by 30% as well as a diamond-pattern surface for unsurpassed grip. The new generation of Hudy tips is hand-made from special world-renowned, top-secret, self-developed Hudy Spring Steel, individually precision-ground, sized and shaped for perfect fit with fasteners and the unique hardening processes make the tips ultra-durable. Each tool includes a press-fit protective black cap in the handle end; optional color-coded plastic caps (violet, red, blue) are available to customize the tools to your preferences. A laser-engraved ETS logo is the finishing touch.

Collect your free Hudy tool at these races:
1st Round – Germany – Allen Wrench 1.5mm
2nd Round – Czech Republic – Allen Wrench 2.0mm
3rd Round – Austria – Allen Wrench 2.5mm
4th Round – Poland – Allen Wrench 3.0mm
5th Round – Netherlands – Arm Reamer 3.0mm
6th Round – Germany – Socket Driver 7.0mm

Source: Hudy [hudy.net]

October 8, 2010

Xray support for 2010/2011 series

Xray support for 2010/2011 ETS series

Xray is proud to announce that the 2010/2011 Euro Touring series will be supported and sponsored by Xray. Both the ETS organisers and the Xray company have agreed to create a mutual cooperation that will see the Slovakian company become a primary sponsor of the world’s biggest r/c touring car championship. This is a great news for all Xray drivers as the Xray factory team will be available at all six rounds of the ETS to provide full support and service. Xray guarantees that their service team will also be available at every race with a complete range of all spare parts and will provide technical and set-up help to all Xray drivers. Just look for the familiar Xray tent.

Xray support for 2010/2011 series

To cap it all off, all Xray drivers at every race will receive a FREE promo package that includes Xray T-shirt, pit towel and stickers.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

October 7, 2010

Yokomo back 2010/11 Euro Touring Series

With the start of the 2010/11 Euro Touring Series just one week away the organisers of the world’s biggest r/c touring car championship are delighted to announce they have concluded a deal with Yokomo that will see the Japanese company become title sponsor.

The fourth season of the ETS, the championship will be known as the ‘Yokomo Euro Touring Series’ and backs up the company’s continued commitment to the competition r/c market in Europe in what has been an ultra successful season for their BD5 Touring Car. 2010 has been a very fruitful year for the team with factory driver Ronald Volker claiming five major titles in Europe winning the DHI Cup, both the Indoor and Outdoor EFRA European Championships, the LRP Masters along with the highly competitive German National Championships.

As part of their title sponsorship Yokomo, who competed in selected rounds of last season’s ETS, will field a full factory assault on the Euro Touring Series as they aim to become the first manufacturer to topple Tamiya’s domination of the modified class over the past three seasons.

Speaking about their new partnership with Yokomo legendary race announcer Scotty Ernst, who together with Uwe Rheinard created the ETS, said, ’We are delighted to welcome Yokomo onboard as title sponsor for what is going to be our biggest and best season yet. I have known the guys at Yokomo for many years through my work as a race announcer and it is great to have this opportunity now to work together with a company I have so much respect for. From a racing point of view it is also great that the Yokomo team will compete in all our races as together with Ronald Volker they are one of the most competitive packages in Electric Touring Car in the World and that will add to the spectacle for everyone attending ETS events this year.’

The six round 2010/11 ‘Yokomo Euro Touring Series’ kicks off next weekend, 15-17 October, when a record entry of almost 300 drivers will desend on the town of Kastellaun in Germany for the season opener. Once again the ETS will continue to use hand-out tyres from Xenon Racing and a controlled speedo & motor in the Pro Stock and Hobby classes from Speedpassion who have been a partner of the series since its creation back in 2007.

July 30, 2010

Euro Touring Series announce 2010/2011 schedule

Although its less than two weeks since the climax of the 2009/2010 Euro Touring Series, the organisers of the hugely popular electric Touring Car Championship have already announced the schedule for season number 4. Coming off the back of an ultra successful third series, that saw almost 600 drivers register points, the ETS will once again be run over six rounds and visit five different countries. The only change for 2010/2011 is the return of the superb Apeldoorn track in the Netherlands to the calendar. Created by Scotty Ernst and Uwe Rheinard, the Euro Touring Series will kick off as normal in Kastellaun, Germany on October 15-17.

UPDATE: Due to problems securing the venue for round 3 in Budapest, Hungary, we have had to relocate this round. Taking place on the same date, the new venue will be in St. Pölten, Austria.

2010/2011 Euro Touring Series Calendar (UPDATED)
Round 1 – 15-17 October 2010 – Kastellaun, Germany
Round 2 – 26-28 November 2010 – Hrotovice, Czech Republic
Round 3 – 11-13 February 2011 – St. Pölten, Austria
Round 4 – 18-20 March 2011 – Warsaw, Poland
Round 5 – 10-12 June 2011 – Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
Round 6 – 8-10 July 2011 – Andernach, Germany