Euro Touring Series

May 2, 2015

Chassis Focus – Michal Orlowski

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Chassis – Schumacher Mi5 EVO
Motor – Speed Passion
ESC – LRP
Batteries – LRP 5600 LCG
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Bodyshell – PF LTC-R
Remarks – 13-year-old Schumacher driver Michal Orlowski is enjoying a strong showing at Round 4 of ETS using some key option parts on his Mi5 EVO. In addition to the 2015 front and rear shock towers, he is using Schumacher’s twin point steering system, front double joint drive shafts and bearings to minimise the play in the caster block. He is also using the new Low Center Gravity LRP LiPos.

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May 2, 2015

Volker TQs another close qualifier in Austria

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Ronald Volker posted a second TQ run at Round 4 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Austria, the German coming out on top of a very closely contested Q3 that saw the Top 3 covered by less than half a second. Posting a new overall fastest TQ time Volker would outpace Bruno Coelho by 0.258 of a second up who in turn was 0.216 fastest than his Xray team-mate Alexander Hagberg. A number of mistakes while on a TQ pace would leave Q2 pace setter Akio Sobue 7th fastest.

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‘Another super close qualifier’ was Volker’s description of the the penultimate round of qualifying at the temporary Mattsee track. After the frustration of Q2, when he got blocked on the last lap costing him a TQ run, the Yokomo driver said he was ‘very happy’ to lock up at worst a Top 2 start position with Sobue the only one who can deny him from adding to his tally as the ETS’ most successful Top Qualifier. Tweaking the set-up on his LRP powered BD7 the reigning champion said this ‘improved the overall a bit’ but they still need to do more to find that ‘extra bit of steering’. Happier with how the car started out he said it still developed understeer towards the end of the 5-minutes and that’s something he hopes they can work on for the final run so he can in particular see off Sobue’s Tamiya.

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For Coelho Q3 was almost a repeat of Q2 when he rolled his T4. Luckily this time round his car came back down on fours as he clipped the same curbing. Recovering from his moment to finish under 3/10ths behind Volker he said it shows the speed is there and he just needs to run a clean round. Switching to a heavier rear diff for the round, the 21-year-old said this ‘was not a good choice’ and he will go back for the last one.

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Setting the fastest lap of Q3, Hagberg said a downstop adjustment to his ORCA powered T4 had made the ‘car much better than the last one (Q2)’. The Swede was happy to have been ‘closer to the TQ’ than before. Laying down the TQ pace for a number of laps, the Nitro Touring Car World Champion said he had two small mistakes, a back marker helping him out to make one of them, and if it wasn’t for this his car had the pace to TQ. Much happier with the car he will leave it unchanged for the final qualifier.

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Fourth fastest Yannic Prumper said there’s obviously something wrong with the set of tyres he has been running. Changing from 10k to 5k oil in his DB7’s diff, a change that normally makes a big difference, the 3-time ETS race winner said he couldn’t feel any difference. With the 21-year-old’s second set of allocated tyres brand new and used tyres proving the best option for the low traction conditions he said he had no choice than to risk the new tyres adding ‘there is no point in continuing with it as it is now’.

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Marc Fischer said he was lucky to post the 6th fastest time as he suffered a centre pulley bearing failure. Having tried a front roll centre change, the Serpent driver said it wasn’t a significant improve and they need to try something more so for the final qualifier they’ll go with a completely different set-up. Making big changes to the shock set-up, the toe in and roll centres he said he had ‘nothing to lose’ and hopefully it would help his team-mate Viktor Wilck make the A-Main. Ninth fastest, the Swede said he had no steering. Starting last on such a short track he also needed to let both Volker and Sobue to pass him but ultimately he was ‘going too slow anyway’. Currently sitting in the BQ position in the qualifying ranking he will copy the set-up Fischer is going to run in Q4.

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Completing the Top 6, Michal Orlowski said it was a ‘pretty good run with no mistakes’. sporting a new blue based colour scheme this weekend, moving away from the red the 13-year-old has been running for the past 6-years, he is very happy with his Schumacher having run it the same throughout qualifying. Like everyone he said more steering would be nice and for the last qualifier he plans to go up in the rear diff in the hope it will give him a little more on-power steering exiting the corners.

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Sobue said his tyres reached their limit in the third qualifier and with his TRF419 loose he ended up making a few mistakes including getting away with launching the car on two wheels the first time through the chicane. Only 0.001 of second of Hagberg’s fastest lap, when passing Wilck the World Championship finalist would suffer a spin loosing him 2-seconds. He will fit his second set of tyres for Q4. Making a tyre change for Q3 team-mate Marc Rheinard said while everyone went faster he went slower ending up on 12th quickest.

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Andy Moore posted the 8th fastest time but the HB driver said a 12.9 second lap as a result of having to let Volker by cost him a possible Top 4 for the round as everyone is ‘super tight’ on pace. Describing the run as ‘alright with no mistakes’, the British driver said he is still searching for more steering especially at the end of the straight.

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May 2, 2015

Chassis Focus – Jan Ratheisky

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Chassis – Xray T4 2015
Motor – Muchmore (handout)
ESC – Muchmore (handout)
Batteries – LRP 5800
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Bodyshell – MonTech Nazda2
Remarks – Racing here in Mattsee despite still recovering from a shoulder injury, German Xray driver Jan Ratheisky is running graphite c-hubs and wishbones, aluminium steering arms on his T4 2015 as well as a softer top deck meant to maximise the flex of the chassis. Using a standard rear end instead of the ARS, his car is also equipped with an aluminium/titanium Hiro Seiko screw set.

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May 2, 2015

Video – Modified Qualifying Rd2

May 2, 2015

Sobue snatches Q2 as Volker gets blocked

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Tamiya’s Aiko Sobue snatched a TQ run in the second round of qualifying at the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Austria this morning helped by Q1 pace setter Ronald Volker getting blocked on his final lap. The Japanese driver, who on his arrival in Austria quickly marked himself out as a podium contender topping practice, took the qualifier by 0.387 of a second as Schumacher driver Michal Orlowski cost Volker 4/10ths.

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A very happy Sobue, who opened qualifying last night with the 3rd fastest time, said while his driving was better today there was still room for improvement. Leaving his car unchanged from yesterday the 20-year-old said his car was ‘very good’ joking that TRF engineer Takayuki Kono had told him he wasn’t to touch a screw or even remove the battery tape on the TF419. Setting the fastest lap, for Q3 Sobue said his focus is to find more time from improving the consistency of his driving.

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‘I hope Michal (Orlowski) learns from his mistake as it cost me a TQ run’, was Volker’s initial comment on Q2. The four time consecutive ETS Champion said his Yokomo was a little more loose this morning and while it helped in terms of giving him steering the overall balance was not perfect. Slower than Sobue and Bruno Coelho in the early part of the run he said his LRP BD7 was strongest in the middle of the run and while ‘Coelho disappeared’ he was able to catch the Tamiya of Akio. Looking to get his car to start stronger he said his engineer Yukijiro Umino will make a set-up change for the penultimate round of qualifying.

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Third fastest, Alexander Hagberg said changes to his Xray T4 had made it ‘slightly better’. The Swede said while his start and the finish pace is good he is losing time mid run. Feeling he might be over working his tyres, he said a combination of a set-up change and better driving should help to improve his consistency. Team-mate Coelho was right in the mix for the TQ but with a minute and half to go he rolled his T4 after hitting the curbing dropping him to 9th. The Portuguese driver said while his car was a little loose at the beginning, after that it was ‘super good’ and he would run it unchanged for the next qualifier.

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Posting the 4th fastest time, ETS Italy race winner Yannic Prumper described Q2 as ‘worse’ than Q1 when he was ended up P5. The Yokomo driver said his BD7 was both ‘sliding and pushing’ for the first 3-minutes although at the end of the run the car ‘felt good to drive’. Having opted to do just a single warm-up lap having struggled with the car at the start of Q1 after running the full warm-up period, he said this strategy didn’t work. With Yokomo team manager Robert Itoh as his mechanic this weekend he said they will try a different set-up for the third round.

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Setting the fifth fastest time Xray’s Marco Kaufmann was ‘maximum happy’ at being able to back up his P6 from Q1. The 21-year-old was running third in the top heat for a time but said nerves got the better of him and his driving was a bit untidy towards the end of the 5-minutes. With the German ‘looking safe’ for his first A-Main start of the season and him ‘very happy’ with his T4 he said the only plan for Q3 is to drive ‘full power’.

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Completing the Top 6, Marc Rheinard said while his car feels alright most of the time it ‘sometimes then just does funny things’. Still unable to get on the throttle out of the corners he said Top 6 is pretty much the most he can expect this weekend adding that there is ‘maximum one second to be found’ if he drives better and stays in his rhythm but this is hard as the car suddenly decides to slide. One option the 13 times ETS race winner is considering is changing to his second set of tyres but with tyres improving as they get more runs on them he said the problem is his second set has only run 2-minutes so they could be a further disadvantage.

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Serpent’s Marc Fischer would take his S411 to the seventh fastest time but the German said he is losing time with understeer at the start adding it was ‘pushing more than yesterday’ even though he didn’t change set-up. ‘OK’ mid race he said the slow start also meant he then had Volker chasing him down eventually having to open up to let him by all of which adds up to lose time with him only 3/10th off Rheinard. He will ‘change something’, not sure what yet, for Q3. Team-mate Viktor Wilck tried a different set-up to start off the day but said it wasn’t good leading to him making contact with the boards and breaking his car. Behind Fischer, Orlowski would end up P8 while Dionys Stadler completed the Top 10 behind Coelho.

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In Formula the second qualifier would see a reverse of Q1 with Serpent’s David Ehrbar pipping reigning champion Jan Ratheisky’s Xray by 0.041 of a second. Xray’s Mike Gosvig completed the Top 3 followed by Michele Romagnoli and former champion Herbert Weber.

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May 1, 2015

Volker takes Q1 in Mattsee

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Ronald Volker has TQ’d a very close opening round of qualifying at Round 4 of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series in Austria. Winner of the fahr(T)raum hosted event last year, the Yokomo driver would top the times by just 0.187 of a second from Xray’s Bruno Coelho. Just a further 0.265 off, Tamiya’s Akio Sobue who topped the times in practice would complete the Top 3 around the covered temporary asphalt track.

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‘Pretty close’ was how Volker summed up the first qualifier. Starting second behind Sobue having ended up P2 in practice, the defending champion said he was that focused on trying to beat the Japanese driver that he wasn’t able to gauge how close Coelho actually was. Having closed in on Sobue at the start of the run he said as his BD7 started to suffer a little understeer he was on the limit trying to keep up with the Japanese driver. ‘Very happy to TQ Q1’, he said for tomorrow the plan is to try and find more steering which ‘hopefully will be enough to hold off Bruno & Akio’.

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Coelho was happy with his 2nd considering a mistake in the opening laps saw his T4 slide on its side before ‘luckily’ it came back down on 4-wheels. Describing his car as ‘strange’ at the start of the run he said after a few laps he was ‘good’. Happy with how it ran in the warm-up laps he said the only thing he can attribute the ‘strange feeling’ to was the tyres going cold as the waited to get off the start, the ambient temperature at the time of the qualifier having dropped noticeably. Setting the fastest lap of Q1, he said the speed is there and he was catching Volker so without errors he is confident for Q2.

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Sobue said his TRF419 was good but the problem was the driver. Making ‘a lot of small driver errors’, the 20-year-old said this is something he needs to work on for tomorrow but having run a faster lap time than Volker he is happy his car has the potential for a TQ run. High profile team-mate Marc Rheinard, who is running in the second fastest heat grouping, would post the 7th fastest time just missing out on a 25-lap run. The 4-time World Champion described it as a ‘slow run’. Running the same set-up as Sobue he said while the car is fine into the corner he ‘just can’t hit the throttle on the way out’ as it gets loose and he is ‘just trying to keep it on the track’.

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Posting the fourth fastest time Alexander Hagberg said an early mistake caused him to lose his rhythm. Later in the run the Swede said he also had problems with traffic. The driver closest to his team-mate Coelho in terms of outright fastest lap time he said his ORCA powered T4 was ‘alright’ and but there was still a ‘few small details to work out’.

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Setting the fifth fastest time Team Yokomo’s Yannic Prumper, who is without his Round 3 winning mechanic Toni Rheinard this weekend, said his BD7 had ‘big push’ at the start. The car would improve but towards the end of the five minutes the problem would return. He said the track felt to have more traction and for Q2 in the morning he might opt to run no warm-up laps to see if the car starts out better.

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Completing the Top 6, Xray driver Marco Kaufmann was clearly happy with his qualifying performance. Ninth fastest in practice, the 21-year-old said he went into the qualifier just hoping he had enough speed to not get passed by top seed Sobue. Describing the result as ‘very good start for me’, he said running less rear toe-in to what he had in practice had improved his T4’s steering and he said he would leave it unchanged for Q2. Having not made the A-Main ‘for a long time’, he said he just wanted one more such run to secure an A-Main start for Sunday.

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Andy Moore would set the eight fastest time continuing to be the fastest of the HB drivers. Team-mate Freddy Sudhoff just missed out on the Top 10, his PRO 5 11th fastest while Jilles Groskamp struggled to 28th. Moore said his run ‘wasn’t perfect’. Starting 10th he had to open up for Akio and then towards the end of the run trying to not also have to open up to let Volker passed he made a mistake that cost him over a second. The former World Champion said he still needs to work on getting his car better at the start of the run. Having changed his set-up for Q1 the car now started to work after 1-minute rather that the two it needed previously so he will continue in the same direction with further set-up changes. Behind Moore, Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski and Serpent’s Viktor Wilck completed the Top 10.

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In the Xray Pro-Stock class, which completed two of their four rounds of qualifying today, it was Season #8 Round 1 dominator Lars Hoppe who laid down the TQ pace. The ARC driver, who missed Round 3 in Italy, would take Q1 from the Tamiya of Christian Donath and in Q2 would outpace the Yokomo of Italian Nico Catelani. For defending champion Marek Cerny it was not a good day. Breaking his Xray in Q1 after just a minute, the Czech driver wouldn’t even start Q2 due to steering problems.

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Despite racing with a shoulder injury and wearing a special support Jan Ratheisky hasn’t been hampered too much. Setting the pace in practice for both Pro Stock and Formula, the reigning Formula Champion would TQ the opening round of Formula from Serpent’s David Ehrbar who in Ratheisky’s absence took the win at Round 3 in Italy.

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May 1, 2015

Euro Touring Series Rd4 – Friday Action

Live results from be found on MyRCM here.

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May 1, 2015

Chassis Focus – Andy Moore

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Chassis – HB Pro5
Motor – Hobbywing
ESC – Hobbywing
Batteries – MooreSpeed 6200 mah
Tires – Ride (handout)
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Bodyshell – PF LTC-R
Remarks – Having carried out the development of the Pro5 since the first steps of the project, former World Champion Andy Moore is running a pretty standard version of the car, the only option part being a carbon fibre stiffener for the steering cranks. He is also using a one piece suspension bracket in the front which is from the previous version of the car.

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