January 29, 2016

Yokomo strong in practice as Martin tops seeding

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Team Yokomo put in a very strong showing in practice at the Euro Offroad Series with Lee Martin topping the 2WD seeding at Round 3 in Germany. Improving his best 3-consecutive laps by 7/10th of a second in the final controlled practice, Martin again set the pace from team-mate Marc Rheinard with five Yokomo drivers making up the Top 10 times.  Heading the challenge to Yokomo, despite not improving on his opening time, Team Associated Neil Cragg would open his EOS debut with the third fastest time  albeit over 1-second off the pace of the reigning champion.  One of the big improvers of the final practice would be Yokomo touring car star Yannic Prumper who knocked 1.3 seconds off his opening time to end the seeding 4th fastest.

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Having changed to a new prototype rear hub on his YZ-2, which he is running in the soon to be released 3-gear gearbox ‘CA’ configuration, Martin said they ‘settled it pretty good’.  Happy with the car’s performance he said ‘to change the car now would be stupid, especially after running 4wd’, drivers running their 4WD practice before the first two rounds of 2WD qualifying tonight.

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Only able to improve his time slightly, 9/100th of a second to be exact, while Martin extended his advantage, Rheinard said ‘I need to change the car for qualifying’.  Having left it unchanged from CP1, the German will copy Martin by switching to the limited prototype rear hubs.  Sticking with running his YZ-2 with the standard kit gearbox, the touring car ace said if after changing hubs his team-mate maintains his distinct advantage in the first qualifier he will then have to switch over to the 3-gear gearbox.

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Having had power issues in the opening two practices, Cragg said his ‘slipper is (now) dialled’.  Having made changes to the front end of his prototype B5M for CP2, he said it created ‘a little more lock’ leaving him with ‘too much steering’.  Unable to better his CP12 time as a result, the EOS debutant will revert back to his previous set-up for Q1.

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Starting out the day with his YZ-2 running a basic kit set-up, Prumper said copying Rheinard’s set-up made the car ‘much better’. Asked if he planned to also copy Martin’s rear hub change he replied ‘No’, the German not having the option as the team only have 3-sets available which are in use with Martin, Adachi and now Rheinard.  Adachi would set the 6th fastest time while American former EOS Top Qualifier Carson Wernimont ended up 9th.

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Improving to the fifth fastest time, Michal Orlowski said ‘(my car) feels ok in my hand and looks ok on the track but on lap times its off the pace’.  Running a heavier battery and adjusting his rear camber links, the Schumacher driver said it was an improvement and the main problem in CP2 was his slipper was too tight.  Popping wheelies he said he had to back off the power and this was costing him time.  Planning to loosen the slipper for Q1 he said he would leave everything else untouched on his KF2 feeling that over 5-minute the car should be good. Admitting ‘Yokomo are very fast here’, he said the important thing was to try and run the 5-minutes without mistakes.  Faster than his team-mate in CP1, Peter Pinisch would end up 7th fastest behind the young Pole.

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Best of the Xrays, with the 8th fastest time, Bruno Coelho said he made a ‘big improvement’ between runs.  Suffering from ‘too much rear traction’ describing his XB2 as feeling like having it had ‘glue on the rear tyres’ he said changes to make the rear more loose was good.  Looking to further reduce the rear traction, the Portuguese star said ‘I think we are going in the right direction now so we should be able to further improve things for qualifying’.

View the event image gallery here.


January 29, 2016

Chassis Focus – Ellis Stafford

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Chassis: TLR 22 3.0
Motor: Tekin 7.5T
ESC: Tekin RSX
Batteries: LRP 2900mAh LCG
Radio/Servo: Sanwa/Xpert
Remarks – British TLR driver Ellis Stafford is debuting at the EOS running a modified 22 3.0 from the American manufacturer. His buggy sports a prototype 3 gear transmission, and is also equipped with a brass front bulkhead and several other weights, as well as a -2 rear toe plate.

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January 29, 2016

Martin sets early EOS pace in Germany

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Lee Martin set the early pace at Round 3 of the Euro Offroad Series in Germany, the reigning champion heading a Yokomo 1-2 in the first round of 2WD controlled practice.  3/10ths off over the fastest 3-consecutive laps, Marc Rheinard would post the second fastest time in what was a good morning for the Japanese manufacturer with their designer Shin Adachi fourth fastest.  Making his EOS debut, Neil Cragg was quick to settle in and with just a single round of free practice to get a feel for the EOS carpet took his Associated to the 3rd fastest time.

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Running his fastest three laps in a time of 58.611, Martin summed up his early performance as ‘not bad’.  Running a 3-gear gearbox, Yokomo set to release this in March as a CA (Carpet/Astro) version of the YZ-2, he described his car as ‘a little nervous at high speed’.  Looking to improve this by changing to a different rear hub, he said the main issue is when he ‘lock(s) on the the brakes the rear becomes unstable’ but apart from this the car is working the rest of the track well.  Mechanic for Martin, Adachi said his own car was going well.  Racing so as he can ‘test stuff for Lee’, for the final practice he will run a number of new parts to evaluate if they would be beneficial to their lead driver and the rest of the team.

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The only one of the factory Yokomo drivers starting out with a standard kit version YZ-2, Rheinard was also happy with his early pace.  Using the first of the two controlled practices to break in a new set of the Schumacher tyres he joked ‘I guess thats why Lee was faster than me’.  The 4-time onroad World Champion said while the track ‘could do with one or two more jumps’ the ‘layout is nice and quite technical’.  For the second & final controlled practice before the drivers switch over to 4WD practice, the German plans to use the track time to run in a second set of rear tyres.

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Asked how his first EOS outing was going Cragg replied, ‘Good. I’m enjoying it’.  Running the same 3-gear gearbox car he used at the World Championships in Japan, the former World Champion said he hasn’t made any changes to the set-up, instead working on getting the power right.  With the carpet surface ‘super grippy like (he) expected’, he said his slipper is too tight.  Adjusting it after free practice as well as reducing his ‘punch setting’ on his speedo he said they need to go a bit more on the slipper.  For the final practice he will also stiffen up his front shocks to help carry more speed through the corners.

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Fifth fastest ahead of Schumacher team-mate Michal Orlowski, Peter Pinisch summed up his performance as ‘so far so good’.  Running two cars in free practice, he said the heavier (regular battery) car was better as it was easier to drive than the shortie configured KF2.  Describing the left side of the track as ‘too much like touring car’ he said the right side is good to drive for which he needs to find some slow speed steering as the car is pushing.  Orlowski said while his car feels OK it is slow.  Suffering from too much rear traction he said this is preventing him from being able to push.  Planning to go for a bigger (Heavier) battery and move the rear links higher he said with less rear grip it should make it easier to drive.

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For Xray, Martin Bayer would be the fastest XB2 Xray in 7th just one position ahead of new team-mate Hupo Honigl.  Having had a lean 12-months in the EOS with Serpent, the Austrian is very upbeat about the weekend ahead.  ‘From the first time I ran the cars they have felt really good and I am enjoying racing again’.  Asked about his XB2 over the two practice runs the former 2WD race winner said ‘its pretty good so I didn’t change anything’.  Giving his thoughts on the track, he said the roller off the main straight is an area that he struggling with, adding he needs to improve himself and the car there’.  Behind him team-mates Lorenzo Crolla and Martin Wollanka completed the Top 10.

View the event image gallery here.


January 29, 2016

Chassis Focus – Lee Martin

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Chassis: Yokomo YZ-2 CA
Motor: RC Concept 6.5T
ESC: RC Concept SC120
Batteries: RC Concept 4500 mah
Radio/Servo: Sanwa/Xpert
Remarks – Making his EOS debut with the new RC Concept electrics, top Yokomo factory driver Lee Martin is running the soon-to-be-delivered CA (Carpet & Astro) version of the Japanese 2WD buggy. The car sports a new 3-gear transmission that will also be available for purchase to upgrade the existing YZ-2 kit. Equipped with Yatabe shock springs, an LMR under LiPo weight and titanium screws and turnbuckles, it also features pre-production rear aluminium hubs with a different offset. The aerodynamics is taken care of by a LMR rear and PL front wing.

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January 29, 2016

Track Focus – Muelheim-Kaerlich

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Host – Euro Offroad Series
Country – Germany
Location – Muelheim-Kaerlich
Venue – Philipp-Heift Halle
Track type – Temporary
Surface – Carpet
Direction – Anti-Clockwise
Previous EOS races hosted – 0

While a new venue for the EOS, the 1344 sq meter Philipp-Heift sports hall in Muelheim-Kaerlich is no stranger to hosting large international RC races having been a feature on the Euro Touring Series calendar for the last four years – the world’s best touring car drivers set to descend on the venue again next weekend.  Located just 15-minutes from the city of Koblenz, the venue has always proved popular with racers attracting record entries each year the ETS returns. The first EOS visit is no exception with over 360 entries making it the championship’s biggest race todate.

In terms of the track created for the event, the layout covers an area 30 metres wide by 24 metres deep with the entire surface including the jumps covered in the black carpet, which introduced for Season #5, has proven very successful in terms of reducing tyre wear.  Giving his thoughts on the track, reigning champion Lee Martin joked, ‘I helped make it so its pretty good’.  On getting to drive it for the first time, the Yokomo driver’s first impression was that the ‘jump spacing could be a little better’ but added ‘you have to give consideration to the stock (Stadium truck) guys’. On the overall layout, he said it has ‘some nice high speed sections’ and he particularly likes the jump on to straight because its important to land the down ramp right.  Asked what was key to a good lap, he said the fast sections present the opportunity to make up time adding that the ‘little double’ (situated before the corner table top) could ruin a good lap as its easy to over jump with the resulting flat landing causing the car to bounce.

Currently second in the 2WD points standings behind Martin, Michal Orlowski described the track as  ‘a nice layout’ but felt ‘it would be more fun if it had some more jumps’.  The Schumacher driver particularly likes the right side of the track due to its ‘many hairpins’ adding getting good corner speed from the car is going to be key to a successful weekend.


January 28, 2016

Cragg set for EOS debut as Rd3 attracts record entry

Cragg set for EOS debut as Round 3 attracts record entry

Former 2WD Offroad World Champion Neil Cragg is set to make his debut in the Euro Offroad Series this weekend (29-31 January) as the third round of the championship attracts a record entry. With the fifth season of the EOS opening in Germany at the famous Nurburgring back in September, the championship’s first race of 2016 marks its second visit to the country with another new venue awaiting drivers. Successful host to the German round of the Euro Touring Series for the past 4-seasons, Muelheim Kaerlich near Koblenz will see 371 entries descend on what is the home race of EOS co-founder Uwe Rheinard.

While Team Associated have made one off outings in the past with multiple World Champion Ryan Cavalieri, car design Kody Numedahl and team-manager Brent Thielke, Cragg’s entry marks the start of a new push by the world’s most winning buggy manufacturer to establish itself as a contender on the increasingly popular carpet tracks that dominate the indoor racing scene. With a strong junior team in up & coming drivers Joona Haatanen and Joakim Nicolaisen, Cragg’s confirmation for the second half of the EOS season will bolster the American manufacturer’s efforts to become a race winner. An A-Finalist at the opening two rounds, 12-year-old Haatanen comes into this weekend fresh from the biggest win of his promising career after taking 2WD Open at the Reedy Race of Champions in California last weekend.

With the arrival of Cragg, Associated’s key target will be reigning double champion & his fellow countryman Lee Martin. Martin has won the opening two rounds of 2WD and the Yokomo driver is joint leader of the 4WD standings having taken the season opener. Forced to miss Round 2, Carson Wernimont returns as part of Yokomo’s line up, which also includes Marc Rheinard. A former Top Qualifier, the American will be hoping that as he gets more familiar with his Yokomo cars on carpet he can battle to become the first American race winner.

Securing his first 4WD win & first 2WD podium at Xray’s home track when the EOS travelled to the Hudy Arena for Round 2, Bruno Coelho finds himself sharing the lead of the 4WD standings with Martin. Only his third ever EOS outing, the World Champion heads a very strong Xray team. Along with multiple race winner Martin Bayer and Martin Wollanka, the Slovakian manufacturer has added former race winner Hupo Honigl to its line-up. After an unsuccessful stint at Serpent, the Austrian is highly motivated about running at the front again.

With the EOS’ most successful driver Joern Nuemann opening 2016 with a breakthrough first international win with Serpent at the DHI Cup, the multiple champion will be hoping to carry that form into this weekend. The German’s best EOS result this season is a fifth but following his 4WD victory in Denmark ahead of Michal Orlowki & Coelho he is targeting at least a podium finish.

Another driver to open 2016 in the best way possible when he took 2WD spoils at the DHI Cup, Michal Orlowski has had a strong start to his 2WD EOS campaign. Finishing runner-up to Martin at the opening two rounds, the Schumacher star will be looking to go one better at his third attempt. The reigning European 4WD Champion, Orlowski has struggled in the class over the first half of the season, missing the A-Main in Slovakia but having got 2nd at the DHI Cup expect improvements this weekend.