November 21, 2015

Martin 2WD Top Qualifier at EOS

sat_leetq

Lee Martin is 2WD Top Qualifier for Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series at the Hudy Arena in Slovakia.  The reigning champion & current points leader claimed his 5th EOS pole position when he topped the fourth and final round of qualifying in Trencin ahead of Michal Orlowski, his only challenger for the overall TQ.  Winner of the event last season, Orlowski will start the finals from second surrounded by Yokomos as Martin’s team-mate Marc Rheinard secured third on the grid thanks to a P4 run in the final qualifier.  For home team Xray, Bruno Coelho lines up fourth ahead of team-mate & former event winner Martin Bayer who was another to improve his grid position greatly with a strong Q4 performance in which he set the third fastest time.

sat_martin2

His first TQ at the Hudy Arena, Martin said a mistake at the start of the final qualifier by Orlowski made things a little easier for him.  Reporting his tyres as going off towards the end of the 5-minutes he said compared to the opening round at the Nurburgring tyre wear is a little higher and he will have have to start the finals on new tyres.  While most have reported a loss of steering on first run tyres, the Brit feels his YZ-2 will be fine with his bigger concern being how his tyres will face up to the third leg of the finals should that end up being the deciding encounter as it did at the season opener where he took the win. Asked about the challenge of Orlowski he said any of the Top 4 could win highlighting in particular Coelho’s Q3 pace.

sat_nameorlo

Top Qualifier for the event last time the EOS visited the world famous facility, Orlowski described Q4 as a ‘messy’.  The Schumacher star would lose over 2 & half seconds with a mistake on his opening lap and said his driving was inconsistent as he went from going short or too long over the jumps.  The only driver to match Martin’s 23-lap pace set in Q3, the 14-year-old said he has the pace to battle with Martin for the win. Describing the track as ‘difficult’, he said with everyone having problems getting their speed right every lap, for in particular the doubles, this could open opportunities to pass should they run wide.

sat_marc

Rheinard said a new set of tyres transformed his YZ-2 for Q4 allowing him to back up his Q1 P2 finish with a fourth to deny Coelho 3rd on tie break.  Starting from the same grid position as he did when he made his debut for Yokomo at the EOS Season #4 Finale at the Arena last May, the German said the start is going to being ‘interesting’ when all the cars go into the first double together.  A ‘fast track anyway’ he said the added difficulty of trying to get the braking for the doubles right should make for interesting racing.

sat_carcoelho

Describing his final qualifier as a ‘disaster’, Coelho said he was ‘flipping everywhere’ as a result of driving over the curbs as a result of bad driving.  Asked about the finals, the Portuguese star said it would be difficult to overtake but added it would be extra difficult due to his touring car rival Rheinard starting in front of him but added ‘you never know’.  Commenting in his Q4 performance Bayer said ‘its getting better but it a bit too late’.  A three time EOS race winner, the Czech driver said starting on the straight with the first jump being the double, adding with a smile, anything could happen there.

sat_haatanen

Securing his best EOS starting position, young Team Associated talent Joona Haatanen completes the Top 6 on the grid ahead of Nurburgring podium finisher Martin Wollanka.  Running new rear tyres on his Reedy powered B5M for the final qualifier the Finn said this left him with a little understeer with the run being his worst of the four qualifiers. Looking to the final the 12-year-old said his plan for the race was to stay out of trouble and ‘just see what happens’.

EosRd22wdQOverall

View complete event results here.

View our full event image gallery here.


November 21, 2015

Orlowski delivers in Q3

sat_michaltq

With Lee Martin taking the opening two 2WD qualifiers at Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series in Slovakia, in Q3 it was last season’s winner Michal Orlowski who would force the overall TQ to be decided in the fourth and final qualifier at the Hudy Arena.  Having lost out on the TQ in Q1 with a last lap mistake and then making a mistake while setting the pace in Q2, Orlowski would manage a clean 5-minutes on his third attempt to top the times with a new fastest time just 0.045 up on Martin.  Behind them Bruno Coelho would as he did in Q3 again complete the Top 3 ahead of Xray team-mate Martin Bayer who was only 10th in the previous two qualifiers due to mistakes.

sat_orlowski2 copy

‘Finally I got a run with no mistakes’ was how Orlowski summed up his TQ run,  the 14-year-old adding it was ‘a tough last lap’.  Running on the rear wing of Martin’s Yokomo for most of the run, the Pole would twice on the final lap get his KF2 up on two wheels but luckily managed to save it each time. While this allowed Martin to pull 9/10ths back he would just hold on to his lead to force the overall TQ decision to go to Q4.  Top Qualifier in Trencin last year enroute to his first EOS win, Orlowski is up for the challenge saying his ‘car is great’ and its down to him to ‘just drive better’.

sat_lee2

Describing his Q2 TQ run as ‘boring’ Martin said ‘that one was exciting’.  Starting first but getting up on two wheels early and allowing the second place starting Orlowski to close the gap he said they were so evenly matched he couldn’t get a gap again on his rival adding ‘there is no risk or reward section on the track’. The first and only driver to run a 23-second lap, he said Orlowski’s last lap bobble gave him a chance to sew up the TQ but admitted his own final lap felt a bit scrappy even though it would turn out to be his second fastest of the qualifier.  Shadowed by Orlowski it was clear to see that each driver had a section of track where they were faster than the other.  Able to open a small gap in the fast sections but with Orlowski able to come right back at him in the slow stuff, Martin said his rival was using ‘more punch that (him)’ something that was not in his own style of driving.  Saying opening with 2 TQ runs always makes the third qualifier harder but with a good car he is confident for Q4.

sat_gridcoelho

Top Qualifier at the season opener on his international 1:10 Offroad racing debut, Coelho said his performance was ‘OK but not perfect’. After throwing away a potential TQ run in Q1 with a mistake he opted to just drive a safe Q2.  Getting a third from that approach, he would push harder in Q3 but again would suffer a mistake, this time on only the second lap with over 4-seconds lost.  Almost assured of third on the A-Main grid, for Q4 he will again opt to push for a fast run while aiming to eliminate those single big mistakes.  Commenting on his P4 in Q3, Bayer summed it up with ‘getting better’.  On his disappointing opening two qualifiers, the 2014 EOS Slovakia 2WD winner said he just didn’t make clean runs due to stupid mistakes of his own doing.  In Q3 he would also suffer a mistake but losing 3-seconds he said getting caught up in traffic led to this error.  Currently lying 8th overall, he said he is happy with how his XB2 is working adding I just need to try and keep it clean for the last one.

sat_joona_max

Continuing his impressive showing Joona Haatanen would back up his P4 in the opening two rounds with fifth in Q3.  The rising Finnish talent and EOS regular’s best qualifying performance to date, the 12-year-old would just miss out on a 13-lap run due to a spin on his penultimate lap.  Happy with his modified B5M, which features a lot of hand made parts, he feels he could do with more power but putting the suggestion to his father to adjust his Reedy speedo settings he said he was overruled by his father and so he will run everything unchanged for Q4.  Behind Haatanen, who is a previous EOS finalist, Ales Bayer would complete the Top 6 for Q3.

View complete event results here.

View our full event image gallery here.


November 21, 2015

Chassis Focus – Joona Haatanen

haa_CF

Chassis: Associated B5M
Motor: Reedy 6.5T
ESC: Reedy
Batteries: Reedy 3900mah
Radio/Servo: KO Propo/Reedy
Remarks – Young Finnish talent Joona Haatanen is running a very interesting version of the B5M, equipped with the Red Workshop low rider transmission. The car sports a handmade chassis that allows for the use of brass inserts in order to lower the car’s CG. The rear shock tower, also hand crafted, is lower than the original and is paired with the T5M rear shocks. He is also using a brass bulkhead and a JConcepts Finnisher front wing.

Image Gallery

 


November 21, 2015

Chassis Focus – Martin Bayer

bay_CF

Chassis: Xray XB2
Motor: Orca 6.5T
ESC: Orca
Batteries: Orca 4500mah
Radio/Servo: Sanwa/Savox
Remarks – Having only finished to build his first production kit on Thursday, Xray’s head offroad development driver Martin Bayer is running an out-of-the-box version of the Slovakian company’s brand new XB2 2 wheel drive buggy.

Image Gallery


November 21, 2015

Martin takes Q1 at EOS Slovakia

sat_martin

Lee Martin picked up where he left off yesterday in Slovakia by getting Day 2 of the Euro Offroaf Series second round underway with a TQ run in the opening 2WD qualifier.  The reigning champion headed a Yokomo 1-2 with team-mate Marc Rheinard posting the second fastest time.  Last season’s 2WD winner of the Hudy Arena event, Michal Orloswki would complete the Top 3 followed by young Finnish talent Joona Haatanen.  Their home track, the best Xray would be Ales Bayer who was fifth fastest followed by team-mates Martin Wollanka and Bruno Coelho with older brother Martin Bayer 10th fastest.

sat_lee

Setting the fastest lap of the round, a 24.071, Martin said apart from a mistake half through the run it was a good qualifier.  Getting his braking wrong for the back double section he would come up short on the landing with his YZ-2 needing to me marshalled resulting in a 27.9 second lap.  Admitting he got lucky with Orlowski’s last lap mistake which handed him the TQ, the Brit said his car was good and he would continue with it unchanged for Q2.

sat_carrhe

Having moved to the top  of the timing screens after Martin’s error, four laps later Rheinard would also make the same mistake as his team-mate.  Managing to get away without needing to be marshalled, the German would still lose 2-seconds as he U-turned his YZ-2.   Describing his opening qualifier as ‘fine’, the 3-time Touring Car World Champion said his car was pushing more than he would like and while ‘not super fast’ it was ‘safe’ so he would just drive around the understeer.

sat_michal

‘One mistake too much’ was Orlowski’s reaction to Q1.  The Schumacher driver said aiming to open qualifying with a Top 3 it was ‘still a good run’.  Matching Martin’s fastest lap pace with a best lap time of 24.099, the 14-year-old said ‘I have the pace and it is going to be an interesting race between me and Lee’.  Happy with his Cougar KF2 he said he will only change to his second set of tyres and work on cutting out mistakes.

sat_joona

12-year-old Haatanen summed up his qualifier as ‘really good’.  11th fastest in practice yesterday over 3-consecutive laps, the Team Associated driver said he knew his B5M would be better over 5-minutes.  Running in the second fastest heat, he would make a mistake on the opening lap which lost him over 2 & a half seconds but said ‘the rest was good’.  Describing his car as easy to drive and a fan of the track layout he will leave his car unchanged for Q2 and just try to build on his opening run.

sat_bayerA

Ales Bayer was not happy with himself saying he made ‘a lot of mistakes’.  Having copied the set-up of his brother Martin who was responsible for the development of the XB2 he said while the car was ‘ok’ to drive he will do a complete suspension change for Q2.  With ‘jumping a big problem for (him)’, he said he needs to get the car to land better.  A podium finisher at the season opener at the Nurburgring, Wollanka said his car is ok but the run contained ‘too many mistakes’.  Again the driver said braking was an issue with the Austrian saying this time it was the driver who was the main contributing factor to the problem.

sat_bruno

2WD Top Qualifier on his EOS debut at Round 1 in Germany, Coelho said the qualifier started off great but then coming up on traffic he made a mistake as he didn’t carry enough speed over the centre jump.  With the mistake leaving him with a 30-second lap he couldn’t recover the lost time but the Portuguese ace said his ‘car was perfect’ and the problem was ‘just that one mistake’.  Behind Coelho, young Yokomo protege Kaito Kodera, new Xray signing Nico Risser and Martin Bayer completed the Top 10.

View complete event results here.

View our full event image gallery here.


November 20, 2015

Chassis Focus – Bruno Coelho

coe_CF

Chassis: Xray XB4 ’16
Motor: LRP X20 5.5T
ESC: LRP
Batteries: LRP 4500mah
Radio/Servo: Sanwa
Remarks – Newly crowned World Champion for the class, Portuguese star Bruno Coelho is on his second outing at the EOS here in Trencin. Running a pretty standard version of the XB4 ’16, it has been equipped with an optional rear carbon stiffener.

Image Gallery