Evans tops 2WD practice
Despite having never before seen an astro turf track until he arrived in Belgium yesterday, US Champion Dustin Evans has topped 2WD Buggy practice at the second round of the inaugural TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series presented by Horizon Hobby. The factory TLR driver was the surprise of the four rounds of practice as he ran the fastest three consecutive laps ahead of Tamiya’s Lee Martin and Schumacher’s Tom Cockerill, both of whom have plenty of experience on astro turf.
The winner of 2WD Buggy at the EOS Pilot Race last year in Sweden on dirt, Evans’ was delighted with his practice pace and said the high bite of his local track back home where he does most of his practicing really helped him to adapt to the astro turf surface here at Black Country Arena. His first outing of the 2012 EOS, the 26-year-old said in preparation for the event he put what he thought was a stiff set-up on his Orion powered TLR 22 but after a few runs of open practice yesterday he discovered he needed, and it was also possible, to make the buggy even stiffer.
TLR team-mate Mike Truhe, who contested the season opener in the Czech Republic last month, is also having his first experience on astro turf which he said his way more grippy than the carpet, a surface the America ace said he prefers. Setting the fourth fastest time in practice, Truhe feels while a few other drivers ran a quicker three-consecutive laps than him he was focusing on putting in a clean five-minute run and is confident he’s in good shape for tomorrow’s qualifying. Also running an Orion powered TLR22 he plans to run a thicker front shock oil which should allow him to drive a little harder.
Martin said after a few runs yesterday his Tamiya felt pretty dialed and today’s practice was more about playing with around with the controlled dBoots tyres, drivers having to use the Nanobyte ‘A’ compound on the rear and any 2WD front tyre from the dBoots range. Just over a second off Evans pace over the three consecutive laps, the European Champion said he has ‘1 or 2 things’ he wants to try on his Speed Passion powered TRF201X in this evening’s open practice to fine tune the buggy for qualifying.
Schumacher’s Design, Development & Race Engineer, Cockerill described his morning as ‘alright’. A driver with experience of the track, having won the Euro Indoor Race here earlier this year, the 23-year-old said he used practice to run in front tyres for tomorrow so as to make it less aggressive. Running a longer front link, he said his Cougar SV2 is almost there but he will try a few more small things ahead of the first qualifier in the morning’s open practice.
The man that dominated the opening round of the Euro Offroad Series, Joern Neumann set only the fifth fastest time with the German ace saying his buggy is ‘not too good and too slow’. Experienced at running on astro turf, the Reedy Race Champion said the DEX210 is normally very good on the surface but today just has too much grip making it very edgy to drive. Unsure what to do he said he hopes his team-mate Hupo Honigl, who was only 11th fastest, has some ideas as to how they can improve things for qualifying.
Setting the sixth fastest time Belgian driver Wouter Wynen was surprised by his own pace in practice. Driving an Associated C4.1, the driver from Antwerp who, although this is not his local track, races at the Black Country Arena regular said having to run a dBoot front tyre took a bit of getting used to but he is now very happy with how his buggy is performing. Just 3/10th behind the Belgian, was another driver who has experience of the track despite not being a local. Having worked out that it is cheaper to travel to Charleroi than his closest winter series back home in the UK, Dover driver Nathan Ralls is a regular competitor in the club’s own championship and even has his own VIP parking spot for his camper van right outside the main door to the hall. The club also provide his home from home with a free power lead during is stay.
Driving a RB5 Vega, well known nitro racer Sebastien Wartelle set the 8th fastest time. Only racing electric for the winter, the French driver has two wins to his credit in the club championship and so is hopeful of a good result his weekend against the World class international line-up. Completing the Top 10 behind Wartelle was TLR pairing Darren Bloomfield and Miguel Matias. Winner of last year’s World Championship Warm-up race, Bloomfield is struggling with the consistency of his LRP powered TLR22. The British driver believes this is down to his front tyres and so plans to run in open practice a set of tyres with the wall glued up. Matias, who has been winning all around him in his home country of Portugal, said his astro turf knowledge is worse than carpet but with each run he got better and better.
With the morning set aside for official 2WD practice, the afternoon will see drivers switch to their 4WD chassis’ for four rounds of both buggy and Short Course truck practice.
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