Track Focus – ‘Modellbau Wels’

Name – Modellbau Wels
Host – EOS
Country – Austria
Location – Wels (200km West of Vienna)
Direction – Anti-clockwise
Surface – All carpet
Previous EOS races hosted – 3 (2017, 2015 & 2014)

The Euro Offroad Series is in Wels, Austria for a fourth time, the championship again part of the ‘Modellbau Wels’ hobby show which takes place in the city’s Messe.  First included in 2014 at the popular 3-day show, which has exhibits of everything from RC boats & planes to large scale steam trains, last year the race concluded the championship but this season it is the penultimate encounter on the calendar with a lot of stake for the title contenders.  Moved to the BRP Rotax Halle, named after the country’s famous engine brand, for 2018 the same ATA crew that built the tracks for the opening two rounds of the season in Poland and Daun have created a 198m long lap within the 24m deep by 30m wide track area.

Coming into the event as leader of both the 2WD and 4WD standings, Michal Orlowski described the track as ‘nothing special’ adding ‘I like some sections but others are not my cup of tea’, the Polish driver clearly picking up some British phrases from his English engineer Tristram Neal.  Elaborating on the layout he said, ‘it is a pretty fast, open layout with some tight sections in the middle.  There is a nice triple that is tricky for most of the guys.  The wall is the same as in Daun and is pretty tricky so you can gain lots of time there’.  2WD winner in Daun, Neil Cragg described the layout as ‘your classic generic EOS layout with the same obstacles just moved around a bit’.  Asked the main challenges of the track he replied, ‘the jump before the wall section and the section after the straight, it’s important not to go too fast through it’.  He concluded the track is ‘pretty good’ and he is ‘enjoying driving it’.

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