Bayer tops timed 2WD practice at EOS finale

Martin Bayer has topped timed practice for 2WD at the EOS season final with last year’s Hudy Racing Arena winner setting the fastest 3-consecutive laps from Yokomo’s Lee Martin. Third fastest in free practice, the Xray driver improved by over a second to put himself top seed for qualifying with the morning’s pace setter Martin just 0.021 off.  Behind them, Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski would complete the Top 3 ahead of the Associated of former Top Qualifier Carson Wernimont.  For former champion Joern Neumann the two sessions would see the Serpent driver end up only 13th fastest two positions behind US star Ryan Cavalieri.

Changing to stiffer suspension arms and a different front shock set-up, Bayer said his prototype XB2 was ‘super twitchy to drive but fast’.  Setting out to get the buggy that way, the Czech driver said he wanted to have the most available outright speed he could get and for qualifying he would then just pull back a little in terms of his driving.

Not surprised by Bayer topping the times, Martin said, ‘we have a very similar pace and I always expected Martin to be fast here’.  With both himself and Bayer he only drivers to run a 24-second lap time, the Season #4 champion was happy with his performance saying his YZ-2 ‘feels nice to driver, jumps good and has plenty of grip’.  Going on to describe the buggy as ‘pretty consistent’ he feel he is going to be strong over 5-minutes and with it ‘all good’ he will ‘run with it for Q1’.

Setting his fastest time in TP1, Orlowski was very happy with his  KF2 having left it unchanged from free practice.  The 13-year-old said his second run was slower as he used the track time to scrub in a set of the Schumacher tyres for qualifying. A track with minimal tyre wear he said new tyres are slower hence his reason to break in tyres.  Setting the 6th fastest time Simon Moss also recorded his best time in the first run.  The British driver cut an extra row of the outside pins off his rear tyres for TP2 but said this left him with a very loose rear end.  Peter Pinisch would make it three Schumacher’s in the Top 10 with the 8th fastest time.  The Austrian would make a front wishbone adjustment for the final practice as he looked for better balance off the jumps but will revert back as the longer wheel base left him with less steering.

‘Starting to turn things around in the last one’, that was Wernimont’s reaction to his P4 time.  Making a steering geomtry change, the 18-year-old said this ‘helped quite a bit with getting more steering’.  Also making up a front wing for his Reedy powered B5M, he found this also helped improve the buggy.  Now with more corner speed for qualifying, which takes place in the morning, he might consider going up in the rear diff oil.  Team-mate Kody Numedahl broke into the Top 10 for the first time, the AE designer ending up 7th quickest.  He put his improvement down to ‘just getting more used to it (the track)’ adding in terms of the car he might copy Wernimont and add a front wing for Q1.

Ending up fifth fastest Naoto Matsukura said he had ‘maximum push’.  Running a lightweight RB6 featuring X-Gear shock towers, that he claims help overall stability, the Japanese ace said changes made to get more steering were ‘not good’. Asked about changes for Q1, the 4 time EOS race winner said they now planned to start qualifying with a completely different set-up.

Ending up half a second slower than he was in free practice, Cavalieri described his final practice as ‘brutal’.  11th quickest, the American said it was an ‘up & down run’ with him laying down the pace before experiencing ‘trouble with other people on the track’ and then breaking his B5M after 7-laps.  Setting his fastest lap the lap before he broke, he said his ‘car is ‘pretty fast’ and he was just short on luck in the timed practice.

The driver with the most EOS wins to his credit, notching up six 2WD victories, Neumann had a tough timed practice.  Lasting just a lap in the first run before breaking a front arm he said in the second he was just too slow with his Serpent edgy to drive.  Looking to tomorrow the German said they, team-mate Hupo Honigl only 23rd, need to come up with a new plan of attack.

View the event image gallery here.

Chassis Focus – Naoto Matsukura

Chassis: Kyosho Ultima RB6
Motor: Muchmore 6.5
ESC: Muchmore
Batteries: Muchmore 4500mah
Radio/Servo: Sanwa/Xpert

Remarks: Making his return to the EOS after a two race absence, last season’s 2WD champion Naoto Matsukura is debuting with his new Kyosho team. Racing the Ultima RB6 the buggy features a prototype lightweight chassis and titanium screws. Being assisted here by X-Gear’s very own Yusuke Kobayashi, he is using front and rear shock towers, prototype springs and full aerodynamics from the Japanese company.

Image Gallery 

Video – 2wd Controlled Practice Rd1

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dy51hSGzV0[/youtube]

Martin sets early practice pace at EOS

Newly crowned Euro Offroad Series 2WD Champion Lee Martin has set the early pace at season finale at the Hudy Racing Arena. With the first official day of the event getting underway with three rounds of free practice, Martin’s Yokomo topped the times from the Kyosho of former team-mate & champion Naoto Matsukura.  Winner of the Slovakian round last year, when the race was the third on the four round calendar, Team Xray’s Martin Bayer would post the third fastest 3-consecutive lap time.

‘So far so good’ was how Martin summed up his early performance, the British driver having a 6/10th of a second advantage over Matsukura.  With his YZ-2 running a ‘very similar set-up to Wels’, where he claimed the win and his first EOS title, the British ace said the biggest focus here was the lack of jump landings which he added meant the shock set-up needs to be ‘more precise’.  Planning to keep his buggy the same for the first of the two timed practice, he said having dumped on the last lap of his last run he would just check that he fully charges his battery.

His first EOS outing since he shock departure from Yokomo, with who he dominated this season’s opening round in Poland, Matsukura said his RB6 felt good.  His first time to drive the buggy on carpet he said it is quite different to the Yokomo but having had a full day of open practice yesterday he has fully adapted his driving so ‘no problem’.  Looking for more steering he will change the car for the first timed practice but said he would leave that change to make to his Japanese mechanic.

Describing the track as ‘pretty challenging’, Bayer continued ‘many drivers have the same speed so its going to make for a competitive weekend’.  Running the same prototype XB2 as he raced in Wels, the set-up also pretty much the same,  the Czech driver said ‘so far everything with the car is good’ adding that improvement in pace are going to more likely come from how he drives it.  Team-mate Martin Wollanka took his example to the 8th fastest time.  The Austrian is also ‘happy with the car’ and when asked about how he was driving replied, ‘there is always room for improvement with my driving’.

Schumacher’s Simon Moss, the first time Hudy Racing Arena visitor blown away by the facility, would record the 4th fastest time.  The Round 3 fourth place finisher declared his free practice as having gone ‘really well’.  Very complimentary of the new carpet having managed eight runs on the same set of the championship handout Schumacher tyres in open practice yesterday, he said the only set-up change he has made is to his diff oil.  Going up to 20k this has helped give his KF2 more low end drive.  Team-mate Michal Orlowski, star of Wels before a speedo issue cost him the win in A1, would post the 6th fastest time.  The Polish driver said having found he had too much grip yesterday he ‘made a lot of small changes’.  Also changing his diff oil from 10 to 15k, he said he was now happy with the car and the plan was too ‘now just drive it’.

Making the trip over from the US, multiple World Champion Ryan Cavalieri posted the 5th fastest time.  The Team Associated driver, who is running a B5M with an after market gearbox that allows the motor to sit more forward in the buggy, said he ‘finally picked up the pace a little in the last one’.  Having just focused on getting in a lot of driving on the carpet surface yesterday, today he has worked on tuning his set-up.  Describing the track as ‘pretty challenging’ he said he likes the layout particularly the fast corners and the 180s.  ‘Just a couple of tenths off’, he said they need to get the balance of the car, which sports a non-standard rear shock tower, better and once they sort that he said the consistency is there to mix it at the front.

AE team-mate Carson Wernimont ended the free practice 7th fastest.  His third EOS race appearance, the American said the grip is completely different to what he experienced previously. With ‘way more grip’, he said it was ‘super edgy to drive, (and) the car is everywhere’.  Looking to try and keep the car ‘flat on the track’, the EOS round 1 2WD Top Qualifier said they still have work to do with the chassis set-up.  Team-mate and Associated designer Kody Numedahl, who was 11th fastest, said he is ‘just not pushing like the others’ who he added are ‘attacking the jumps more’ but said that was normal for him in practice.  Commenting on his pace he said while he wouldn’t be striving for it 11th would probably be ‘a blessing in disguise’ as it would seed him in the second fastest qualifying heat.

Making his Yokomo offroad team debut, Marc Rheinard said ‘the pace is good but I need to get 3 proper laps together’.  His first time to run the car yesterday he said the YZ-2 which he ran with a set-up from Lee Martin was good and since then the only changes he has made have been playing around with the battery position.  Behind him Serpent’s Joern Neumann completed the Top 10.  The German described his buggy as ‘medium’  adding its ‘too lazy and needs more steering’.

View the event image gallery here.

Track Focus – Hudy Racing Arena

Name – Hudy Racing Arena
Club – Private Track
Country – Slovakia
Location – Trencin (120 km North East of Bratislava)
Direction – Clockwise
Surface – Carpet tiles
Previous key events hosted – 2014 EOS, 2013 & 2014 ETS Season Finale

The Hudy Racing Arena plays host to its second Euro Offroad Series race, the impressive multiple track venue having being chosen as the location for the season finale of the fourth running of the 1:10 Electric Offroad championship. Part of the World renowned 25,000 square metre facility that also houses the factory of both Xray and Hudy, this year the Arena has invested in all new carpet for the construction of the European style artificial surface offroad track.

Built in an area 34 metre long by 28 over the Arena’s indoor onroad asphalt track, the new carpet came about following Round 3 of the championship.  Held at the Wels Hobby Show in Austria,  Austria, carpet tiles provided by the show organisers would prove very durable leading series organiser Uwe Rheinard to make enquiries about the grade of the carpet.  Sourcing it to an Italian manufacturer, the EOS passed on the information to the Arena who had the carpet – which rather than coming in rolls is supplied in large tiles – ordered specifically for the EOS season finale.  A darker colour to that used in Wels, a less obvious difference in the new carpet is the weave.  Using a looped weave, the wear is almost minimal with all drivers praising how it feels saying it has the best of both worlds – good grip and low tyre wear.  Already working on plans for Season #5 of the EOS, Rheinard said the championship is looking to invest getting its own stock of the carpet which it will transport to all races to ensure consistency and that racers tyre usage is greatly reduced by the low wear.

Newly crowned 2WD Champion Lee Martin said the ‘new surface is really good’.  The Yokomo driver continued, ‘its very durable, it doesn’t tear, looks really nice and has low tyre wear’.  Chasing the 4WD title this weekend, when asked about the layout Martin said, ‘they have done a great job of making it look good and to drive its pretty good but it lacks landing jumps’.  The driver he is battling for the title with, reigning 3-time 4WD Champion Joern Neumann also gave the new carpet a thumbs up saying ‘it’s very good’ also highlighting the good traction and low tyre wear.  On the layout he said it was ‘pretty good’ but added ‘personally I dont like angled jumps’.