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August 12, 2008

Wet track delays start to qualifying

Peter Jovanovic and rest of the Australians

Overnight rain here in Lisbon caused a delay to the start of proceedings as race organisers decided to wait an hour to allow the track to dry before starting the first qualifier of the 2008 IFMAR World Championships. Drivers from Groups 1-7 have just finished their two qualifiers for today, and are free to hit the beach, while Groups 8-15 are getting ready to kick start their battle for the Day 1 TQ honours. Peter Jovanovic, who was one of the stars at the last World Championships for 1:10 200mm in Brisbane where he claimed a podium finish, is loving the track here in Lisbon. The talented young Aussie says his car is working perfectly and he would rate the track as one of the best he has ever driven. Jovanovic says the circuit is a lot more flowing than he is used to back home and learning it has been his biggest obstacle so far. Now that he is mastering the bumps he’s really happy with his progress.

Check out the full coverage on our event site here.

August 11, 2008

Groskamp sets Worlds practice pace

Jilles Groskamp

He was the talk of the paddock when we arrived and he has made it official that he is the pace setter by putting his name at the top of the time sheets as 5 days of practice comes to an end and qualifying for the 2008 1:10 200mm World Championships beckons. Jilles Groskamp produced the fastest run over 10 minutes in the second of today’s two controlled practice notching up 32 laps in 10:12.223 with his Sirio powered Kyosho. Running a larger head shim for the practice, as Team Sirio played with run time, the Dutch star said the car was not as quick but they had plenty of fuel left after the run and the test would now help them to work out a better compromise between power and consumption.

Check out the full coverage on our event site here.

August 11, 2008

Robert Raphael wins Belgian Nats Rd4

We received a brief report from the 4th round of the 1/8th scale Belgian off road national Championships that was run last weekend at the TT-Fays track. Ishima Racing team driver Robert Raphael took Pole position, as well as recording the fastest lap, on his way to the win. Robert was using the new Ishima Rave, together with Picco motors and Medial Pro tyres, and won from Mugen racer Cédric Nickel in 2nd and Jeremy Hanotiaux, racing an RC8, in 3rd.

August 11, 2008

Adam Drake wins JBRL Rd5

Thunder Alley R/C was the host to round 5 of the JBRL Nitro Series this past weekend. The event was very busy with many of the top US drivers in attendance trying to prepare for the IFMAR Worlds. The current IFMAR 1/8th World Champion Mark Pavidis was in attendance along with many other top drivers and when the dust settled from qualifying, it was the Losi 8ight racer Adam Drake that took the TQ by more thqn 3 seconds over HoBao’s Jeremy Kortz. The final was an exciting race with Losi’s Adam Drake and Kyosho’s Cody King, but just like round 4 of the JBRL it was Adam Drake that came out on top, with Cody King 2nd and Ryan Lutz 3rd.

August 11, 2008

200mm Worlds coverage begins

Monsanto track Lisbon

We have finally arrived in Portugal where conditions are overcast making for welcomed cooler conditions. After a quick walk around the pits to say hello to drivers the main talk is that of the blistering pace of the Sirio team drivers and in particular electric touring car ace Jilles Groskamp. The Dutch driver is fast and more importantly very consistent although a 2 speed one-way bearing failure in the warm-up for the first controlled practice means we will have to wait till this evening to get a true indication of his pace over 10-minutes. Groskamp is really happy with the combined pace of his engines and Kyosho chassis which he says are allowing him to comfortably run fast consistent laps.

Check out the full coverage on our event site here.

August 6, 2008

Robin D’hondt wins Belgian Nats Rd4

The 4th round of the Belgian National Championships took place last weekend at the Roeselare track under changeable weather conditions. Qualifying saw the first round take place in dry conditions while the following 2 were wet and damp, with the fourth and final round dry again, raining near the end of the final heat, and it was Gunther Van Staey that took the TQ ahead of Robin D’hondt. Just before the 1/8th scale final it rained again and this was enough to wet the track and had racers scrambling for tires. The main final saw Robin able to take the lead after 1 lap and could drive away from Van Staey, who lost time struggling on the wrong tires. In the closing stages of the race Robin ran out of tires and had to come in for tires in the last 2 minutes to change to dry tires, yet was still able to win by 4 laps from Marc Van Passel in 2nd and Nico Vandewynckel in 3rd.

August 5, 2008

III ATS Tyres Trophy – Announcement

III ATS Tyres Trophy - Announcement

We have been contacted by the good people from the Lamberto Collari Circuit in Cassino, Italy to tell us that they are hosting the ‘III ATS Tyres Trophy’ race there. Taking place from the 23rd to 24th of August it should be good practice for the 1/8th scale EFRA GP that takes place in September and also for the European 1/8th scale ‘B’ Championships that will be held on the same track next year. A lot of top international racers will be in attendance, including newly crowned European Champion Jernej Vuga.

More information about the event can be found here.

August 5, 2008

Rick V wins Dutch 8th Nats Rd4

The 4th round of the Dutch 1/8th scale Nationals took place last weekend at the MACH track in Heemstede and with summer holidays in full swing there were only 44 drivers in attendance. Qualifying started dry but close to the end of the first round it started to rain and it wasn’t until the end of the last series that it had dried up again. Pole position in the NK class went to Mugen racer Rick V, while in the Nomac class it was Serpent racer Jordy Blok that took the top spot. Unfortunately just before the semi finals it started to rain again and this meant a lot of racers didn’t start, but regardless there was enough to fill both the main finals. In the NK class main final it was John Ermen that initially took the lead on a drying track but soon after his engine stalled and this allowed Rick to take over at the front where he stayed for the rest of the race, winning from Motonica racer Daniel van der Drift in 2nd and Mugen driver Michiel Renting 3rd. In the Nomac class, pole man Jordy took the lead but soon after it was birthday boy Roelof Tooms that passed him and he then managed to build up a 6 lap advantage which fell to 2 laps following some engine troubles near the end of the race. But Roelof held on to his lead and took the win from Jordy Blok in 2nd and Emiel Jansen 3rd.

Click more to see the Nomac podium… content