IFMAR 1/8 track Pre-Worlds 2013 (update 1)

Quite interesting to see these two active at the track.. is HB into something?

On another note some more pics from today's action:

Adrien Bertin's car: (note that now the KM car features a wire front rollbar as per the the current norm)

Meen with his car:

Fukuda's KM Racing car features wheel hub carbon discs similar to those of the MRX-5 and Viper 977:

Current World Champion, Robert and his mechanic Felix in the pits:

Source: Facebook (KM)

IFMAR 1/8 track Pre-Worlds 2013

This coming weekend the pre-Worlds for the 2013 IFMAR World Championships take place in Japan at the track called Kei-Tune, near Tokyo.
The information is pretty limited but some Japanese blogs do post a few interesting photos and videos











Robert Pietch at work:

Fukuda and his KM-Racing car

Shimo and his Mugen MRX-5 car

Adrien Bertin (1999 World Champion) back racing 1/8 with KM Racing

erpent Viper 977.

Some other racers:

Shimo's MRX-5 and Fukuda's KM Racing:




Yuya Sahashi's Serpent 977 Viper: 




Source:
1. JMRCA
2. Keitune Track
3. Airknack Racing blog
4. Facebook (Siribodhi / Takeshita)

Japanese Blog on painting

I randomly came across a Japanese blog dedicated in paintjobs on both lexan bodies and static models.
I think his work is impressive

Art Factory Tomokyo

some of my favorite:

KM Racing K1 1/8 onroad car

1/10th scale IFMAR World Champions, Meen Vejrak and Keisuke Fukuda have started their preparations for the upcoming 1/8 World Championships in Japan. Below are their all new KM Racing cars K1 1/8 onroad.

Meen's car

Keisuke's car

Sourse: Facebook page of Kenny

How it started

1. Dad buys the TAMIYA Cheetah

2. Which is the followed by the TAMIYA Fast Attack

3. Kit Nr. 3 is a TAMIYA FROG

4. Dad thinks it is wise to surpass the FROG with a 4wd and buys the TAMIYA EGRESS - The beginning of the end is near

5. I notice an advertisement of a gas powered buggy car called MUGEN. I looked for more information and then I visited the local importer and had a close look at the kit. I couldn't afford to buy it so at first I was just visiting the race tracks to watch the cars in action. A few months later I bought a Yokomo YZ-10 Dogfighter. Since then I am addicted in r/c racing. 

Masami Hirosaka & 1/8 track

In 2011 we saw Atsushi Hara make an impressive, one-time, appearance at the 1/8 ic onroad IFMAR World Championshis. He qualified in 2nd overall behind current World Champion, Robert Pietsch.  The man behind this participation of Hara in 1/8th scale onroad is known to be his friend Mr. Kazuya Yurugi who runs the company producing mainly foam tyres, Zac Products.

Masami's car

 

This time around it seems that the same person has his sights on another legend, the one and only Massami Hirosaka.
Masami took part last weekend in the famous KoPropo Grand Prix. It seems he did rather well, running a Mugen MRX-5 and a very intersting power unit called STS. Have a look at the videos below and pay attention to the inside of the engine and the exhaust pipe..





Could all this be a hint of things to come and maybe see Masami compete in the upcoming 2013 World Championships in Japan? Rumor has it that Atsushi will participate again so lets see..

Source: 
1)Asiarc.info
2)haobike (via facebook)
3)rctech.com.tw
4)Team Silverstone WB/RC (via facebook)

2013 National Championship Round 1 (Update video A Final Nr.2)

Last weekend was the 1st race of 2013 for the 1/10 scale EP Touring class.
We had nice weather with only a few clouds, a bit of wind that made things complicated and temperatures varying from 16 degrees to 26 within the day, depending on cloudiness.

I arrived at the track on Saturday around 4 in the afternoon, managed to do a few runs and left the track being pleased with the progress I had made during practice. My first run had lap times around the 19.2 sec range and in my last run I had dropped to 18.0 flat. That was 0.5 clear of my nearest rival on the day, Nick Geo who amusingly chose to register his AMB with a different name, Andreas.

Sunday of course is raceday and nothing is won on Saturday so I knew that everything is open.
And so it proved to be.. “to finish first, you first have to finish”
1st Qual run, stuck behind slower car of Andreas for 3 laps, then an error of my judgment resulted in contact with him that striped my tyre which then broke into pieces in the front straight.
2nd Qual run, small stone hits the spur right before the start and my run is over before it even started
3rd Qual run, started well, had to go through all the cars starting in front of me, still running at a comfortable TQ run pace till my battery decided to say goodbye.
All Qual runs were done and I was out of the Amain, sitting dead last in overall standings.

That pretty much summed up my luck of the day which continued all through the finals.

I take some consolidation from the fact that my pace was very good and I am confident that with the package I have I can be competitive even though I can only afford a few runs on Saturday prior to each race.


Leaving my performance aside the race was one of the best races in this class we have had in years. A record number of participants, many new racers and many more returning back into the action with respectable performance and a lot of different car manufacturers represented, in combination with strong anticipation from racers and spectators on who is fastest had set the scene for a memorable race.


We had entries from: (alphabetical order)
Cars
AWESOMATIX
HPI/HB
KYOSHO
SCHUMACHER
TAMIYA
TOP
XRAY
YOKOMO

Tyres
LRP
NOSRAM
RIDE
SOREX
SWEEP

Electronics:
ADVANCED ELECTRONICS
HB
HOBBYWING
LRP
MUCH MORE
NOSRAM
SPEEDPASSION
TEAM ORION

If I forgot any manufacturer, please feel free to add into comments.

Being also part of the organization and being the chairman of the category it was a great pleasure to receive such positive feedback from the racers and have their support in our efforts to provide well organized races. My only regret is the delay in the time schedule which we will try and improve considerably for the future races.

The 3 Amains provided little action at the front as current National Champion, Nick/Andreas “the kid” Georgiadis left no margin for any challenge of the lead from the other racers and won comfortably the race. The B and C main finals on the other hand provided plenty of action with many lead changes, strong comebacks and remarkable performances.

Next race is on the 26th of May at a great track about 3 hours away from Athens and the locals will make sure that their winning performance of last year will be repeated once more.

Soon more photos and videos..

A Final Run 1



My crappy luck also hit my video recording and only now realized that I did not record the whole 2nd A Final. Still you may enjoy most of it below: