June 12, 2015

Groskamp tops free practice at ENS

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Jilles Groskamp set the pace in free practice at Round 2 of the Euro Nitro Series in Austria.  On his first visit to the Aigen-Schlägl track, the HB driver set the fastet lap from Dirk Wischnewski and last year’s race winner Dominic Greiner.  In complete contrast to last year’s Austrian encounter when rain halted the opening day’s action, a very hot day meant the top 3 set their best laps in the cooler conditions of the first of the five free practice rounds. For Round 1 Top Qualifier Teemu Leino and race winner Bruno Coelho they would end the free practice 5th and 6th fastest respectively.

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While his fastest time came when track conditions were at their best in the morning, Groskamp said he was happy with the pace of his Maxima powered R10.  Running the car very similar to how it ran when he finished on the podium at Rund 1 in Bologna, he said the main difference is he is running a softer spring to help the car with the bumpier surface.  Happy with his car he said today’s focus has very much been on engines. Having run Novarossi based engines at Round 1, Maxima have moved to OS based units which the Dutch ace said in addition to having more power have better drivability.  Team-mate Leino said ‘should be there now with the set-up’ but added he is waiting to see how the car works on the handout Contact tyres come qualifying.  Running Novarossi engines in his R10, the Finn said the long straight and an infield full with many 180 degress corners make it difficult to get a good tuning with the low traction also playing a part as you ‘can’t have too much punch’.

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Wischnewski was happy with his practice in particular his last run which the Team Shepherd driver said despite the hot conditions was ‘very good’.  Playing around with bodyshells and wing position today to try and alleviate understeer in the sweeper he said its always going to be a compromise.  Commenting on tyre wear he said ‘its huge’ and he believes 2-tyre stops will be necessary for the final.  While tyre wear normally reduces as more cars lay down rubber and build up traction the German said here it has just stayed the same from the first open practice run yesterday.

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Serpent’s Greiner said every run he was making changes to his Max powered 748 Natrix to try and find more steering but said the traction and nature of the track meant the problem was never going to be solved.  Despite having to drive around the oversteer, the German said his car was ‘fast & easy to drive’ and he predicts a very close qualifying between the Top 6.  For the first of the two timed practices, the driver’s fastest 3-laps counting for the seeding of the qualifying heats, he will prepare a new bodyshell as well as running a harder rear diff.  Set to give more forward traction he joked maybe this will help him find an extra ‘half a 1/10th of a second’.

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With work commitments forcing reigning champion Eric Dankel from making the trip to Austria, it is his Capricorn team-mate Thilo Todtmann who leads the Italian manufacturer in 1:10 this weekend. Setting the 4th fastest time, he described his practice as having gone ‘great’.  Liking the track layout, saying its more of a drivers track than Bologna which was all about power, he said his big focus has been making his LAB CO-3 easier to drive on the high curbing.  Also running two Tesla engines over the day he said he has both a good qualifying and race engine, the race engines set to be able to save him at least one fuel stop in the final.

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Completing the Top 6, Coehlo described his practice pace as ‘so, so’.  The Portuguese star said he had been running a spare Max engine to save his qualifying engine and expects that once thats in his NT1 it should bring him some more speed.  Looking to improve the car’s rotation in the corner as well as finding more steering, a combination he himself said was not going to be easy to achieve. World Champion team-mate Alexander Hagberg also described his pace as ‘so, so’.  Setiing only the 10th fastest lap time the Swede said his ‘car is not very good’ with corner speed needing to be worked on.  With two timed practices before the day ends with the opening round of qualifying he said ‘we will keep trying changes and see what that does’,

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June 12, 2015

Track Focus – Aigen-Schlägl

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Track Name – Aigen-Schlägl
Club – Modell Auto Verein Aigen-Schlägl
Country – Austria
Location – Aigen-Schlägl (50km Northwest of Linz)
Direction – Clockwise
Surface – Asphalt
No. of ENS Races hosted – 1 (2014)

Situated in the hilly Austrian countryside 7km from border with the Czech Republic and 10km from the German border, the Aigen-Schlägl track plays host to Round 2 of the Euro Nitro Series.  One of the tracks that made up the inugaural season of the ENS last year, the most noticeable difference is the weather.  602 metres above sea level, the 2014 event was a very wet and cold affair but drivers have been greeted on the first official day of this year’s event by very hot conditions and the good news is other than a small chance of some overnight rain on Saturday it’s set to be three days of dry competition.  Built in 2006, since the last ENS visit the track has undergone some major expansion work to the pit area that has almost doubled in size with full covered pit spaces for 120 drivers.  One very nice feature of the expansion in the electric shutters which run the lenght of the pits and which automatically close when the wind picks up.  The improvements, which also includes a new perimeter fence around the facility, was funded by sponsorship from local businesses and support from the local Aigen government.

Featuring a 65 metre long straight which rises by 5-degrees, the track layout is proving very popular with drivers.  Two drivers on their first visit to the track are Round 1 winner Bruno Coehlo and Jilles Groskamp.  Coelho described it as one of the best tracks he has ever been to but the Xray driver added it was a difficult track to get right.   Groskamp also really likes the layout but having watched video’s from last year’s event he said it’s a lot more narrow in reality.  Decribing it as ‘quite technical’ the HB driver said the up & down layout makes gearing very important with the centre section a critical spot as you enter it from a slightly downhill approach making it easy to overshoot.

Round 1 1:8 podium finisher Andrea Pirani said this is the most difficult track he has raced on.  The WRC driver claimed clean lines and accuracy with braking are key to a good lap.  The Italian added if you push you just go slower and the laps that seem slow are those that produce the best lap times.  Winner of the event last year in the wet, ARC’s John Ermen joked ‘it’s too dry’ when asked what he thought of the track.  The Dutch driver said he ‘really like(s) the flow of the layout’ but with such a ‘narrow grip line’ it’s very easy to overshoot and miss apexes.  He added with the low traction the tyre wear is ‘dramatic’.

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June 11, 2015

Euro Nitro Series heads to Austria

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After a hugely successful season opener in Bologna, Italy, back in April, Round 2 of the Euro Nitro Series takes some of the world’s best drivers to Aigen, Austria, this weekend (June 12-14). The second year the track has played host to the ENS, this being a 1:8 World Championship year it is RC racing’s formula 1 category that has attracted the larger entry. Not to be out done however the battle for 1:10 Touring car honours looks set to be just as fiercely contested as like 1:8 it has attracted a world class entry including the reigning World Champion Alexander Hagberg.

A wet race last year it was top Dutch driver John Ermen who took the win from champion elect Simon Kurzbuch. Having switched from Xray to ARC for the 2015 season, Italy was very much a learning exercise for Ermen and the class newcomer but this weekend they should benefit from input from a much expanded team. Joining Ermen and will be the ARC’s ETS star Lars Hoppe and new recruit Silvio Hachler, the Worlds Finalist having started the Season #2 with Mugen.

For Kurzbuch, 5th at Round 1 was not the result the Shepherd driver was looking for to open his title defence and the Swiss driver is aiming to make up for that at the second of the championship’s four rounds. Shepherd took the TQ honours with Oliver Mack in Austria last year and that will be his first target of the weekend because of the championship bonus point it carries. Finishing one place behind his Shepherd team-mate at the season opener with a sixth place, Francesco Tironi was the 1:10 Top Qualifier at Aigen last year and while the wet final was troubled, the popular Italian is sure to be in the mix again in 1:8.

Taking the TQ in Italy but having issues during his pit stops that would leave him to finish second behind Lamberto Collari, lead Capricorn driver Dario Balestri is expected to be the benchmark for the weekend.

After a very impressive showing in Bologna when he claimed his & his small WRC team’s first ENS podium finish, Andrea Pirani will be aiming to build on that form. Having raced for the smallest manufacturer in the championship, Pirani now finds himself with a team-mate, none other than former 1:10 World Champion Daniele Ielasi. Two drivers that have worked successfully with small Italian manufacturers, their combined efforts should be a big benefit to WRC.

The best represented manufacturer in the A-Main at Round 1 and the championship’s most winning manufacturer, Mugen are looking to make it 2 from 2. With privateer Mugen drivers Collari and Alberto Picco skipping Round 2 , the Japanese manufacturer will turn to factory drivers Robert Pietsch and Rick Vriejlink to deliver results. Problems with his car in Bologna, having qualified 4th, meant former World Champion Pietsch ended the 45-minute encounter 10th.

At Serpent, Merlin Depta was their only driver to make the A-Main in Bologna but Michael Salven qualified second in Aigen last year and will be hoping for a stronger overall team performance this weekend.

In 1:10 there will be a number of drivers trying to make up for costly Round 1 errors. Having taking a very convincing TQ, HB/HPI Racing’s Teemu Leino was in charge of the final when he clipped the pit lane entry pulling a wheel off his R10. Serpent’s Dominic Greiner, who qualified third would also go out in a similar way. Reigning champion Eric Dankel had a terrible start to his title defence the Capricorn driver not even making the main final.

Marking his ENS debut with a win in Bologna, Bruno Coehlo’s form since the breakthrough victory has excelled with the Portuguese star going onto to claim his first Euro Touring Series win in Luxembourg recently. The factory Xray driver’s World Champion team-mate Alexander Hagberg joined him on the podium at Round 1 making them a formidable force going into Round 2. Separating the Xray duo at Round 1, Jilles Groskamp will be looking to build on his successful nitro debut with HB. Like Coelho, the Dutch ace has also established a strong rapport with his new team he too enjoying success at the ETS in Luxembourg where he finished on the podium having won A1.

Carrying local interest at Round 2 with be Team Shepherd’s Gerhard Kandelhart, the Austrian bumping up from the B-Main to finish fourth in Italy. Team-mate & 2014 championship runner-up Dirk Wischnewski had a tough time at Round 1 running only one lap of the race’s 45-minutes due to an engine failure. Having qualified 2nd behind team-mate Tironi at last year’s event, the former European champion will be aiming to get his second season with the German manufacturer on track this weekend with a competitive result.

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April 20, 2015

Collari gives rivals a ‘master class’ to win ENS opener

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A track where back in 1978 a 6-year-old Lamberto Collari would begin a career that has brought him 9-time World Champion titles, today the legend of the sport gave his rivals a master class in how to execute the perfect final as he took victory in the season opener of the Euro Nitro Series.  Now owner of the L.Collari RC Raceway, Collari claimed his third ENS win by a full lap over Top Qualifier Dario Balestri with Andrea Pirani completing the podium in Bologna. The honour of best non Italian fell to defending champion Simon Kurzbuch who would finish 5th behind Alberto Picco after a difficult race.

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A track where Collari was expected to win he said at the start of the weekend he was ‘actually not so sure’ it was possible.  With the ENS 140 entry creating high grip on the track he said it was like driving a new track but they worked hard and ‘everything came together’ and he was able to take a convincing victory.  Expecting a strong challenge from Balestri the master of race strategies went for two less fuel stops than the reigning European Champion. Pitting for tyres half way through the race the unsponsored Mugen/OS driver said at the end of the first stint his handout Matrix ‘tyres were done’.  Able to run a more conservative second half to the 45-minute main he said he reached the finish with the tyres still OK.  Keen to add the ENS title to his list of achievement he said the result is a good start to that aspiration and he is looking forward to Round 2 in Austria in June.

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Having led the way in qualifying taking three of the six qualifiers and leading for the first 10-minutes of the final Balestri said everything was good but twice he suffered problem with the bodyshell during refuelling that cost him valuable seconds each time.  The Capricorn/Tesla driver slightly frustrated at having not been able to beat Collari in his own backyard said ‘we will see at the next race if we can beat him’.

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Claiming his first ENS podium finish WRC driver and designer Andrea Pirani was very happy with the result.  Making a mistake at the first corner which dropped him from his 3rd place starting position to 5th, he said he lost a lot of time behind Robert Pietsch and it was difficult to overtake the Mugen as he was defending strongly his position.  With this allowing Collari and Balestri to pull away he said once he was passed Pietsch he was able to establish a good rhythm managing to pull some time back on Balestri towards the end of the race.  Stopping for tyres after 20-minutes he said their tyre calculations for the race were good and it was a ‘quick stop’.

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Having looked in contention for at least a top 3 finish unfortunately for Picco an engine cut 13-minutes in to the final would end his challenge for a podium.  Coming out of the pits he said instead of exiting full power he went half throttle but his engine went rich and before he could catch it it cut. After that he said ‘not easy to catch back up’ but as a race he drove with no mistakes over the 45-minutes and he was ‘happy with that’.  His best ENS finish to date, the vastly experienced Italian said his car, engine and tyres were all good and had better pace than finishing 4th.

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‘That wasn’t my best race’ was how a disappointed Kurzbuch summed up the first race of his title defence.  The Team Shepherd driver made a mistake at the beginning that would leave his Velox V8 tweaked.  Taking a little consolation from being the best non Italian finisher, the Swiss driver said the big problem was that he ‘made a lot of errors’.  With his pitcrew ‘making a perfect job’ he said the errors were all from his side.  While he gave his best he said he hoped for better at the next round at the Aigen track.

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While Kurzbuch’s Shepherd team-mate Francesco Tironi would complete the Top 6, his main title rival of 2014 Pietsch would too suffer a bad start to his championship campaign.  Retiring in the final 10-minutes of the race with a broken clutch, the 2011 World Champion said from the start of the race his Picco powered MRX5 ‘felt strange’ with him having no rear traction and he couldn’t understand how it had become so bad until after the race. On inspecting the car for which he was responsible for designing he found two key screws missing from the rear of the chassis of a car.  Screws he ‘normally never open’, he was at a loss to explain how they went missing.

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