Video – 1/10th Qualifying Rd1

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-fOwbHxYEk[/youtube]

Mazzeo takes opening ENS qualifier

2013 European Champion Alessio Mazzeo has TQ’d the opening round of 200mm qualifying at the Euro Nitro Series season opener in Bologna, Italy.  With rain affecting the schedule for the first official day of the event, when qualifying did get underway on a dry track it was the championship debutant who put his Serpent at the top of the times.  Just 0.185 behind, last year’s Round 1 Top Qualifier Teemu Leino would post the second fastest time with the Top 3 being completed by Mazzeo’s Serpent team-mate Dominic Greiner.  It was a poor start to qualifying for reigning Champion Eric Dankel and World Champion Alexander Hagberg as they managed only the 9th and 19th fastest times respectively.

‘A good start’ was Mazzeo’s reaction, the 23-year-old highlighting the fact that this is his first outing in the ENS.  With all drivers starting out on a brand new set of Matrix tyres, the Italian company the official tyre supplier for Round 1, the Italian said as a result the traction at the start was not perfect on the large tyres but over the run his Gimar powered 748 improved.  Asked if the rain had affected the track in any way he said for him it was the same as yesterday when drivers tested in sunny conditions.  For Q2, which is hoped to run today as more rain is forecast for tomorrow, he said as he is ‘very happy’ with his car he will leave it unchanged.

Using some colourful language to describe a driver that delayed him on the final lap of the qualifier costing him the TQ, Leino said other than this he was happy with the run and the important thing was he has a good run to his credit should the weather take a turn.  Describing his R10 as feeling good, the Finn said the track is ‘an engine track’ and in that department everything was working well too.

Greiner wasn’t happy with his run and in particular with his own driving.  The World Championship Top Qualifier said while his 748 had a little oversteer, a few small mistakes over the 4-minutes were down to him not driving well.  While the car got better he said the ‘oversteer was not much’ and for Q2 he will only make a weight distribution adjustment to the weights positioned in the chassis under the tank.  ‘Always looking for more power’, the German said his engine was a little too rich so there should also be improvement from getting this right for the next run.

Running Xray’s new NT1’15, Bruno Coelho posted the 4th fastest time.  The Portuguese star, who has been at the L.Collari RC Raceway all week for testing, described his car and Max engine as ‘super good’ but a mistake cost him a Top 3 for the round.  Happy to run the car as is for Q2 he will just focus on trying to tidy up his driving and making a clean run.

Setting the fifth fastest time Jilles Groskamp said ‘it was just a steady run’.  His first nitro outing with his new HB team, the Dutch ace said after a lot of trouble with his set-up on arriving at the track, a switch to Leino’s shock set-up for Q1 improved the car a lot.  Finding the race tyres to have more traction than the sets he used in practice, he said for a first run it was ‘not bad’ and ‘step by step’ they were making progress.

Completing the Top 6 was Dirk Wischnewski.  The Shepherd driver said it was a ‘difficult run’ with traction an issue for the former European Champion.  Describing his pace as ‘just too slow’, he said the track felt like it had less traction than in practice and he also looked to have less traction than the other cars on track. To try improve this he will try a little harder shock set-up for Q2.

Having been right on the pace in practice yesterday, Dankel said his Capricorn was ‘super slow’ in Q1 with the car suffering from understeer. With his Tesla engine also going rich towards the end of the run, the German said the only thing he can put the lack of pace down to is the fitting of a new bodyshell.  Suffering a heavy crash in practice but seeing out the day with the damaged body he said he fitted a new Protoform SRS to his car for qualifying but for some reason it brought in understeer.  For Q2 he said he will revert back to his rather secondhand looking SRS bodyshell.

Hagberg was clearly frustrated with his car, the factory Xray driver saying ‘I can’t even drive it in a straight line’.  Struggling with the car he said this led to a couple of mistakes one of which lost him more than 10-seconds. With the issue developing in practice yesterday he said there is ‘something wrong’ with the car as he hasn’t been able to get the car in any way drivable.

View complete event results here.

View our event image gallery here.

Chassis Focus – Eric Dankel

Chassis – Capricorn LAB C03 2015
Engine – Tesla T12
Fuel – Maxima
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa
Body – Protoform SRS

Remarks – Reigning ENS 200mm champion Eric Dankel is running a 2015 version of the Capricorn LAB C03. Making the switch over the off season to the Tesla engines – a brand owned by Capricorn – the main differences from the stock car are the optional chassis, meant to be stiffer in the rear end, and a new front bumper. The German is also using the front upper arm holders from the 2014 version of the car, which allow for a slightly higher roll center.

Chassis Focus – John Ermen

Chassis – ARC R8.0
Engine – Reds W7 WCS
Fuel – Tornado
Tires (handout) – Matrix
Radio/Servo – Sanwa/Savox
Body – Blitz TS030

Remarks – Recently signed by Taiwanese company ARC, 2014 ENS race winner John Ermen is giving the 1:8 onroad newcomer’s brand new R8.0 its international race debut this weekend in Bologna. The Reds Racing powered car is equipped with a substantial list of option parts.  The entire drivetrain features kevlar pulleys while the front end features carbon fibre wheel discs, lower shock mounts and ackermann levers. On the rear end, the Dutch driver has opted for the optional “flex” driveshaft mount and is also running ProjectX quick release hubs all round.

Track Focus – L.Collari RC Raceway

Track Name – L.Collari RC Raceway
Owner – Lamberto Collari
Country – Italy
Location – Bologna
Direction – Anti-clockwise
Surface – Asphalt
Previous key events hosted – 1:8 European B Championships, 1:5 European Championships

The 2015 Euro Nitro Series starts at a track that is a temple to r/c racing itself.  Built in 1978, what was originally known as Pista Futura, is the first ever permanent track to be built in Italy, a country widely recognised as the spiritual home of onroad racing.  Adding to the history of the track is the fact it is where the career of a certain Lamberto Collari started out.  Just 6-years old when the track was built, the 9-time World Champion learned his craft around the 305 metre long circuit.  In 2013, the history of the acclaimed track took on a new chapter as one of the all time legends of the sport together with Luca Rauli took over the running of what is now known as L.Collari RC Raceway.

While it has received fresh asphalt a number of times, the last resurface being 7-years ago, a unique fact about the track is that in its 37-years of existence it has retained its original high speed layout.  Situated in Bologna, just 5km from Colllari’s hobby shop ‘Collari Modellismo’, the track last year hosted the 1:8 European B Championships and other key events it has hosted include the 1:5 European Championships that it will again host in 2016. At local level the track has approximately 80 members who race 1:10 & 1:8 nitro and large scale.  In terms of the layout, L.Collari RC Raceway is a power track with 1:8 running on full throttle for almost half a lap.

Image Gallery