- Kyosho RB5SP2WC - David Ronnefalk - European Championship - Fehring - 10.07.2012 -



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Used Equipment
  • Kyosho Ultima RB-5 SP2 WC
  • Team Orion R10Pro Speed Controller
  • Team Orion VTS 8.5 Motor
  • Team Orion Carbon Pro WTS LiPo
  • AKA 1/10 HexLite wheels
  • AKA 1/10 Red Inserts
  • AKA 1/10 Rebar Soft Front tires
  • KO Propo EX-1 KYI Radio
  • KO Propo RSx H.D. Response Servo


    European Championship 1/10 2WD

    Then it was time for another trip to Fehring in Austria and this time it’s was Davids first 1/10 EP Buggy European Championship.

    We started the journey by flying down from Copenhagen to Vienna together with some of the other drivers from south of Sweden.
    On the way to Fehring we made a stop in Traiskirchen and visited the final race of the ETS and talked with the Swedish drivers Viktor Wilck, Alexander Hagberg, Niclas Nilsson, Magnus Wässmar and “half swede” Andreas Myberg.
    After watching some of the finals we continued to the nice small hotel Villa Thermal and then checked the track out.

    The track was shortened with 1/3 comparing who the last time we were here for the 1/8 GP buggy EC-Warm up in April. This day it was really warm weather with temperature over 33 degree Celsius, and that’s a lot for us living in the “cold and rainy” Sweden.


    The 1/10 track from the driver stand


    The race schedule are 3 days of 2WD and 3 days of 4WD
    Mon/Thu – 7 rounds free practice
    Tue/Fri – 2 rounds timed practice and 3 round of qualifying.
    Wed /Sat- 2 rounds of qualifying and Finals


    So the first day of driving was Monday and the 7 rounds of free practice in the 2WD class.

    The regulated tire for the race is PL Holeshot M3 and M4. I don’t know why it’s two types, but someone thought it was because it’s only the first part of the part number printed on the tires and as the compound dot disappear it’s impossible to see the differences.

    The focus for the day was to learn the track, find a good setup and make a choice between M3/M4 compounds and type of inserts.
    After the 7 rounds David was ranked 3rd on 2 laps counted. This don´t mean so much but of cause it gives a hint.

    The track was really dry and dusty and started to brake up, but the arriving rain after the gave hope to make the track better later on.


    The “3-finger” jump started to brake up


    Tuesday – Time Practice / Qualifying day 1

    Time Practice 1
    As it rained last night and in same time the organizer made some preparation on the track, it was completely different and the three-whoopies part was repaired and they pit some “road-line” stuff to prevent drivers to go beside the jump.
    This run he tested M4 with stock foams and it was good on the little wet surface.
    After Davids run it was a pause on 10 minutes, and because of this and the “no-nitro-sound” he was little late to his marchall position as they already started to release the cars for the practice.
    Because of his late arrival he got a really hard punishment as they will take away his best qualification round.
    It was a really bad thing to be late, and in same time the punishment is really hard.

    Time Practice 2
    At timed practice 2 David tried M4 with AKA inserts and new Rebar SuperSoft in front, and the car was much batter and he made two 32.xx laps after each other and ended as car two in the 2-lap list thats shows in the practice result and determs the starting order for the first qualification round.


    Some car adjustments


    Qualifying round 1
    As starting number 2 and the pressure to make a good run David made a really good driving and he put some fast laps (the best on the track so far) and even if he made 2 mistakes and lost around 2 seconds he finished the first qualifying round as ar two and that result was a big surprise.

    Qualifying round 2
    In the second qualifying he had the same tire choice of tires and car setup, and stull starting as car 2 after Lee Martin he made a almost perfect round with only one small mistakes and again he ended 2nd in the round.
    This shows that he as usual drive best under pressure, a thing that we have seen alot earlier.

    Qualifying round 3
    In for the third qualifying round he put on new tires and the car was a bit understeering in the begining.
    He drove a bit safer to try get a result that’s secure an A-Main spot but made a few mistakes (normal for him when he driving safe).
    But he ended 7 in the round and we hoped that 9 points whould be enougth for the A-Main.

    The clouds started to be dark in the sky and they speeded the time between the rest of the qualifications to finish the round before the rain and preventing a cancel of the round.
    We really hoped that the rain should stay away as a cancellation of this round would punish David even more, and we was lucky as the rain started 15 minutes after the last heat.

    Wednesday – qualifying and finals
    With the rain at the nigth the track looked perfect and the day started with a 4 minutes practice, and i think thats a good idea as all drivers get a chance to test the track and in same time the first qualifying heats don’t need to race on a “undriven” track.


    Wednesday - Qualifying day 2 / Finals

    Qualification Round 4
    This was the chance for David to really secure his A-main spot by doing a good run, and this time he started as car 3 after Lee and Hupo (thougth they started after result, but it was after the best qualifying time and Hupo had a better time in Q3.
    Davids start was really good and he got 2 good laps, but then he got stuck behind Hupo for some laps and lost important time. At one spot David had to steer out on the grass to prevent hitting his car, and then David got an warning for “not driving in track”, and it was only a warning but David got really frustrating and made a mistake.
    But he managed to finish the round as car 2 and secured the A-main with starting spot 2 or 3 depending on the results from Qual 5,


    Qualification Round 5
    The goal for Q5 was to keep the 1-2 place on the round to secure the second spot in the starting grid in the A-main.
    He made a really good drive without any mistakes and got the best qualification time for the week 10 5:13:xxx and 2 seconds before Lee Martin.
    This was the result that the race controller DQ:ed but it didn´t do any differences for the qualification result, and as Hupo didn’t got the 1-2 spot David secured the 2nd position at the grid.

    A-Main Practice
    For the practice David tested the M3 compound as he have been driving M4 all qualifications, and the car looked good as he and Lee var fast and close all the practice, but David didn´t like the the M3 compleately so his choice for A1 was to continue with M4.

    A-Main round 1
    In the first final David mad an mistake on the first lap and dropped back in field, but drove up to third, but made some mistakes and finished 8th.
    Now he said that M4 was completely undrivable and that shows how the track changes as he was fast with the M4 in qualifications.

    A-Main round 2
    In the second final David had a good start and passed Lee but an half lap after David made an mistake and was down to 3rd. Then Lee made another mistake and David was second behind the leading Jörn.
    Jörn made an mistake on the stright corner and David passed him an took the lead.
    David then again made an mistake on same tripple-jump as always, and Jörn passed him. On the last lap Jörn made an mistake on the big jump and again they switched positions. On the last corner Jörn made a jump, landed on the grass hitted David and took the win, but after the race controllers had checked the incident, David got the win as it was a clear corner cutting from Jörns side.

    A-Main round 3
    In the last A-Main it was again a good start and he was second after Lee until he made an mistake and David passed him. Again then David made an mistake on the tripple and gave the place back to Lee. The the fight for place 2 started as Jurn catched up David and they switched positions an couple of times until Jurn made a bigger mistake and David had some space back, but also up to Lee so Lee took the second win and the Euro Champion title before David that finished 2nd in the final and also in total.
    David also got the title “Best Youngser” at the race.


    2WD Podium, 3:rd Neil Craigg, 2:nd David Ronnefalk, 1:st Lee Martin


    Summarize
    To summarize the 2WD part of this EC we must say we was lucky about the weather as it started to rain after the races all days. From Davids part the result was way much better than we thought before the race, especially as the only 1/10 driving since the winter was the Swedish Cup in March and Swedish Nats the week before the Euros.

    Of course David must start to do some more practice/driving of 1/10, specially jumping :-)
    The car was really good and it was no issues with the electrics at all and the only downside from my view was the allowance of 2 types of compounds of the regulated tires.
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