2009 European Championships Review
CML Team Manager reports back from the 2009 EFRA 1/8th Off Road European Championships.
2009 European Championships, Wolbling, Austria
Our travelling party of Neil Cragg, Craig Drescher, Bob Ryan, Anna and I arrived at Vienna airport on Monday afternoon in what cold only be described as torrential rain. Not a promising start but our mood was lightened when we received our hire car which turned out to be a Mercedes Sprinter with seat conversion. A rain lashed drive to the town where we were staying took just over an hour and then we checked into our hotel and grabbed some food and then off to bed.
We arrived at the track just as the track crew were pulling the covers off, Wimbledon style! This, combined with a copious amount of sawdust, had kept the worst of the rain off the track and after a long morning of technical inspection and registration we would have the first practice sessions under way in the afternoon.
Considering the apocalyptic weather conditions the previous week the track was in fine condition.
This first session is untimed and 15 minutes in length. It was very difficult to judge the relative pace of the drivers as the track was changing all the time. Renaud Savoya was in heat 1 and basically this heat acted as the road sweepers and they would have learnt nothing accept which way the track went.
As the round went on the track continued to change and then by the time of heat 12 some very threatening rain clouds and lightning forced an early stoppage to the practice round. The covers came back out just in time and we were to have a deluge once more. The right decision was taken as if they had continued with the round it would have wrecked the track with 3 more heats running on it in full wet conditions. Heats 13 ? 15 would take their turn on Wednesday morning before the timed sessions began.
Wednesday morning and we arrive at the track to be faced by some Gestapo like security guards who under no circumstances would let us unload our van near the entrance. Very unhelpful, and the parking was such that the van ended up a good 5 minute walk away from the pitting, not easy with heavy equipment. Heat 12 would have to play road sweeper as Heat 1 had on Tuesday as more sawdust had been laid to soak up what water had penetrated the covers.
Jon Hazelwood's Hyper 9 Pro, Criag Drescher's RC8B and Lee Martin's RC8B.
When the timed practise sessions got underway, the usual suspects were all in contention and producing good times that would ensure favourable re-seeding. From the CML camp, Neil Cragg had a reasonable first run and without a costly incident about half way through would have been in the top 5. Craig Drescher and Lee Martin also recorded respectable runs and in Lee?s case he was playing catch up having attended the warm up race in May. From the Hobao camp, John Howells was running well and happy with the set up of his car, although Jon Hazelwood was struggling for rear traction at this stage.
The biggest discussion amongst the drivers was tyres as the conditions were totally different than at then warm up race. This resulted in people running all sorts of different treads and compounds in an effort to find a nice balance. This will all probably be irrelevant come qualifying as the grip is coming up as the line is cleaned, and I am sure the that we will be back to where we expected to be come qualifying.
After the second round of timed practise it was BYRON GEN2 fuelled former European Champion Miguel Matias who topped the time sheets with a great run. He was followed by Darren Bloomfield and Yannick Aigoin, both looking fast and secure on PROLINE tyres. Craig Drescher had a good run to place seventh in the second round with a time only 5 seconds away from the ultimate pace. The CML guys had different fortunes and Neil Cragg will return to the settings from the warm up race for qualifying. Lee Martin suffered an unfortunate breakage but was able to return to action late in the heat and was very happy with the car. Jon Howells and Jon Hazelwood made further progress with their Hyper 9?s, Hazelwood sighting a binding wishbone for some of his difficulties.
The opening ceremony took place in the afternoon and was a fairly entertaining affair (unlike normal) and was held in the massive marquee that is being used as the food hall.
The UK Team in all it's glory.
A final short 3 minute run was held in the evening to check the re-seed for any crystal clashes and again Bloomfield and Aigoin looked fast, although it was Associated's Robert Batlle who was ultimately the fastest. Neil Cragg pronounced himself much happier with his car although he felt that he went with a tyre compound that was too hard for the cooler evening conditions.
After these short runs we went straight for food as we were all pretty tired, especially AE?s Richard ?The King? Saxton as he had flown in direct from a race in Australia to help the Associated drivers.
Qualifying started on Wednesday morning with a bright sunny day and the first round saw some good results for our guys. Neil Cragg put his Reedy powered RC8B 4th in the round with fast and controlled drive. In the same heat Craig Drescher was only 2 seconds slower and also put his RC8B in to the top 10 with 9th in round. The UK?s Darren Bloomfield was 8th making it three Brits in the top 10. The first round was all about Jerome Aigoin who set a blistering pace to take TQ by 5 seconds in front of his brother Yannick. Lee Martin ran a safe round to be 21st albeit with an error that cost him 4 seconds which could have seen him challenge the top 10. To emphasise the close nature of the times from 10th to 50th in the first round was covered by a mere 10 seconds and this naturally punishes any mistakes heavily.
Team UK line up.
The second round saw the track starting groove up nicely and it was Yannick Aigoin who this time set an uncatchable pace by setting a time 4 seconds better than his brother had managed in round 1. The RC8B of Robert Batlle was only 1.5 seconds of Yannick's time and looking very fast. The UK guys didn?t fare so well in this round as Craig made a poor tyre choice that made his car very hard to drive and Neil suffered a bizarre engine cut that we couldn?t explain, so in effort to ensure that nothing was a miss we installed Neil?s BRCA engine for round 3 and the problem went away.
Lee Martin managed a run just outside the top 10 which would put him 12th overall at this early stage but Darren Bloomfield had a crash which, coupled with some atrocious marshalling, cost him a massive 10 seconds and thus ruining any chance of a good score.
The HoBao guys were making steady improvements although not really troubling the top of the time sheets at this stage. For the third round the track was really coming up to blue groove conditions yet it also seemed that the times were a little slower than the second round. In this round it was reining champion Renaud Savoya who took the round with a good time yet slower than Yannick managed in round 2. Yannick took second just in front of Robert, and it is looking like qualifying will become a battle between these 3 drivers. Neil was on for a top 6 run but a very costly error of around 6 seconds put him in to the early 20?s in round. Lee Martin continued his strategy of getting three consistent runs on the board which saw him lying 11th overall overnight and he promised to try to go for faster times tomorrow. Craig had an average run that will see him 18th overnight and Darren Bloomfield had a decent run and will be 12th overnight.
Neil and The King work on the cars while Bob and Craig work on their tans.
Thursday morning and the final 2 rounds of qualifying would get underway after some overnight rain. The excellent track crew had once again covered the track so ensure the damage was minimal but it was apparent that the guys who were unlucky enough to be on track early in round 4 were at a disadvantage. The unfortunate heats were 6 & 7 who were on first and from the UK Richard Taylor (Reedy) and Jon Hazelwood ( HoBao/Byron/Proline) were badly affected. It was heats 1 to 5 who would take the track at the end of the round, and as these contained the quickest drivers it was a little harsh on the lower heats. Renaud Savoya continued his form from Wednesday evening and took the round win with his RB/Proline car in front Darren Bloomfield also running Proline tyres, with Martin Bayer 3rd also with Proline rubber. Neil Cragg got back on track with a 9th in round and was now looking to consolidate in round 5 to make sure of a semi final place. Lee Martin and Craig Drescher both had a tough round 4 and would be looking to round 5 to really push them up the leader board. Although Jon Hazelwood had a poor track he felt the car was improving and was more confident going into round 5 that he could get closer to the pace.
In round 5 it was the man of the moment Savoya who would take a comfortable round win and with it overall TQ for the meeting. His time was some 5 seconds better than anyone else in round 5 and it was looking good. Big credit must go to Renaud as early in qualifying he didn?t look like he had the pace to trouble Yannick but a series of great drives put Yannick under pressure and forced final round mistakes from him.
The UK guys fared ok in the final round with Darren Bloomfield once again taking 2nd with another good drive that would place him 5th overall. Neil Cragg went fairly steady in round 5 to ensure a semi final place, although but for a small error that cost 3 seconds he would have challenged Darren for 2nd in round. As it was he took 11th which would see him 11th overall. Simon Willetts had an excellent round and was 9th with his Byron fuelled car and this great run would secure him a ? final place. Craig Drescher went radical and tried to replicate Robert Batlle's settings (which are quite odd) to see how it went and he was only 1 second down on Neil despite finding it quite a wild ride!
The UK team overall did a good job in qualifying with 6 drivers qualifying directly into the ? finals or above. Those guys were Darren Bloomfield, Neil Cragg, Lee Martin, Elliott Boots, Craig Drescher and Graham Alsop.
Dave's race review continues tomorrow...
Considering the apocalyptic weather conditions the previous week the track was in fine condition.
This first session is untimed and 15 minutes in length. It was very difficult to judge the relative pace of the drivers as the track was changing all the time. Renaud Savoya was in heat 1 and basically this heat acted as the road sweepers and they would have learnt nothing accept which way the track went.
As the round went on the track continued to change and then by the time of heat 12 some very threatening rain clouds and lightning forced an early stoppage to the practice round. The covers came back out just in time and we were to have a deluge once more. The right decision was taken as if they had continued with the round it would have wrecked the track with 3 more heats running on it in full wet conditions. Heats 13 ? 15 would take their turn on Wednesday morning before the timed sessions began.
Wednesday morning and we arrive at the track to be faced by some Gestapo like security guards who under no circumstances would let us unload our van near the entrance. Very unhelpful, and the parking was such that the van ended up a good 5 minute walk away from the pitting, not easy with heavy equipment. Heat 12 would have to play road sweeper as Heat 1 had on Tuesday as more sawdust had been laid to soak up what water had penetrated the covers.
Jon Hazelwood's Hyper 9 Pro, Criag Drescher's RC8B and Lee Martin's RC8B.
When the timed practise sessions got underway, the usual suspects were all in contention and producing good times that would ensure favourable re-seeding. From the CML camp, Neil Cragg had a reasonable first run and without a costly incident about half way through would have been in the top 5. Craig Drescher and Lee Martin also recorded respectable runs and in Lee?s case he was playing catch up having attended the warm up race in May. From the Hobao camp, John Howells was running well and happy with the set up of his car, although Jon Hazelwood was struggling for rear traction at this stage.
The biggest discussion amongst the drivers was tyres as the conditions were totally different than at then warm up race. This resulted in people running all sorts of different treads and compounds in an effort to find a nice balance. This will all probably be irrelevant come qualifying as the grip is coming up as the line is cleaned, and I am sure the that we will be back to where we expected to be come qualifying.
After the second round of timed practise it was BYRON GEN2 fuelled former European Champion Miguel Matias who topped the time sheets with a great run. He was followed by Darren Bloomfield and Yannick Aigoin, both looking fast and secure on PROLINE tyres. Craig Drescher had a good run to place seventh in the second round with a time only 5 seconds away from the ultimate pace. The CML guys had different fortunes and Neil Cragg will return to the settings from the warm up race for qualifying. Lee Martin suffered an unfortunate breakage but was able to return to action late in the heat and was very happy with the car. Jon Howells and Jon Hazelwood made further progress with their Hyper 9?s, Hazelwood sighting a binding wishbone for some of his difficulties.
The opening ceremony took place in the afternoon and was a fairly entertaining affair (unlike normal) and was held in the massive marquee that is being used as the food hall.
The UK Team in all it's glory.
A final short 3 minute run was held in the evening to check the re-seed for any crystal clashes and again Bloomfield and Aigoin looked fast, although it was Associated's Robert Batlle who was ultimately the fastest. Neil Cragg pronounced himself much happier with his car although he felt that he went with a tyre compound that was too hard for the cooler evening conditions.
After these short runs we went straight for food as we were all pretty tired, especially AE?s Richard ?The King? Saxton as he had flown in direct from a race in Australia to help the Associated drivers.
Qualifying started on Wednesday morning with a bright sunny day and the first round saw some good results for our guys. Neil Cragg put his Reedy powered RC8B 4th in the round with fast and controlled drive. In the same heat Craig Drescher was only 2 seconds slower and also put his RC8B in to the top 10 with 9th in round. The UK?s Darren Bloomfield was 8th making it three Brits in the top 10. The first round was all about Jerome Aigoin who set a blistering pace to take TQ by 5 seconds in front of his brother Yannick. Lee Martin ran a safe round to be 21st albeit with an error that cost him 4 seconds which could have seen him challenge the top 10. To emphasise the close nature of the times from 10th to 50th in the first round was covered by a mere 10 seconds and this naturally punishes any mistakes heavily.
Team UK line up.
The second round saw the track starting groove up nicely and it was Yannick Aigoin who this time set an uncatchable pace by setting a time 4 seconds better than his brother had managed in round 1. The RC8B of Robert Batlle was only 1.5 seconds of Yannick's time and looking very fast. The UK guys didn?t fare so well in this round as Craig made a poor tyre choice that made his car very hard to drive and Neil suffered a bizarre engine cut that we couldn?t explain, so in effort to ensure that nothing was a miss we installed Neil?s BRCA engine for round 3 and the problem went away.
Lee Martin managed a run just outside the top 10 which would put him 12th overall at this early stage but Darren Bloomfield had a crash which, coupled with some atrocious marshalling, cost him a massive 10 seconds and thus ruining any chance of a good score.
The HoBao guys were making steady improvements although not really troubling the top of the time sheets at this stage. For the third round the track was really coming up to blue groove conditions yet it also seemed that the times were a little slower than the second round. In this round it was reining champion Renaud Savoya who took the round with a good time yet slower than Yannick managed in round 2. Yannick took second just in front of Robert, and it is looking like qualifying will become a battle between these 3 drivers. Neil was on for a top 6 run but a very costly error of around 6 seconds put him in to the early 20?s in round. Lee Martin continued his strategy of getting three consistent runs on the board which saw him lying 11th overall overnight and he promised to try to go for faster times tomorrow. Craig had an average run that will see him 18th overnight and Darren Bloomfield had a decent run and will be 12th overnight.
Neil and The King work on the cars while Bob and Craig work on their tans.
Thursday morning and the final 2 rounds of qualifying would get underway after some overnight rain. The excellent track crew had once again covered the track so ensure the damage was minimal but it was apparent that the guys who were unlucky enough to be on track early in round 4 were at a disadvantage. The unfortunate heats were 6 & 7 who were on first and from the UK Richard Taylor (Reedy) and Jon Hazelwood ( HoBao/Byron/Proline) were badly affected. It was heats 1 to 5 who would take the track at the end of the round, and as these contained the quickest drivers it was a little harsh on the lower heats. Renaud Savoya continued his form from Wednesday evening and took the round win with his RB/Proline car in front Darren Bloomfield also running Proline tyres, with Martin Bayer 3rd also with Proline rubber. Neil Cragg got back on track with a 9th in round and was now looking to consolidate in round 5 to make sure of a semi final place. Lee Martin and Craig Drescher both had a tough round 4 and would be looking to round 5 to really push them up the leader board. Although Jon Hazelwood had a poor track he felt the car was improving and was more confident going into round 5 that he could get closer to the pace.
In round 5 it was the man of the moment Savoya who would take a comfortable round win and with it overall TQ for the meeting. His time was some 5 seconds better than anyone else in round 5 and it was looking good. Big credit must go to Renaud as early in qualifying he didn?t look like he had the pace to trouble Yannick but a series of great drives put Yannick under pressure and forced final round mistakes from him.
The UK guys fared ok in the final round with Darren Bloomfield once again taking 2nd with another good drive that would place him 5th overall. Neil Cragg went fairly steady in round 5 to ensure a semi final place, although but for a small error that cost 3 seconds he would have challenged Darren for 2nd in round. As it was he took 11th which would see him 11th overall. Simon Willetts had an excellent round and was 9th with his Byron fuelled car and this great run would secure him a ? final place. Craig Drescher went radical and tried to replicate Robert Batlle's settings (which are quite odd) to see how it went and he was only 1 second down on Neil despite finding it quite a wild ride!
The UK team overall did a good job in qualifying with 6 drivers qualifying directly into the ? finals or above. Those guys were Darren Bloomfield, Neil Cragg, Lee Martin, Elliott Boots, Craig Drescher and Graham Alsop.
Dave's race review continues tomorrow...
