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published: 2014-08-04 17:31:19 (60898) Author: Willy Wuyts

EFRA Large Scale Off Road Euros - Finals Report!

Fehring in Austria played host to the 2WD and 4WD 1:6 Large Scale Off road Euros and once again the purpose built facility in unprepossessing surroundings between a housing estate, a gravel pit and a corn field, delivered an event full of action, excitement and entertainment.
Hindhaugh-Report

Fehring in Austria played host to the 2WD and 4WD 1:6 Large Scale Off road Euros and once again the purpose built facility in unprepossessing surroundings between a housing estate, a gravel pit and a corn field, delivered an event full of action, excitement and entertainment.
It was an inauspicious start as severe thunderstorms ringed the track on Wednesday afternoon. Lightning strikes all around the circuit including close enough to put lights out in the timekeepers hut, sent RC Racing TV camera operator Paul Bateman sensibly running for cover.

The live preview continued, you can see it on the archive, but the overnight rain storm that followed rendered the track unusable for most of Thursday morning. Ian Oddie, the EFRA delegate, made a swift and logical decision to reduce the qualifying from 4 to 3, 10 minute runs, with the best 2 to count for final rankings.
First out the lowest ranked 2WD drivers who effectively forfeited their session to scrub off the layer of mud that was all around the track. They gallantly stuck (pun totally intended) to their task and cleaned the track surface while learning, well, probably not much at all.
As the day wore on the track surface improved quickly and so did times, the advent of the 4WD contingent speeding up the drying process during their runs.
Entertainment value for those trackside and those further afield could not have been higher though as time after time drivers got into great positions, sometimes winning ones, only to be thwarted by the tiniest of errors which the track design punished.
Yet at the end of Thursday’s 2 qually runs all of the drivers seemed to relishing the challenge. Yes the track had ‘evolved’ through the day but there were few who had anything but praise for the layout of the Fehring circuit.
Friday morning’s final qualifying gave the chance for those who had had issues to redeem their weekend. Not everyone took their opportunities and looking at the top 14 for the semis in both 2WD and 4WD there were some of the usual names missing. The revised schedule put the low finals up to the 1/8s in both classes out on Thursday afternoon. With the notable exception of the very first 2WD Final the action was nothing short of extraordinary. The 20 minute format was perfectly suited to the big scale machines and it seemed that in almost every race there was drama, incident and accident, affecting the transfer positions, often right at the death.
From the volume of cheers at the chequered flag, one of the most popular results was the 1/8th 4WD final which saw Beatrix Von Alleman and Melanie Trottman fight their way through to qualify for Saturdays quarter final in the last minute. With the 1st August being Swiss national day, it seemed a just result and in truth both drivers had showed good pace early on but had fallen back down the field before their epic recovery charge and smart team driving saw them through.
Saturday morning, and the quarters and semis, produced more fabulous racing. As the A Mains approached we wondered if they could live up to what we had already seen.
2WD up first and the 30 minutes got underway in bright sunshine. The track had developed the ‘blue groove’ sheen where all the dust was polished away and the baked dirt was in very good condition with just a few stones showing through. Valentin Peuziat was defending the title he won in Spain in 2013 but in truth the Frenchman was never a factor, his disappointing grid 5 qualifying illustrating how difficult the track was to master. At the front Alexander Schmitt had come from the quarter finals to sit on pole and was desperate to add the 2WD crown to the 4WD title he won last year. His hopes were dashed at the halfway point when he had to pit and change a left rear tyre. His fight back from midfield was brilliant, and in some ways 3rd place didn’t seem reward enough for all of his effort.
The title battle was fought out between two friends and team mates. Ken Walkiers had worked hard to get to the finals. Qualifying had not gone well but there was speculation that Ken had spent time dialling the buggy into a comfortable driving set up for the longer runs in the finals. If that was his plan, it worked! Ken used his experience to pick through the early lap melee and when Schmitt pitted he led. Tim Van der Elst had other ideas though and closed in on his Elcon teammate. The pass was decisive from Van der Elst but Walkiers could have been more robust in defence. After the race Ken told me giving “racing room” as the right thing to do as he knew that Schmitt would be charging back and any delay could have put the Championship win for the team in jeopardy. He was right of course (although it’s refreshingly mature to hear that attitude and sportsmanship) and in fact only great driving by him held off Schmitt in the closing laps.
The 4WD final was headed by Austrian Schweinzer and Germann Schmitt, both ‘fresh’ from the 2WD event. Further down the grid Walkiers and Hartmann had also been in the 2WD final and one had to wonder just how much any of those four had left. Particularly Schmitt who was dealing with disappointment from his previous race as well as the mental fatigue of his 4th final of the day!
Marc Kreisig had qualified 3rd having improved his MCD chassis throughout the week. He cited the attendance of the development team as well as technical assistance as part of the reason for his high qualification. Happy to be on grid 3 he was honest enough to admit he didn’t have the pace of the leading 2 and would be staying out of trouble early, saving his tyres and then seeing where he was in the last 5 minutes.
Sage words from the German as the 2 big hitters at the front really were in a class of their own. Pole man Schweinszer was never headed but that didn’t mean the race was without interest with Schnitt closing in to within a second on a number of occasions but unable to get close enough to make a genuine passing attempt. One has to wonder whether in the end, one hour and forty minutes of finals on one day was just too much for him.
Kreisig took third, and he was delighted. His race plan had worked to perfection. He had seen off stern challenges from La Gasse and Steve Haynes. Felis Horenz had also looked strong, especially after scoring maximum points in the only 2 qually sessions he completed and so was TQ for the semis. However the German just couldn’t convert great qualifying into race results. A fast but inconsistent performance, from pole in the A semi, put him in the pack for the final where he again couldn’t string enough fast laps together and his chance was gone.
So two new EFRA European Champions, and popular victories they were too. A great atmosphere around the pits, fantastic racing on a great track. (Really watch the videos it ALL action).
Walter Wendler and his team deserve praise and so do all of the teams and drivers. So as we leave Fehring, all is good in the larger Scale world… well no – not quite. The spectre of noise, excessive noise that is, raised its head again at this event. Drivers complaining they were being ‘forced’ to lift as they went by the static noise meter. (Cleverly linked to timing for accuracy by the way). Sadly that’s the wrong attitude, what drivers should be doing is bringing compliant vehicles to race, not trying to beat the system. Take it from one who works in the full-sized racing world noise is your enemy. Noise regulations are just another ESSENTIAL part of technical regs not just for fairness but also for the future of the I/C part of RC sport. ‘Beating’ noise regs is not clever, it’s against the rules so – it’s cheating, pure and simple. If you don’t lie my bluntness look at it another way. Ulrich Baretsky is the engine genius behind all of Audi and Bentley’s wins at Le Mans since 2000. that’s 14 out of 15 by the way! When asked about why the diesels were so quiet and didn’t sound like ‘traditional’ racing cars he replied; “Sound is energy, the more you hear, the more energy you are wasting.”