Worlds
 

Been little said on here, so what do we all think so far, great to see Neil right up at the top,what happened in the yokomo camp? Elliot Boots winning the B!

I still don't like the track, I think it quite funny that the yokomo sponsored venue at the last min screwed in some rubber strips, that the yokomo cars hated:lol:. Most people in the uk who have raced astro for some time Know that random sharp obstacles in fast astro just don't work

Whole load of cars that are possibly prototype or just one off for the worlds, towels over cars in the pits, serpent using a Durango,AE not even letting press in there pit area Hmmm all very 90's

I'm not sure how the atmosphere is track side things seem a bit tight in all the coverage

But you have to take your hat off to the USA boys, take them right out of their comfort zone and they still manage to fill the podium

A lot being said on Rc Tech, all the Us racers still kicking off that the worlds is on astro, dummy's all over the place!

But its all change now the US locked out the podium! Typical yanks eh

Well done to all, those strips did not look nice at all, tough track!

I was a little underwhelmed by track when I first saw it but it has produced some good racing. The black strips are just wrong - almost like they laid track out and thought that side of track was a bit featureless so chucked the trips down. Hope they get rid of them for 4wd.

Shocked at the lack of Yokomo performance (I appreciate Lee making the A is huge achievement and not trying to take anything away from that but can't believe he went there without higher hopes), imagine they will be going for it big time in 4wd.

Seems like the resources and experience of Associated overcame any lack of astro experience - wonder how different the team cars were to kit B5Ms and if we will see a Worlds version with any major changes?

Rob

Agree with above, I was looking forward to following the UK lads and still have a bit but for the track to be a Worlds track is a bit naff. Its nothing better than Worksop put on for one of their rounds. Although its very neat and tidy, dont people expect to see a flash dirt track?? Those black strips are a terrible idea too!!

The track is an absolute joke for a world championship.

It feels like an indoor worlds and not a real one, IMO.

Look back to the '89, '91, '93 Worlds to see some "proper" tracks..!:lol:
Bit like F1, the modern tracks are too artificial IMO.
Why is everyone surprised that Associated are doing well..? They are, after all, the most successful Team..:thumbsup:

The track looks eos or eir style .
So not my idea for a worlds .
I Still beleve in a multi surface track for that sort off races .
and asso has a great car for hich grip

I agree with everything that's been said and the black strips take away from the flow of the track - I fully agree with all of that.

However, as with all tracks from your local club to the world championships - the track is equally as bad for everyone racing. The worthy champion was the driver who was able to set his car up to deal with those strips without having to compromise too much elsewhere.

Yes, the strips shouldn't have been there, but why did some drivers adapt well and other didn't?

I think I personally would have struggled with those strips and I'd be coming home from japan wanting to do some testing on similar so that I know exactly what to do next time.

Rivkins car handled the strips very well, as did Cragg's. But Tebo's wasn't great, nor was Maifield's. Rivkin beat those guys on the day, worthy champion in my eyes.

I like the old school dirt tracks. Astro's boring in comparison.

I think it's been a very interesting worlds, mainly due to the number of manufactures that have accepted that their std car was lacking for high grip astro. What will be even more interesting is to see what those same manufactures do in the next 3 months - i.e will those cars make it into production.

I think that Team C and Schumacher can give themselves a pat on the back for being the 2 biggest manufacturers pushing the forward motor 2wd platform and proving that it works on high grip. So much so that manufacturers that dont have a model with that functionality have taken prototypes to the worlds
Tebo was essentially running a DB2
Even losi was running a 3 gear high grip concept car.

Nice to see a young up and comer take the top spot though. slightly disapointed by lee's performance as i'm sure he is as well. but still a good show to get into the A at the worlds
Craig Collinson did well too by getting in the C final, which is a massive achievement

over all I think as a nation we can be proud of our lads performance regardless of who they drive for.

4wd should be fun to watch

The 5-Spice was placed there to stop cars being dropped to the floor completely, which would've only fueled the "if it's not on dirt it's not off road" debate. A horrible way to do it, but it was a section that really did reward precision. At least everyone was in the same boat. As far as the rest of the track goes, I love it. Fast, flowing, no mickey mouse corners to be found.

Rivkin winning with such an incredible story is absolutely superb. I think it's an event that many will look back upon as a classic - unpredictability everywhere, a massive fight between superstars at the front, and a young underdog coming through to snatch it. It has everything you could wish for - and we're only halfway through it all.

In terms of manufacturer performance, I've been keeping tabs on a few things:

Associated - The A-team cars have a pre-production gearbox from the AE factory, whilst the B-team are running a slightly tweaked Reds gearbox - hence why we won't be seeing any off-body shots of the winning car. Even though they're a team steeped in success with a superb lineup, I don't think anyone was expecting such dominance. It surprised me, at least.

Kyosho - The RZ6 looks nice. Very DB2-esque, but some American Kyosho fans on social media have been horrified by it - it's worth stepping back and realising that cars we're used to in the UK look completely alien in most other countries.

Durango - Another 2WD front/4WD rear hybrid. Didn't set the world on fire, but I doubt it will for a while. Getting faster, one to watch.

Serpent - A similar story to Durango - wasn't amazing to start with, but started to find its feet as the event went on. Another one to watch very closely.

Schumacher - Strong showing from all, but just a bit unlucky in the end. I don't think there was anything left on the table overall. The K2 should be an interesting one to keep tabs on as we go into 4WD though.

Team C - A nice showing. Considering they don't have a star-studded international line up like some of the other teams, I think they bagged some exceptionally good results.

Hot Bodies - The D2 is clearly a very dirt-focused car, so without any kind of low gearbox it was always going to struggle. Still needs a lot of work to bring it up to pace.

Yokomo - As surprising as AE's dominance was Yokomo's complete lack of pace. Lee did a stunning job to drag himself into such a tight A Final.

Its a shame that the 5 spice black strips seemed to upset the yokomo cars the most!

....oh and I am not a fan of the mini kones which added nothing to the corners.

Apart from those two silly features... I really liked the track layout :)

Associated and Tebo did their homework. Lots of thought, lots of prep, lots of practice. I think that the laydown 3 gear cars had an advantage over the Yokomo 4 gear laydown setup on this uber high traction track. Perhaps we will see one on a Yokomo for indoor carpet use and to honest perhaps they should have taken one..

The Serpent guys weren't even running Serpent cars! Jorn and Hupo were running Durangos! Will there be a complete change in their cars now?

Would you buy a Serpent after that? Doesn't fill you with confidence when their own guys use someone else's car!

Billy was running the prototype SRX-2 MH. I won't speculate on why Joern and Hupo ran the Serangos, but the actual new Serpent picked up some decent pace as the event wore on.

I'm even more surprised that Serpent allowed it to happen. :thumbdown:

I think what was the shame about the 5-spice is from the track walk it seem to have been a last minute bodge as they suddenly realised they had a touring car track with smooth down ramp jumps so rushed out and screwed some rubber strips down to force the racers to set some ride hight, thats not what you would expect of a worlds class venue.
I think the great shame of this world's is in the building next door has a world renowned dirt track, that would have been great for hmm lets see….running a world class meeting on? A bright green track with bright orange and white dots marking corners and orange road cones looking like it's straight from a Nintendo screen is just not right for what is supposed to be the most important 10th OFF ROAD event in the world this year.I just can't see the sense:thumb down:

It will be interesting to see how many cars filter through,Will they look at the world wide demand for the chassis they have created for this meeting and find its not worth the manufacturing costs the B5 already has rear and mid versions. How many forward motor or multiple gear transmission 2wd cars sell outside of Europe? I think we will see more production 4wd's but what if serpent don't run the new car, that would be a laugh

I'm not sure how you can conclude that it was a rush job to put the strips in place! I agree it would have been better with another jump type feature, but at the end of the day, that was the track builders choice. I don't like them any more than anyone else, but I can kind of see their logic.

btw, actually, in the building next door is an astro turf track! A track that has seen it's use go through the roof with locals compared to the amount of use the dirt track was getting.