2007 IFMAR off road world championships - Japan

IFMAR 1/10th Off Road World Championships 2007 - oople.com

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The second day of 4WD consists of up-to 8 practice rounds - subject to weather and time restraints. The weather down in the city looked fine but the long drive to the track revealed he downpour the mountains had received. The sun came out by around 7:30am - cloud kept appearing but the rain held off and the track started to slowly dry.

The officials decided that the practice rounds would not be marshalled because of the slippery conditions - so it was a good idea not to crash if you wanted to get a lot of laps in.


	Truhe's XXX4 coming onto the main straight


Ryan Cavalieri's Team Associated B44	2007 European 4WD Champion - Hupo Honigl

The weather really heated up - despite the forecasts of heavy rain. The track dried up quickly and the 4WD cars started to slowly lay rubber down on the racing line. The track also started to break up a little, especially in the faster corners. At the end of practice the track staff got to work sweeping up and fixing what they could. Tomorrow we'll see who's fast and who's not.


HELP!	Kyosho coming thru!


Kyosho is popular in japan, for sure	The moguls


Yokomo Team	Rick Hohwart

Steven and his parents kindly spared us a few minutes of their time to take a few photos and find out a little more about Stevens rapid success at a young age.

Stevens Mum and Dad have both made the long journey over here to act as his support team, his Dad is mechanic on Stevens cars, and his Mum makes sure he gets to his races in good time.

When Steven was 12 years old he landed his first sponsorship deal with Checkpoint, which was soon followed by an impressive list of sponsors. This was shortly after his first major race win - the hotrod hobbies shoot out where he won the A-main for both stock truck and stock buggy. In his second year racing Steven won his first national in Stock 4wd.

Now after just 4 years racing Steven has qualified 4th in the B-main at the world championships, finishing in 3rd place, an impressive result which Steven and his family are very proud of.

Stevens shells are painted by 'Acidcat ' and all Stevens sponsors are painted on even though they look like stickers! Awesome.


Steven Hartson with his family	Stevens new Associated B44


Stevens stickers - Aren't !!! all paint.	Steven going over the triple in the B final.

INTERVIEW: Billy Easton

Age: 30

2wd	Associated RC10 B4	4WD	Serpent S500 Prototype
Servo	Futaba S9350	Servo	Futaba 9550
ESC	LRP Brushless	ESC	LRP Brushless
Motor	Speed Passion	Motor	Speed Passion
Cells	Hurricane 4200	Cells	Hurricane 4200
Sponsors: Serpent, Futaba, LRP, MIP, Speed Passion, Competition Products, Xenon, Sorex, Hurricane Motorsports, Testors/Pactra Paint.

How many years racing experience do you have?
16 or 17 years, I've raced gas, electric, on road and offorad.

What is your best racing memory and your funniest memory?
Winning the world championships in Florida in 2003 is my favourite. The funniest memory I can think of is when we went to South Africa for the on road world championships, we were practicing with the cars in a parking lot and my mates car was handling really badly, so we put a bullseye on the wall and he drove at full speed down the parking lot and into the wall, that was pretty funny.

What is your top racing achievement, and what are your future ambitions?
The world championship title in 2003 is my top achievment, I'd like to win a variety of races though that I haven't won before, and be successful at new events.

What is your favourite class to race?
I like off road but touring car seems to be more intriguing, it is competitive but the cars are more precise.

Do you prefer McDonalds or KFC?
McDonalds I guess. Have you tried the Shrimp Burger over here? No, I haven't tried that yet.

How many world championship events have you attended, and which has been your favourite track?
At least 10. There was an 8th scale offroad worlds in Las Vegas and I liked that track, it was big.

What is your favourite thing about Japan?
Their society is a lot different from western culture, they are very family orientated. They have cartoons on everything, it's cute.

How was your flight here?
It was crappy, I arrived a day late because our plane was burning fuel too fast so we had to stop for an unscheduled re-fuel stop. I slept most of the way though so didn't watch any films.

Are you a professional racer?
I used to be but not any more, I have a full time design job now with Serpent and I don't get paid to race as such.

What tips do you have for racers who are just starting out and want to drive well and race competitively?
Practice. I find that the more I know about the car the less well I do, I end up rationalising the car too much. It helps to know the car but don't overcomplicate it.

Do random people stop you in the street and ask for your autograph?
No, well, maybe once in my life.

In the run up to the Worlds you announced that you're joining the serpent race team as they enter the 10th offroad market. This must be a very exciting venture, what information can you divulge about the impending release of their 4wd car?
Basically they hired Gerd to be part of the R+D team and use his knowledge and experience from the last 5 years to design a new vehicle based on the original concept. It will be a new car but have a similar apppearance to the original Durango.

Who else here is on the Serpent team?
Joern Neumann is the only other driver I know of.

Would you be interested in racing in England at an international event?
Yeah I'd go there if there was one I had time to attend. I went to one a long time ago, it was called the World Cup and was at the top of a hill, somewhere indoors and carpetted out.

Jason Ruona from JConcept was racing his BJ4we with the latest spoked wheels and a NEW shell.

The new wheels are like those shown earlier in the oople Worlds report - but of course this time 4WD fronts also. The new shell (shown below on the B44 this time) is more streamlined around the window and has bigger scoops, more room for electrics and a more flowing design.

INTERVIEW: Mark Pavidis

Age: est ~15

2wd	Kyosho RB5	4WD	Prototype
Servo	Futaba	Servo	Futaba
ESC	LRP	ESC	LRP
Motor	Orion 12	Motor	yes
Cells	Orion	Cells	Orion
Sponsors: Kyosho, Futaba, Orion, Proline, T.D. Paints, Oakley, Mechanix

You hold the current world champion title in 8th scale offroad, and past world champion in 1/10th scale offroad ('95, Japan), which scale do you race the most often?
8th offroad.

Do you find it difficult to drive well in different classes, i.e. adapting different driving styles to the different cars used?
Yeah it takes time, I don't have much of that any more with full time work commitments and family. I work full time for Proline.

Where is your favourite place in the world?
There are a lot of different places, probably Las Vegas though.

What is the best track you've ever raced on?
1/8th scale worlds track in Austria 1993.

Who inspires you the most?
here have been a few people, Mike Reedy and Gene Husting.

What is your ambition?
To work hard and never give up.

What is your dream job?
To be retired.

What influenced you to start racing radio controlled cars?
My father was into model airplanes but he kept crashing and breaking them, it became expensive so the next thing was r/c cars.

What do you like the most about Japan?
I like how polite everyone is.

Which body do you think is hotter. the Tamiya 501X or the Durango?
Hmm, the 501X.

How did you become so great at racing, and what advice do you have for drivers who aspire to be competitive racers?
I worked hard and won at major events, the key is practice, that goes for anything, sports and r/c racing.

What is your favourite racing tool?
Probably my temperature gague for gas engines.

What do you think is the best feature of the worlds track?
The triple jump.