|
|
News |
|
|
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
2010 is here even faster than expected. The short holiday and break over Xmas was well deserved but as usual I found myself packing tools, pliers and bags of new parts and a complete prototype of a new project to wrench on. Most people would call this a bit abnormal, but I just call it passion; there is no better relaxation for me than to wrench, think about parts & details, and think about some new designs. On the other hand I had to silently slip the piles of financial analysis and reports into my travel bag so as not to give too much attention to my wife that I am not taking no books again, but I usually talk myself out of that explaining that reading is just reading. The holiday was nice and relaxing & peaceful and free from the typical stress that I was missing something or that there are dozens of production problems on my table. |
|
|
Getting back to the office in January I had to quickly adapt to the fact that 2009 is over and is already history. As a designer, tester, and factory owner all rolled into one, I have plenty of different areas in which to live and work. To know what to expect in 2010 we have split apart the different aspects of our goals, events and projects to be able to determine the amount of time, energy and resources that we will need to allocate. Besides the daily tasks with R&D, leading the factory and the staff, there are the racing and testing activities which take up the majority of my time. As such, the 2010 racing schedule is the one I have the biggest respect for. The preliminary race calendar â“ which will most certainly change with many more races added â“ is absolutely the most crowded schedule I have ever experienced. It seems that I will be out of the office on the races or practices for more than half of the year!
Here is our preliminary racing calendar. Remember, if you will be at any of these races, please stop by to chat and I will be more than happy to help you with anything. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
8â“10
DHI Cup â“ Denmark â“ 1/10 electric touring car race
Over the years, this race has built up quite a nice reputation not only in Europe. Taking place the first week in January, this event is considered to be the new seasonâ™s opening race. After the Xmas holiday, everybody is motivated and full of energy so this race gets usually very competitive as well. In the last few years we managed to win this race and gain several podium finishes. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
26â“31
Snowbirds Nationals â“ USA â“ 1/10 electric touring car race & 1/12 Pan car race
This race definitely belongs to some of the greatest and largest events in the world. Mike Boyllan and his crew do a simply incredible job of organizing this race, and you will see all the best drivers around the world at this race. Team XRAY has been extremely successful at this race in the last few years, dominating the race since 2004, taking wins and plenty of podium finishes in several categories to date. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
3â“9
Nurnberg Hobby Show â“ Germany
Despite the fact that this is not a race, it is still an important annual event that we cannot miss. The worldâ™s largest hobby show is the place where all the mills turn, news is revealed, and of course there are numerous social meetings with all our friends, distributors, dealers, magazines, drivers, etc. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
7â“13
Winternats â“ USA â“ 1/10 nitro touring race
This legendary nitro on-road race which takes place at Fort Myers unfortunately conflicts this year with other races, and as such I will not be able to travel to this race but you can expect Team XRAY USA to be at the race and try to recapture the victory of Ralph Burch from 2008. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
11â“16
World Championship Warm-up â“ Thailand â“ 1/8 off-road
After the Buggy Party race at the end of 2009 where we got four cars into the main final and a podium finish in the Truggy class, I have definitely been looking forward to this race. We made a lot of set-up progress at the private testing after the Buggy Party, so I will be interested in seeing how that will work at the official Worlds warm-up where we can expect a great lineup of all the best European and American drivers. This is a âśmust attendâť race as it will dictate the changes that will need to be made for the Worlds in November. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
25â“28
European Indoor Championship â“ Finland â“ 1/10 electric touring
This indoor championship will be very tough as young local driver Chris Anderson has his own reworked car perfectly set-up and modified for the EC track. He proved this at the warm-up race last year where he completely dominated, and all the other teams could not come close to his performance. Unless Chris has technical problems or bad luck, I predict that he will win⦠but I still have some ideas for a back-up plan, so weâ™ll see. It will definitely be a very tough challenge for all teams to catch up to Chris. |
March |
|
4â“7
European Championship â“ UK â“ 1/12 pan cars
Due to so many Euros and Worlds in the schedule, I expect that this race may draw less attention than it deserves. Considering the fact that the rest of Europe has to fly into the UK, this will probably have a lower attendance but still the top drivers will be there so the competition level will be for sure still be high. We will be there to compete and support. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
11â“14
Silverstate â“ USA â“ 1/8 off-road
This off-road race belongs to one of the largest events and usually attracts plenty of international drivers who will fly over to the USA. With the buggy Worlds on schedule this year, we expect that all major races will be fully sold-out and all the worldâ™s best off-road drivers will be seen at major races such as Silverstate. This year this race is on my schedule as well. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
26â“28
LRP Masters â“ Germany â“ 1/10 electric touring
This annual meeting has also very long and successful history with factory teams from around the world participating at this race. In the last few years we managed to take many wins in Stock and SuperStock categories and got a few podium finishes in the Modified class but the victory in Modified has always somehow slipped through our fingers. We will see how things go for the team driving the new T3 this year. Personally I do not like the racing schedule on this race since we get very minimal track time, but the organizers have promoted a new system for this year so hopefully we will get more track time. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
2â“5
Neo Buggy Race â“ UK â“ 1/8 off-road
Neobuggy.net is well known for providing great daily news from off-road racing, but also their self-organized off-road race is gaining popularity which is obvious with the entry list being full of top drivers. This indoor race will once again be very competitive and it will be another off-road race this season to get most track time possible before the Worlds. |
|
|
9â“11
EC Warm-up â“ Portugal â“ 1/8 off-road
With both the Euros and Worlds on schedule this year, the competition level will be very high even at the warm-up races. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
17â“21
Dirt Race â“ USA â“ 1/8 off-road
April seems to be full of off-road races, so after Neo and the EC Warm-up we will fly back to USA for another large and internationally-attended race. This April date seems though still to change and move earlier into February, this should be announced soon. |
|
|
1â“2
EC Warm-up âśBâť â“ Spain â“ 1/8 off-road
After three large off-road races in April, there is another off-road race⦠this time itâ™s the warm-up for the European Championship âśBâť which takes place in Spain. Not so far from the EC track in Portugal, we may expect the factory teams to travel between these two tracks after the events to get some extra track time. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
14â“16
EC Warm-up âśBâť â“ Swiss â“ 1/10 nitro touring
The European Championship âśBâť will take place at the beautiful track in Lostalo and hopefully we will be able to recapture the great achievements from 2009 at both European Championships. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
10â“13
European Championship âśBâť â“ Spain â“ 1/8 off-road
Only a few weeks after the warm-up race, the first off-road Euros will take place in Spain. I expect nothing but very hot weather and a lot of dust. Despite this being âśonlyâť a B championship, the competition level will be high. The level of professionalism is clearly noticeable already in the B championships where you can see major factory teams providing factory and technical support like at the A championship. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
4â“11
World Championship â“ Germany â“ 1/10 electric touring and 1/12 pan cars
The first World championship of this season has been moved from South Africa to a nice track in Germany. Both European and World Championships in the 1/10 electric touring category have not been our most lucky ones. After plenty of Euros and plenty of podium finishes, again victory has always somehow slipped through our fingers. With the new T3 â“ which raised the performance bar a step higher â“ I hope we will emerge victorious from the battle. The electric touring races have become the most competitive due to the fact that every small change has a huge impact on performance and the level of professionalism is so incredibly high. I am really looking forward to these Worlds. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
8â“11
European Championship â“ Portugal â“ 1/8 off-road
For some unknown reason the Off-road European Championship takes place on the same dates as the touring car World Championship in Germany, and of course this conflict makes it fairly complicated for everybody. But the rumors are that EFRA is already working on that and may shift the date. So as soon the dates are known we will have to update our calendar and of course we will be at the European Championship if it doesnâ™t conflict with the Worlds. |
|
|
21â“31
World Championship â“ USA â“ 1/10 nitro touring
This World Championship is the one I have been looking forward to as the XRAY nitro touring team has been very successful with the NT1 during the whole 2009 season and the car is so good that it makes me very confident. I only hope that we can keep our good luck. To make sure that we will be ready, we will have to attend some warm-up race. However, the official warm-up race is very early in the year which means the track conditions will be completely different and as such it makes no real sense to spend time and resources on such a warm-up. We will see if we can arrange some private testing or even some XRAY challenge race at the WC track and then will update the calendar appropriately. |
|
|
4â“8
European Championship â“ France â“ 1/10 electric touring
Considering that the World Championship will take place only a few weeks beforehand, I expect that all drivers and the teams will be fairly exhausted by then. Normally when there is a World Championship on a continent â“ this time Europe â“ there should be no European Championship. However, the Worlds were originally supposed to take place in South Africa and therefore the EC was on schedule. We will see how this race will be, but of course we will be at this Euros in the best possible shape. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
16â“22
European Championship â“ Sweden â“ 1/10 nitro touring
After only a weekâ™s break there is another European Championship on schedule, this time in Sweden. The entire XRAY European nitro touring team will be at the race to battle to recover the victory from last year. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
International Indoor Championship â“ USA â“ 1/10 electric touring
The show continues even after summer, and right away this annual international race is getting more and more popular and attracting the best drivers from around the world. The IIC takes in Las Vegas, organized by legendary speaker Scotty Ernst.
|
|
|
6â“14
World Championship â“ Thailand â“ 1/8 off-road
The 2010 season will end with one of the most competitive races on schedule: the off-road World Championship. All teams will have the entire 2010 season and plenty of high-competition races to prepare their team and cars for the Worlds and of course Team XRAY and its 808 will undergo some serious testing with plenty of track time to be as ready as possible. Off-road racing has gotten extremely professional, but it is still a lot of fun so I hope we will end the 2010 season not only with an exciting race, but also a relaxing race. |
|
|
Aside from the races on our 2010 calendar above, there are plenty of other smaller and local races which we will attend during the year for some testing or practice. There will for sure be several XRAY Challenge Races during the season which we will attend to support XRAY customers and have fun. There are also still a few Euros and Worlds for which we do not have any warm-up scheduled yet, there are some ETS races on schedule, and of course we have plenty of national and regional races in Slovakia and Czech republic we will attend, so that means that some more races will be added to the list.
Do you think our schedule is full enough? We ourselves think so! The 2010 will for sure be a busy year, so during the year I have to keep in mind that besides this being a racing sport where my adrenaline will be all the time⦠that this is also just a hobby and we all need to have fun.
See you around the tracks. Enjoy the ride and â til next time.
Dipl. Eng. Juraj Hudy
XRAY Chief Designer |
|
|
|
|