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Drivers line up
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| The XRAY Off-Road Challenge took place the last weekend of November 2005 in Rheinberg, Germany. The racing track was laid out in an exhibition centre, next door to the local hobby show exhibition. An electric touring car race (Orion Speed Weekend) took place at the same exhibition centre, so the hobby show visitors and spectators had an excellent opportunity to see some excellent touring car racing as well the "noisy" nitro off-road racing. |
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120 drivers participating
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| This was the 2nd annual XRAY off-road challenge, so the organiser already had a good experience from previous year so we could expect a no-problem race. The track layout changed a bit from last year to make it more exciting to watch and more fun to drive. As with last year, the track was an artificial track with plenty of sand applied to the surface. The organiser had spent plenty of time ahead of the race to prepare the track well, including some nice artificial jumps. |
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All different car brands were presented
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| Being an indoor track, the hall had to be open to let fresh air circulate and many big-size ventilators ensured that all exhaust gases were taken away from the racing hall. At the end the air conditioning in the hall was very good, with no visibility or breathing problems, but on the negative side the hall was very cold. Those who attended last year were well prepared with extra amounts of jackets and caps, so it was a big lesson for first time attenders how to prepare not only the car but yourselves too for next year. |
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Artificial racing track
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| As this race was more-or-less a promotional race, the easy going and friendly atmosphere was obvious so it was great to have people "enjoy" not only the cold but especially the good and fun racing. All the sponsors and supporters of the race had opportunity to display a tent or display their products to make promotion for the general public visiting from the next-door model hobby show; it was great to see the excitement of the public, which will hopefully bring new RC drivers anytime soon. |
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Yannick setting the RB engine for Juraj
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Going back to the race - the schedule was divided into Friday practice, Saturday qualifiers, and Sunday finals, so there was a lot to do in three short days.
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| As the race was very successful last year, as expected the entries for the 2005 Challenge were filled up in a few days with an extensive waiting list. In the starting list we could see plenty of European and German top off-road drivers featuring Daniel Reckward (D), Yannick Aigoin (F), Mikael Palsson (S), Linus Thern (S), Patrick Feschtschenko (D), etc., but not only off-road hardcore drivers attended but also the 1/5 Worlds class drivers Markus Feldmann(D) - world champion, Cédric Prévot(F) - European Champion 2005 and Vice-World Champion 2005, and Martin Bayer(CZ) - Worlds 2005 TQ. |
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| It was also XRAY electric touring car factory team driver Jilles Groskamp who took breaks between his touring car runs next door to run the off-road, too. Markus Feldmann - due to his full school schedule - had hardly any off-road racing done during 2005 but being a World Champion in 1/5 and having an excellent result from previous year Challenge, we could expect he would surprise the crowd once again. |
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Big jump with a 180 degree turn just after
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| On Friday afternoon the first practice was on schedule. The correct combination of tires and inserts were critical for performance, therefore drivers who already attended last year had an initial advantage of having previous experience. Yannick (XRAY) has tested a few different tire combinations and found quickly the best combination that made him fastest on Friday's practice with lap time 32.65. |
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Markus in action
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| Close behind him was Markus Feldmann (XRAY) with lap time 32.74 and Daniel Reckward (Kyosho) with lap time 32.79 The very close results would guarantee that we would see some very exciting and thrilling racing in the qualifiers and finals. |
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| On Saturday, Daniel Recward was on pace during the qualifiers, setting the 10-lap TQ. It was then only Markus Feldmann who was able to achieve a 10-lap pace so at the end he qualified as 2nd. Yannick was still testing some different combinations to be well prepared for the finals, so at the end he qualified 6th behind Michael Gaul (HB) in 5th, Jorn Neumann (TTR) in 4th and Linus Thern (Kyosho) in 3rd. |
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Super fast track in some areas
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The Sunday finals were as expected very thrilling and exciting. First of all it was interesting to watch Patrick Feschtschenko, who as a top driver experienced technical problems in the qualifiers, and so had to start from 1/256 and fight through the crowd to get to the final at the end.
After the quarter finals the results and standing for semi finals were as follows:
1/2 B final:
1. Markus Feldmann - XRAY
2. Jorn Neumann - TTR
3. Yannick Aigoin - XRAY
4. Mikael Palsson - Mugen
5. Andreas Bartels - Crono
6. Georg Horninger
7. Oliver-Christian Simon - XRAY
8. Tobias Deike - XRAY
9. Matthias Recward - Kyosho
10. Niklas Hakansson - XRAY
1/2 A final:
1. Daniel Reckward - Kyosho
2. Linus Thern - Kyosho
3. Michael Gaul - HB
4. Robert Gustavsoon - XRAY
5. Dario Vita - Mugen
6. Tim Bremicker - HB
7. Sonke Matz - Mugen
8. Patrick Feschtschenko - Mugen
9. Thomas Passmann - Kyosho
10. Paul Eckmann - Mugen |
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The wooden jumps made it tough for everybody
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| The semi-final runs were very close and tight. From XRAY it was Markus Feldmann, Yannick Aigoin, and Oliver-Christian Simon who made it to the A final. From Kyosho it was of course Daniel Recwkard and Linus Thern who drive through the semi-finals to the final. From Mugen team it was Patrick Feschtschenko and Mikael Palsson, and from the HB team it was Michael Gaul and Tim Bremicker. The final standings were then rounded out by Crono driver Andreas Bartels. |
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Drivers stand
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In the end it was Yannick Aigoin (XRAY) who had the best result after semi-finals, making it for him a first starting position in the final.
Starting order for the final runs:
1. Yannick Aigoin - XRAY
2. Daniel Reckward - Kyosho
3. Markus Feldmann - XRAY
4. Linus Thern - Kyosho
5. Patrick Feschtschenko - Mugen
6. Michael Gaul - HB
7. Oliver-Christian Simon - XRAY
8. Tim Bremicker - HB
9. Mikael Palsson - Mugen
10. Andreas Bartels - Crono |
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The A final start
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| Having the final starting list filled with A-class drivers it was expected to have some very close 45minute racing. In the warm-up heats, Yannick has experienced a technical problem and has requested a time-out, which automatically moved him from this secured first starting position to the 10th starting position. This gave Daniel Reckward a free-go starting position. After the start Daniel took advantage of his opportunity and took an early lead on the remaining crowd. Yannick, after the exciting start, gave an excellent performance driving from the last 10th position to 5th~6th position where he was taken out and dropped back very far behind all 9 cars in front of him. |
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Yannick in action
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| Markus Feldmann in 2nd was cruising a long time about a quarter lap behind Daniel Reckward but as Markus told, his set-up of car needed some dozen of minutes until he could start to push the car more aggressively. At the same time Yannick showed why he is the Euros and Worlds TQ owner, from the very last position he was racing - with a great show - to gaining position : 9th-8th-7th-6th-5th position where he remained for few laps. After some fuel tank pit stops and being more then half of the race Yannick was already in 3rd position. As Markus was getting more comfortable with his car he pushed it more, and in around half of the race he closed the gap to the leader Daniel Reckward and then passed him easily. |
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Markus and Yannick
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| Daniel also made some mistakes which enabled Yannick to get on his tail fairly quickly. In a few laps Yannick managed to pass Daniel, getting him on the second position. After 40minutes down and 5minutes remaining, still Markus (XRAY), Yannick (XRAY) and Daniel (Kyosho) were in the same lap making it still very thrilling as anybody could make a mistake and the top three positions could still easily change. Markus was driving with a very calm style making no mistakes and rather shorter jumps to keep his already a 1/2 lap lead. Yannick decided in the last 5 minutes to push to the edge and showed some of the fastest, most aggressive racing when in few minutes he was getting closer and closer to the leading Markus. In the last seconds Markus passed the finish line with more than a quarter lap lead in first, followed by Yannick. |
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Top 3 drivers
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These were the only drivers who made the 81 final lap result, while Daniel in the 3rd crossed the finish line just after the 45 minutes making it for him 80 laps result, putting him to the 3rd final position. A lap behind, 79 laps, Mikael Palsson crossed the finish line in 4th position.
Final results of the 2nd XRAY Off-Road Challenge:
1. Markus Feldmann - XRAY
2. Yannick Aigoin - XRAY
3. Daniel Reckward - Kyosho
4. Mikael Palsson - Mugen
5. Patrick Feschtschenko - Mugen
6. Andreas Bartels - Crono
7. Linus Thern - Kyosho
8. Michael Gaul - HB
9. Tim Bremicker - HB
10. Oliver-Christian Simon - XRAY
Click here for the final results of all finals. |
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Tobias Kettemer (XRAY) - 13 years old junior German Champion
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| At the end it was nice to see that everybody enjoyed the race. The crowd has enjoyed the thrilling racing and it was a nice showcase of the RC hobby to the public, too. Having a good experience how to prepare the warm clothes for next year, it will be definitely a 2006 Xray Off-Road Challenge where we will see us all again. If you have been racing off-road, make sure to send your application next year on time to get a place and make sure to come and race and enjoy the fun. |
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The winning car of Markus
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Thanks to all organisers for organising the race, which despite few technical problems with lap counting the race was run very smoothly. Thanks to all sponsors for supporting this race to make it happen - see the credits and list of all sponsors at www.xray.challenge.rcbuggy.de.
Thanks to all drivers coming and making it an excellent race. Thanks to all visitors for the great atmosphere. See you all in 2006. Thanks to the Buggy-Sport.Info for bringing almost live results from the race. |
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Click here to download the winning set-up sheet from Markus Feldmann.
Click here to download the set-up sheet from Yannick Aigoin. |
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