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The huge 1:8 scale track
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| The 2006 European Championship was held at the huge 1:8 scale track in Turkheim, Germany. The weather forecast was looking very bad â“ nothing but rain for the entire week so we had to prepare for wet racing. Team XRAY was represented by all top European team drivers including Jilles Groskamp, Andreas & Joel Myrberg, Viktor Wilck, Alexander Stocker, Martin & Juraj Hudy, and plenty of other national team drivers from around Europe. Just a week prior to the Euros, the German team was joined by two new team members, Steven Weiss and Dirk Wischnewski, who were present at the Euros to support the team. |
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XRAY display tents
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| As in all previous years, XRAY is again the main and principal sponsor of the European Championship, supporting the hobby and helping the track owner to organize an international-level race. As the principal sponsor, XRAY had a complete product display and promotional tents available near the track to present the RC hobby to public and visitors as well as to provide the best support to all XRAY racers. An XRAY service car â” fully loaded with all spare parts â” was at the full disposal of XRAY racers, guaranteeing the best service and VIP treatment. |
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| Due not only to the highest performance but also the best support and service, the T2 was the favorite choice by the majority of private drivers and XRAY had more than double the amount of cars in this race than anybody else. The large amount of XRAY drivers were pitting in reserved XRAY pits to allow the team to work together as effectively as possible as well as to let private drivers watch what the team drivers do with their cars and setups, and to enjoy the famous XRAY team spirit. |
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Driver\'s stand
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| The race started with a free practice on Thursday morning, and the weather was exactly same as the forecast had promised â“ rain. As we could expect rain for the entire week, we had to use every free track time and decided to prepare for âśwater racing.âť We knew that the carâ™s setup â” for example, best power and good tire additives â” would not be as important in these conditions as they would normally be. |
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| However, even having the best power and good tires will mean nothing if your electronics will blow out due to water, so the priority was to waterproof all the electronics extremely well. Silicone grease, balloons and all kinds of covered boxes were in high demand and each driver tried to make his own creation of how to seal the electronics. Despite safe and (supposedly) thorough water-proof sealings, plenty of drivers had issues with burned-out speedos or motors, so instead of concentrating on racing you had to think all the time about the risk of not finishing a run because of burned-out electronics. |
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Water racing
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| As this track was built for 1/8 nitro on-road cars, it was no surprise that the track was super huge which meant that power will be crucial. In the previous practice both brushed and brushless motors were tested, however, no exact results were found on which system was the best; some drivers decided to use standard brushed motors while a larger number of drivers used brushless systems which gave a bit of an advantage on the super fast main straight and fast corners. |
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| In practice the cars achieved top speeds of over 85 km/h which is really an insane speed! Another focus was on tires not overheating, but because of the wet conditions the challenge was to gain a sufficient amount of grip so tricks and experience with additives played a significant role, too. |
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Start of final run
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| The first qualifiers started on Friday morning on a dry track. After the 12th heat it started to rain so the drivers in the last two heats decided not to run. The TQ in the first qualifier was set by Steven Weiss (XRAY) which was a good solid start for Steven. The second qualifiers started in wet conditions but as the higher heats progressed the track was getting drier and grip was increasing. As the last heats were run in much better conditions, it was Andy Moore who won the second qualifier round ahead of Thomas Pumpler and Teemu Leino. |
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| The team has worked very hard testing different tire tricks and additives, but since conditions were changing and time was getting short it was becoming increasingly difficult. Jilles tested a special tire additive mixture early on Saturday in practice and the additive has worked extremely well for the dry conditions and was some of the fastest; however, as soon the track got a bit of moisture on the surface the additive did not work well in the first laps and the car was sliding, so it was crucial to know which additive to apply for which conditions and how to treat the tires correctly to have the best grip. Part of the problem with insufficient grip and steering was solved by using softer yellow springs in the rear and using more inside holes on the shock towers which gained not only more grip but also helped the steering. |
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Jilles in a good mood
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| On Saturday the qualifiers continued in the morning on a dry track and the XRAY Swedish trio, as well as Jilles and Martin, were very fast in the morningâ™s free practice. In the third qualifier Jilles finished running a standard brushed motor 2nd behind Andy (who was using brushless). Martin had a perfectly-handling car but was slow and his speed was off the pace, putting him in 15th place. Joel was driving very nicely when he lost his pinion gear and in another run had motor problems, so he was out of contention for an A-main qualifying position when the best results were counted. |
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Andreas was very close to the A main but at the end of the day finished 11th, which has been called BQ. Viktor who was struggling with power issues, as did Dirk, qualified for the B main. At the end it was Jilles Groskamp and Steven Weiss who qualified for the A-main final in 3rd and 10th places, respectively.
2006 European Championship Qualification Results
1. Andy Moore
2. Marc Fischer
3. Jilles Groskamp - XRAY T2
4. Teemu Leino
5. Steen Graversen
6. Thomas Pumpler
7. Marc Rheinard
8. Simo Ahoniemi
9. Ronald Völker
10. Steven Weiss - XRAY T2 |
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Starting line
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On Sunday we woke up to a day that had a very bad weather forecast, and the dark sky was proving out the expectations that we would have water racing during the finals.
The first final was run in wet condition and this caused a lot of problems for many drivers. After the start, Pumpler got into the corner from inside and caused an accident pushing Jilles off the track which automatically put him to the end of the crowd in 8th place. Marc Fisher won the first final after Andy got interference and broke his car. Steven Weiss showcased some excellent racing with his T2 by moving from 10th place up to a final 3rd place. |
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Water & rain, rain & water
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| After the first A-main final the rain stopped and the track was drying very slowly. The second A-main final was run on a dry track but after the wash-out the grip was very low. Jillesâ™ additive was not the best one for these low-grip conditions, which was realized right after the start when his car was sliding and he had to drive very carefully to keep the car in the line until the tires heated up; but by that time it was already to late to catch the leader. Jilles finished 4th in this run. Steven had some power issues as all cars were passing him on the straight so in the end he finished 8th in the second final run. |
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Jilles & Steven, the XRAY A main finalists
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| The crowd was treated to a crazy last final run. As the track was dry, everybody prepared their cars and tires for dry conditions. However, one minute after the start it started to rain again. The start was very demanding as everybody was trying to push as much as possible but had to be as careful as possible at the same time because all cars were sliding and this race looked more like a drift show! At the end it was Andy who was lucky to win this final run which made him the overall European Champion. Jilles finished 3rd but had the same amount of points as Pumpler who had one 2nd place result from previous final, which gave him an overall better standing and was the one who could stand on the podium in the 3rd place position. |
| 2006 European Championship Final Results |
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1. Andy Moore
2. Teemu Leino
3. Thomas Pumpler
4. Jilles Groskamp - XRAY T2
5. Marc Fischer
6. Marc Rheinard
7. Ronald Völker
8. Steven Weiss - XRAY T2
9. Steen Graversen
10. Simo Ahoniemi
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Jilles\' T2 at the starting line
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| The 2006 Championship was the third European Championship in a row that was run in rain and wet conditions. This year the race was not only memorable because of the rain and water â” which mixed the results many times up-and-down â” but since it was run such a huge track it made it rather a power equipment race than a race of the drivers or cars. Of course there are many other factors that influence the results such as setup, racing style and tire additive tricks, but this year it was the power that was dividing the crowd. There has already been many discussions about what direction the development of motors and batteries will turn and what influence it will have on the racing. We believe it will all develop in the best interests of all of us in this great hobby. |
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XRAY A-main finalists + Junior Euro Champion
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| Alexander Hagberg from the XRAY Team Sweden was at the end crowned and awarded as the Junior European Champion 2006, bringing XRAY T2 another valuable trophy. |
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Alexander Hagberg - Junior Euro Champion 2006
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Start of the final race
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Driver\'s stand
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Jillles explaining on the set-up
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Steven Weiss from Germany
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Andreas Myrberg from Sweden
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Vasek Strupek from Czech
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Michal Nemecek from Czech
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Mario Rigert from Swiss
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Alex Stocker had a bit more luck than on Worlds
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Drying the cars
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Electronics in ballons
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Testing of wet tires
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Watter proof box
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Soaking of the tires
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Crazy watter proof
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...and it worked
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