It seems that major TV sponsors have noticed that RC racing can be a very good subject. For the first time, Discovery Channel Europe sponsored off-road nitro racing - live coverage on Polish TV, great prizes for winners - making for a fantastic event in the center of Warsaw capital city, Palac Kultury.
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The 2-day competition needed special preparation. The surface was new to off-road racers, being more like a rally competition, so good on-road experience was a definite advantage.
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The weather was very nice. During Saturday's preliminary runs some rain made it very difficult for inexperienced MT drivers to find their way on the track; buggy racers with more experience did not have that problem.
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The Sunday finals took place in different "nice for the audience" weather: great sunshine and 30°+ temperatures gave different challenges for the racers and their mechanics. Overheated and burnt engines and so on.
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The IC-8T final saw the battle between two very experienced drivers - Marcin Grochala (well known from IC-8 onroad) and Pawel Lipinski - former Polish Champion in IC-8T buggy, and joined by the youngest driver, 13 years old Dominik Ochocinski.
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The youngest driver, driving an XRAY, chased his more experienced colleagues and secured the 3rd place at the end of the race with the nice gap ahead of the rest of competitors. It was a new experience to race in front of TV cameras, but was great fun, too.
