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Un-obvious tricks... if you have weight to play with (I didn't on that engine but did on previous concepts) going to cast iron block and heads gets you some points to plow into improving other areas - I could have gotten more power if I was willing to put up with yet more weight. Going to negative quality points in some areas can do the same. I'd wager the highest power possible in the rules would be done with an iron block/head I6, which isn't what I built. And also, if you look at the dyno graph there's a really really narrow powerband. I don't think it's as big a disadvantage for ARXL as it would be for other types of racing.
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Nov 22, 2018 15:35
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How many entries do we even have at this stage, since the reg period is gonna close tomorrow?
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Nov 24, 2018 22:06
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Registration closes on Thursday now; as of right now we have a combined 22 entrants in the unified challenge.
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Nov 25, 2018 01:03
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"Team Red Cock Energy Liquid is proud to announce the driver for the PepperBOMB! XT as Finnish national rally star Pekka Heikkinen. Pekka has been honed on the gravel stages of Finland, achieving consistent good results over his career amongst a series of wins!" The camera cuts to a blond man in his early 30s, speaking in a deadpan monotone. "Yes, I am pleased to join Team Red Cock Energy Liquid - motto it is not for human consumption - and look forward to the ARXL championship. I believe we will have a very strong car; I can hope that we will be the class of the field but... uh... we will see of course. We will be powered by Red Cock Energy Liquid, adding the taste of Sriracha to an energy... liquid." He pauses and looks off screen. "No I will not drink it."
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Nov 25, 2018 01:57
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Just under three days left to get your entries in!
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Nov 27, 2018 05:57
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We reached out to Chad Takagawa, team lead for Team Red Cock Energy liquid for some thoughts on how the design for the PepperBOMB XT came about. “We weren’t really sure what the rules meant by ‘production based’ you know? So we just got this little crapbox city car thing and cut away the parts that were in the way. Given the whole thing was based around a longitudinal twin turbo V6, that meant a lot of cutting. Then it was still kinda heavier than we wanted so we cut some more and replaced everything not structural with carbon fiber. Screw it, you know?” “The engine was just kind of a checkbook thing. The first version we tried doing a 2.1L V6 that was actually all iron - by that point the car was bumping up against the minimum weight. Power wasn’t what we wanted so we just cut a check to this specialist that had a fully sorted Le Mans prototype class engine. They used some takeout bits to get under the cost cap but it was a lot better at 2.8L, and about the same weight. Not sure if we should be too specific about power yet; don’t want to tip our hand before the season starts.” “Chassis setup was really weird. We were working through a bunch of changes and the sucker just wouldn’t respond. An intern actually got the tires mixed up front to rear one test and all of a sudden it made huge pace, and Pekka loved it, sliding the thing all around. Kind of gave us a path forwards.”
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Nov 30, 2018 01:17
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OK, entries are now closed. Anyone who has an entry in that still needs to pass scrutineering can still do so! Thanks to everyone who entered! Racing action begins next week.
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Nov 30, 2018 01:20
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So, basic concept - going for minimum weight and maximum power. Simple enough. Started with the little Kei car thing and pre-revision engines and tweaked the hell out of it. Everything I did to make it more oversteer biased made it faster, I still have no idea why. First engine try was a 2.1L 5V V6. Actually went to iron block and heads to get the weight up and more points to throw at things. Definitely good power, though I forget how much. 420kW or so I think? Second try I started from scratch and went 4V with VVL and a bigger engine - 2813cc (important; 2815cc loses engineering time/etc points) Deliberately made the turbos spool late as possible which helped efficiency... as far as Automation is concerned it's basically a completely different engine before 6k RPM and that helps efficiency a lot. Could actually get to minimum weight that time so went to Mg block and AlSi heads... cost a few horsepower because had to move quality points around but, well. 1018kg, only a smidge over the absolute minimum. I'm kind of proud of the engine honestly. Ended up at negative quality points on the rotating assembly, for example, which was worth a couple horsepower putting them somewhere else. Whole thing is right on the edge. edit: Oh yeah, I forgot the most important thing - reading the regs on how the rewards weight is calculated, I actually did my suspension tuning with 100kg weight added. Which cost a little bit of pace on the unloaded side, but will probably reduce the effects of any of the rewards weight somewhat. mekilljoydammit fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Nov 30, 2018 |
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Nov 30, 2018 01:32
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I gladly admit I have little to no idea what I have made.
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Nov 30, 2018 04:03
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The fun for me in these challenges is optimizing everything to the Nth degree. The stretch between "this should work" and "literally anything I change makes things worse" is my favorite.
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Nov 30, 2018 15:05
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So I am putting together the driver and car lineups to start the challenge, and I just found out that I missed an entry, so I have 33 entries all told. If anyone who hasn't submitted an entry to the challenge wants to sneak in last-minute, get it into me ASAP!
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Dec 5, 2018 02:33
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I do hope we can get this thing going within this year.
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Dec 19, 2018 21:40
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I hope so too! Things have been a lot busier at work and elsewhere than I had anticipated the last month or so, but I should be able to get things started very soon.
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Dec 20, 2018 00:07
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Maybe a list of cars while we wait?
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Dec 28, 2018 18:48
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Any news?
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Jan 18, 2019 00:07
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Kilonum posted:Any news? Soon, and possibly very soon. Between work, the holidays and getting sick, my time has been very limited, but progress has been made fixing everything and getting ready to race. I really do apologise for all the delays that have happened, but I can assure you that this challenge is still definitely happening come hell or high water, if only because of all the time I've put into making it happen lol.
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Jan 18, 2019 23:05
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ARX Round One - Coma RallyX de Espana, Day One (Qualifying Rounds) Q1 The first round of qualifying at the Circuit de Catalunya started with a bang, with chaos engulfing the field in the first heat. The TCC 1450 RS of Robert Field bogged down hard at the start line, scattering cars to and fro as they dodged the stricken machine. Field got the car going again, but having lost several seconds, his race was lost, finishing well back of Craig March in the #95 Astelli Racing machine. Race two saw a marquee matchup between two of the favourites for the championship; Bandit Borgwarnerson in the #100 Flamarbol Beryl and Hsu-Yin Lim in the breathtakingly fast #16 Armada Racing Pint RX. Both cars shot off the line, with Lim leading the red hatchback into the first corner. Lim opted to take their joker lap on the first lap, which opened the track for Borgwarnerson to set the fastest lap of the session at 43.500 seconds. In the end, this proved the difference, with Borgwarnerson edging Lim by a mere four-tenths of a second at the finish line. Eric Meistermann and Yuki Fujishima battled viciously in the third race of the session, with the #24 FAAL winning a photo finish over Fujishima's Kitanishi SPECTER RallyX by a mere three-hundredths of a second, fully two seconds ahead of the #21 Isami Vireo ARX driven by Sylvester Landon. Newcomer Phornsawan Sirisuk of Thailand stormed to a decisive victory in the #55 SBA Rosales R200, finishing a full two and a half seconds ahead of Pablo Sanchez in the #52 Shromet Appalachian in second place, and four seconds ahead of third-place Quentin LeTheou in the Flamers Ilithiya. Finland's Pekka Heikkinen dominated the fifth and final heat, his Pepperbomb XT storming to a decisive victory in the heat over the JHW Lynx of Marika Kazan, and edging out Meistermann for the third best time in Q1.  Q2 With the field mixed up and re-seeded based on their Q1 finish, Jorg Ambuhl in the #129 Abula R4 overcame a very poor start to take the victory in the first heat, finishing a second and a half over the #92 Fuji Coherence R4 and the #6 FMR Stadia. Kevin Michaels and Hammond Hunter traded paint in the second heat, the drivers swapping the lead several times throughout the race, with the #63 KMC Arrotare's making the best of it's superior acceleration and flying past the #10 Fallow Stadium to take the heat victory. Tom Powell in the #888 Seydel-GNG machine flew off the starting line and never looked back in the third heat, taking the victory over Eino Vatanen in the Delta Motorsports Margay 18-S1. Miguel Gonzalez had a very poor start, losing control of his NEMW Nashoba into the first corner, causing some minor mechanical damage that affected the pace of the car, finishing well back of the pack in last place. Maria Ramirez fell victim to too many cars fighting for too much real estate going into Turn 4 in the fourth heat, her quality start ruined after the #545 Sakura Ronin spun Ramirez' Geshenk RX off the track, causing massive damage to the #129 car, which limped around the rest of the race, narrowly avoiding being lapped by the #8 Merciel Pixi of Alexander John Sierra. The fifth and final heat of Q2 was set to be an epic race, with Borgwarnerson in the Flamarbol on the rail, and Lim in the Armada and Meistermann in the FAAL filling out the rest of the first row. A poor start by the Flamarbol held up Heikkinen and March behind, allowing for Lim and Meistermann to battle right into the first corner. Perhaps trying to avoid the aggressive Frenchman as much as possible, Lim opted for the joker lap, availing themselves some clear track until the final lap, where the Armada slotted in a mere twelve-hundredths of a second ahead of the FAAL, to finish second behind Borgwarnerson, who took their second heat victory this day.  Q3 Having struggled in Q2 after his minor accident, Miguel Gonzalez monstered the field in the first heat of Q3, finishing a massive ten seconds ahead of second-place Robert Field in the #66 TCC 1450 RS. In a gutsy move, the #129 Geshenk returned to the track to continue their weekend; though the car still bore a considerable amount of damage, the team still managed to finish the heat, albeit in last place. Timo Virtanen cruised to an easy victory in in the second heat, the Finnish driver taking his LATOY LSSD to a decisive finish a full three seconds ahead of Hunter in the Deer and Hunt, who fought a pitched battle once again with Michaels in the KMC Arrotare. A tangle between Ambuhl and Fujiwara on the third lap set both drivers back a bit, rounding out the field in this heat. Eino Vatanen started strong and did not look back, finishing well ahead of the #86 NPV Factory Racing car driven my Mason Olsen, the New Zealander finishing three seconds back of the Finn for second place in the third heat. Sirisuk cruised to a strong finish in the fourth heat, finishing well ahead of March and Landon to set the fourth-best time of Q3, establishing the young Thai driver as a potential favourite to move on to the events on Sunday. Borgwarnerson took the top honours in the fifth heat for a third time in a row, the Flamarbol cruising to a decisive victory over Heikkinen and Lim, with fully three and a half seconds between the superstar New Zealander and his Finnish and Chinese rivals, who themselves tangled more than a few times during the course of this race. Alexander-John Sierra and Yuki Fujishima had a tangle on their joker lap, both drivers running wide in Turn 8 on the final lap.  Q4 Jorg Ambuhl took the top spot in the first heat of the final qualifying session, the Swiss driver edging out Fujiwara by three tenths for P27 in the session. Maria Ramirez' bad luck continued, getting into an accident while trying to avoid the damaged #72 Zenshi Nimessa of Laurent Faust. This time, the damage proved too much, and Ramirez retired her stricken machine on the third lap. Hammond Hunter took the win in the second heat, setting the seventeenth-fastest time for the session, just ahead of Joey Rogers in the Albatross RS300, who finished four thousandths of a second ahead of a charging Alexander Krebs in his Likar Tixref. In the third heat, Tom Powel in the #888 Seydel-GNG machine took the top honour, a second and a half up on Mason Olsen and Einar Poogen in the #86 NPV and the #88 Okul respectively. Sylvester Landon stormed to the fifth-best time of Q4 in the fourth heat, beating out Alexander-John Sierra's Merciel by over a second, helping the American driver to secure his fourteen championship points earned in the qualification rounds. Tsu-Yin Lim crashed hard trying an aggressive overtaking maneuver on Pekka Heikkinen going into the first corner, spinning off the track and damaging the Armada Pint badly, forcing the driver to limp the car back home in last place in the final heat, and finishing with the third to last time in Q4. Borgwarnerson, unaffected by the chaos behind him, cruised to dominant victory in the final heat, securing his astounding acheivement of winning all four qualifying races, cementing the top seed in the semi-finals easily.  Intermediate Classification  Join us tomorrow for day two of the opening round of the Automation Rallycross League!
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Jan 30, 2019 00:48
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Woooo! In character interview with Pekka after dinner.
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Jan 30, 2019 01:41
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We reached Pekka Heikkinen for comment after the opening round qualifying sessions. “Yes we were pleased by the results from day one we thought we had a good car and results are fairly good. We of course want to win but in field of very strong competitors placing where we did from the start is excellent result. I want to thank Team Red Cock Energy Liquid for the chance to drive the car and am required to say that EU regulations state that use of liquid for any purpose other than horse chemical castration is not certified.”
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Jan 31, 2019 00:57
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Coma RallyX de Espana, Day Two: Semi-Finals and Finals Semi-Final 1 The field having been whittled down, the first of the six-lap semi-finals began under beautiful, clear skies here Bacelona. Eric Meistermann got a tremendously good start, leading the field through the first four laps, as Bandit Borgwarnerson misjudged his start and fell back to fifth place. Opting to run his joker lap first, Borgwarnerson stormed back through the field, taking the lead once again on Lap 5, even before Meistermann ran his joker on the final lap. Phornsawan Sirisuk had a race to forget, getting spun off into the wall before the first corner as he attempted a risky overtake on Borgwarnerson. Sirisuk nursed their stricken car around to complete the race, albeit in last place overall. Sylvester Landon rounded out the top three in Semi-Final 1, finishing four seconds adrift of Meistermann's FAAL, and one and a half seconds ahead of the dueling Pablo Sanchez in the Shromet and Alexander-John Sierra in the Merciel, with Sanchez pipping his British rival by a mere six-tenths of a second for fourth overall.  Semi-Final 2 Armada Racing worked feverishly though the night to repair Tsiu-Yinn Lim's stricken Pint RX, and their efforts paid off in grand fashion, with the Chinese driver storming to a dominant victory in Semi-Final 2, a full seven and a half seconds ahead of Pekka Heikkinen in the Pepperbomb XT. Yuki Fujishima ran a clean but uneventful race to finish third, three seconds ahead of the #95 Astelli Racing Leopard RX driven by Craig March, who fended off a hard-charging Miguel Gonzalez over the first four laps, when a mistake in the final sector of Lap 5 ended the #82 NEMW's chances at the final slot for the Final race. Marika Kazan, Mason Olsen and Tom Powell fought hard in the back of the field, with the #15 JHW Lynx starting strong and passing the #888 Seydel-GNG going into the second lap, leaving the #86 NPV of Mason hot on the tail of Powell. The faster NPV prevailed, in a hard but clean overtake on Lap 5, and had the race lasted but one more lap, Olsen might just have reeled in Kazan and passed her.  Final Another very poor start for Borgwarnerson saw him fall back to seventh place by the first turn, but the plucky Kiwi did not give up so easily, opting to remain on the main lap as most of the cars ahead chose the joker on their first lap. Given clear track ahead, the #100 Flamarbol roared ahead to set an absolutely blistering pace, the rest of the finalists utterly at a loss as to how to answer Borgwarnerson's pace. Tsiu-Yinn Lim finished second, a full seven seconds behind the Flamarbol, with Pekka Heikkinen in the Pepperbomb in third, three seconds back. Eric Meistermann made a costly error on Lap 2, running wide and losing time to the leaders, the Frenchman ultimately having to settle on fourth place, ahead of Sylvester Landon in the #21 Isami. The Merciel and Shromet battled hard once again, finishing a mere fourteen-one hundreths of a second apart in seventh and eighth place overall, with Craig March in the Astelli Racing Leopard rounding out the field in ninth place.  Final Classification  With the first round of the ARXL now complete, we now move to Portugal for the second round of the series, where the weather is forecast to be just as sunny and warm as it has been here at the Circuit de Catalunya. Will Bandit Borgwarnerson continue his string of dominance, or will Lim and the others find a way to mount an effective challenge? Championship Standings 
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Jan 31, 2019 03:25
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 Go Beryl! I based the looks and engine capacity of my car on my actual Grandma Spec Corolla, which is also called Beryl, the most Grandma of names
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Jan 31, 2019 08:12
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Meanwhile mine is named after the area I live in
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Jan 31, 2019 19:57
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Fernando RallyX de Portugal, Day One - Qualifying Rounds Q1 Qualifying began this morrning under wet conditions, a cold front blowing through the night before and soaking the track thoroughly. With the track wet but drying steadily, it had a major effect on how the teams approached the early rounds of qualifying. Round 1 winner Bandit Borgwarnerson set the pace for Q1, roaring out to a decisive victory in the first heat, finishing a full eight seconds ahead of Joey Rogers in the Albatross and Pablo Sanchez in the in the Shromet, the two American drivers locked in a pitched battle for second and third in their heat, with the Albatross ahead at the end by a nose. Robert Field in the TCC tangled on the first lap with Pekka Heikkinen in the Pepperbomb, both drivers damaging their cars and finishing well back of the heat leader. Alexander Krebs in the #35 Likar Tixref took the victory in the second heat, the young German finding a good rhythm on the muddy track to finish a second ahead of Sylvester Landon in the Isami. Alexander-John Sierra struggled to find his form in Q1, squandering an excellent start to finish third in the Merciel Pixi, well ahead of fourth-place Declan Slater, who stalled out on the start and never really recovered from his mistake. Yuki Fujishima ran wide and damaged the Kitanishi's suspension in the process, limping the car around to a distant fifth-place finish. Jaimz Scooby in the #6 FMR Stadia and Rudolfs Jansons in the #13 Schwarzburg fought a pitched battle in the third heat, with Jansons running a storming fast joker lap to more than make up for his rather poor start, finishing only fifteen one-hundredths of a second behind the FMR for second place. Tom Powell in the Seydel-GNG and Marika Kazan in the JHW traded places throughout the heat, with a mistake by Kazan on her joker lap costing her the third-place finish in the end. Clive Barker and Team WRT Racing took the top spot in the thrilling fourth heat, making up for a very poor start by monstering the course here at Circuit Montalegre, slipping past Einar Poogen in the #88 Okul on Lap 2, and then outrunning the #95 Astelli Racing Leopard driven by Craig March on his joker lap to take the top spot in the heat. Mason Olsen in the #86 NPV and Hammond Hunter in the #10 Deer and Hunt both struggled for grip on the slippery surfaces, finishing well back of the top three runners. Maki Taninawa in the #545 Sakura Ronin took the top spot in the final heat, running a brilliant race in the challenging conditions, in spite of her being on record as "not being particularly fond of wet racing." Maria Ramirez and Phornsawan Sirisuk took second and third in a thrilling finish, the young Thai driver only a tenth behind the #129 Geschenk car at the finish, and a tenth up on Tsiu-Yinn Lim, who never really looked comfortable with the Armada at any point of the race.  Q2 After running wide and damaging their car in Q1, Team NARUTO Selestat was able to repair Eric Meistermann's stricken FAAL in time for Q2, and Meistermann took no prisoners in the first heat, finishing top in that heat, far ahead of Timo Virtanen's LATOY. Kevin Michaels in the #63 KMC Racing machine recovered some of the lost ground from Q1, finishing two seconds behind the LATOY for the sixteenth-best time of the session, in spite of bogging down on the start. Yuki Fujishima found their footing in Q2, the #96 car back to full health once again, taking the top spot in the second heat, four seconds ahead of Heikkinen in the Pepperbomb, the Finn still dealing with the after-effects of his accident in Q1 and only just holding out against the hard-charging Marika Kazan in the JHW machine. Declan Slater and Ashlynn Morganstern fought a pitched battle for fifth and sixth spot behind Tom Powell in the Seydel-GNG, but an aggressive move by Morganstern sent both her and Slater wide on the first lap, costing them both time in the end. Sylvester Landon took top spot overall in Q2 in a dominant showing in the third heat, finishing a full six seconds ahead of Alexander-John Sierra in second place. Rudolfs Jansons and Jaimz Scooby continued their battle from Q1, but both drivers ended up colliding going into the second sector, damaging both cars and slowing them down considerably for the rest of the heat. Pablo Sanchez started strong in the fourth heat and never looked back, leaving Hsiu-Yinn Lim behind in a distant second-place finish. Sirisuk in the #55 SBA Rosales was lucky to avoid any mishaps, after mistakes on both their first and second laps nearly ended the race weekend for the team, with Sirisuk left dissappointed with their carelessness following the race. Joey Rogers and Alexander Krebs found themselves nearly caught up in one of Sirisuk's mistakes, both drivers scattering to avoid colliding with the wayward SBA machine. Craig March started strong and never let up in the final heat, taking the top spot over Bandit Borgwarnerson by two full seconds, the Kiwi having made up for a below-average start with a stonking quick first lap to put himself ahead of Maria Ramirez in the Geschenk, where he stayed for the rest of the race. Maki Taninawa crashed on her joker lap, bumping the wall as she ran wide, damaging her car and causing Clive Baker to nearly come to a complete stop to avoid hitting the Sakura.  Q3 WIth the track now fully dried out, lap times began to fall, as evidenced by Robert Field in the TCC 1450 running a 2:37.166 to win the first heat of Q3; while this time would have been good enough for a top-five finish in Q2, it was unfortunately only good enough for P22 in Q3. In spite of this, Field ran a gutsy race, making up for a very poor start by clawing back more and more lap time from both second-place Jorg Ambuhl and third-place Jaimz Scooby to take the top spot back by the final lap. The second heat saw Mason Olsen return to his usually fine form, taking the top spot by nearly three seconds over Einar Poogen in the Okul and Miguel Gonzalez in the NEMW, those two drivers locked in a epic but cleanly-fought battle for second place in the heat. In the end, Poogen held out by a mere two-tenths to finish second in the heat. Tom Powell and the #888 Seydel-GNG took top spot in the third heat, cruising to an easy, three-second victory over Eino Vatanen in the #4 Delta Motorsport car. Kevin Michaels, Ashlynn Morganstern and Joey Rogers rounded out the rest of the top five, with scarcely more than a second between the three cars in the end. Quentin LeTheou and Declan Slater both suffered very poor starts and never really recovered from them, finishing last and second-to-last respectively. Tsiu-Yinn Lim found an extra gear, so to speak, taking an easy victory in the fourth heat, six seconds ahead of Pekka Heikkinen and Phornsawan Sirisuk, who were engaged in a thrilling "will he or won't he?" battle through the race, as the gathered crowds watched on the edges of their seats to see if Heikkinen's decision to run the joker lap first would pay off versus Sirisuk, who ran their joker lap on the final lap. In the end, Heikkinen prevailed, by a mere quarter of a second, with Sirisuk slotting in just ahead of the Geschenk and the JHW. Eric Meistermann found his footing in a big way in the final heat, taking an easy victory over Bandit Borgwarnerson, who had to contend with a hard fight put on by Sylvester Landon in the Isami all race long. Pablo Sanchez and Craig March traded paint and positions several times, but a misjudged braking point by the Astelli Racing driver on the last lap ended his charge and relegated him to fifth place in the heat. Yuki Fujishima, strong in the first two qualifying rounds, found herself in big trouble following a minor off on the first lap, the suspension of the Kitanishi Develo sufficently damaged such that all she could do was salvage a last-place finish, good for P14 in the session.  Q4 Quentin LeTheou recovered form his bruising race in Q3 to take the top spot in the first heat of Q4, finishing well ahead of Jorg Ambuhl and Rudolfs Jansons. Takumi Fujiwara suffered a big crash on the first lap, severely damaging his car and ending any hope of Fuji Motorsports finishing higher than last place overall. Maki Taninawa ran a strong race in the #545 Sakura Ronin, finishing first in heat number two, well ahead of Hammond Hunter in the stadium truck and Joey Rogers in the #37 Albatross. Robert Field threatened a few times at the heels of Alexander Krebs in the Likar, but in the end was unable to overcome his dreadful start and found himself just behind the German driver. Yuki Fujishima won the third heat, in spite of her car being bodged together just enough to get it running for the final session. A strong start, combined with Miguel Gonzalez stalling out, gave her all the margin she needed to hold off the hard-charging American driver, finishing a second ahead at the finish and guaranteeing her a spot in the semi-finals. Phornsawan Sirisuk and the #55 SBA Rosales ran a textbook race from start to finish, making a strong start and no mistakes whatsoever to take not only the top spot of the heat, but also narrowly edging out Pablo Sanchez for the top spot overall in Q4. Pekka Heikkinen and Alexander-John Sierra had no real answer for the Thai driver's scorching pace, with the #80 Pepperbomb just holding out over Sierra's Merciel Pixi. Maria Ramirez had a big off in the #129 Geschenk on her joker lap, limping the car around to finish, but far behind the entire field. Much work looms ahead to prepare the stricken car for tomorrow's semi-finals and finals. In the final heat, Sanchez took the top spot of course, with Borgwarnerson struggling with a mechanical issue of some kind, the Flamarbol Beryl never really looking all that comfortable in this session. In spite of the difficulty, Borgwarnerson was still able to hold off Hsiu-Yinn Lim, who seemed to come out of their shell a little bit in this final session, having generally looked uncomfortable with the track and the conditions all weekend long. Eric Meistermann went wide and damaged his car after a botched overtaking attempt on the first lap against Lim, though he was still able to post the ninth-best time of the session, in spite of finishing last in the final heat.  Intermediate Classification  With more weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow, we are expecting very wet conditions for both the semi-finals and the final, with a strong likelihood that the conditions will only deteriorate even further as the day wears on. Will Bandit Borgwarnerson, winner in Spain, be able to make it two for two, or will his new-found struggles continue and a new winner found?
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Feb 2, 2019 05:10
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Fernando RallyX de Portugal, Day Two - Semi-Finals and Final Semi-Final 1 The rain absolutely poured down as the cars made the grid for the first semi-final, the track slippery and hazardous on the paved sections, the dirt sections turned into a gigantic mud pit. When the lights turned green, Maria Ramirez flew off the line, the Geschenk finding traction that nobody else could manage. This continued all the way to the finish line, as Ramirez put on a wet-driving clinic like no other, crossing the finish line a full twelve seconds ahead of Mason Olsen in the #86 NX-430, followed closely by Craig March in the Astelli Racing machine. Bandit Borgwarnerson never really looked comfortable in the #100 Flamarbol, the car struggling for grip on the unpaved sections. Adding to the New Zealander's problems, a bit of a bump on Lap 4 damaged the Flamarbol, slowing the car down even further and relegating Borgwarnerson to a fourth-place finish, a second and a half up on Sylvester Landon in the Isami. Behind Landon, Einar Poogen and Alexander-John Sierra made the best of what they could muster in these awful conditions, finishing sixth and seventh overall, with Poogen three quarters of a second out of the last final slot. Eric Meistermann had a very difficult race, the FAAL proving to be nearly undriveable in these conditions, the Frenchman opting to take it easy and finishing the race rather than risking crashing out and losing valuable championship points by pushing for a higher finish.  Semi-Final 2 Conditions deteriorated even more for Semi-Final 2, but that did not slow down Phornsawan Sirisuk, who was able to extract the very best from the SBA Rosales to win the second semi-final in decisive fashion, a full fourteen seconds ahead of Tom Powell in the #888 Seydel-GNG after running a very clean race at the front of the field. This is more than can be said for the rest of the racers in this semi-final, as the rest of the field kept getting got caught up in a number of small mishaps, with one car or another spinning off or losing control at seemingly every opportunity, with the other drivers inheriting and losing positions almost continuously through the finish, and nearly every car nursing some amount of damage by the end of the race. Powell came out on top of the rest, with Hsiu-Yinn Lim keeping her cool for a gutsy third-place finish, a full eight seconds ahead of Yuki Fujishima. Fujishima had an eventful race, having tangled with Marika Kazan in the #15 JHW on Lap 4, relegating the Greek driver to a seventh place finish behind Pablo Sanchez in the Shromet Appalachian and Pekka Heikkinen in the Pepperbomb, the Finn having spoiled their race after a collision between him and Maki Taninawa in the #545 Sakura Ronin.  Final The rain continued unabated for the final, with most of the fans seeking refuge from the downpour by whatever means they could find. The teams continued their work unabated, scrambling to fix their bashed-up machines in time for the final race. Despite their best efforts, a number of teams lined up on the grid with damaged machines, risking further calamity rather than withdrawing from the final and forfeiting their championship points. All the cars got away cleanly from the start, but an aggressive overtaking maneuver by Mason Olsen ended with the New Zealander cannonballing through the field going into the first corner, having misjudged his braking point. Caught up in the carnage was Phornsawan Sirisuk in the SBA, Craig March in the Astelli and Tom Powell in the Seydel-GNG. Hsiu-Yinn Lim barely escaped undamaged, and opted to let the rest of the field smash each other to bits rather than risk another big accident. Sirisuk quickly found their car mostly undamaged and drove to a brilliant recovery in fifth place, three quarters of a second behind Bandit Borgwarnerson in the Flamarbol. Maria Ramirez in the Geschenk and Sylvester Landon in the Isami drove a steady, careful race, largely avoiding any of the issues of the rest of the field for second and third place respectively, with Landon finishing a full six seconds ahead of Borgwarnerson in fourth.  Final Classification  With the chaos caused by the weather here at Circuit Montalegre, the teams scrambled to leave the second round of the ARX League with as many points as they possibly could, taking advantage of mishaps and missteps by their opponents while trying to minimise their own. In the end, Yuji Fujishima proved to be the most consistent driver overall, pipping Bandit Borgwarnerson by a single point this weekend, who managed to extend his lead in the Championship Standings over second-place Hsiu-Yinn Lim by six points. With another typically rainy weekend expected in Belgium, will we see a repeat of the chaos here in Portugal, or will the normal order re-establish itself for Round 3 of the Automation Rallycross League? Championship Standings 
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Feb 2, 2019 19:57
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Just a friendly reminder to all entrants, that you can still have a pretty dramatic effect on the outcome of this season by employing Pace Control in your race. Changes are allowed throughout the season! You can find the Pace Control Form here!
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Feb 2, 2019 20:08
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Yeah, I'm definitely going to have to have the driver step it up a bit; the vehicle itself was clearly not as good as I was hoping it would be.
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Feb 4, 2019 10:03
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BlueBull RX Belgium, Day One - Qualifying Rounds Q1 The third round of the ARX League began under a cloudy, rainy sky, with Circuit Jules Tacheny very wet and muddy in a scene typical of spring in Belgium. The first race saw Einar Poogen in the #88 Okul take the top spot in the heat, good for P9 in the session, a full six seconds ahead of Craig March in the #95 Astelli Racing Leopard. NEMW's Miguel Gonzalez overcame a poor start, stringing together four excellent laps to best the Zenshi of Laurent Faust, who finished clear of Sylvester Landon in the Isami Vireo in fifth place by nearly seven seconds. Clive Baker in the #47 Team WRT Westward shocked the rest of the field in the second heat, taking not only the top spot in the heat but also setting the best time in Q1 overall. Only the #37 Albatross of Joey Rogers was able to mount any kind of challenge to Baker in this session, though in the end the young American ended up almost eight seconds back of the Westward. Hammond Hunter took the best time in the third heat, his excellent start proving to be the difference between the Deer and Hunt and second-place Quentin LeTheou in the #99 Flamers Iliythiya at the finish line. Pekka Heikkinen had a rough Q1, his PepperBomb sliding off the track on the first lap, knocking the suspension out of alignment and limping home to a last-place finish, some six seconds behind Marika Kazan in the JHW Lynx. Maki Taninawa of the SAS-ANA RX team bested the field in the fourth heat, finishing some four seconds ahead of William Cunningham in the Omen RX, both drivers praising their machines for being very exploitable on this challenging and slippery track, both drivers besting championship leader Bandit Borgwarnerson, who did not look entirely comfortable in the #100 Flamarbol in this session. Hsiu-Yinn Lim ran a steady, uneventful race in the #16 Armada, taking the top spot in the final heat by almost four seconds over Maria Ramirez in the Geschenk. Phornsawan Sirisuk collided with Robert Field going into the very first corner, the young South African damaging his car as he spun off, though the SBA Rosales of Sirisuk did not come out unscathed either, limping his car around to a fifth-place finish in the heat.  Q2 The rain tapered off to a drizzle for Q2, the track drying slightly, though the unpaved sections of the track remained as treacherous as ever, as Kevin Michaels found out in the first heat, his KMC Arrotare crashing late on the first lap and then again on the second lap, the stricken machine limping around to finish the heat, but well out of contention. Timo Virtanen in the LATOY LSSD took top honours the first heat, finishing well clear of fellow Finn Pekka Heikkinen in second place. Phornsawan Sirisuk recovered from his rough outing in Q1, his repaired SBA Rosales storming to the top spot in the second heat, nearly nine seconds ahead of Ashlynn Morganstern in the Ars Eligos and Mason Olsen in the NPV, those two drivers finishing virtually neck and neck for second and third in what turned out to be a thrilling battle. Eino Vatanen crashed out hard in the Delta Motorsport machine, limping his stricken car around to finish the race, but badly damaged. Craig March took the top spot in the third heat, taking an easy top spot over Pablo Sanchez in the Shromet, who lost out on a chance to win the heat after tangling with championship rival Alexander-John Sierra's Merciel on the start section, the Brit's car spinning around and hitting the barrier after Sanchez slammed the door on an overtaking maneuver. Hsiu-Yinn Lim had an eventful race in the fourth heat, tangling with slow traffic a couple of times after their joker lap, and making a couple of tactical errors on Lap 2 and Lap 3, though in the end it wasn't enough to dislodge the Chinese prodigy from the top spot in the heat, a full four seconds ahead of Maria Ramirez. Alexander Krebs had a very rough start in the Likar, causing Jaimz Scooby in the FMR to run into the back of the German, crushing the FMR Stadia's intercooler and reducing that car's pace considrably. Bandit Borgwarnerson took the top spot in the final heat, his difficulties in Q1 a thing of the past as he got away cleanly at the start and never looked back, finishing fifteen seconds ahead of Maki Taninawa in the #545 Sakura Ronin. The battle of the heat fell to Rudolfs Jansons in the #13 Tyrelli Schwarzburg R3 and Team WRT's Clive Baker, who finished barely a car length apart, well back of the rest of the pack, but no less hard fought between the two drivers.  Q3 The rain intensified between sessions, leaving the track treacherous once again in Q3, with many of the damaged cars from the previous two sessions finding themselves out on the track in the first heat, in various states of repair. Alexander Krebs took the top spot in this race easily, good for P7 in the session, being the only car in anything approaching an undamaged state. Eino Vatanen's drive failed on the third lap, #4 Delta Motorsport car grinding to a halt after a promising start to the race, his weekend over. Laurent Faust tangled with Takumi Fujiwara in the Fuji Raceworks car, damaging both cars severely and effectively ending their weekends as well. Clive Baker once again demonstrated his wet-weather prowess, along with the accessible performance of the Westward El Verano by cruising to a decisive victory in the second heat, seventeen seconds clear of Rudolfs Jansons in the Schawarzburg R3. Miguel Gonzalez returned to form somewhat after an entirely forgettable Q2, finishing a solid fifth-place over Declan Slater. Einar Poogen took the top spot in the third heat, the Estonian star showing once again his talent to the world, crossing the finish line a full nine seconds ahead of Hammond Hunter's Fallow Stadium. Tom Powell in the Seydel-GNG came third, nipping at the heels but never quite reaching the #10 car ahead of him. Eric Meistermann's rough weekend continued, finishing last in heat in the NARUTO Selestat FAAL, the car proving to be exceedingly difficult to drive in these challenging conditions. Maki Taninawa took the honours in heat number four, beating out the likes of Pablo Sanchez, cleared by the stewards of any wrongdoing in the Sierra crash just before the heat began, and Joey Rogers in his #37 Albatross. Pekka Heikkinen struggled again as the weather deteriorated, his car proving to be a handful in these conditions once again. Hsiu-Yinn Lim took the top spot in the final heat, and indeed the top spot in Q3 with her finish, three seconds ahead of Bandit Borgwarnerson, the Chinese driver sprinting off the line as Borgwarnerson struggled to find grip. Maria Ramirez in the Geschenk finished third, three seconds behind Borgwarnerson, then a large gap to fourth, where Craig March placed the Astelli Racing machine, a couple of big moments in his race ending his challenge for third. Quentin LeTheou crashed his Flamers Ilithyia hard on the second lap, managing to keep the machine running, but was forced to limp the stricken car home, well back of the leaders in this heat.  Q4 The weather steady between sessions, Alexander-John Sierra took his fully repaired Merciel Pixi to the top spot in the first heat, twenty seconds up on Robert Field in second place. Eric Meistermann crashed hard on the start section, the Frenchman having to limp his car home just ahead of the rest of the field in third place, with this heat running short a car after Delta Motorsport retired the car officially at the end of Q3. Declan Slater took top honours in the second heat of the session, winning easily over Mason Olsen of NPV Factory Racing, the Antti ARXL Special crossing the line some three seconds ahead of the NPV. Phornsawan Sirisuk in third place kept the New Zealander honest, finishing six-tenths back, with a large gap between them and fourth-place Ashlynn Morganstern. Craig March finished first in the third heat, seven seconds up on William Cunningham in second place. With that finish, one could see the elation of the Mach Schnell Racing team as their driver put their car into the semi-finals for the first time this season, after struggling mightily in the first two rounds of the season. Jaimz Scooby followed a mere second behind Cunningham in third place, the FMR Stadia not quite able to keep up with the Omen RX ahead of him. Hammond Hunter, Rudolfs Jansons and Alexander Krebs were your top three drivers from the fourth heat, those three drivers securing their spots in the semi-finals for the first time, with the Deer and Hunt doing a celebratory set of donuts on the start-finish line before being asked the track officials to clear the track for the final heat. Joey Rogers, after a strong run through the first three qualifying sessions, damaged his suspension on the first lap of the race, limping the car home in last place, though still able to finish well enough to ensure the Albatross made the semi-final. In the final heat, Einar Poogen edged out both Hsiu-Yinn Lim and Clive Baker in a thrilling race, with scarcely more than a second between the Okul in first and the third-place Westward. A storming start by all three drivers separated them from the rest of the pack, with all three drivers making for early joker laps. With the Okul in the lead in the final lap, Poogen got a bit over-ambitious with one of his braking points, running wide and cutting back aggressively onto the racing line, forcing both the Armada and the Westward to avoid the wayward car ahead of them. Fortunately, no damage was done, and to the relief of Poogen, he was able to retain the lead right to the chequered flag.  Intermediate Classification  With marginally better weather forecast for tomorrow, and the field thoroughly shaken up today, the semi-finals and finals are truly free for the taking by anyone. Will Hsiu-Yinn Lim take their first win of the season? Will Bandit Borgwarnerson recover from the challenges faced today to take yet another win, or will Einar Poogen, the dark horse of this round, sneak up and steal a victory from the leaders of the championship?
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Feb 5, 2019 06:05
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Great writing once again Mr Chips. The effort you put in is fantastic. I’ve really got to find some time to do that pace control form!
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Feb 5, 2019 08:52
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BlueBull RX Belgium, Day Two - Semi-Finals and Final Semi-Final 1 Though the skies threatened to open up several times in the lead up to the semi-finals, the rain held off for the first semi-final at least. Craig March in the Astelli and Tsiu-Yinn Lim got great starts, with Einar Poogen in the Okul not far behind them. Phornsawan Sirisuk stalled out on the line, and while he was able to get the #55 SBA Rosales going again, his race was effectively over even before it began. After a pretty average start, Pablo Sanchez strung together three excellent laps, getting right up behind Poogen, keeping the Estonian honest at every turn. Looking better and better at every step, Craig March started to pull away from Lim's Armada until suddenly on the final lap, the Leopard ground to a halt, his race over. An astonished Lim blasted past and inherited the lead, finishing nine and a half seconds ahead of Einar Ppgen and ten seconds ahead of Pablo Sanchez. Tom Powell in the #888 Seydel-GNG pipped Joey Rogers for fourth place, with eight one-hundredths of a second between the two drivers at the finish line.  Semi-Final 2 A gentle drizzle began just as the first semi-final ended, wetting the track before the second semi-final race. Bandit Borgwarnerson and Maria Ramirez were caught unaware by Alexander Krebs on the start, the German driver leading the Flamarbol and the Geschenk into the first lap by a half a second. However, the Likar just couldn't match the pace of the other two drivers, falling back to third place after his joker lap, which is ultimately where he finished the race. Hammond Hunter and WIlliam Cunningham were both hot on his tail, with the #10 Deer and Hunt finishing three seconds behind the Likar, having inherited fourth place on Lap 5 when the #545 Sakura Ronin broke down, with Cunningham's Omen RX a second behind the big American pickup truck, just on the other side of making the final race. In the end, Bandit Borgwarnerson took the top honours in this race, finishing well clear of Maria Ramirez in second place.  Final The drizzle continued for the final, though the track condition did not change appreciably between the end of the Semi-Finals and the Final. Hsiu-Yinn Lim blasted out of the starting blocks and never looked back, finishing 3.6 seconds ahead of Bandit Borgwarnerson's Flamarbol Beryl. Pablo Sanchez drove a competent and clean race to finish third in his #52 Shromet Appalachian, six seconds ahead of Maria Ramirez in the Geschenk. Tom Powell overcame a very poor start to finish fifth by the narrowest of margins, holding off a late charge from Einar Poogen to finish a mere three one-hundredths of a second ahead of the Estonian. Right behind them, Hammon Hunter in the #10 Deer and Hunt and Joey Rogers in the #37 Albatross battled hard, only eight tenths between them at the line, with Alexander Krebs faltering on the start, then making a mistake on his first lap, damaging his car slightly, to round out the field.  Final Classification  With Hsiu-Yinn Lim's wire-to-wire-to-wire victory today, she secures the maximum number of points for the event, besting Bandit Borgwarnerson by five points, and reducing the gap in the championship standings by five, going into the fourth round at historic Silverstone Circuit in England. With the weather forecast to be sunny and hot all weekend - a decidedly un-English proposition at this time of the year, will Borgwarnerson recover some of his lost form, or will Hsiu-Yinn Lim make it two in a row? Championship Standings 
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Feb 6, 2019 02:48
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Gulp Oil Rallycross Of Great Britain, Day One - Qualifying Rounds Q1 The sun shone bright on Silverstone Circuit this morning, and with the weather forecast to remain clear and warm all weekend, speeds will be high on this challenging rallycross course. Many of the drivers were looking forward to a weekend of their own beds and some home cooking, with a large number of the field expressing that this is their favourite round of the season. The first heat in Q1 started the weekend with an absolutely thrilling race, with Phornsawan Sirisuk, Einar Poogen, William Cunningham and Alexander-John Sierra all finishing within a third of a second of the eventual winner Sirisuk. Paint was traded occasionally, but the racing was by and large clean and fair, with Cunningham making a spectacular joker lap on his final lap, just slotting in ahead of Sierra's Merciel at the merge. Ashlynn Morganstern and Joey Rogers struggled off the starting line, never quite recovering from the lost time, opting instead to let the drivers ahead of them duke it out, and to be ready in the event of a mistake taking out one or all of them. The second heat was perhaps a bit of a letdown in comparison to the first race, with Maki Taninawa in the #545 taking an easy win over Tom Powel in the Seydel-GNG, slotting the Sakura Ronin into P2 for the entire session. Eric Meistermann in the #24 FAAL Coupe had a couple of miscues in the race, running wide on Lap 2 and missing a braking point on the third lap, a couple of mistakes that cost him a much higher finish in this heat. Quentin LeTheou took the top spot in heat number three, the #99 Flamers Ilithyia crossing the finish line a second ahead of Mason Olsen's NPV NX-430 and into P5 for the session. Timo Virtanen in the LATOY and Declan Slater in the Antti ARXL Special had a bit of a coming together on the first lap, both cars finishing the race with some damage. Pekka Heikkinen took the top spot in a fourth heat laden with championship heavyweights, just edging out the Westward El Verano of Clive Baker by less than a tenth of a second. Alexander Krebs in the Likar Tixref took third place in the heat, followed by Hsiu-Yinn Lim in the Armada Pint, the Chinese driver struggling after sideswiping the wall after running wide on the first lap. In spite of the damage to her car, Lim managed to finish ahead of Hammond Hunter, the Deer and Hunt looking a bit out of its element on this tight, twisting circuit. In the fifth and final heat, Craig March of Astelli Racing knocked off the top spot, both for the heat as well as the whole of Q1, finishing three seconds ahead of Geschenk's Maria Ramirez and NEMW's Miguel Gonzalez, the Nashoba barely a second behind the Geschenk in third. Championship leader Bandit Borgwarnerson took fourth in the heat after a poor start in the Flamarbol, the New Zealander never really looking comfortable with the car and the conditions this morning, but vowing to finish better in the following rounds as he climbed out of his car, sitting in a distant P15.  Q2 As the track warmed and the paved sections got cleared of dust, times began to tumble in Q2, with even the slowest time in Q2 being equivalent to mid-field in Q1. The first heat saw Timo Virtanen in the freshly repaired LATOY and Eric Meistermann storm off into the distance, both drivers finishing nearly ten seconds ahead of Kevin Michaels' #63 KMC Arrotare, the Finn and the Frenchman taking P5 and P6 in this round of qualifying. Behind Michaels, the rest of the first heat battled hard to try and come out on top, with the remaining four drivers finishing within a second of one another in a thrilling scrap. Yuki Fujishima took the top spot in heat number two, good for P3 in this session, several seconds ahead of Hsiu-Yinn Lim, who still managed a second-place finish in this heat despite a considerable amount of speed tape covering the stricken Armada. Ashlynn Morganstern looked a fair bit sharper this round than in Q1, finishing third ahead of Declan Slater and Hammond Hunter. Bandit Borgwarnerson in the #100 Flamarbol took the top spot in the third heat, easily beating Tom Powell's #888 car, and showing a considerable ability to shrug off one poor performance and make good on the next. Pablo Sanchez in the Shromet, Marika Kazan in the JHW and Eino Vatanen in the Delta Motorsports machine finished third through fifth respectively, all three drivers fighting hard to try and gain the upper hand over one another. After a strong Q1, Alexander Krebs had an off on his joker lap, damaging his car and relgating the #35 Likar to sixth place in the heat. Phornsawan Sirisuk and SBA Boonigan Racing took the top spot in heat four, the young Thai driver making good on the rest of the field opting for a first-lap joker by flying unimpeded around the open track to set the second-best time of Q2. Alexander-John Sierra finished second, holding off a late charge by Sylvester Landon in the Isami to just barely hold on to his position. Einar Poogen and William Cunningham had a bit of a coming together on the start stretch, damaging both cars and taking themselves out of contention in this session, but both drivers remained optimistic for their chances going into Q3. Pekka Heikkinen took a resounding victory in the final heat, the Pepperbomb seemingly a world away from the rest of the competitors in this heat, finishing a scarcely believable twelve seconds ahead of the already fast Craig March in the Astelli Racing machine. Maria Ramirez finished third, squandering an excellent start in this heat when she ran wide on her joker lap, losing almost a full second in comparison to March at the last minute.  Q3 As the racing closed up in Q2, it continued to close even more in Q3, with the drivers getting more and more aggressive in their bids to win heats and set good times; this did not go unpunished however. as several teams' weekends succumbed to accidents or mechanical failure. In the first heat, Jaimz Scooby's engine failed spectacularly in the first sector of Lap 2, the FMR Stadia quite literally grinding to a halt to end that team's campaign here in England. Robert Field of Oblong Wheels Racing overcame a very poor start, as well as a mistake on the first lap, to post the best finish in the first heat, finishing well clear of Laurent Faust in the #72 Zenshi Nimessa. Joey Rogers in the Albatross managed to stay out of trouble in the second heat, finishing in the top spot ahead of Maki Taninawa's Sakura Ronin, after a big accident on the start stretch involving Declan Slater in the #11 Antti ARXL Special and Hammond Hunter in the #10 Deer and Hunt scattered the rest of the field, nearly all of the cars either losing time from running off-track or sustaining damage. Pablo Sanchez took the top spot in the third heat, finishing well clear of Marika Kazan's JHW Lynx and slotting into the second-best time of Q3, putting the Shromet in good standing to make the semi-finals with one qualifying round remaining. Mason Olsen and Ashlynn Morganstern collided on their joker lap after the New Zealander slammed the door shut on the hard-charging Canadian, both cars taking a considerable amount of damage on their final lap, putting them well down the field going into Q4. Sylvester Landon stormed to a gutsy finish in the fourth heat, taking the top time after overcoming a first-lap mistake trying to overtake Hsiu-Yinn Lim. Alexander-John Sierra's Merciel split Landon's Isami and Lim's Armada, running a clean and trouble-free race to finish second. Craig March broke free from Maria Ramirez and Miguel Gonzalez to finish fourth in the heat, leaving the other two drivers behind on the final lap to scrap over fifth place. Eric Meistermann stormed to a decisive top spot in the final heat, finishing a full six seconds clear of Pekka Heikkinen for the best time of Q3. Heikkinen made and excellent start, and ran three solid laps to put himself clear of Phornsawan Sirisuk's SBA Rosales, even in spite of a rather mediocre joker lap. Bandit Borgwarnerson had an awful start, bogging the Flamarbol Beryl down hard and ending up dead last at the end of the start chute, but was able to claw his way back to a fourth place finish, just holding off Yuki Fujishima in the Kitanishi and Virtanen in the LATOY, who fought a pitched battle for fifth place.  Q4 The first heat was once again full of casualties of the challenging track here at Silverstone, though many of the teams were able to repair most of the damage before the grid call came out. Alexander Krebs in the #35 Likar took the top spot in the heat, beating out Tom Powell in the #888 Seydel-GNG by half a second at the finish line. Ashlynn Morganstern's Ars Eligos was fully repaired as well, putting up a decent time to redeem her weekend somewhat, though unfortunately the same could not be said for Declan Slater, whose Antti ARXL was still in a bad way on the grid, and it only got worse from there, finishing far behind Mason Olsen in the NPV and Rudolfs Jansons in the Schwarzburg. Hammond Hunter avoided sanction from the stewards and was able to make good in the second heat, finishing at the front of the pack, finishing six seconds ahead of Quentin LeTheou in the #99 Flamers machine. Kevin Michaels avoided trouble in his KMC Arrotare to finish third in the heat, though the same could not be said for the rest of the drivers in the heat, as Takumi Fujiwara took out the rest of the field in a minor accident in the start chute, putting an end to the races of Clive Baker of Team WRT, William Cunningham of Mach Schnell and Laurent Faust of ZMD. Yuki Fujishima took the top spot in the third heat, storming the field with a stunning drive to slot into the second-best time of Q4, cementing the Japanese driver's spot in the semi-finals after a challenging qualifying day. Eino Vatanen of Delta Motorsport finished second while Einar Poogen finished third, with both drivers consistent driving being rewarded with berths in the semi-finals as well. Timo Vertanen of LATOY had a poor start, and made a further mistake on his first lap, finishing fourth in the heat and just missing out on the semi-finals by the narrowest of margins. Maria Ramirez took the top spot in the fourth heat, just ahead of Bandit Borgwarnerson, who overcame a very poor start to overtake JHW's Marika Kazan on the second lap to snatch second place away from the Greek driver. Miguel Gonzalez in the NEMW and Craig March in the Astelli Racing Leopard took third and fourth place respectively, ahead of Hisu-Yinn Lim's Armada. The Chinese driver suffered yet another scary moment on the track, damaging her car again running wide on the first lap and struggling her way to a sixth-place finish. Pekka Heikkinen took the top spot in the final heat, and slotted into the top spot overall in Q4 with a commanding drive in the #80 Pepperbomb. Sylvester Landon put quite possibly the most spectacular overtaking move to date over Pablo Sanchez' Shromet on the final lap, the Isami Vireo braking late and sliding side to side as Landon tested his confidence in the machine and his driving abilities. Eric Meistermann and Alexander John Sierra battled hard for fourth and fifth place, with the Frenchman just edging out the Brit in the end, both drivers leading Phornsawan Sirisuk's SBA Rosales to the line.  Intermediate Classification  After the the first day, Finland's Pekka Heikkinen finds himself at the top of the heap, sitting pretty after finishing consistently at the top of the field, while Championship leaders Borgwarnerson and Lim struggled to run consistently all weekend long. Will Team Red Cock Energy Liquid be able to convert their success into a victory tomorrow, or will Bandit Borgwarnerson and Hsiu-Yinn Lim spoil the weekend for the Unflappable Finn?
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Feb 9, 2019 04:58
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Gulp Oil Rallycross of Great Britain, Day Two - Semi-Finals and Final Semi-Final 1 The good weather from the first day held over today, with the skies clear and bright and the temperatures perfect to enjoy the elimination rounds at Silverstone Circuit. Pekka Heikkinen, who finished on top of the heap yesterday, continued his strong showing, monstering the start and never looking back for the whole race, finishing a commanding fifteen seconds ahead of Hsiu-Yinn Lim in the #16 Armada. Not to say that Lim didn't have a fight on her hands though, with Phornsawan Sirisuk filling the mirrors of the Armada all race long, the young Thai occasionally getting a sniff ahead of the Armada at times. Maria Ramirez in the #129 Geschenk finished in fourth place, holding off a hard-charging Einar Poogen all race long. The battle for fourth through eighth place was a tough one, with Ramirez and Poogen fighting hard to stay ahead of Yuki Fujishima, Miguel Gonzales and Alexander-John Sierra; in the end, only a second and a half separated fourth-place Ramirez from eighth-place Sierra. Quentin LeTheou experienced a minor mechanical failure on the grid, which slowed his car down enough that unfortunately he was taken out of contention.  Semi-Final 2 Eric Meistermann found his form from the earlier part of the season, launching the FAAL hard and shooting out to the front of the pack, not relinquishing the top spot for the rest of the race. Behind Meistermann, Sylvester Landon and Craig March had a hell of a battle on their hands, as there was barely anything between the two drivers. March mounted a late charge, with both him and Landon on their joker laps, and were it not for a rather aggressive bit of defensive driving by Landon coming out of the final corner, the Astelli Leopard would have had taken second place. Pablo Sanchez held off Marika Kazan's aggressive challenges all race long, securing himself a berth in the final race by the narrowest of margins - twenty-five thousandths of a second. Maki Taninawa overcame a poor start to run strong for the first three laps, but the Sakura driver ran wide on the fourth lap, damaging her car and taking herself out of the race. Championship leader Bandit Borgwarnerson struggled with his consistency in this race, making a number of uncharacteristically careless mistakes, after making a rather poor start. In the end, the #100 Flamarbol finished seventh overall, missing the final race for the first time this season.  Final Pekka Heikkinen shot out to a great start in the final, with Maria Ramirez hot on his heels out of the start chute. Anticipating the Geschenk would be pressuring him too hard, the Finn opted for the joker lap right out of the gate, the clear track allowing Heikkinen to set the best joker time for the session. Unfortunately, Heikkinen binned the Pepperbomb on Lap 2, damaging the car to the point that his race effectively ended right there, as he was able to just barely finish the race without being lapped. Maria Ramirez inherited the lead and never looked back, finishing four and a half seconds ahead of Eric Meistermann. Hsiu-Yinn Lim overcame a poor start to finish third, making up nearly two seconds on Lp 5 and 6 alone, blowing past Sylvester Landon, Pablo Sanchez and Craig March in succession to finish right on the rear bumper of Meistermann in third place in a thrilling sequence. Phornsawan Sirisuk made a couple of serious mistakes, ending their race in seventh, a second ahead of Einar Poogen in the #88 Okul.  Final Classification  With the poor finish of Bandit Borgwarnerson and third-place in the final, Hsiu-Yinn Lim leapfrogged the Flamarbol driver to inherit a slim lead in the championship, with 190 points to Borgwarnerson's 187. Maria Ramirez and Craig March have managed to close the gap to the two leading drivers, taking ten points each out of the lead and closing the gap as the ARX League swings to Scandinavia for two very challenging races. Championship Standings 
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Feb 9, 2019 20:53
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We caught up to Pekka Heikkinen regarding the performance of the PepperBOMB XT the last few rounds. “OK, it has been bit of struggle. We have maybe the most power and close to the least weight so car is a handful and that showed in bad weather. In England we had good run and were looking to podium but crash in the race … what can you do? I want to thank team Red Cock Energy Liquid - and am required to say that prolonged exposure can cause contact dermatitis.”
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Feb 10, 2019 23:28
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Team Staboil RallyX Norway, Day One - Qualifying Q1 Crowds were large and condtions fair for the beginning of Round 5 of the ARX League Championship here at Hell Circuit in Norway. The teams were excited to put on a show for the fans, and they did not disappoint. The first heat began with a strong race indeed, with Craig March in the #95 Astelli Racing machine taking the top spot, just pipping Ashlynn Morganstern in the Ars Eligos just one second behind the Brit. Sparks flew behind the Canadian, as JHW Racing's Marika Kazan pushed her way past Pablo Sanchez's Shromet on the third lap, just barely hanging on for third place in the heat. Behind Sanchez was Quentin LeTheou of Flamers Racing, who overcame a very rough start with three excellent laps to slot into fifth place in the heat. Struggling for grip all race long, Bandit Borgwarnerson found himself a distant sixth behind LeTheou, the Flamarbol Beryl struggling to make its way around this challenging, hilly circuit. Mason Olsen blitzed the start in the second heat, launching hard and finding all the traction he needed to put the NPV into the lead, then never looked back for the rest of the heat, despite the valiant efforts of Maria Ramirez to try and catch the speedy New Zealander. Declan Slater's terrible start in the #11 Antti ARXL Special couldn't stop the Brit from posting four excellent laps after that, overtaking Alexander-John Sierra's Merciel on the final lap to take third, the bold overtake leaving the #8 Pixi on the defensive from Kevin Michaels, the KMC driver right on the back bumper of Sierra as they crossed the finish line. Pekka Heikkinen, fresh off a strong result at Silverstone, carried his momentum through his heat, monstering the field for the best time in Q1, finishing a full ten seconds ahead of Miguel Gonzalez's NEMW Nashoba. Einar Poogen ran a clean but uneventful heat, finishing third and well ahead of SBA Boonigan Racing's Phornsawan Sirisuk, who was engaged in a pitched battle with Oblong Wheels Racing's Robert Field for the first three laps, though a big mistake by the South African driver sent the #66 car skidding off the track and into the runoff area, spoiling an otherwise excellent run. Sylvester Landon in the #21 Isami Vireo took the top finish in the fourth heat, the car looking very strong indeed, as he was able to easily hold off Hammond Hunter's Deer and Hunt the whole race. Championship leader Hsiu-Yinn Lim had an uncharacteristically poor start, and found herself being held up at every step of the way by Tom Powell's Seydel-GNG, seemingly without anywhere to overtake the German hatchback. Timo Virtanen took the top spot in the final heat, the LATOY able to hold off a last-minute charge by Eric Meistermann in the Team NARUTO Selestat FAAL to seal what was an excellent drive, by all accounts. Maki Taninawa finished third in the heat, a very poor start and a costly avoidance maneuver denying the Japanese driver a better finish in this first round.  Q2 As is often the case, the fickle weather in this part of Norway started to show itself as being anything but co-operative, with a cool mist rolling through the valley and enveloping Hell Circuit. Some of the teams gave thanks that no precipitation came down in Q2, but were not optimistic for the final two rounds of the race. Robert Field was the the class of the first heat, his freshly-repaired TCC 1450 RS taking an easy victory over Alexander Krebs' Likar. William Cunningham chipped away at Jaimz Scooby's lead, following an excellent start by the #6 FMR Stadia, finally making his way past on an absolutely stonking joker lap. Jorg Ambuhl and Rudolfs Jansons tangled on the third lap, sending the Abula R4 off into the runoff area surrounding the track and damaging the car's suspension, with credit to Ambuhl for getting the car to the end of the race in the hope of continuing their campaign. Eino Vatanen of Delta Motorsport pulled a simply incredible performance in the second heat, the Finn putting together what might very well be the drive of his career to take the top spot in the heat, putting the car fourth overall in the standings. Kevin Michaels finished a distant second place, in what would have been called an excellent drive were it not for Vatanen's stunning performance, and Joey Rogers in the Albatross rounding out the top three in the heat. Yuki Fujishima and Alexander-John Sierra tangled on the starting lap, with both cars taking damage and limping home well back from the rest of the field, but optimistic that they could yet right their weekends and continue. Heat three featured a marquee matchup between Bandit Borgwarnerson, Hsiu-Yinn Lim and Phornsawan Sirisuk. Sirisuk got off to an excellent start, with Lim right behind, and the Flamarbol of Borgwarnerson characteristically struggling off the line. Sirisuk opted for the joker on their first lap, which is where the controversy began; Borgwarnerson caught up fairly quickly to Lim, but the Chinese driver began a very aggressive defense of their position, making moves right up to the ragged edge of what is allowed in the rules. Borgwarnerson was justifiably upset at this, though nobody was perhaps more upset about this than Tom Powell, who got squeezed hard between the Flamarbol and the Armada on the second lap, and had nowhere to go but into the wall. Damaged and angry, the Seydel-GNG driver limped his car home dead last, while Borgwarnerson opened up the taps on Lap 3 and 4 to slot in ahead of Lim for first place in the heat. The fourth heat mercifully went without the controversy of the previous session, with Sylvester Landon finding open track to truly demonstrate the Isami's pace, finishing four seconds ahead of Maria Ramirez's Geschenk. Pablo Sanchez finished third, within sight of Ramirez ahead, and Marika Kazan stole an opportunity from Einar Poogen, the Estonian driver running wide in a moment of inattention on their last-lap joker. Pekka Heikkinen once again topped the charts in the final heat, through not without the looming presence of Eric Meistermann's FAAL in his mirrors, two seconds behind the Unflappable Finn in second place. Craig March drove a cool and competent race for third, while Timo Virtanen made a couple of critical mistakes on Lap 2 and also on the final lap, denying LATOY a potential top-ten finish in Q2.  Q3 As the morning turned to afternoon, a very light drizzle began to fall on the track, dampening the surface but not the spirit of the crowds, the iron spirit of Norwegian rally fans on full display as the weather closed in. Tom Powell and Yuki Fujishima were the class of the first heat, finishing first and second easily in their freshly repaired cars, far ahead of third-place Alexander-John Sierra, still struggling with some residual damage to his Merciel. Jorg Ambuhl crashed again on the start, though this time only affecting himself, though he was able to limp the stricken Abula R4 home to finish, to his credit. Joey Rogers put the #37 Albatross on the top of the timesheets in the second heat, nearly two full seconds ahead of Clive Baker's Westward El Verano. Baker had his hands full behind him, with both Declan Slater and Alexander Krebs challenging to take second place away from Baker, though in the end Baker's choice to run the joker lap earlier proved to be the correct decision, affording him clear track to gain as much ground as possible. Laurent Faust had a difficult race in the Zenshi Nimessa, crashing hard on the starting lap, relegating the Frenchman to the back of the field in this session, and with considerable damage to repair before the final qualifying session. The third heat saw Einar Poogen take the top spot overall, with a decisive finish over Quentin LeTheou and Mason Olsen, the likes of which fought and traded places cleanly - for the most part - all race long in a pitched battle for second and third in the heat. Hammond Hunter overcame a couple of mistakes on his first lap, and with a strong showing in his final two laps, likely would have been a threat to both Olsen and LeTheou ahead of him. Tsiu-Yinn Lim put on a clinic of consistency in the fourth heat, running a very clean and consistent race to take the top spot, good enough for P3 in the session. Pablo Sanchez slotted into second place, a second and a bit ahead of the LATOY, who enjoyed yet another top-ten finish in this qualifying session. Behind Virtanen's LATOY, an absolute dogfight ensued between the JHW, Geschenk and NEMW entries, with Maria Ramirez somehow managing to stay ahead of both Miguel Gonzalez and Marika Kazan on her final lap, the Geschenk barely four-tenths ahead of Gonzalez at the line. In what was probably the cleanest racing of the weekend thus far, Pekka Heikkinen made it three for three with yet another heat win and session P1, though once again being challenged by Eric Meistermann every step of the way. Sylvester Landon came third, holding off Craig March's Leopard with ease, and Bandit Borgwarnerson once again showing a bit of his human side, finishing fifth in the heat, only three tenths up on Eino Vatanen in the Delta Motorsport machine.  Q4 The mist continued into the final qualifying round, though the rain that threatened did not appear until after the final heat had concluded, preventing a repeat of the chaos that gripped the field back in Portugal and Belgium. Takumi Fujiwara took his first heat victory of the season, capitalising on an inconsistent showing by Maki Taninawa to win the first heat easily. Rudolfs Jansons came third, with Jaimz Scooby managing to put up a rather strong offense against the Latvian driver in the Schwarzburg ahead of him, though to ultimately to no avail, as Scooby had his hands just as full defending against William Cunningham behind him. Alexander-John Sierra took the easy victory in the second heat, his Merciel finally fully repaired and quick, taking P7 overall on what will likely be a weekend to forget for Team HallFords Merciel. Ashlynn Morganstern found her way out of a couple of rather dreary performances to finish second in the heat, and with her finish in P13 for this session, was just enough to get ARxT into their first semi-final of the season. Clive Baker had a rough race, a hard knock on his second lap damaging the #47 Team WRT car and sending it to the back of the field, putting a difficult weekend for the team to an end. Marika Kazan held on to the top time in the third heat, just barely holding out against Quentin LeTheou's Flamers Iliythia, with both drivers punching their tickets to the semi-finals tomorrow. Phornsawan Sirisuk damaged his car trying to overtake Mason Olsen on the second lap, nearly jeopardising SBA Boonigan's trip to the semi-finals, though in the end their P9 finish in Q2 was enough to put them ahead of Flamers in the intermediate classifications. Hammond Hunter and Joey Rogers both suffered from poor from in the heat, finsihing just ahead of Sirisuk and out of semi-final contention. Bandit Borgwarnerson finally gathered it all together in the fourth heat, storming to the top time of the heat easily, six seconds ahead of Delta Motorsport's Eino Vatanen. Maria Ramirez was charging hard behind Vatanen, making up time at seemingly every corner, though with only four laps the race just wasn't long enough for the Geschenk to be able to be any real threat to Vatanen ahead. Tom Powell stole a place off of Einar Poogen, holding the spot for the last lap in spite of a desperate attack by the Ohul, the margin between the two cars a scarcely-believable sixteen thousandths of a second. Timo Vertanen damaged his LATOY battling with Miguel Gonzalez on Lap 2, the Finn falling back slowly to fifth place in the heat and P19 in the session, though still good enough to mark the team's first entry to the semi-finals. Pekka Heikkinen showed himself to be the class of the field once again, taking the top finish in the final heat and the top time once again in Q4, seven seconds ahead of Sylvester Landon's Isami. Eric Meistermann finished third after a smooth and uncomplicated race, with Craig March and Pablo Sanchez more concerned with each other than trying to mount any kind of an attack on the Frenchman ahead of them. Tsiu-Yinn Lim finished last in the session, after some sort of mechanical trouble slowed the Armada Pint down right off the start line, the car seemingly down on power the whole race. Not that it mattered much in the end, with the Armada guaranteed a place in the semi-finals so long as they finished the session.  Intermediate Classification  Pekka Heikkinen lead all four qualifying sessions with ease, and looks very strong going into tomorrow's semi-finals and finals, but with rain forecast through the evening and overnight, will this cause chaos in the manner it did in the first three rounds of the ARX League Championship? Will Heikkinen be able to maintain his edge, or will Hsiu-Yinn Lim and the others be able to knock off the Unflappable Finn from the top step of the podium? MrChips fucked around with this message at 07:18 on Feb 12, 2019 |
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Feb 12, 2019 06:19
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Team Staboil RallyX Norway, Day Two - Semi-Finals and Finals Semi-Final 1 The rain started to fall at Hell Circuit just after the completion of day one's events, and did not let up for the whole night. The remaining teams worked through the night to make sure that their cars were ready for the big events today, the weather hardly dampening their spirits. The first semi-final gridded up in the steady rain, the track looking more like a mud bog than a rallycross circuit, and when the flag dropped, Maria Ramirez's Geschenk bolted into the lead, with Pekka Heikkinen hot on her heels. The Finn slammed the door in her face coming around to the start/finish line for the first time, causing Ramirez to slide off the track trying to avoid an accident. The damage to her car was minimal, but it still affect the #129 car's pace, with Marika Kazan slipping past on the final lap to secure second place. Bandit Borgwarnerson struggled in the wet conditions, laying down a very poor starting lap, and generally struggling to put down fast, consistent laps in the wet. Sylvester Landon in the #21 Isami Vireo kept Borgwarnerson on the defensive for the whole race, but especially after Lap 5, where he closed the gap to within a half a second of the Flamarbol. Timo Virtanen in the LATOY got off to a decent start, but a critical error on the first lap put the #3 car into the runoff area and well back of the field once he recovered. While the car was undamaged, his race was effectively over. Quentin LeTheou had a spectacular accident on the second lap, crashing the #99 Flamers hard going into the amphitheatre section. Heavily damaged, LeTheou limped the car home, dead last.  Semi-Final 2 The rain began to ease up just in time for the second semi-final, where Hsiu-Yinn Lim showed why she is considered one of the best drivers in the ARX League. Lim stormed out to the lead in the #16 Armada right off the line and never looked back, cranking out six absolutely excellent laps in a row to take the easy victory. Eric Meistermann followed in a distant second place, at the front of a roiling battle for the remaining slots in the semi-final. Phornsawan Sirisuk finished a second behind Meistermann in third, and another second behind the SBA Rosales was Miguel Gonzalez in the #82 NEMW, securing that team's first appearance in the final race. Though out of contention for a final berth, Mason Olsen, Craig March and Einar Poogen thrilled the crowd with a heart-stopping battle for fifth place, with the final outcome down to a drag race coming out of the final corner. The Okul and the NPV ran wide, allowing March's Astelli Leopard to catch up and fly past Einar Poogen at the last moment, nearly catching Olsen in the process. Had the track been but fifty metres longer, March would have almost certainly finished fifth.  Final The sun came out and began drying the track fairly quickly right after the end of Semi-Final 2, with conditions improving even before the end of that race. The flag dropped and Pekka Heikkinen roared off to an early lead, a lead that the Finn would ultimately not relinquish for the rest of the race, finishing a commanding eleven seconds ahead of Bandit Borgwarnerson's Flamarbol. Phornsawan Sirisuk in the #55 SBA Rosales kept the Flamarbol driver honest the whole time, making a strong late charge on his joker lap to finish a mere twenty-two one-hundreths of a second behind the #100 car. Hsiu-Yinn Lim made an uncharacteristically poor start, slipping back to fifth place by the start of the first lap. Pouring it on after that, Lim made a number of mistakes and miscues which hampered her recovery drive, managing only to pass Maria Ramirez's Geschenk after that car tangled with Sylvester Landon's Isami on Lap 4. Eric Meistermann in the #24 FAAL managed to finish within sight of Lim, three-quarters of a second behind, followed my Ramirez and Landon, and with Marika Kazan's JHW Lynx breathing down both of their necks. Miguel Gonzalez had an "understanding" with one of the track walls on the start lap, slowing the car considerably for the rest of the race and dampening an otherwise excellent weekend for Dunkin' Donuts NEMW Rallycross.  Final Classification  With a wire-to-wire victory here in Norway, Pekka Heikkinen continued his meteoric rise up the championship standings; it was only two races ago that the Finn stood in eleventh place, now, he sits third, within striking distance of Hsiu-Yinn Lim and Bandit Borgwarnerson, whose solid weekend saw the New Zealander once again take the lead in the standings, as the series heads to the home of Swedish rallycross, the fast and dangerous Hojesbanan, for the race that marks the end of the first half of the ARX League season. Championship Standings 
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Feb 13, 2019 07:47
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RX Sweden Presented by Blotify, Day One - Qualifying Q1 The damp weather here at the Hojesbanan did not dampen the spirit of the assembled crowd, with many of the spectators making the double after last week's race in Norway. Excitement has been building around the series for the last couple of races, with New Zealand's Bandit Borgwarnerson and China's Hsiu-Yinn Lim in a fevered battle at the top of the standings, there being effectively nothing between the two drivers as we approach the halfway mark of the season. The first heat of Q1 went without a hitch, with Alexander Krebs' Likar Tixref taking the top spot, a full second ahead of Hammond Hunter's Deer and Hunt Fallow. Craig March in the Astelli Racing Leopard rounded out the top three, with Timo Virtanen's LATOY well back in fourth place. Norway winner Pekka Heikkinen came together with Joey Rogers' Albatross on the starting lap, the Finn lucky to get away with a minor amount of damage, but the same could not be said for Rogers, who limped his car around to finish last in the heat. Clive Baker of Team WRT Racing showed why he is considered one of the best all-weather drivers in the series, with a decisive victory in the second heat, eight seconds up on Geschenk Rennen's Maria Ramirez. SBA Boonigan's Phornsawan Sirisuk spent much of the heat unable to thread his Rosales past either Mason Olsen's NPV or Laurent Faust's Zenshi, the young Thai driver only just slipping past on the final lap to claim third. Yuki Fujishima's luck ran out very early, crashing hard with Robert Field on the starting lap, and unfortunately the Kitanishi came out the worst of it, limping home to a last-place finish, both in the heat and for the session as well. Hsiu-Yinn Lim put her #16 Armada on the top of the third heat, ahead of a thrilling four-way battle between Delta Motorsport's Eino Vatanen, FMR Stadia Racing's Jaimz Scooby, Flamarbol's Bandit Borgwarnerson and NEMW's Miguel Gonzalez. Only two seconds separated the four drivers from one another, with Borgwarnerson wheel-to-wheel with Scooby at the line. Eric Meistermann and Jorg Ambuhl collided on the starting lap, damaging both cars and relegating the drivers to the back of the pack. William Cunningham put the Omen RX on the top of the chart in the fourth heat, finishing a full second and a half ahead of Quentin LeTheou's Flamers Iliythia, the young Brit looking to be in strong fighting form here in Sweden. Declan Slater rounded out the top three well ahead of Seydel-GNG's Tom Powell while Sylvester Landon crashed his #21 Isami Vireo hard on the starting lap, badly damaging the car and limping home well back of the field. Maki Taninawa took the top spot in the final heat, and indeed in the entire session as well, finishing three seconds ahead of Schwarzburg's Rudolfs Jansons, the Latvian driver looking as though he was enjoying the conditions here at the Hojesbanan. The very fast Okul struggled in the hands of Einar Poogen this heat, the Estonian driver struggling to find grip on the slick, muddy surfaces.  Q2 Times tumbled as drivers found their groove in the second qualifying session, though Mother Nature was certainly not a help as the drizzle continued to fall throughout the session. Eric Meistermann's FAAL took the top spot in the first heat, his freshly-repaired car sailing to an easy victory and into P2 for the session. Robert Field and Joey Rogers battled it out for second and third in the session, though Sylvester Landon still looked a little tentative attacking the track in the Isami. Pekka Heikkinen's Pepperbomb was repaired just in time for the second heat, and he used to to good effect, putting the little red hatchback on the top step, both for the heat and the session alike. Mason Olsen finished a fairly distant second, the New Zealander having his own major fight on his hands with both Phornsawan Sirisuk and Marika Kazan virtually wheel-to-wheel with him as they crossed the finish line. Tom Powell took the top spot in the third heat for Seydel-GNG, with Alexander John Sierra and Miguel Gonzalez in a virtual dead heat behind him. Further back in the field, Timo Virtanen was able to repulse every attack from Bandit Borgwarnerson, taking fourth place in the heat on his way to an encouraging P14 finish overall, as Jaimz Scooby dropped off on the first lap following a hard run off the track, damaging the FMR Stadia's suspension. Einar Poogen got an incredible start in the fourth heat, taking the lead right out of the blocks and not looking back, fully three seconds ahead of Hsiu-Yinn Lim in second place. Hot on Lim's heels was Craig March in the Astelli Leopard, just three seconds behind the Armada in third. Hammond Hunter and Declan Slater came together on Lap 2, with the Antti RX Special coming out worse for wear from the encounter, though both cars struggled to keep up with the blistering pace set by Poogen at the front of the field. William Cunningham finished top of the heap in the final heat, the Mach Schnell driver seemingly playing a strategic game with his opponents in this heat, though a collision between the Likar of Alexander Krebs and Maki Taninawa's Sakura blocking much of the track didn't help the rest of the field keep pace with Cunningham. Rudolfs Jansons was fortunate not to get caught up in any of that, but it took the Schwarzburg driver several precious seconds to thread his way through the mess.  Q3 Joey Rogers clawed his way to the top of the heap in the first heat, taking an easy victory over Laurent Faust's Zenshi, while also avoiding the carnage after Kevin Michaels' KMC slammed into Jorg Ambuhl's Abula. Both drivers remained in the race but finished well back, the Abula taking the worst of the blow. Sylvester Landon managed to make things interesting for Jaimz Scooby, who had to expertly defend his position from the Isami driver's near-constant attack. Rudolfs Jansons took the top spot in the second heat, putting together a tremendous drive in the Schwarzburg to finish P6 in the session, the team well on its way to their second semi-final appearance of the season. Alexander Krebs and Declan Slater finished second and third in the heat, after an exciting battle between the two drivers saw them nearly take each other off the course twice on Laps 3 and 4. Maki Taninawa drove a nearly perfect recovery drive in the Sakura after the accident that spoiled her race in Q2. Bandit Borgwarnerson found himself in familiar territory - at the top of the finishing order - in the third heat, running a flawless, if slightly conservative, race, finishing a two seconds ahead of Clive Baker's Westward El Verano. Eino Vatanen finished third, avoiding trouble when Pablo Sanchez's Shromet crashed hard on the starting lap, and also avoiding Hammond Hunter's stricken Deer and Hunt, which ground to a halt after losing all drive on Lap 2. Phornsawan Sirisuk took the chequered flag in the fourth heat, running a nearly perfect race all around to finish second in Q3, and far ahead of Mason Olsen and Maria Ramirez, who once again raced each other to a virtual dead heat, with Ramirez taking second place by a nose. William Cunningham's pace fell off considerably, that driver dealing with an unspecified mechanical problem right off the line, but he was still able to keep ahead of Marika Kazan, who stalled the JHW Lynx on the start line and never really recovered from there. Craig March took the top spot in the final heat of Q3, sliding the Astelli Leopard into the top spot in the session as well with a brilliant drive. Einar Poogen and Tom Powell rounded out the top three, with Hsiu-Yinn Lim a couple of seconds back in fourth place. Pekka Heikkinen stalled on the start line, leaving Eric Meistermann nowhere to go but into the wall as he tried to avoid the stricken Pepperbomb, and while Heikkinen recovered brilliantly, Meistermann was not so lucky, limping his stricken car back to the line far behind.  Q4 The drizzle continued unabated in Q4, the track conditions still very tricky as the first heat began, with Yuki Fujishima's Kitanishi Develo finally showing its true pace, taking the top spot very easily over Kevin Michaels and Marika Kazan. Robert Field managed to hold off Eric Meistermann and his damaged FAAL, while Pablo Sanchez and Jorg Ambuhl rounded out the session. Quentin LeTheou took the top spot in the second heat, finishing easily ahead of Miguel Gonzalez and the NEMW Nashoba. Takumi Fujiwara, though looking lost on the muddy, slippery surface, manged to finish third in the heat, beating out the likes of William Cunningham, Laurent Faust and Jaimz Scooby. Sylvester Landon was crashed hard after being bumped off the track by William Cunningham, a diasterous end to what must have already been a totally forgettable weekend for Team IRD Rally. Maki Taninawa picked up where she left off in Q3, pushing the #545 Sakura Ronin to the best finish inthe third heat, and to a P3 in the last qualifying session. Alexander John Sierra fought off a hard challenge from Alexander Krebs on the final lap, with Ashlynn Morganstern finishing on top of a pitched three-way battle between her, Declan Slater and Timo Virtanen. Pekka Heikkinen struggled once again off the start line, and made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes on his way to finish last in the heat. Einar Poogen's Okul found the top of the timesheets in the fourth heat, able to pull away from Maria Ramirez and Hsiu-Yinn Lim behind him, the two women more concerned with battling each other than trying to catch the Estonian ahead of them. Tom Powell pipped Eino Vatanen for fourth place, while Mason Olsen ran wide on the starting lap, losing several seconds extracting the NPV from the runoff area to finish last in the heat. Bandit Borgwarnerson found himself at the top of the timesheets, both for the final heat and for the session, just pipping Poogen's fourth-heat effort by three-tenths of a second for the top overall time. Craig March finished an uneventful second place, while Joey Rogers managed to see off Phornsawan Sirisuk after the Thai driver made a blunder on his joker lap, losing time to the American. Clive Baker rounded out the field in the final heat, the Team WRT driver securing the team's second semi-final appearance of the season.  Intermediate Classification  The wet and challenging conditions here at the Hojesbanan mixed up the field considerably, with championship contenders looking decidedly average, and average teams looking absolutely stellar. Will Pekka Heikkinen recover from his rather mediocre showings tomorrow, under the warm summer sun, or will his recovery in the standings be blocked by any of the fourteen drivers ahead of him in the intermediate classification?
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Feb 16, 2019 07:04
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Dammit Pekka, work on those launches.
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Feb 16, 2019 17:49
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RX Sweden Presented by Blotify, Day Two - Semi-Finals and Final Semi-Final 1 As forecast, the weather cleared here at the Hojesbanan late yesterday, and the semi-finals began under sunny and warm skies. The crowds were large and buzzing with excitement as the cars gridded up for the first semi-final race. Maki Taninawa burst off the line and set the pace through the starting lap, starting her first lap just ahead of a hard-charging Pekka Heikkinen. Behind Heikkinen, the rest of the pack tussled for position, sometimes rather violently; Miguel Gonzalez fell victim to this on the second lap, getting punted off the track and into the wall, spoiling his race. Einar Poogen got strong-armed off at the start, damaging the Okul and spoiling his otherwise excellent weekend. Heikkinen took the lead after the first lap, and never relinquished it for the rest of the race, finishing seven seconds ahead of Borgwarnerson. Maki Taninawa fell off after damaging her car running wide on the first lap, having opted to take the joker, but still finishing two seconds ahead of Clive Baker in the Westward El Verano for the last final berth. Alexander Krebs stalled out on the start line and limped the car through three laps before parking on Lap 4 with mechanical trouble.  Semi-Final 2 Eino Vatanen jumped out to a great start in the second semi-final leading the field through the starting lap as well as the first lap, though with Hsiu-Yinn Lim right on the bumper of the Delta Motorsports machine. Vatanen opted for the joker on Lap 2, giving Lim license to fully uncork the Armada Pint and set some absolutely blistering lap times, building up a seven second margin to second-place Alexander John Sierra's Merciel at the finish line. Sierra finished on top of an absolutely epic battle for second through fifth place. Sierra slipped into the joker on Lap 4, giving him some free track to set a couple of quick laps free of traffic; this proved to be what put him into second place behind Lim. Behind Sierra, Phornsawan Sirisuk, Craig March and Eino Vatanen ran a drag race out of the final corner fighting for the last two final slots, with Vatanen missing out on the finals by a mere twenty-five thousandths of a second.  Final With the finals set, the cars lined up for what was shaping up to be an absolutely thrilling final race. Pekka Heikkinen, after a string of poor starts yesterday, made an absolutely stonking start, launching the Pepperbomb into the lead immediately; a lead he did not relinquish for the rest of the race, finishing just over two seconds ahead of Phornsawan Sirisuk's SBA Rosales. Hsiu-Yinn Lim was caught sleeping at the starting lights, crossing the starting line for the first lap in sixth position. However, a string of bold overtakes put the Armada into third place, threatening Sirisuk ahead of her in the closing stages of the race. Alexander John Sierra and Bandit Borgwarnerson engaged in a pitched battle for fourth and fifth place, after the Flamarbol stumbled out of the starting gate, while Sierra got off to an excellent start just behind Pekka Heikkinen. Quentin LeTheou stalled at the starting line, falling far behind the field by the start of the first lap, though a series of decent laps slotted him ahead of Maki Taninawa's Sakura Ronin, the #545 driver having made a number of careless errors to bring up the field at the chequered flag.  Final Classification  With her consistency all weekend, Hsiu-Yinn Lim leaves Round 6 of the ARX League with the most points, inching ahead of championship rival Bandit Borgwarnerson by a single point in the standings. Also with his victory today in the final, Pekka Heikkinen takes his second final victory of the season and keeps pace with the two championship leaders, still within striking distance in third place, 57 points back of Lim. With half the season over, it's become abundantly clear that there is really very little between the top three cars, and beyond that, even more very fast cars lie close enough to the leaders that even a slight misstep might break the championship wide open. Championship Standings 
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Feb 16, 2019 22:24
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Apologies for the double post, but I've decided to make the weather forecasts public knowledge...as, you know, they probably should have been! Round 7 - Canada Day One - Sunny, warm and very unstable, 60 percent probability of precipitation Day Two - cool, cloudy and very unstable, 100 percent probability of precipitation Round 8 - France Day One - Cloudy, cool and stable, 10 percent POP Day Two - Cloudy, drizzle and very stable, 100 percent POP
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Feb 17, 2019 00:47
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Tyrelli World RX of Canada, Day One - Qualifying Q1 The seventh round of the ARX Championship began under the scorching July sun here in Trois-Rivieres, with throngs of spectators packing the stands on this holiday weekend here in Canada. Many drivers were excited for the series' first non-European stop on the calendar, with of the teams looking to start the second half of the season with a statement race. The first heat set the tone for the rest of the session, with lots of close, hard-fought racing. Team NARUTO Selestat's Eric Meistermann took the top time in the first heat, blazing off the start line and not looking back the whole race. Not far behind, though, was Kevin Michaels' KMC Arrotare RX, only two seconds back of Meistermann, and in something of a battle himself with championship hopeful Bandit Borgwarnerson's Flamarbol. Phornsawan Sirisuk glanced his SBA Rosales off the inside wall on Lap 2, knocking the car out of alignment, necessitating some repairs in the paddock before Q2 began. The second heat saw ARxT's Ashlynn Morganstern take the top time, the young Canadian fighting off a late charge from Maki Taninawa's Sakura to hold on to the heat win, thrilling the assembled crowds as their local heroine crossed the line on top. Behind Taninawa, a wild battle ensued between Astelli's Craig March and Okul's Einar Poogen, with positions swapping back and forth seemingly every lap between the two, until Poogen ran wide on his joker lap, which allowed March to slip past and hold off Poogen for the last half lap of the heat. Championship leader Hsiu-Yinn Lim too found herself with all she could handle, with LATOY's Timo Virtanen giving the Armada driver everything he could muster and then some. Pablo Sanchez romped to victory in the third heat, Keeping Deer and Hunt Racing's Hammond Hunter in the Shromet's rear-view mirrors the entire race with ease. Alexander John Sierra struggled with grip on the dusty paved sections, finding himself well back in third place, and needing to race very defensively against Laurent Faust's Zenshi Nimessa. Marika Kazan started strong in the JHW Lynx, but ran wide and damaged her car on Lap 2, spoiling the handling of her machine and letting a potentially excellent finish slip from her fingers. The fourth heat saw a wild battle for the win, with Sylvester Landon in the #21 Isami and Yuki Fujishima in the #96 Kitanishi Develo going wheel-to-wheel into the first corner. Landon held on for the win after Fujishima ran wide on the first lap, letting NPV's Mason Olsen slip past for second place shortly thereafter. Eino Vatanen finished eight-tenths behind in fourth place, holding off a hard-charging Maria Ramirez, who found that her Geschenk did not handle particularly well on the very tight and slippery joker section, to her chagrin. Miguel Gonzalez of NEMW took the top spot in the final heat, and indeed the best time in the entire session, winning easily over TOBB's Declan Slater after an accident felled much of the field on Lap 2. Pekka Heikkinen spun his Pepperbomb going into the second sector of the lap, and left Tom Powell and Joey Rogers nowhere to go but into the side of the Finn's red hatchback. Battered and bruised, all three cars limped around to finish the race, with Heikkinen definitely taking the worst of it. Quentin LeTheou somehow managed to avoid the carnage and slipped past, finishing a cagey third in the heat.  Q2 Team Red Cock Energy wasted no time or effort getting Pekka Heikkinen's Pepperbomb back into fighting form, the bright red car scarred and battered like an aged boxer as it lined up on the grid for the first heat of Q2. Not that it had any effect on the car's performance, as Heikkinen put in a dazzling performance to win the heat easily, finishing a full ten seconds ahead of Tom Powell's still-not-quite-fixed Seydel-GNG. Quentin LeTheou put considerable pressure on Powell ahead of him, though in the end the Flamers just wasn't quite fast enough to get past the Seydel machine. Phornsawan Sirisuk blasted out to the lead in the second heat, grabbing the top spot and not relinquishing it for the race, putting Bandit Borgwarnerson to shame nearly four seconds behind in second place. Marika Kazan drove a brilliant recovery race to third place in the heat, the difficulties of Q1 long since forgotten it seems, with a big gap between the JHW and Robert Field in fourth place. Hsiu-Yinn Lim looked to be in top form finally after a rough Q1, the Chinese driver putting the #16 Armada on the top of the timesheet and absolutely dominating Alexander John Sierra's Merciel Pixi, who finished second nearly ten seconds down on Lim. The HallFords Merciel driver had his hands more than full holding off Timo Virtanen's LATOY, the Finn driving to a gutsy third place, a mere three-tenths of a second ahead of Kevin Michaels and Einar Poogen. Michaels and Poogen battled hard, with the KMC driver capitalising on Poogen's first lap mistake to grab and hold the position for the rest of the heat. Eric Meistermann built off of his decent Q1 showing, putting the #24 FAAL Coupe on the top of the timesheets for both heat and session, pipping Hsiu-Yinn Lim's time by a mere two-tenths of a second. Maria Ramirez was grateful for an excellent start in the #129 Geschenk, as it proved to be what kept her out of an absolute dogfight for third place, as Craig March, Eino Vatanen and Hammond Hunter all scrambled to overtake one another from wire to wire. Pablo Sanchez put the #52 Shromet on the top of the final heat, seven seconds ahead of second-place Sylvester Landon, who in a wild exchange of positions on the final lap, saw the Isami driver lose and then retake second place to NEMW's Miguel Gonzalez. Mason Olsen, on the other hand, was not so lucky, with a last-minute mistake costing him fourth place as Ashlynn Morganstern sailed past the NPV with only a couple of corners left. Yuki Fujishima had a spectacular crash on Lap 3, spinning off the track while trying to put a move on Sylvester Landon, damaging the car and sending the Kitanishi Develo to the back of the pack.  Q3 Jaimz Scooby took the top spot in the first heat of Q3 easily over Jorg Ambuhl's Abula R4, while Yuki Fujishima's Kitanishi struggled with lingering suspension damage right at the back of the pack. Fujishima was disappointed with themselves after the heat, saying they spoiled an otherwise excellent race car by simply by trying to overdrive the car in Q2, and that they would have to think about their choice going forward. Tom Powell put his battered but otherwise serviceable Seydel-GNG on the top of the second heat, good for P8 in the session in a reasonably competent recovery drive, finishing nearly ten seconds up on Albatross' Joey Rogers and Oblong Wheels' Robert Field, who held Rogers behind him all race until overrunning one of his braking points on his joker lap, allowing the American to slip past and take the place. Craig March found himself at the top of the timesheet from the third heat, blowing off Timo Virtanen and Eino Vatanen, the Finnish duo battling hard for second place in the heat, which was won after Vatanen blundered on the final lap, allowing Virtanen's LATOY to slip past and snatch the spot away from the Delta Motorsports driver. Einar Poogen held off Declan Slater for fourth in the heat, after Slater ran too wide on the final lap and let the Okul driver through. Maria Ramirez shook off some of the difficulties she had in the first two rounds, putting together an excellent race to win the fourth heat in the Geschenk, five seconds ahead of a pitched battle that saw Alexander John Sierra roar past Sylvester Landon on the final lap to take second place by the narrowest of margins after the Isami driver's front suspension partially collapse on the third lap. By the final lap, Miguel Gonzalez was challenging Landon ahead of him, and were the race even half a lap longer, the NEMW driver would have taken the spot easily. Pekka Heikkinen showed why he is considered by many to be the class of the field in the final heat, winning in absolutely dominant fashion over Flamarbol's Bandit Borgwarnerson, with a margin of nearly eight seconds at the line. Borgwarnerson and Shromet's Pablo Sanchez thrilled the crowd, as the Flamarbol ran wide out of the second to last corner, and Sanchez got a tremendously good run out of the same corner, the two drivers in a frantic foot race to the finish, with Borgwarnerson holding on by a mere four-thousandths of a second. Hsiu-Yinn Lim slotted into fifth place in the heat, behind Eric Meistermann's FAAL Coupe by a margin of six-tenths of a second.  Q4 The clouds began to build as the fourth and final session of the first day began, with large anvil clouds looming in the distance, the rumble of thunder competing with the roar of the engines. In what must have been a bittersweet reminder of what should have been today, Yuki Fujishima absolutely monstered the field in the first heat, finishing eleven seconds up on Mason Olsen to take the best time, a time that stood as the best in the session until the final heat. Alexander Krebs found himself second in the Likar Tixref, three seconds ahead of Clive Baker's Westward in third place. Robert Field avoided chaos in the second heat, slipping past a stalled-out Quentin LeTheou and a crashing Maki Taninawa to take the win, six seconds ahead of Jorg Ambuhl and good enough for a respectable P15 in the session. Joey Rogers gave chase to Ambhul ahead of him, but a mistake on Lap 3 sealed the spot for Ambuhl, and put the Albatross driver into the sights of Jaimz Scooby and Laurent Faust, who found themselves suddenly within striking distance of the American. Fortunately for Rogers, he put together a solid joker lap and retained his spot in the end. The third heat saw Eino Vatanen run an absolutely tremendous race, getting out to an excellent start and not looking back for the remainder of the heat, fully eight seconds up on Ashlynn Morganstern's Ars Eligos. The Canadian driver had a huge battle on her hands, with Kevin Michaels leading Morganstern after a disasterous joker lap on Lap 2, only to give that position back after a couple of inconsistent laps to close the race by the KMC driver. Einar Poogen and Timo Virtanen had a bit of a coming together on the third lap, damaging both cars slightly, in what can only be considered a forgettable weekend for the Okul team, which saw the usually consistent Okul NX fall into the 17th and final berth into the semi-finals tomorrow. Phornsawan Sirisuk showed the rest of the field their potential in the fourth heat, winning easily over second-place Hsiu-Yinn Lim, the Chinese driver relaxed and largely unconcerned about her seeming lack of pace on the first day of the event. Sylvester Landon made a late charge on the final lap, getting to within half a second of Lim's Armada, but in the end his car just wasn't quite fast enough to do much more than that, settling for third place in the heat. Alexander John Sierra took full advantage when Miguel Gonzalez's NEMW Nashoba ran wide on its joker lap, seemingly steered off the racing line by a tire rut, zipping past on the final lap and taking fourth place from the Puerto Rican driver, much to the chagrin of the hundreds of assembled NEMW employees and supporters. Pekka Heikkinen made it two in a row, winning the final heat in dominant fashion over Bandit Borgwarnerson by a nearly ten-second margin. Pablo Sanchez's Shromet matched the Flamarbol blow for blow, finishing only half a second behind the New Zealander in third place, while Eric Meistermann couldn't put the power down on the final lap well enough to hold off Sanchez as he stormed through to take the spot away from the Frenchman. Craig March lost out on fifth place after a brutal mistake on his joker lap cost the Brit nearly a full second off his expected lap time, allowing Maria Ramirez to glide past with ease, relegating the Astelli Leopard to last place in the heat, but still finishing P10 overall.  Intermediate Classification  Just as the final heat was ending, the skies opened up and absolutely deluged the track with rain, with the teams and fans alike scrambling for cover as a massive thunderstorm rolled through. As with the storm, the constant and remorseless pounding today saw Eric Meistermann take the top spot in the intermediate standings, putting the French driver in excellent stead for tomorrow. However, a big cold front is forecast to roll through the area overnight, bringing with it cooler temperatures and a considerable amount of rain...and with the FAAL being notoriously tricky to drive in the wet, will Meistermann be able to hold on to win tomorrow, or will Pablo Sanchez take his first win of the season? Will either of the three championship leaders recover from disappointing showings on the first day to stand on the top step of the podium tomorrow afternoon?
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Feb 19, 2019 06:31
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Time to see how they're gonna deal with the mud.
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Feb 19, 2019 15:06
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