The final round of this seasons BRCA 12th scale nationals took place last weekend at the home of British 12th scale racing; Chesterfield. Going into the meeting there were 6 drivers still in contention for the stock championship, while any one of 3 could still win modified.

Chris Kerswell came to the meeting on a crest of form after winning the EFRA stock Euro’s 2 weeks previously and looked to be one of the favourites to take the BRCA stock championship with his GM powered V-Dezign car.

Qualifying was all about 2 drivers. Andy Moore and Chris Kerswell were the class of the field with Chris’s pole time being over a lap clear of 3rd place! With Mark Stiles in 5th, Andy Griffith 6th and Matt White 9th, once again V-Dezign proved to be the most popular chassis in the A final!

As was expected, the final was all about Chris and Andy. The pair drove away from the field and eventually lapped everyone else in the race! Chris led from the start until just after the 7 minute mark when a small mistake let Andy through into the lead. Chris then piled on the pressure and managed to slip back past the Hot Bodies driver with a stunning move on the last lap as the 8 minute buzzer sounded. However, on the very next corner Andy fought back and re-took the lead, which he would hold until the finish. Andy’s move was seen as very robust by many of the watching crowd, but the result stood and Andy took the win. Mark Stiles had a good run to cross the line 3rd, but received a 5 second penalty for a jump start, and this dropped him to 6th and gifted Elliott Harper third place. The result meant that Chris took the championship to add to his European crown.

The video of the final can be seen on YouTube

Sunday was modified day and once again the championship would boil down to the final race of the season. Olly Jefferies, Chris Kerswell and Andy Griffiths were the drivers involved and these three all looked fast during qualifying. Chris ended up taking TQ by less than a second in the final round of qualifying ahead of Andy Griffiths, resulting in a V-Dezign CR 4.0 lockout at the front!

The A final was the closest of the year with 5 drivers all running in a train at the front for the entire 8 minutes. Chris led from the front knowing that a win for him with Olly 3rd or lower would give him the championship. Elliott Harper and Andy Moore were also in the lead group and were looking to get good results to improve their championship positions.

Like on Saturday Chris led for the majority of the race, but a mistake at about 2/3 distance let Andy Griffiths through into the lead. At this stage Andy looked on course for the title, but an agonising half spin saw him drop to 4th with just over a minute remaining. This put Chris back in the driving seat and he didn’t need any further invitation. He held the lead until the end to take his second BRCA title in as many days. Elliott Harper finished 2nd to deny Olly Jefferies the title, with Olly right behind Elliott in 3rd. Andy Griffiths was disappointed to finish 4th, a mere 1.2 seconds behind the winner!

So in a BRCA national series that turned out to be the closest for years, Chris Kerswell is the champion in both the stock and modified classes. He adds these titles to the stock Euros one he already had under his belt to round off what can only be described as an amazing season for him! Well done Chris! Chris used V-Dezign cars, GM electrics and Parma Blackhawk tyres to power him to victory.

Chris Kerswell, British double champ and the Euro champ in Spec class 2010!

FinTrack Tour nationals round 3 was held in Kiiminki, nearby the city of Oulu in Northern Finland. Most of the 1/12 tops were attending with names like Simo Ahoniemi, Teemu Saarinen, Tony Raikas, Tom Kalves, Viljami Kutvonen, Panu Vehniainen and of course championship leader Vesa Yli from the organizing club, OSPA. The venue was a big school sports hall with plenty of room for pitting and spectators

The track was a bit different from other tracks used in FinTrack series as track was 90% surrounded by the tubes which is not so usual in Finland. So for 1/12 the track was ideal by being pretty technical but for touring it was a bit narrow with its 2m width.

Practice and qualifying

Right from the first pack it was Vesa and Simo who were leading the pack followed by Teemu Saarinen, local young V-Dez driver Miika Laurila and Viljami Kutvonen with his Carpet Ripper 3.0 who made A main also at recently held indoor TC Euros in Finland.

Vesa struggled with some rear axle problem during the qualifying as well as had some problems with the shock of the car so couldnt get the car going like wanted, so Simo took the TQ by by 3secs ahead of Vesa, the rest were at least lap behind with Teemu followed in 3rd spot with Miika driving superb run and taking the 4th place just ahead of Viljami Kutvonen and Panu Vehniäinen with their Rippers.

Finals

In first lef of A main Simo took the win ahead of Vesa who was still struggling with his car. Now rear axle was working and didnt slip but there was something still wrong so Simo took the win by couple of seconds ahead of Vesa, Viljami followed in 3rd place, Miika 4th and Panu 5th so 4 Rippers in top 5 in first final!

In second A main Simo took the lead but Vesa followed closely. Vesa got his car going better now after finding the problem. Simo made small error which allowed Vesa to take the lead immediately. So Vesa took the leg 2 win, followed by Simo, Teemu, Panu and Viljami.

So in last final it was either Simo or Vesa who would the the win. Simo took a good start but Vesa got also a great start as the car was now "normallized" and was on Simo's tail and pressured Simo to make a mistake which allowed Vesa to take the lead. Simo fought back and both cars were going side by side for few corners but then Vesa made small error and hit the curb which allowed Simo to take the lead again. Vesa was already closing the small gap when Simo hit the tube and damaged his car which meant he was out of the race. Vesa drove to comfortable win followed by Viljami, Miika and Teemu.

So after all finals were run results in A-final were:

So again 4 Rippers in A-final - now 4 cars in top 6 - great job guys!

Total 8 Carpet Rippers at the race which meant CR was the most used car in this round of nationals also!

Vesa and his V-Dezign Carpet Ripper 4.0 were boosted to win by:

• Nosram Pearl speedo for smoothest drive

• Nosram 4.0t motor for maximum power

• Nosram Gemini FM27 receiver for clearest signals

• Nosram Stealth chargers for maximum capacity

• Black Art Bomb’R body for the best performance and coolest look

• MobGums foam tyres for maximum traction

• CRC for most proper front-end performance

• Precision Racing spur gears and pinions for the most efficient gearing

• TQ Racing sensor wires for the most flexible wiring

And also supported by Action Model Centre, Racer Magazine and M-Auto magazine. Thanks to sponsors!

Finnish Championship after 3/4 rounds (3/4 counts, last race counts in tie break)

Looking forward for the last nationals round held in Laukaa 18th April! Thumbs up, guys!

The EFRA 1/12th scale European Championships were held last weekend in Hinckley, UK. About 100 drivers in total gathered to compete in both the Stock Spec and Modified classes. Most of the best drivers around Europe attended with former European Champions such as Juho Levanen, Simo Ahoniemi, Andy Moore, Markus Mobers, Marc Fischer, Andy Griffiths and recently crowned TC Indoor champ Ronald Volker among them. Multiple Euro & Worlds A-finalists Alex Hagberg, Vesa Yli and Elliot Harper also appeared in the entry!

The venue was a huge leisure centre with swimming pools and gyms all around. The track was laid on a huge sports hall and measured 30x16m. Square white tube was used for track markers with nice yellow plexi curbs on corners for easier visibility. The carpet was Primafelt GT as it is the most used carpet type in UK. The layout itself was ideal for 1/12th scale with tight turns and a fairly narrow track width, but also having fast corners and technical parts.

Teams

Associated/Yokomo had strong team line up with former TC Euro Champ and WC runner-up Juho Levanen, Ronald Volker and Olly Jeffries all driving the R5.1. Ronald had a Yokomo mechanic to help him out during the race - all the way from Japan!

V-Dezign had one of the strongest teams which saw Andy Griffiths, Vesa Yli, Chris Kerswell, Mark Stiles, Russ Williams, Matt White, Sam Clifton and Paul Lomas representing the V-Dezign cars in both the stock and modified classes.

Corally had last years Euro Champ from Stock Spec; Marc Fischer and former European Champion Simo Ahoniemi together with Oliver Bultync at the race to do their best for the Dutch team.

Serpent was represented by the Mobster himself, Markus Mobers; the man behind MobGums (tyres) together with the Altmann brothers and some local Brits.

CRC had their usual line of top drivers who included new signing Elliot Harper, Mick ‘the Viking’ Farrell and fast German Daniel Sieber among others.

Hot Bodies have now discontinued their C12X car, but Andy Moore was still using the car for them.

Alex Hagberg was the sole top Xray driver with their new XII link car.

Practice

In Stock Spec there seem to be 4 drivers who were a bit faster than the rest, Chris K, Marc Fischer, Andy Moore and Markus Mobers. The rest of the top 10 were Vesa Yli, Ollie Bultync, Simon Rubet, Keith Robertson, Mick Farrel and Mark Stiles.

In modified Juho Levanen was leading the pack followed by Olly Jeffries, Marc Fischer, Simo Ahoniemi, Ronald Volker, Andy Griffiths and Vesa Yli. The associated cars looked to be quickest, with Juho also finding impressive consistency early on.

Qualifying

In stock V-Dezign driver Chris Kerswell dominated the field by taking the coverted TQ spot with his Carpet Ripper 2.0 t-bar car! Chris did well during the whole week and was confident for the race so pole position was well deserved. Until now Chris had never made a Euros A final, making his achievement even more special. Mark Stiles also made his first-ever Euro’s A main and would start 7th on the grid followed by Vesa Yli in 9th. All three drivers were racing in both classes so they were super busy all week!

In modified Andy Griffiths took a solid 6th place with Vesa Yli making a double A-main by taking 8th place. These two were followed by the Stock TQ man Chris Kerswell in 10th position; the only driver in the A final running a t-bar car with cells! Vesa and Andy both ran the new prototype Carpet Ripper 4.0 which will be out soon.

Mark Stiles was also running the new Carpet Ripper 4.0, but could only manage 17th overall after experiencing problems during qualifying. He would be joined in the B by Matt White, who like Chris was running a t-bar car and 4-cell packs. Russ Williams poled the C final and was very unlucky not to make the B.

With 3 Carpet Rippers in both A mains the V-Dezign team did a superb job by being the most popular car in the A finals!

Finals – Stock Spec

In first A-final Chris took a comfortable win for V-Dezign and was looking strong for the next 2 legs. Chris’s car was fast on the straights and held its own against the rest on the infield. Vesa got hit at the start and dropped to last but took 8th in the first leg of A main. Mark came 5th after recovering well from an early crash that left him 9th..

In the second leg of the A-final Chris crashed at turn 1! He set about making a charge through the field and managed to salvage 3rd, Mark was 5th again and Vesa suffered a broken car and did not finish as a result. Markus Mobers won the race ahead of Keith Robertson.

In the last Stock Spec A-final it was between Chris and Markus for the title, with Keith having an outside chance. Andy Moore took the last A-final leg and Chris finished 2nd ahead of Marc Fischer with Markus 4th. This meant that Chris took the European Championship with his V-Dezign Carpet Ripper 2.0! GOOD JOB, CHRIS!!

V-Dezign team owner Vesa Yli was delighted to see his car take it’s first ever EC title ahead of all the big manufacturers; a fantastic achievement for the small team.

Finals – Modified

In the first modified A-final V-Dezign driver Andy Griffiths took 6th place after some close racing. Vesa was unlucky as his motor bearing seized after 6min 40s whilst he was having good run in 7th ahead of Alex Hagberg. Chris Kerswell came 9th in the end, but seemed to struggle to keep up in the corners with the extra weight in his car.

In the second final Andy Griffiths had a much better run and finished 4th followed by Vesa in 6th and Chris in 8th . So a good run for the V-Dezign guys! In the last leg of A-final Andy took 4th place again with Vesa in 8th place after close battle with Alex again. Chris finished 9th.

After all of the finals in both classes, the results were impressive for the V-Dezign team:

• Chris Kerswell took TQ and the European Championship in Stock Spec class with CR2.0!

• 3 Carpet Rippers in the A-final in Stock Spec!

• 3 Carpet Rippers in the A-final in the highly competitive Modified class!

• Carpet Rippers were the most popular car in the A-finals!

Congratulations again, Chris – superb job!! And thanks guys and ladies for a really nice and good week in UK!

Looking forward for the future races at the UK and Finnish nationals followed by the World’s in July!

Modified

A main

1. Juho Levanen – Finland

2. Ronald Volker – Germany

3. Marc Fischer – Germany

4. Simo Ahoniemi – Finland

5. Olly Jefferies – Great Britain

6. Andy Griffiths – Great Britain – V-Dezign 4.0

7. Andy Griffiths – Great Britain – V-Dezign 4.0

8. Vesa Yli – Finland – V-Dezign 4.0

9. Elliot Harper – Great Britain

10. Chris Kerswell – Great Britain – V-Dezign 2.0

B main

3. Mark Stiles – Great Britain – V-Dezign 4.0

8. Matt White – Great Britain – V-Dezign 2.0

1. Russ Williams – Great Britain – V-dezign 4.0

Stock Spec

A main

1. Chris Kerswell – Great Britain – V-Dezign 2.0

2. Markus Mobers – Germany

3. Keith Robertson – Great Britain

4. Marc Fischer – Germany

5. Andy Moore – Great Britain

6. Mick Farrell – Great Britain

7. Mark Stiles – Great Britain – V-Dezign 2.0

8. Simon Rubet – France

9. Olivier Bultynck – Belgium

10. Vesa Yli – Finland – V-Dezign 4.0

B Main

6. Sam Clifton – Great Britain – V-Dezign 3.0

With less than a week to go before the EFRA Euros, the V-Dezign team had a final shakedown of their cars at the CARS Carpet Challenge in Chesterfield at the weekend. The meeting was dubbed as ‘The Euros Warmup’ as the same carpet was used as will be utilised at the Euros, all be it at a different venue on a different layout. The V-Dezign team dominated proceedings in the open modified category by securing the top 5 places in both qualifying and the A final! Team boss Vesa Yli also won the stock A final after starting 2nd on the grid. The team now head to the Euro’s full of confidence and will be looking to achieve some good results.

Open Modified Qualifying Results Top 10

1. Vesa Yli 42/ 484.183 5 11.528 11.226 – V-Dezign

2. Mark Stiles 41/ 481.543 4 11.744 11.377 – V-Dezign

3. Andy Griffiths 41/ 483.150 5 11.784 11.445 – V-Dezign

4. Chris Kerswell 41/ 485.500 3 11.841 11.430 – V-Dezign

5. Ben Cosgrove 41/ 488.634 5 11.917 11.381

6. Russell Williams 41/ 489.143 5 11.930 11.294 – V-Dezign

7. Matt White 41/ 492.276 3 12.006 11.456 – V-Dezign

8. Jonathan Aird 40/ 488.497 4 12.212 11.857

9. Phil Chambers 39/ 480.470 5 12.319 11.406

10. Andrew Sawyer 39/ 486.506 5 12.474 11.781

total 18 drivers in modified

Open Modified A Final Results

1. Vesa Yli – V-Dezign

2. Chris Kerswell – V-Dezign

3. Mark Stiles – V-Dezign

4. Russ Williams – V-Dezign

5. Andy Griffiths – V-Dezign

6. Ben Cosgrove

7. Andy Sawyer

8. Phil Chambers

9. Jonny Aird

10. Matt White – V-Dezign

1. Vesa Yli – V-Dezign

2. Vesa Yli – V-Dezign

3. Nigel Hale

4. Mick Farrell

5. Charlie Ware

6. Matthew Lax

7. Dean Riley

8. Jason Butterfield

9. Stan French

10. Dave Allen

11. Vince Formosa – V-Dezign

total 23 drivers in stock

Photos by Trevor Coult - thanks!!

Finnish indoor season onroad nationals aka FinTrack Tour continued at Southern Finland at city of Tampere last weekend. The venue was a huge sport hall with several separated game fields for indoor games. Due to recent cold weather conditions, the hall was pretty cold inside, only about 12-14C degrees during the day as it was -25C outside with blowing wind making it feel like -50C!

The track was pretty bumpy due to plastic carpet on hall floor which had stretched during the years. Layout was good for 1/12 with lots of technical corners and not so high speed as TC tracks usually are.

The race day started with 2 rounds of timed practice, followed by 4 rounds of qualies and triple A mains and double the other mains at the same day.

Most of the tops were attending the race with former Euro Champ Simo Ahoniemi leading the well-known driver list including multiple national champion and Euro’s A finalist Teemu Saarinen, multiple national champion from nitro TC Tony Raikas, national champion and top driver Pekka Koivula with most of the tops from modified TC like Viljami Kutvonen, Nordic champion Matias Kuusinen and many more just to name few.

At free practice it was Simo who set the pace with laptime as track was getting faster in every run. Vesa and Teemu followed closely in laptimes.

In qualifying Vesa started fastest and TQd the first round with few seconds. The rest 3 rounds were also dominated by Vesa who took TQ after 4 rounds by winning every qualifying rounds. Simo was in 2nd place, followed by Pekka Koivula and Teemu Saarinen with Viljami Kutvonen taking 5th with his CR3.0 followed by Panu Vehniäinen in 6th with his Carpet Ripper. Joni Minkkinen joined the A main also with his Carpet Ripper which made it total 4 out of 10 cars in A final! Tony Raikas, Tom Kalves and Matias Kuusinen were the names to fill the rest of the places in A main grid, although not in that order.

In first final Vesa took the lead from pole and lead from start to finish followed by Pekka with Viljami taking 3rd and Panu in 4th. That made 3 CR cars in top 4 which is best.ever.final for CR at Finnish nationals!

In second final Vesa took the comfortable lead after start followed by Simo who tried to catch but couldn’t get close enough to try overtaking so Vesa took the win at the race! Panu and Viljami were bit unlucky in second final but made about 5-6th place pretty easy after having crashes.

As Vesa had already won the race, he didn’t race the last final. Pekka Koivula took the last final win which gave him 2nd place followed by Simo in 3rd at the podium.

Now after 2 rounds of nationals it is Vesa who is leading in championship points before Simo Ahoniemi. Next round of nationals will be run in week 11 in Norhern Finland in city of Oulu.

****

"Thanks to my sponsors again for the superb stuff - Nosram, BlackArt, MobGums, CRC, TQ Racing, Precision Racing, Racer, M-Auto." -Vesa-

****

Final results

C-12

A-final

B-Final

C-final

TOP 10 Finnish Championship points in 1/12th scale Modified

Photos by C-M Fager and Janne Aspinen

First round of Finnish nationals were held in southern Finland, in Kuusankoski. Facilities for the race were top class as usual at Kuusankoski, with 30x18m sized track for both 1/12 and TC classes to open the 4 rounds serie of indoor season nationals. Track was slippery from the beginning and the traction never got higher than max to medium. All the tops were attending, with former EC's Simo and Sakke Ahoniemi with new CRC team guys Teemu Saarinen and Tony Raikas, and the top TC drivers like Matias Kuusinen (Nordic TC champ 08), Viljami Kutvonen who just recently 1 week ago switched to V-Dezign and many more.

FinTrack Right from the first practice it was clear the race was going to be between Vesa Yli and Simo Ahoniemi. Vesa topped the practice rounds with fastest laptime and most consistent run in 8min.

Simo TQd first 2 qualifying rounds, Vesa improved the TQ with 3s in 3rd qualifying round but Simo managed to improve with 2s in last qualifyind round and took the TQ followed by Vesa. Panu Vehniainen did superb and took 4th place with his CR3.0 after Teemu Saarinen in 3rd. Young V-Dez driver Miika Laurila made good run and took A main grid spot at the season opener as well as regular TC Mod top driver Viljami Kutvonen who run the first packs with his CR3.0 just day before the nationals!

2 other CR3.0 cars were in B final making it total 6 out of 19 cars by being most used car at the FTT nationals 1st race!

Finals

Simo took the 1st main, Vesa won the 2nd final! In last final Simo and Vesa were running the whole 8min with less than 0.6s margin and at the flag Simo won with 0.4s gap to Vesa and took the win, Vesa in 2nd. Vesa and Simo were clearly setting the pace ahead of the rest by lapping the driver in 3rd in every run at 13+ secs huge track. Panu, Viljami and Miika were unlucky at the finals with several crashes and DNF.

Thanks to all V-Dez drivers for the race - see you at the next round in Tampere in 3 weeks!

Thanks also to my sponsors for the fast stuff; Nosram, Black Art, Precision Racing, TQ Racing, SpeedtechRC and all others!

Results

A-FINAL

B-FINAL

1/12 modified A-finalists. Photo by Janne Aspinen

Last weekend saw the fourth round of the BRCA 1/12th scale nationals visit Plymouth. The Plymouth club did a fine job of laying a challenging and flowing track that was a real pleasure to drive.

Saturday was the stock class and in the first round the V-Dezign team dominated, making up half of the top 10, including all of the top three places! Matt struggled for the rest of the day with a broken transmitter leaving the rest of the team in the A final with Andy qualifying 2nd and Chris 3rd. The team looked set for a good showing in the final and so it was, with Chris finishing a strong second having fended off some very close attention from a number of drivers all race, and Mark coming from 8th on the grid to claim 3rd overall.

Sunday arrived and with it the monster horsepower of modified motors. The V-Dezign team split into two with Russ & Andy continuing the development of the new Carpet Ripper 3.0 link car and Chris, Mark & Matt continuing to opt to run the Carpet Ripper 2.0 t-bar car. After it became clear that Andy’s LiPos were not up to the job he also joined the t-bar crew, but not before proving that the chassis was plenty capable of turning very fast lap times – even if his batteries would not let him do so for the full 8 minutes! As qualifying progressed, it became apparent that the track was getting slower and going into the final round of qualifying no-one had beaten the original FTD set in round 1. Chris drove a very clean run in the final round to snatch FTD with the rest of the team also qualifying in the A final – meaning that half the A final consisted of V-Dezigns! Chris was never really troubled during the final, commenting that his car “carried immense corner speed and was amazingly easy to drive fast”! Mark had another productive final finishing 4th overall having started 10th on the grid!

Stock A-final Elliot Harper Chris Kerswell / V-Dezign 2.0 Mark Stiles / V-Dezign 2.0 Andy Moore Olly Jefferies Andy Griffiths / V-Dezign 3.0 Matthew Varah Chris Smith Russ Williams / V-Dezign 3.0 Keith Robertson

Modified A-final Chris Kerswell / V-Dezign 2.0 Elliot Harper Keith Robertson Mark Stiles / V-Dezign 2.0 Olly Jefferies Matt White / V-Dezign 2.0 Andy Griffiths / V-Dezign 3.0 Matthew Varah Russ Williams / V-Dezign 3.0 Andy Moore

Chris’ setup from Sunday was as follows: V-Dezign Carpet Ripper 2.0 Parma Blackhawk Magenta front tyres Parma Blackhawk Yellow rear tyres CS Grip High additive 3.5mm rideheight all round Thick T-bar 350cps shock oil with Olive spring 20thou front springs with no preload Corally blue damper tube lube Maximum static castor with 5deg dynamic castor blocks Cells in the rear position Parma Zytec Lightweight body GM Genius 120 Speedo GM 5.5 Motor @ 40mm/rev

Team V-Dezign will release all-new Carpet Ripper 3.0 1/12th scale upgrade kit soon! At first batch the upgrade parts are available for all CR 2.0 owners as new upgrade kit is using many parts from the previous version.

The new CR 3.0 has been tested track tested intensively thru the last few months at several different tracks with good results and will be ready to production soon in few weeks.

New CR 3.0 link car is designed and tested to be used with either 1S LiPo or 4cell NiMH.

Note that despite the new CR3.0 kit, also CR2.0 parts will be available and the development of the CR2.0 t-bar car will continue.

Some of the features of Carpet Ripper 3.0:

• Super narrow chassis – improved corner speed

• Optimized wheelbase – improved handling on all track types

• Optimized motor placement for brushless motors

• All graphite parts made from hi-quality 2.25mm material

• Uses AE links and springs

More info and photos will follow soon – STAY TUNED!

European Pan Series – EPS - was introduced to the public couple of months ago. The race serie kick start was made in Germany in early October at Sipotech’s permanent track in Schermbeck, Germany.

The entry list saw some of the top drivers in Europe like Marc Fischer, Markus Mobers, Vesa Yli, Daniel Sieber and Olivier Bultync were attending in both Stock Spec and Modified classes. Total around 50 drivers from Germany, Belgium, Holland, France and Finland had gathered to compete for the victory in 3 days race. In Stock Spec 6 out of 10 A finalists were attending so the level for racing was set high before the race even started.

The track was made from black carpet with no dots on it. The carpet had S U P E R high and sticky traction so many drivers were struggling with traction rolling during the qualifying.

Friday had 7 practice rounds for both classes, on Saturday 2 controlled practice and 4 qualifying rounds and on Sunday practice final and 3x finals for everybody.

Qualifying

In Stock Spec after qualifying the front rows of A main were reserved by Markus followed by Marc, Vesa and André Efler in fourth followed closely by Olivier Bultync and Jan Asmer. Pascal Shchönrock, Kai Altmann, Kai Berger and Lars Berger took their cars also to the A main.

In modified top four was separated with a clear gap to the rest of the A finalists. Markus took the TQ spot followed my Marc, Daniel Sieber and Vesa.

Finals

In Stock Spec finals the battle was very close. In 3-leg A mains Markus took the win, with Marc in second followed closely by Vesa. Top 3 was clearly separated from the rest a main, as the top 3 was doing laptimes below 12sec (~11.9sec) with closest competitors doing 12.2+. In finals Vesa found some speed and closed the gap to Marc and battled right on his tail for the first 4-5minutes after getting to traffic and got slowed down when passing slower cars. The gap between 1st and 3rd was few seconds in finals, the rest of the main were more or less like a lap behind in finals even the qualifying was very close.

In Modified racing was also super close. Marc took the win in first final after Markus having a bad luck with crashes. Markus took the second leg of A main so it was the 3rd final that would set the winner. In last A main Markus got a clean start, Daniel made a mistake in the first two laps so Vesa was able to chase Marc. After few laps Vesa punished Marc from his minor error and got in to 2nd place. After 7min 45sec Markus was still leading with Vesa in 2nd followed closely by Marc and Daniel. The whole top 4 was then within 0.5seconds – I would say its close! Vesa dumbed a bit which allowed Marc to overtake and take 2nd place in last final. Markus won the final and also the first ever EPS modified race. With mixed points Marc got 2nd followed by Daniel and Vesa in 4th.

Stock Spec A final

1. Markus Mobers Ger Serpent

2. Marc Fischer Ger Corally

3. Vesa Yli Fin V-Dezign

4. Jan Asmer Ger Corally

5. André Efler Ger Corally

6. Pascal Schönrock Ger Hot Bodies

7. Kai Altmann Ger Hot Bodies

8. Kai Berger Ger Corally

9. Olivier Bultynck Bel Corally

10. Lars Berger Ger Corally

Other Team V-Dezign drivers did also well by finishing in B-final. That made total 4 out of top 20 cars to be V-Dez Carpet Ripper 2.0!

16. Alexander Roeleveld Nld V-Dezign

18. Frans Heinsbroek Nld V-Dezign

20. Thomas Stockman Bel V-Dezign

Other Team V-Dezign drivers did also well by finishing in B-final. That made total 4 out of top 20 cars to be V-Dez Carpet Ripper 2.0!

Modified A final

1. Markus Mobers Ger Serpent

2. Marc Fischer Ger Corally

3. Daniel Sieber Ger CRC

4. Vesa Yli Fin V-Dezign

5. Simon Rubet Fra

6. Pif Brunet Fra

7. Tim Altmann Ger

8. Joey Sorber Nld

9. Michael Prott Ger

More results

After-race

The feeling at the pit at first EPS race was very good and relaxed. Everybody seemed to have fun time with friends.

Having such high traction was very good testing also. As I was able to compete with Markus and Marc in both classes at their home ground and did the same lap times in Spec and missed only few hundreds of a seconds in mod, I was happy to found new stuff for high traction carpet for the future which will be help.

Carpet Ripper 2.0 performed very well in both classes. After found good combination with tires in finals for Mod also that car was super fast. In Spec my car was perfect right from the beginning, just suffered a bit of motor overheating in finals caused by probably too high gearing which meant I dropped about 2 sec back from Marc, Markus was about 4 seconds ahead of Marc in the end.

Thanks to my sponsors

Thanks to Nosram for superb electronics and batteries, Black Art for the fastest bodies, Precision Racing System for smoothest running spur gears and pinions, CRC for the best front ends in the industry (CRC ProStrut), TQ Racing for the most flexible sensor wires and power wires, Racer magazine for the best traveling magazine to read and a special Markus Mobers for MobGums tires and for the accommodation & stuff at the race!

Looking forward to the next races - hoping to see you all @ EPS 2 race in Belgium in November 21st- 22nd! Until then, have fun at the track!

Take care,

Vesa

Famous 1/12 R/C racers Markus Mobers from Germany and Vesa Yli from Finland developed the plan of the European Pan Series (EPS). Both racers are passionate about 1/12th scale racing and are both top-level drivers, also internationally.

EPS series is supported by XCEED products as main sponsor along other sponsors like V-Dezign, Serpent, BlackArt, SpeedtechRC and M-Auto magazine.

In first EPS season there will be 3 races in following countries: Germany, Belgium and Holland. EPS is a good way to bring pan car classes more to the public and to promote the racing in Europe.

While 1/12th scale racing is getting more popular again, also the new 1/10 scale World GT class is becoming more familiar for the people around the World. In season 2010-2011 World GT will be included to the series. Also some new countries (Finland, UK, Sweden, France) have shown their interest in organizing an EPS race next season.

More info about the series and rules at www.epsraces.net

Hope to see you at the EPS races!

Markus Mobers / Yli Vesa / Ronald Baar

Last weekend saw round one of this winter’s BRCA 1/12th scale nationals take place in Crewe. The meeting saw most of the familiar faces in attendance along with the return of one or two names who haven’t attended the nationals for a couple of years. The most notable of these was Olly Jefferies, who will be driving an Associated R5.1 in this year’s championship. Last years champion Elliott Harper and former European Champion Andy Moore will also be at the next round, but were absent at this meeting due to International racing commitments.

Saturday is stock day, so all drivers run with 10.5 motors. This season sees the introduction of 1S lipo batteries as an alternative to 4-cell ni-mh, although most chose to stick with their tried and tested 4-cell packs at this early stage in the season.

Chris Kerswell dominated stock qualifying driving a V-Dezign Carpet Ripper 2.0. At times he was almost a whole lap clear of the chasing pack, but the gap was eventually closed to a handful of seconds by Olly Jefferies who lined up 2nd ahead of Mark Stiles, also driving a V-Dezign.

In the A final, the front runners got away cleanly and the top 3 began to pull a gap to the chasing pack headed by Andy Griffiths. The front three began to spread out slightly until a mistake by Olly allowed Mark to pass him for second place. As the race passed the 5 minute mark Chris’s lead began to decrease, and the mounting pressure led to a small mistake which resulted in a grip roll. Mark slipped through into the lead and despite a late charge during the last 90 seconds Chris was unable to regain first place. So Mark Stiles took his maiden BRCA 1/12th scale national victory ahead of Chris Kerswell, with Olly Jefferies cementing his return to 1/12th scale with a solid 3rd place.

On Sunday the 10.5 motors are swapped for more powerful modified units, with 5.0 and 5.5 turn motors being the norm for most of the front runners. Some drivers choose to stick with their stock motors and race in the sports modified category, and despite this class actually having a larger entry, the open modified category is still seen as the premier class.

In qualifying former British Champion Andy Griffiths was back to his best after making changes to his car overnight. Andy took pole for the A final ahead of Olly Jefferies, with his Associated team mate Keith Robertson 3rd.

The A final turned out to be one of the most competitive for years, with the top 7 cars remaining on the lead leap for the duration of the race. An early mistake from Andy Griffiths let Olly Jefferies into the lead, a nd while Andy set about recovering from 8th place Olly started to open up an advantage at the head of the field. Meanwhile Mark Stiles was making steady progress through the field and found himself in 5th place at the half way stage after starting a lowly 9th on the grid. Further mistakes from other drivers promoted Mark to 3rd with 2 minutes remaining, while Andy Griffiths had by this time recovered to 2nd a couple of seconds up the road. Then to everyone’s surprise, Olly’s car began to slow – a problem later traced to a faulty cell in his battery pack. Andy and Mark smelt a chance of victory and both drivers put the hammer down to close the gap to the leader. Andy caught Olly on the penultimate lap, but his eagerness to get through into the lead resulted in both cars colliding and ending up on their sides. This gifted the lead to Mark Stiles, who drove a controlled final lap to take an astonishing victory from 9th on the grid! Andy recovered to 2nd place, while Chris Kerswell passed a slowing Olly for 3rd on the last lap.

The sports modified class saw an easy TQ and win for Hot Bodies’ Mick Farrell ahead of Nigel Hale driving an Associated. Mark Jewitt was 3rd for Xray.

Mark has been trying for that elusive first national win for several years, and came away from Crewe with 2 popular victories under his belt! This capped off an outstanding weekend for the V-Dezign team. A 1-2 on Saturday followed by a 1-2-3 and the team prize on Sunday!

Mark’s V-Dezign Carpet Ripper 2.0 chassis was propelled to victory using Parma Blackhawk tyres and a Parma Zytek body shell.

Full results, championship standings and videos of the A finals will be available soon!

The UK V-Dezign 1/12th scale team were back in action again this weekend at the last big event before the BRCA nationals start. Chesterfield Auto Racing Society played host to a grand prix style 2-day meeting, with support from Action Model Centre. Both stock and modified classes were catered for, with just over 2/3 of the entry opting to run 10.5 motors in the stock class.

In qualifying, new V-Dezign team recruit Russ Williams took a comfortable TQ with his new Carpet Ripper 2.0 chassis. Russ took a few runs to get to grips with his new ride, but was soon up at the front where everyone expected him to be. Mick Farrell qualified 2nd for Hot Bodies with Peter Craig 3rd for Serpent.

The modified class saw a V-Dezign whitewash! Andy Griffiths was on stunning form and easily set TQ. He was followed by Chris Kerswell with Mark Stiles 3rd, both running Carpet Ripper 2.0’s. This trio were by far and away the quickest in the class – nobody else was anywhere close!

The first stock A final was a disaster for Russ Williams; he crashed at turn one and allowed Mick Farrell through to take the win. However, Russ made up for his earlier mistake by comfortably winning the second leg and taking the overall victory ahead of Mick. Mark Jewitt finished 3rd overall for Xray.

Andy Griffiths was the runaway winner in modified; he lapped the field in leg 1, and despite being kept honest by Mark in the first half of leg 2, he went on to win the race by half a lap. Mark took a brace of seconds to finish 2nd overall, with Andy Sawyer 3rd for Corally. Chris Kerswell had two very unlucky finals, but still managed to salvage 4th place overall following some spirited driving.

So once again the V-Dezign team were on fire and look set to be a dominant force at this years BRCA nationals. Andy, Mark, Chris and Russ will also be driving for V-Dezign in the BRCA teams championship which runs alongside the national series.

V-Dezign duo Andy Griffiths and Mark Stiles took a dominant 1-2 finish at the final round of this years Action Model Centre Supported Summer Shootout Series at Chesterfield last weekend.

Andy Griffiths dominated qualifying with his Carpet Ripper car, setting the fastest time in all five qualifying rounds. Mark Stiles was a little slower to get on the pace, but eventually put in a solid run to line up second on the grid, 3 seconds behind Andy.

In the A-Final, early mistakes from Andy and Mark dropped them down the order. However, about 3 minutes into the race Mark found his way into the lead and pulled a small gap to the chasing pack while Andy was still stuck in traffic and trying to recover from his earlier mistake. Eventually Andy got through into second spot and put the hammer down to catch Mark.

The lead pair were by now over half a lap ahead of the chasing pack. With 3 minutes of the race remaining, Andy slid through to take the lead after Mark got caught out by a tape join at the end of the main straight. This is how the order remained, with Andy pulling a lead of several seconds by the end.

Although slightly disappointed to finish in second place, the result was enough to give Mark the overall championship win by a single point from Hot Bodies driver Mick Farrell! This adds to the already comprehensive list of accolades for the Carpet Ripper chassis, and sets the UK team up nicely for the BRCA nationals, which start in a few weeks time.

V-Dez’ main man Vesa Yli has made a deal with Calandra Racing Concepts (CRC) to use CRC Pro-Strut front-ends in his Carpet Ripper rides. This also means that the CRC Pro-Strut is now on the recommended front-end by V-Dezign for all the Carpet Ripper drivers.

Here are some comments after first track test with new front-end:

“I have been running 1/12th scale for years with same, well-known brand of front-end that I am very familiar with in all types of tracks. I was testing for 5 days in a row last week indoors and was VERY impressed by performance the Pro-Strut gave me right from the first lap when I hit the track where I have been running for weeks with same layout! Pro-Strut was not only faster in lap times but also gave more consistant run during 8 minutes - especially in fast turns and sweepers the car felt the best I have ever been running by maintaining more speed thru the corners.

Looking forward for the coming season with my new CRC racing options! Special thanks goes to Frank Calandra from CRC for an opportunity to run their superior parts! CRC Pro-Strut For The Win!”

Radio Control Car Racer magazine (UK) and V-Dezign are in co-operation to share all the latest product and race info from V-Dezign racing team in Racer magazine during indoor season 2009 - 2010.

Want to be the first to know about new V-Dez’ stuff or the latest news about V-Dezign team? Get a Racer magazine and you know! Check www.rcracer.com for the latest info. Why waiting? Make your subscription for the magazine already today!

Vesa Yli from V-Dezign has made a deal with Speedtech RC for running the new MobGum foam tires in forthcoming indoor season! MobGums are also official team tires for V-Dezign Team in season 2009-2010.

MogGums by Jaco are introduced to the 1/12th scale addicts by Markus Mobers from Speedtech RC, Germany. MobGums are precision glued foam tires on super cool black rims! Available in all favourite compounds:

Front tires:	Rear tires:
Pink, 2xPink, Lilac, Purple	Pink, Magenta, 2xPink, Yellow, Orange

Please email for more info!

Sunday 19th July saw round 3 of the Action Model Centre supported 1/12th scale ‘Summer Shootout’ take place at Chesterfield – the home of 1/12th scale racing in the UK.

The driver line up was one of high quality, despite the fact that 1/12th scale racing is relatively quiet over the summer in the UK. Pre-event favourites included the Hot Bodies pairing of Mick Farrell and Chris Smith, Corally’s Andy Sawyer and Serpent’s Peter Craig. Joining them in the hunt for victory was Mark Stiles, who has recently switched from Hot Bodies to the V-Dezign team.

Mark immediately got off to a good start with his new chassis; he was fastest in all 5 rounds of qualifying and took TQ by over a lap ahead of Mick Farrell and Chris Smith!

Mark got a clean start in the A-final and went on to comfortably lap the entire field with an almost faultless run! Mick Farrell recovered from an early crash to finish 2nd, while Peter Craig improved on his 4th placed grid slot to complete the podium.

After his dominant A final performance, Mark had the following to say about his new ride;

“I’m really pleased with how my Carpet Ripper has performed today. To be honest I wasn’t expecting it to be so good straight away! The car was nicely balanced and I was able to push hard for the full 8 minutes without suffering a loss of traction from the tyres towards the end of the race. I can’t wait for the BRCA nationals to start, and I’m looking forward to working with Andy Griffiths to further improve and refine the setup!”

This marks the second win in as many rounds for the V-Dezign Carpet Ripper 2.0, with returning team member Andy Griffiths having dominated the previous round in similar fashion.

With 3 of the 4 rounds completed, Mick Farrell heads the championship table by virtue of having competed in all of the rounds. However, a top three finish at the 4th and final round on 6th September would see Mark take the overall title.

Full meeting and series results can be found here

Plus a video of the A final can be viewed here

Thanks Mark for the great report and congrats for the victory first time out with your new CR2.0 ride! Looking forward to hear news like this also from UK when the season starts! :)

Andy Griffiths had a flying start for the coming season at 1/12th scale Summer Shootout serie in Chesterfield, UK. Andy TQ’d with 1 and a half lap with his new Carpet Ripper 2.0 ride. Andy used the new lightweight chassis, that is slightly more flexy and about 5g lighter than the standard one. The front end is also a bit more narrow, between standard and CR’07 placement for improved steering after providing more rear grip due to flex.

In final Andy dominated the pack by taking the victory even he suffered a bad crash. Congrats Andy, well done!!! And also big thanks to Trev Coult for the photos and result service! See photos of Andy’s car on Carpet Ripper 2.0 ‘Photos’ section.

See the video in Youtube

Find the results of the A-final from here

US based company TQ Racing and V-Dez’ main man and designer has made a deal to run with TQ’s silicon wires and sensor cables.

Here is some info about TQ Racing’s amazing products from company’s homepage:

For several years, we've been providing our 16 gauge 665 strand slot car dragster wire to the “Pro” 12th scale crowd and teams such as Calandra Racing. It's been a “trick” but hard to find product for the serious racer. The wire has been so well accepted and sought out because of its great flexibility and innovative stranding, that we've decided to produce a wire line specifically designed for the RC marketplace.

TQ BL sensor cables are made from high quality silicone insulated wire and tube. These units are extremely soft and flexible. They will not tweak 12th scale or pan cars. The silicone wires are burn resistant and crimped at the insulation (not just the conductor) for greater durability.

More info at www.tqracing.com

V-Dez' Dream Team is back! British 1/12th scale ace Andy Griffiths, re-joins Team V-Dezign after racing for the Hot Bodies team, for the past 2 years. Andy Griffiths, a former European Champion, multiple British Champion, multiple Euros and World's A finalist, joined the team for 1 season back in '06. In season '06-'07 Andy had a successful season with 10 wins out of 12 in the British nationals with the V-Dezign Carpet Ripper '07. Together with Vesa Yli, they both made the 2007 Euros A main, with Andy finishing 4th and Vesa10th after the finals. Season '06-'07 saw many races dominated by Vesa and his CR'07 in Finland, like the final break-thru wins in Rebellion Races in '06 and '07 as well as dominating at the nationals by taking TQ and all final wins ahead of all the top drivers. Here is what Andy has to say about his new team and ride: V: At first, welcome back to the team, Andy! What made you decide to re-join the Team V-Dezign? A: I felt that I had a great season the last time I drove the car, and hopefully I will have another great season this year, as I'm sure the car will work great again. I also feel Vesa and myself make a very good team, and hope we both have a great season.

V: Looking forward to the new season with brand new gear?

A: Yes very much, I can't wait to try out the new version of the Carpet Ripper 2.0.

V: What is your opinion about using LiPo's in 1/12th scale?

A: I've not had a chance to try LiPo in 12th scale, so I can't make a true decision on how it will work, but I think, with the lower voltage it will slow the cars down a little, which will make it a bit more accessible to newcomers, but the extra equipment (receiver pack, booster, etc) and a specialised cell that won't work in other classes (apart from world GT) may put some people off. We will have to see how it goes, and it does seem to be the future of the sport.

V: Are you going to do testing during the summer or just lay back and have

A: I am planning to get some testing done over the summer, as I think it is always important to work hard on a new car to make sure it's ready for the new season. I tend to only race some weekends though, so I will still have plenty of time for the family:) and decorating the house:(

V: European Championships will be held in UK in 2010 as a double event with Spec and Mod. Who do you think are the strongest contenders for the titles in season 2010?

A: I think the usual names will be at the front - Andy Moore, Marc Rheinard and Hupo, but I also think young Elliott Harper will be a strong contender, with a second 12th season under his belt, and on a surface that he will be familiar with.

V: You have raced for quite a long time with lots of success in many classes, especially in touring and 1/12th scale. What's the secret of getting motivated year after another?

A: After about 20 years of racing I'll admit it can be difficult sometimes to get motivated for racing, but there is always some new equipment to test out, or a new challenge to rise to. This year I'm especially looking forward to driving the new car, and I have a real challenge to try to wrestle the British 12th Championship back off Elliott, and not to forget the European Championships that are being held in my home town at the end of the season. It should be a great year.

Team V-Dezign welcomes Andy back ‘home’ and is very excited about Andy’s decision to join the team and is looking forward to work together with Andy and another British top ace Chris Kerswell as well as other team drivers in coming season.

Good luck and success!

Vesa

V-Dezign

Vesa Yli has made a deal with Precision Racing System (USA) to run World famous Pro-Lite spur gears and ultra precise pinion gears in his Carpet Ripper rides in coming seasons.

Here is a link to PRS’s homepage for more info about their products

EFRA 1/12th scale Stock Spec European Championship was held in Amsterdam, Holland from 27th Februari to 1st March. The class was run with 10.5 turn EFRA listed motors at famous MACH home track in an old car service building close to the centrum of Haarlem.

The race saw about 70 entries around the Europe with some of the best 1/12 drivers from UK, Germany, Finland, Holland and Belgium attending to fight for the glory. Friday was a scheduled for free practice rounds and 1st qualifying round followed by 5 more qualifying rounds on Saturday with final practice and triple finals on Sunday.

Together with my fellow racer Ari Salminen and his father Jari we arrived to the Airport on Thursday evening so we had no rush before the race started. Checked the track on Thursday eve and booked some pit places for us, Team Finland. I was also going to be our team manager so needed to check some regular stuff before the event starts.

The track was about 28m x 10m with nice and technical layout suitable for 1/12 racing. No dots were used according to EFRA rules, just barriers which made it cooler.

Friday - Practice and qualifying

Friday started well for me as I was on top spots right from the first pack. Tested some tire compounds and gearings during the day to find the best possible combination. As sponsored by Nosram, I choose to race with Nosram Storm 10.5t motor and the new Matrix Evolution Spec Racing speedo at the event. Did some testing before the race for few days to get better touch to 10.5t motors as I usually don’t run with them, only modified. Actually considering the track size and how technical it was, the power was perfect for close racing.

After Friday’s practice and 1st qualifier I was standing in 4th place comfortably.

Saturday - Qualifying

On Saturday I started where left the day before and made some adjustments on gearing to avoid extra heating caused by the driving style needed with 10.5t motor. After qualifying I found myself in 4th place with fellow racers Marc Fisher on TQ, Markus Mobers in 2nd and Bart Wubben in 3rd. In A final were also Tim Altman (DE), Keith Robertson (GB), Olivier Bultynck (BE), Hugo van den Berg (NL), former European Champion Erik Jonk (NL) and Simon Rubet (FR).

I felt happy after making Euro’s A mainfor the second time since 2007 in Sweden in modified class.

Even thought I was missing some top speed to fight for the top 3 places in qualifying.

Sunday - Finals

Sunday, the day for the finals. The day started with lower mains final practice so A main drivers had plenty of time to prepare for their finals. In final practice I did try some new tricks with gearing and as Marc and Markus had some problems in the beginning, I manage to take the win in Euro’s A final practice - which was nice and promising!

In finals I had clean starts except in first final leg where I took Bart out in first corner accidentally. In finals I finished 5-4-4 which gave me 4th place overall. Especially in last final I had super close racing with Keith Robertson, thanks for the fair fight!

Conclusions

The race was done, Marc was crowned as a new Euro Champ in EFRA Stock Spec class, Markus took 2nd and Bart 3rd. Congrats to Marc for the title! Marc decided to choose V-Dezign for painting of his race body for the race - smart move! :)

I felt happy to make the A main and did one of the best runs ever with no mistakes all weekend, just lacked some speed which is essential in this class. Anyway it was European Championships so it wasn’t bad result.

Thanks to all organizers and Frans Heinsbroek for putting up this great event! Atmosphere was nice and everything was organized well at the track.

Thanks to my sponsors Nosram, BlackArt Racing, Spintec, PRS and SpeedtechRC for fast stuff again!! Thanks also to all friends at the race for support and nice time at the pit and off the track on Sunday eve! :)

See RedRC.net for race report and photos

See this for full interview

Tamiya 416 driver Matias Kuusinen from Finland won Modified TC Nordic Championship held in Kuusankoski, Finland in 21st - 23rd November 2008. Matias chose the winning design for his ride and TQ’d and took the victory with V-Dezign 1 piece topdeck in his TRF ride in all three A-finals! Congrats Matias, great result!

Saturday - Pro-Stock
With my new Carpet Ripper 2.0 parts arriving shortly before the meeting there was no time to test so I built them onto the car trusting Vesa's modifications would be faster! After a few teething issues in the first couple of rounds everything came together in the final round with the car being very easy to drive and super consistent. This allowed me to TQ the meeting and start from the pole position for the final! After a great start only 5 laps in I had a few seconds lead over the following pack, only for the speedo to blow up and prematurely end my race! A very promising start for the new car!

Sunday - Open Modified
With a solid qualifying result Saturday it looked promising for Modified! The traction had changed considerably from Saturday, it was much higher but almost all drivers were running out of rear traction at 4 minutes! After some discussion the Parma Grey rear tyres were swapped for Pinks which transformed the car for round 3 and after a steady run put me in the top half of the A final with everything to play for in the final round. The traction increased dramatically again and this time it was too much and a number of people suffered from grip roll, me included. The pace of the car was very promising and I ended up 6th on the grid. The start to the final was scrappy and I got knocked back to 8th. With smaller tyres for the final the car was awesome, allowing me to pull back from 8th to finish 3rd overall! Setting the fastest lap of the weekend in the process! Only time and bad luck at the start of the race prevented an even higher position!

Saturday Setup:
Parma Magenta front tyres - 35mm wheel - 44mm diameter - 1/2 additive
Parma Grey rear tyres - 35mm Wheel - 46mm diameter - full additive
CS Grip High additive
.20 Front springs
Thick AE T-bar
Corally Blue damper tube lube
Nosram 10.5 Motor with 2mm timing advance
54mm/rev
BlackArt Audi R10

Sunday Setup:
Parma Magenta front tyres - 35mm wheel - 41.5mm diameter - 1/3 additive
Parma Pink rear tyres - 35mm Wheel - 43.5mm diameter - full additive
CS Grip High additive
.20 Front springs
Thick AE T-bar
Corally Blue damper tube lube
Peak 5.5 Motor, timing middle of C tab
41mm/rev
BlackArt Audi R10

- Chris

Team V-Dezign Carpet Ripper 2.0 has been in track test for few months now with success and is planned to be released later his year! The new V-Dez “CR 2.0” (Carpet Ripper 2.0) includes following new features:

1. Motor re-placed, better balance especially with powerful BL motors at low to medium traction carpet
2. Stiffer chassis dezign for more stable cornering in high seed corners
3. Shorter chassis in front with separated bumper plate; better handling in bumpy tracks
4. Improved handling in open/big tracks with fast corners and chicanes due to new chassis layout and wheelbase
5. Re-dezigned graphite parts; new X, lower plate, upper plate and the body post plates
6. New motor pods; black anodized from T6-7075 aluminum
7. BL motors can be turned 90degrees to avoid solder posts to touch the body while rear end moves

No exact date set yet for the release - wait for photos to be released very shortly!

New distributors – please contact vesa@v-dezign.net for more info and pre-orders!

Team V-Dezign is about to release new option part for 416 drivers – 1-piece top deck!
The top deck is made from 2mm graphite, has an option fine tune the carby cutting bars off from the middle section of the deck to gain more flex!

More detailed info with photos, price and availability will be released very shortly! Stay tuned!

Please contact vesa@v-dezign.net for more info, pricing and distributing

Chris Kerswell, top British driver from 1/12th scale and TC has joined  Team V-Dezign for season 2008-2009! Chris will be competing at the British Nationals and at the 1/12 Euros’s and will make strong team in UK together with another V-Dez team driver Adam Catchpole. Watch out for these guys! Welcome to the team, Chris! And good luck for the new season for both!

Interview and more info coming soon! Stay tuned!

So for me it was first important race with Carpet Ripper. Before the race I worried about the car setup. I used to race with AE L4 and had some problems with setup and with rear grip. I don’t have yet much experience in 1/12th scale class so I expected many problems in driving too. But with the Carpet Ripper ‘07 and good advices in the instruction of the car I was suprised that the car had great balance and was also easy to drive. Also many thanks to Vesa who he explained a lot how properly prepare the car before the race.

The track was quite technical and narrow. Grip was medium and the type of carpet was like in used in Finland.
In practice I tried different type of foam. In qualifications I tried to race fast and safety. For me it is not usual to
race 8 minutes so I tried not to make mistakes and save capacity.

In finals I started from pole and managed to win all three finals! Next time I will try to practice more and more to prepare my self for Europe. That why I will be racing in Finland as there are lots of strong drivers as Vesa.

Thanks Ivan for the race report! Looking forward for the new season and more domination! -Vesa

Vesa Yli finished 3rd after 4 rounds of Finnish nationals in 2008. Team V-Dez did well in general by putting 3 cars to top 10 in championship points. Well done Jukka and Mika!

1. Simo Ahoniemi  
2. Teemu Saarinen 
3. Vesa Yli / CR prototype
4. Tony Raikas
5. Jarkko Mustonen 
6. Ari Heinonen 
7. Mika Mänty / CR prototype    
8. Jukka Penttinen / CR ’07   
9. Joni Minkkinen 
10. Viljami Kutvonen 

The race was organized in cooperation with my good friend Markus Mobers and Racers Paradise R/C club in Kerkrade, Netherland in the end of February. Both 19t and modified classes were run with total around 40 drivers at the race. The track was permanent and all the facilities were perfect for even a bigger event. The pit space for over 60 drivers and a shop in same the building together with a snack bar – such a great combo! With lots of international races close to the date not too many top drivers were attending the race.

I took part for the race weekend in both classes. In modified I had some problems in qualifying with broken graphite part in my car that wasn’t found until the second final – I sucked big-time! Driving 2 classes I wasn’t able to figure what was wrong with the car until I broke the t-bar of my car and noticed that the lower motor pod plate was broken right next to the screw countersink – just could not see it with normal check. In modified finals Daniel took the win while Markus was 2nd and I got the third place few seconds behind Markus.

The 19t race was my first touch to this class ever – but it was fun! In qualifying I made the fastest lap of the race and missed the TQ spot with  couple of seconds as charged the batteries with only 5 amps! N00B!!! In finals we had good battle for the win with Jan and Michael.  Anyway a bit disappointing result as I had the speed to win the 19t class and to battle for the win in mod also. But this time too much bad luck and too busy schedule with 2 classes.

Congrats for the winners – Thanks to Jens – nice pitting with you! And a special thanks to Markus for the stay and ride from airport and help – thanks man!! And also thanks to Ronald Baar from Serpent for the ride back to Amsterdam! Had really nice time with all of you guys! 

See you at the track!

-Vesa-
 

Modified top 3 in A final

1 Daniel Sieber
2 Markus Mobers

3 Vesa Yli     V-Dezign CR’07

19t top 3 in A final

1 Jan Asmer
2 Michael Lepelaar
3 Vesa Yli    V-Dezign CR’07

Teemu took the victory in 1/12th scale modified class in Snowbirds Nationals in Florida in early February. Once again Teemu chose V-Dez painting for his winning ride! Congratz Teemu! 

Traditional Friendship Race in Eskilstuna, Sweden was raced from 23th to 25th November 2007. In 1/12th scale class all the best drivers from Finland and Sweden were competing for the title at the Euro’s 2007 venue.

Team V-Dez had a good weekend with Vesa finishing 5th after missing Friday’s practice and first qualifiers on Saturday due to electronic problems.  Henry Salmen took victory in C-final with his brand new CR’07.

Simo and Sakke Ahoniemi made the podium with V-Dez painted rides.