2010 1/8-scale Off-road World Championship Day One

2010 1/8-scale Off-road World Championship Day One
ifmar world championships, 1/8 off road buggy, pattaya thailand, rc, radio-control
RC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | 2010 1/8-scale Off-road World Championship Day One

On the agenda today: registration, tech inspection, setup pits and walk the track.

There are two different pit areas. Tables setup outdoors underneath easy-ups or the air-conditioned storage containers adjacent to the track. The weather in Pattaya is in the high 80’s and very humid. The teams setting up shop in the climate controlled containers definitely had the upper hand.

RC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | 2010 1/8-scale Off-road World Championship Day One
RC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | 2010 1/8-scale Off-road World Championship Day One

RC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | 2010 1/8-scale Off-road World Championship Day One

All of the drivers were required to check in and have their cars go through technical inspection. The IFMAR officials would test the overall dimensions of the car and wing in a custom-built stainless steel box, then it would be off to the next official to check the weight and fuel tank capacity. The last inspection would be to make sure all of the parts on the car follow under IFMAR guidelines and the pipe, manifold and chassis would be marked with paint or engravings after they passed. Once the drivers completed this task it was off to prep the car for tomorrows practice runs.
RC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | 2010 1/8-scale Off-road World Championship Day One
RC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | 2010 1/8-scale Off-road World Championship Day One
The track layout remains the same as the warm ups with a few exceptions. Most noticeably the dirt has been coated with a layer of oil. Many of the drivers were relieved to see this as tire wear should be greatly reduced. One other noticeable feature of the track that has been changed is the absence of carpet. All of the carpeted jumps have now been capped with a layer of concrete. After walking around the track with some of the Team Associated drivers, I had a feeling chassis wear may be more of an issue than tire wear. When speaking with Team Associated’s Richard Saxton and Kyosho’s Lanis Thern (both whom did not attend the warm up), Lanis said “I just hope I don’t break on my first lap.” Im sure this will be a thought going through many of the driver’s minds as they fly over many of the new concrete capped jumps.

RC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | 2010 1/8-scale Off-road World Championship Day One
RC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | 2010 1/8-scale Off-road World Championship Day One
>After making my rounds in the pits, I noticed a few new products being brought out today for the first time. Ryan Maifield and JR Mitch both are sporting the new JConcepts “Punisher” modular wing. I must say, this is a pretty cool new and innovative part. The center of the wing is a flat, lower down-force style wing with removable sides. They had three different choices of sides, one standard side, a vented side and one set that was bent in towards the center of the car on the bottom half. Also creeping its way around Ryan Maifield’s pit was two new sets of Jconcepts tires, the “IFMAR 3D” and “Hybrid.” Proline had a new version the Revolver out dubbed “Revolver 2.0” which had slightly more squared pins and looks like the spacing has been changed up a bit. All of which look like they can be very promising on the hard packed, fast track here in Thailand.
RC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | 2010 1/8-scale Off-road World Championship Day One

RC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | 2010 1/8-scale Off-road World Championship Day One

RC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | 2010 1/8-scale Off-road World Championship Day One

I caught up with Jared Tebo while walking the track and asked him what his thoughts were with being favored to win from the online crowd. After a slight chuckle, replied, “It doesn’t get to me. I’m here to have fun. I can tell you this though, I’m going to give it my best shot.” Jared also mentioned how well his car worked during practice and seems pretty confident in himself for the race to come.
RC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | 2010 1/8-scale Off-road World Championship Day One

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Updated: July 22, 2015 — 11:54 AM
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