Awesomatix factory driver Lucas Urbain is running the new Awesomatix A800R here in Apeldoorn. It is the first ETS asphalt race for the new Awesomatix touring car and Lucas is looking very fast out there. His A800R is equipped with some additional brass weights and battery weights (BW7, BW8, BW22R), a front body support from MXLR, Manzo46 body stiffeners, self made electronic weights, and some optional Awesomatix aluminum screws (SB3X5AL). On the electronic side, Lucas is completeley ORCA powered and uses an MKS servo together with his Sanwa M17 radio.
Reigning ETS champion Ronald Völker is running the brand new Mugen Seiki MTC-2R here at ETS RD1 in Apeldoorn. His car is almost out of the box with all the new features such as ball bearings instead of drive shaft blades front and rear, active shock towers with the option to fix onto the bulkheads, a new slim motormount, new carbon fiber topdeck, and the single arm steering setup. Ronald uses a Mugen Seiki titanium screw set on his car to save some weight over the original steel screws. His car is powered by LRP batteries in combination with the LRP FlowX ESC and an LRP 5.0T X22 Motor. Ronald trusts in the precision of his long time servo sponsor Highest and topped his MTC-2R with a Twister body shell painted by AI Body Works.
The new Yokomo BD12 is here in the Netherlands, used by the Yokomo factory team including Loic Jasmin from France. We had the chance to take a look under the Hood of his car. Loic`s BD12 is almost out of the box, but he has installed some titanium stuff like turnbuckles and screws from Yokomo in his car. His drivetrain also features lightweight Spool- and Diff Outdrives, as well as he is using aluminum ball studs on the shocks to save some more weight. Loic is using a Hobbywing ESC and Motor (4.5T), and the energy comes out of Nosram batteries. On the steering side he trusts in a servo from PowerHD, controlled by his Sanwa M17 radio. His BD12 is topped with a 0,5mm Twister Speciale body from Xtreme Aerodynamics in which some RC Makere body stiffeners are installed.
ETS Season #16 has kicked off with a day of free practice at the outstanding prepared facility of the AMCA Apeldoorn. All racers had 5 heats (with the duration of 5 minutes each) of free practice in groups to get used to the track and to dial in their cars for the upcoming seeding practice and qualifying on Friday. The track quickly provided great traction and we got a good feeling for the intensity which we have to expect for the 4 rounds of ETS qualifying!
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Matrix Modified
Völker tops free practice at AMCA Apeldoorn
The Matrix Modified class saw Mugen Seiki`s Ronald Völker on top at the end of the free practice day. However, Lucas Urbain (Awesomatix) was on a very similar pace in his fastest run with his three fastest consecutive laps only being 13 thousands of a second slower than Völker`s time. Marc Rheinard (Awesomatix), Christopher Krapp (Yokomo), and Robert Pietsch (Mugen Seiki) completed the top five at the first day of ETS Season #16 2023/24 in the Netherlands.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. Ronald Völker (DE) 41.972 Mugen Seiki|LRP 2. Lucas Urbain (FR) 41.985 Awesomatix |Orca 3. Marc Rheinard (DE) 42.302 Awesomatix |Orca 4. Christopher Krapp (DE) 42.325 Yokomo|Racing Performer 5. Robert Pietsch (DE) 42.551 Mugen Seiki |LRP
Awesomatix 1-2 with Bultynck and Mächler on top of ProStock
Olivier Bultynck from Belgium was the fastest racer on Thursday in the Awesomatix ProStock class. With his advantage over second placed Max Mächler at only 0.057 seconds, we can expect a close fight for the pole position in qualifying. Third placed Jan Ratheisky was also some hundrets of a second behind the Awesomatix duo making it a three-horse race at the front. Adam Izsay (Xray) and Lukas Ellerbrock (Awesomatix) took fourth and fifth position after the five rounds of practice.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. Olivier Bultynck (BE) 49.789 Awesomatix/LRP 2. Max Mächler (DE) 49.846 Awesomatix/Sunpadow 3. Jan Ratheisky (DE) 49.863 Xray/Nosram 4. Adam Izsay (HU) 50.126 Xray/Nosram 5. Lukas Ellerbrock (DE) 50.159 Awesomatix/LRP
Izsay tops free FWD practice in Apeldoorn from van Gog and Libar
Adam Izsay from Hungary found himself on top of the FWD class here in Apeldoorn. He was rocking the all new Xray FWD car right in front of Dutch Awesomatix racer Robin van Gog. With Jaques Libar, another Xray car found his way into the top group, followed by Kevin Sparbier (Mugen Seiki), and Henrik Heitsch (ARC). We saw 4 different manufacturers in the top 5 what clearly shows that the FWD class is wide open and a lot of cars and drivers can go really fast.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. Adam Izsay (HU) 59.376 Xray 2. Robin van Gog (NL) 59.536 Awesomatix 3. Jaques Libar (DE) 59.580 Xray 4. Kevin Sparbier (DE) 59.629 Mugen Seiki 5. Henrik Heitsch (DE) 59.712 ARC
Awesomatix racer Toni Mateo from Gran Canaria was the fastest driver of the 1up Racing 40+ Masters class on Thursday. He was laying down the fastest 3 consecutive laps on the AMCA track, followed by the newest signing of the Iris team – reigning 40+ Masters champion Manuel Stankowitz. Xray`s Mirco Thalheimer, local hero Elibert Sievers, and Renè Kölbel (at his ETS touring car debut) rounded out the top 5 for the day. The 1up Racing 40+ Masters class is now powered by 21.5T Orca Motors and the field looked very close and competitive as always.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
In the Orca 21.5 Stock class, it was Tristan Bergheim topping the time sheets with his Awesomatix A800R in every single round of practice. He clearly had the best pace with his gap over the rest of the field at a comfortable amount of 0.7 seconds. Second place for the day went to Mugen Seiki driver Timo Siebert, with Tobais Baumbach`s Xray car right in tow. Jan Vogler and Karl-Heinz Moritz completed the top 5 in the Orca 21.5 Stock class.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. Tristan Bergheim (DE) 53.613 Awesomatix 2. Timo Siebert (DE) 54.249 Mugen Seiki 3. Tobias Baumbach (DE) 54.343 Xray 4. Jan Vogler (DE) 54.507 5. Karl-Heinz Moritz (DE) 55.181
After not racing in the ETS Formula class for a while, David Ehrbar (Xray) is on the grid again and wheeled his Xray Formula car to P1 on Thursday. The Hobbywing powered Formula cars looked very quick on track and Ehrbar found the best way to transform the power into the foam tires. Andreas Stiebler and Renè Kölbel will try to fight with Ehrbar in qualifying as they took second and third for the day. Herbert Weber (4th) and “the master of ETS Formula Racing” Jan Ratheisky (5th) are also in the hunt for more.
The Top 5 after Thursday practice (over 3 consecutive laps)
1. David Ehrbar (DE) 49.721 Xray 2. Andreas Stiebler (AT) 50.447 Schumacher 3. Renè Kölbel (AT) 50.769 Xray 4. Herbert Weber (AT) 50.833 Xray 5. Jan Ratheisky (DE) 51.126 Xray
We are looking forward to Friday here at ETS RD1 in Apeldoorn. Stay tuned and follow us during the whole weekend. Check out the LIVE section on our website. There you find all further reports, pictures, and our livestream from ETS RD1 Season #16 2023/24 at AMCA Apeldoorn / NED.
During the last season, we have been torturing you from time to time with putting your equipment on the ETS page. Sometimes with more, sometimes with less success. So that you can finally see what our actual idea behind the “data collection” is, we have evaluated some data from season #15. These evaluations are based on the data from ETS round 1 to 5.
Chassis
As you would expect, Awesomatix takes a dominant position with over 45% of the touring cars. Followed by XRAY with 23.8% and in 3rd place is Mugen Seiki with 15.9%. Tamiya has its firm fanbase with just under 4% . Yokomo is constant over the season at just slightly under 5%. It will be exciting to see how the chassis statistics will develop in the new season. Yokomo and IRIS (Ruddog) have intensively recruited drivers and enlarged their teams. Also, the current non-participation of the three top XRAY drivers logically has an impact on the data and would increase the XRAY shares by a good 3-4% if they participate. We also know that some drivers are running ARC cars for example. It is only when drivers have not entered any data, we are unable to make any corresponding analysis.
Batteries
In terms of the LiPo batteries in use, we saw a “blue (and black) is better” dominance with LRP and Nosram taking the top spots. On positions 2 to 5 it is a four-way fight between Gens ace, Intellect, ORCA and Sunpadow. Ruddog follows at some distance, but with a clear upwards trend at the end of the season. All other manufacturers are below the 1% mark. The data currently does not allow us to reliably distinguish between indoor and outdoor races in terms of battery capacity. What we would like to see, of course. We can state that over 75% of the battery capacities are between 5800-6500 mAh and 7500-8200 mAh.
Body Shells
Even we are not immune to mistakes. In RD5 we have indeed forgotten to deposit the ZooRacing Wolverine Max 0.7. For this reason we also assume that not “everyone” used the 0.5 version in Hann. Münden. While at the beginning of the season bodies like the ZooRacing Anti or Blitz shells from the previous season still played a role, with the appearance of the Protoform P63 a three-way fight with Xtreme and ZooRacing has developed. Whereby ZooRacing, of course, has an average market share of over 50% and thus clearly leads the field. While Protoform played almost no role in season #14, the P63 was a surprise hit from RD3 to the end of Season #15. It will be exciting, when the “veteran body shells” ZooRacing Wolverine, Protoform P63 and Xtreme Twister (Speciale) have to defend themselves against newcomers like Eptron, ZERO2 and Redhawk. With Lens Bodies, a new body manufacturer will come into play from RD2 in Aigen-Schlägl. Will Lens Bodies manage a similar surprise coup as Protoform?
Are we doing it all for ourselves? No. Many outside our “ETS bubble” are interested in what material the drivers use. We must not forget the newcomers, who also want to know who uses which material on which track. And last but not least, out ETS supporting companies are interested to find out about their product
Only the A-Main drivers should enter their data? No. We want to address every ETS racer. Not just the top 10/11 in the A-Main and thus the fancy table in the postings. It would be really great if everyone could take 30 seconds to enter their data. There is now a new menu item under “My Account” calles “Equipment Charts” so that you can easily find your way to the 5 form fields even more easily. From Aigen-Schlägl onwards, we will also improve the mobile view so that it is super easy to distinguish the respective event.
No formula, nothing to see about Frontis! Yes, we would have liked to provide evaluations at this point. But from our point of view, the data is so “poor” that it would have been more like reading a crystal ball. Therefore, we ask you again: Take 30 seconds and fill out the Equipment Charts form when you have finished seeding. You don’t have to type, just select from the drop down menu. If we have a representative amount of data, we’ll be really keen to work out a short evaluation for everyone after each run.
Thank you for your help and cooperation. See you trackside!
When a new ETS season starts, the excitement is always very high as some driverds have changed teams, new cars are on the market, and other random things are from interest after a long break from ETS racing. Here are our “5 things to watch” at the season opener of ETS Season #16.
1)New Cars everywhere
Many manufacturers have released new cars ahead of the upcoming season. For Awesomatix, the race in Apeldoorn will be the first ETS race on asphalt with their in february released A800R touring car. The car has already won the Stock class at the famous TITC in Thailand (Tim Wahl) and should be a real contender on track. Lucas Urbain won the TOS race in Apeldoorn 2 weeks ago and everything looks very promising for the team aroud Max Mächler.
The Mugen Seiki team around reigning champion Ronald Völker will also celebrate the ETS debut of their newest platform – the MTC-2R. The car will be available very soon and is featuriing a lot of updates. Völker won the Euro Warmup race last weekend in Türkheim and the car showed a good performance there.
Yokomo is also competing with a new ride – the BD12 touring car. The successor of the BD11 is stepping into big footprints as the Yokomo team had a very sussessful year 2022 with this car winning two ETS races and the vice world championship with Christopher Krapp. Let`s see what the team can do with the new BD12 in Apeldoorn.
Another new car is the ARC A10-23 which we will see also on track in the hands of Henrik Heitsch and Torsten Baggendorf. The A10-23 received some updates from the ARC development office and the team is hoping for the car to be even more competitive now!
2)US Boys rocking the ETS with Eric and Kemp Anderson
After JJ Wang was the last US racer at the ETS some years ago, we are super happy to welcome Eric Anderson and his son Kemp to our season opener in Apeldoorn. They are flying over from Nashville, Tennessee (US) and they will compete in the 1up Racing 40+ Masters and Awesomatix Pro Stock class (Eric), and the Matrix Modified class (Kemp). Both racers are very fast and we will keep an eye on their performance against all the experienced ETS racers in the Netherlands.
3)Good food at the Burger Imbiss
If you are on the ground of the AMCA Apeldoorn and you are feeling hungry, there are two hot spots to join. The first one is the AMCACafeteria where you will get a lot of drinks and snacks from the team around Peter Jongeling. Another one is waiting directly in front of the Cafeteria and will serve Burgers and other BBQ food all weekend long. The Imbiss is easy to recognize due to the massive BULL picture. This year, the owner of the Imbiss will offer some special menues for the ETS racers and we hope that you all will support him, and the AMCA Cafeteria.
4)Pullstart TV Streams
The AMCA Apeldoorn has installed their own Pullstart TV system just some weeks ago. A great system for superb streaming and track action. The ETS will use the Pullstart system to stream most of the event. When we will head into qualifying and finals, ETS video master Hanno van den Boogaard will be in charge with his handhelt camera to follow the action around the track as always. You can always find the actual stream on the landing page of our website ets.racing, and you can also check our YouTube channel.
No just joking. The weather looks very stable for all days and we can expect a dry event with very constant track conditions. Our weather service is pointing out temperatures from 8 degree in the night, up to 23 degrees at daytime. The risk for rain is at only 10-20% which is almost nothing. We only expect some wind here and there which is the smallest problem for us. We are very happy about this great forecast and we hope that it will happen exactly liek this 😉
Have a safe trip to Apeldoorn everybody, wee see you THERE.
The 1up Buggy Challenge took place at Hobby Action R/C Raceway in Chandler, AZ over the weekend of May 26-28. Doubling as the Official Worlds Warm-Up, racers traveled from around the World to compete on the unique surface at Hobby Action making for close racing in all classes! Every racer was treated to a 1up Racing Pro Pack with their entry. In the ProTek Sportsman 2wd Buggy Class all drivers were treated to ProTek T-Shirts and their choice of ProTek product. In the MuchMore Intermediate 17.5 Buggy Class all drivers were treated to their choice of 1up Racing product. We’d like to thank all the racers who made it out and hope you had a great weekend!
Qualifying was intense in the Team Associated Modified 2wd Buggy Class with Aydin Horne, Spencer Rivkin, Broc Champlin, Matthew Gonzales, Dustin Evans, Chase Lemieux and Kouki Kato all logging Top 3 runs throughout the three rounds of qualifying. After the dust had settled, it was Team Associated’s Aydin Horne putting his 1up Equipped B6.4D on Pole ahead of Rivkin and Champlin to start the mains. Horne would lead the way in A1 until a small error over the front double on lap 4 would allow Rivkin to get by and the Two-Time World Champion wouldn’t look back as he went on to win the first leg. A2 saw Horne controlling the pace for the first 15 laps but it was the same section of the track that would cause him trouble again, this time allowing Champlin to squeeze by and take the lead. With less than two laps to go, Champlin would stay clean and go on to win the second leg. With the win still up for grabs leading into A3 there was a sense of urgency felt by the Top 3 qualifiers as they tried to lock in the overall victory. A perfect line over the front section on the first lap would allow Rivkin a small gap then going wheel-to-wheel with Horne as they battled to control the top spot. Ultimately the two would push each other wide around the following 180 corner, opening the perfect gap for Champlin to pass both drivers on the inside and take the early lead. Champlin would go on to control the first 15 laps but it was the front section that came into play again and with a small bobble Champlin opened the door for Rivkin to take the lead with less than two laps to go. Rivkin would go on to win the third leg and take the overall Modified 2wd Buggy Victory with Champlin securing 2nd and Horne finishing 3rd.
Reedy Power Modified 4wd Buggy qualifying was just as close as Spencer Rivkin, Aydin Horne, Broc Champlin, Chase Lemieux and Bruno Coelho would all log Top 3 runs. Rivkin would secure Pole Position with a perfect 0 score ahead of Horne and Champlin to start the AAA Mains. A determined Rivkin would run a nearly perfect A1 and go on to take a wire-to-wire victory. The front section would bite Horne yet again allowing Champlin to grab 2’nd on Lap 4 and Lemieux would take over 3rd. Horne would recover and eventually take the 3rd position back on the final lap. A2 would again see an uneventful race for Rivkin as he was completely locked in, leading every lap on his way to the Overall Modified 4wd Buggy Win! Horne went on to finish 2nd and Lemieux would see his way to 3rd on the first lap and would go on to finish there after 5 minutes of racing. Rivkin would sit out the third leg allowing Horne to take a wire-to-wire victory ahead of Dustin Evans with Broc Champin finishing 3rd. The overall Modified 4wd Buggy results would be Rivkin ahead of Horne and Champlin!
With victories in both 2wd and 4wd, Spencer Rivkin would become our First 1up Buggy Challenge Champion in the Modified division. Aydin Horne would tie in points with Broc Champlin but with a faster combined time it was Aydin Horne finishing 2nd overall and Broc Champlin finishing 3rd.
The Expert Stock divisions were packed deep with racers from near and far ready to compete and qualifying was very exciting as the experts put on a show of their own! In the JConcepts Expert 2wd Buggy class, 1up Racing Team Associated Factory Driver Jake Thayer came out swinging and swept qualifying. The competition pushed Thayer to his limit though, Willy Smith, Levi Raymond, Chase Raymond and Kyler Cornwell would all log Top 3 runs just off the TQ pace. In A1, Thayer looked confident as ever as he went on to take a wire-to wire win ahead of Levi Raymond who after a rough start would charge back from 5th to control 2nd from lap 6 to the finish line. Chase Raymond also had an eventful A1 falling down to 7th and recovering to finish 3rd. In A2 Thayer finally showed signs that he is actually human and would have a very rough race, ultimately finishing 6th. Levi Raymond would capitalize as he controlled the race to take the Leg 2 victory. After leading early on, Willy Smith drove a very clean race and finished 2nd ahead of Ryan Prince who showed great pace all weekend but couldn’t match the consistency of the top runners. Going into A3 all of the pressure fell to Thayer as Levi Raymond lead the points. After a bobble on Lap 6, Thayer would lose the lead seeing Chase Raymond to the front. Trouble through the rhythm section would see Chase give up the lead as Thayer went on to an A3 win and secured the overall 1up Buggy Challenge Victory in JConcepts Expert 2wd Buggy head of Levi and Chase Raymond!
A number of racers would log Top 3 Qualifying runs in Motiv 13.5 4wd Buggy with Levi Raymond, Jake Thayer, Chase Raymond, Ryan Prince and Matthew Williby all showing excellent pace, but it was Thayer who would lock in TQ for a second time at the event. In A1, Thayer controlled the race on his way to a wire-to-wire win. Matthew Williby had a great race as he pushed forward from his 5th place starting position to take 2nd ahead of Levi Raymond in 3rd. In A2, Levi Raymond would take advantage of an early error by Thayer as he went on to control the race and grab the win. Thayer would recover and climb back to finish 2nd ahead of Ryan Prince in 3rd. A3 would see another dominant run by Thayer as he secured the overall win in Motiv 13.5 4wd Buggy. Chase Raymond and Ryan Prince showed great pace as they went on to their 2nd and 3rd place finishing positions. After the points were tallied Levi Raymond would finish 2nd overall ahead of his brother Chase Raymond.
1up Racing Team Associated Factory Driver Jake Thayer is our First 1up Buggy Challenge Champion in the Expert Stock division! Twin brothers Levi and Chase Raymond keep the symmetry in our podium photos as they grabbed the final podium spots taking 2nd and 3rd overall!
A 26 car-deep MuchMore Racing Intermediate Buggy field made for some great racing in the mains as well! In qualifying it was Mike Kokot grabbing the overall TQ pushed by Justyn Bialowas, Brett Crone, Leia Anderson and Kevin Boyd who all showed fast pace. A1 saw a great drive from Bialowas as he took the lead on Lap 7 and never looked back. Bumping up from the B-Main, Chris Raymond charged through the field to grab 2nd ahead of Kevin Boyd in 3rd. On Lap 1 of A2 the rhythm section would catch TQ Kokot and see Bialowas to the front again as he went on to control the race and wrap up the overall win in Intermediate 17.5 Buggy! Kevin Boyd would work his way up from his 5th place starting position to secure 2nd ahead of Leia Anderson in 3rd. A3 saw Anderson pushing the pace early as she quickly worked her way up to take the lead on Lap 3 and never looked back. Chase Willeford had a great race working through the field to finish 2nd ahead of Chris Raymond who again made the most of his 10th place grid position to finish 3rd. After the points were tallied, Anderson would join Bialowas on the podium 1 point ahead of Raymond in 3rd.
A huge thank you to Larry Tom for making this all possible! The Hobby Action track and tech crew of Jake Thayer, Richard Lake, James Jefler, Jaree Price, Willy Amos-Smoth, Scott Spear, Bryan Day and Dave Rosen absolutely killed it ensuring there were no hiccups in the race program. Shoutout to StickIt1 Racing for providing epic awards and banner artwork! And finally, thank you to Team Associated, Reedy, ProTek, JConcepts, Motiv, and MuchMore Racing for coming on board as our class sponsors!
Last weekend, the inofficial Warmup Race for the EFRA European Championship took place at the track of the MCC Türkheim in the south of Germany. 60 drivers attended the event in 4 classes and it was Ronald Völker (Mugen Seiki) who was able to claim the pole position and taking away the overall race win in the premier modified clas. Völker won the race ahead of Marc Rheinard (Awesomatix) who was also showing a great speed. Third place went to Xray`s Marco Kaufmann in front of Eric Dankel (Mugen Seiki) and Alexander Hagberg (Xray). With Bruno Coelho (Xray), Lucas Urbain (Awesomatix), Christopher Krapp (Yokmo), and Yannic Prümper (Yokomo), some of the european top drivers missed the event and will bring even more spice and flavour to the European Championships early August.
Podium EURO SPEC: 2nd Simon Lauter (Awesomatix), 1st Max Mächler (Awesomatix), 3rd Adam Izsay (Xray)
Podium EUROCUP F1: 2nd David Ehrbar (Xray), 1st Andreas Stiebler (Schumacher), 3rd Gergö Valent (Xray)
Podium EUROFWD: 2nd Stefan Kroner (Yokomo), 1st Daniel Pöhlmann (Awesomatix), 3rd Chris Grenz (Xray)
Pictures: Christian Sandner (RC-Cars-Pics.de) Official ETS Photographer
Another amazing season ahead as the ETS kicks off campaign SIXTEEN
When the ETS circus will arrive in Apeldoorn, NED on Wednesday, it is about to head into ETS Season #16 2023/24 with full power. What has started in 2008 with a 4-race series, quickly extended up to 5 races in 2009 before 6 races had been on the ETS schedule regulary in all the following years (except the pandemic time). When looking on the ETS nowadays, we can not thank Scotty Ernst and Uwe Rheinard enough for all their hard work which went into the series to make it the most prestigeous one in the world of electric 1:10 scale Onroad racing. THANK YOU UWE & SCOTTY
Now, 83 ETS races later, we are awaiting Season #16 2023/24 with a lot of excitement. The whole ETS crew has worked hard behind the scenes to prepare the new season and we are super happy about the amount of 230 entries for our first race of the season at the fantastic venue of the AMCA Apeldoorn.
Time to welcome some new (and old) sponsors to the Euro Touring Series
After the whole world had to go through rough times during the Covid-19 pandemic, we are super pumped to see new and old sponsors coming back to the ETS. Without the support of all these amazing companies, the ETS would not be possible today.
New at the ETS: 1up Racing, the proud sponsor of the 40+ Masters class, AXON, and Flysky. Back at the ETS: Yokomo and Destiny
Changes for ETS season #16
After many years, we have made some changes to some of the ETS classes to add more excitement and to fresh things up a little bit. The Matrix Modified class, and the Hobbywing Frontwheel class will stay exactly the same as there was no need to change anything. But the other racing classes have gone through some minor changes which we will summ-up quickly for you:
Awesomatix Pro Stock Change from 13.5T ORCA motors to 17.5T ORCA motors. The maximum gearing is now at 3.8 to change the punch of the car. The ORCA speedo operates with a new software and a different rpm limiter at 20.000 rpm.
Orca 21.5 Stock and 1up Racing 40+ Masters Here, the ORCA 17.5T Motors had to make room for the slightly less powerful ORCA 21.5T Motor. The maximum gearing is now at 3.8 to change the punch of the car. The ORCA speedo operates with a new software and a different rpm limiter at 18.000 rpm.
ToniSport Formula After many years with Motors and ESC`s from Scorpion, the Formula class is now powered by a Hobbywing combo. The software on the ESC is optimized for Formula racing and the quality of the Hobbywing products is already well-known around the world. We like to thank Scorpion once again for everything they have done for the ETS, and at the same moment we like to welcome Hobbywing in the Formula class.
Body Shells Nothing new here as the ETS sticks to their official list of body shells which are allowed for the races. Most of the companies changed some bodies on the list for the new season and everything is set to go with a great range of body shells which drivers can select from.
Let`s talk about racing
As we saw motor changes in all our stock touring car classes, the field of drivers for ETS RD1 in Apeldoorn is a little mixed up compared to the last years where we have not seen many drivers changing classes. But it seems that there will be some “fresh wind” in town when drivers will arrive to Apeldoorn. Here are only some examples of drivers who have now entered into the Matrix Modified class for ETS RD1:
We have the Awesomatix trio of Simon Lauter, Max Mächler, and Thomas Bemmerl on the list of entries. After winning the Pro Stock title three times in the last four seasons, Simon Lauter is now attacking the modified class. Awesomatix team manager Max Mächler will start in both classes, Pro Stock and Modified. He had some great runs at the TITC in Thailand in February where he was taking modified racing more serious for the first time. It seems that he liked it a lot and we are looking forward to see Mad Max rocking his Awesomatix A800R with some serious Hobbywing power. Former 17.5 Stock champion Thomas Bemmerl also got a good idea of modifed racing while he was racing in the open brushless class at the TITC in Bangkok and almost made it into the A-Main. Mugen Seiki`s Sören Sparbier also made his entry for modified after he had a real blast at the TOS race 2 weeks ago on the track in Apeldoorn where he finished second behind race winner Lucas Urbain. Sparbier`s teammate Maximilian Unterschütz will also try it in modified for the first time at the ETS. With Elena Fuchs and Niclas Nungässer, we also see two young racers stepping up directly from 17.5 Stock into modified to collect some new RC impressions. It looks like modified racing is on a small upwards trend in Apeldoorn – let`s see how it will develop over the season.
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What about the favourites?
That is a tough one for our reporter as it is as hard as never before to point out some favourites in all classes – excepting modified. In the Matrix Modified class (44 entries), the well-known names such as Ronald Völker (Mugen Seiki), Marc Rheinard (Awesomatix), Lucas Urbain (Awesomatix), Christopher Krapp (Yokomo), Yannic Prümper (Yokomo), Michal Orlowski (Schumacher) and Akio Sobue (Axon) will be on the line in Apeldoorn to fight for the win. Beside them, other super fast drivers like Jan Ratheisky, Eric Dankel,Robert Pietsch, Remi Callens, Loic Jasmin, and many others will try everything to achieve a great result for their teams and sponsors.
The Awesomatix Pro Stock class (61 entries) will see Max Mächler (Awesomatix) and Jan Ratheisky (Xray) traveling to Apeldoorn as maybe the biggest favourites for the win. They have won many ETS races in the past and they will try to go for the championship title for sure. But with Sören Sparbier (Mugen Seiki), Olivier Bultynck (Awesomatix), Jesper Rasmussen (Awesomatix), Lukas Ellerbrock (Awesomatix), Frederik Hovgaard (Yokomo), Adam Izsay (Xray), Tim Benson, David Ehrbar (Xray), Patrick Danielsen (Xray), JonasVölker (Mugen Seiki), Dominic Vogl (Yokomo) and Mattia Collina (Schumacher) are also in the mix of very fast drivers in the field. New in the Pro Stock class is last years 17.5T vice-champion Jasmin Donath. She is now part of the Awesomatix factory team and we are looking forward to her speed on track in the new class. Last seasons 40+ Masters champion Manuel Stankowitz (Iris) is racing in Pro Stock now as well, the same as Niclas Storm (Mugen Seiki).
In the Hobbywing Frontwheel class (48 enteies), the dominators of the last 2 seasons have disappeared. Two-time champion Stefan Schulz will focus on Pro Stock and Modified this season, but right now he is suffering from a broken leg and can only watch ETS Rd1 from his hometown Berlin. The ETS family wishes you a quick and good recovery Stefan! Steven Olsen, the runner-up in the last 2 years, will not race this season as his focus is on his job carreer in Denmark right now. We really hope to see the Olsen family back on track with us someday. This means, that we are looking for a new champion in the Hobbywing Frontwheel class. There are many guys who are very quick and we will not throw any names into the ring right now. Let`s see who will win the first race of the new season in the hard fought FWD class of the Euro Touring Series.
When looking on the 1up Racing 40+ Masters and the Orca 21.5T Stock classes, it is the same as in the FWD class. We will need some time to find out about how the field of drivers will compete against each other. In the 1up Racing 40+ Masters class (36 entries), reigning champion Manuel Stankowitz will try to defend his title. He is now racing for the Iris team and we are excited about his performance on track. In Apeldoorn, all the fast guys like Toni Mateo (Awesomatix),two time Apeldoorn winner Elibert Sievers (Awesomatix), Torsten Baggendorf (ARC), Michel Zierold (Awesomatix), Frank Fuchs (Xray), Mirco Thalheimer (Xray), Werner Schmitzer (Yokomo), and local hero Ronald Arts (Awesomatix) will be pushing hard for a top spot. It will also be interesting to find out what US racer Eric Anderson (Awesomatix) can do against all the ETS veterans in Apeldoorn. He will travel to the Netherlands together with his son Kemp Anderson who will participate in the Matrix Modified class.
The 21.5 Stock class has the lowest amount of entries with only 16 drivers for Apeldoorn. The class will grow for sure after everybody gets used to the 21.5T Motors which are in use now. Picking favourites is difficult. We have Tobias Baumbach (Xray), Tristan Bergheim (Awesomatix), and Alex Bremer (Schumacher) on the list of entries – all three drivers can go really fast. But there are also routineers like Karl-Heinz Moritz or Markus Ernst and Timo Siebert, and the finnish drivers Petri Tuomainen and Mikko Mäkelä, as well as the Ratheisky family with mother Svantje and their kids Emely and Marlon. It will be exciting to see how the drivers will race with the 21.5T motors at ETS RD1.
With the new combo in the Hobbywing Formula class, we already have a solid amount of entries with 20 racers. The top favourites are easy to call: Andreas Stiebler (Schumacher), Jan Ratheisky (Xray), and Renè Kölbel (Xray) are expected to lead the field of F1 racers through the weekend fighting for the race win. Can somebody crash the party? We will find out in soon!
Now, we only have to wait with patience for a couple of days before ETS Season #16 2023/24 will get underway. Everything is ready to go and we are sure that our racers will put on a great show in Apeldoorn. If you don`t want to miss anything from ETS RD1, just check our website daily and see all the race reports, pictures, videos, and interviews from Apeldoorn.
