1:10 IFMAR Off-Road Pre-Worlds: Now with Sugar!

0 June 7, 2013, 6:42 a.m.

6/7/13

By Eric Swanson

LiveRC

This year's 1:10 IFMAR Off-Road Worlds Warm-up race now has an added ingredient: sugar.

We've been hearing for a while now about a new dirt surface put in place at A-Main Hobbies' Silver Dollar R/C Raceway to replace the initial batch of Earth that, according to various critics, was less than ideal for the 1:10 electric-powered machines that will hit the track later this summer for the IFMAR World Championships. However, with new dirt generally comes a bit of uncertainty in how it should be prepared to provide the best possible surface. It appears that the A-Main crew are now embattled by this uncertainty and are working feverishly to come up with a solution on the fly.

This weekend, all eyes in the electric off-road industry are focused on the worlds' warm-up race being held at the facility. On Thursday, the conditions during practice were so bad that a "manufacturer's meeting" took place in order to see what could be done.

Manufacturer representatives voted for sugar to be added to the track surface in an effort to increase traction -- a decision that has been met with both praise and criticism by racers and fans on Facebook.

Silver Dollar R/C Raceway -- during sugaring.
Photo via Facebook -- Credit: Joe Pillars (Orion/Kyosho)

Whether you are for or against it, the sugared surface should provide for some interesting racing, strategy, and set-up engineering. Last spring, we saw finally saw the rise of the mid-motor platform on American soil due to the tremendous amounts of traction available at the Cactus Classic. While this track condition is not particularly new to racers (ARCOR in Albuquerque, New Mexico has prepared their track the same way for multiple large races), it creates problems (presumably) for drivers who can't run a vehicle in mid-motor formation.

If the sugared surface does end up being similar to SRS during the Cactus Classic, all eyes will be on Team Associated come worlds time. While not off the pace by much at this year's Cactus, the manufacturer's lack of a mid-motored option in their 2WD platform appeared to be a slight disadvantage on the ultra high-bite surface. Easily the oldest platform on the market, Associated's B4 is also undefeated in IFMAR World Championships in the decade since it was initially released. This condition might present next generation mid-motor cars from TLR, Kyosho, Durango, Tamiya, and Yokomo their best chance so far at capturing a world title. There is also a chance that Associated will try to counter with a mid-motor conversion (or new platform of their own).

Jared Tebo lead the mid-motor "coming out party" on this year's sugar-coated Cactus Classic track.

Regardless of what side of the fence anyone's particular opinions fall on regarding the sugaring of the surface, the race will still take place. One thing most would agree on is that the warm-up race, in theory, should serve two primary functions. The first is to allow the facility and crew a chance to run a large race to see what aspects of their program they can improve upon before the world championship. That is definitely taking place and the sugaring is the result of this process.

The other function the race serves is to give racers an idea of what the track will be like come worlds time. Herein lies the potential for controversy in regards to the track surface. Now that it has been decided to put sugar on the racing surface for the warm-up, a change in preparation this September could create a tremendous problems for race teams and render the race this weekend practically useless from their standpoint.

For the sake of the track and IFMAR's image; as well as the blood pressure of racers and mechanics, let's hope the track preparation stays consistent between now and September- regardless of whether it is considered good or bad.

BEFORE SUGAR (THURSDAY)

AFTER SUGAR (FRIDAY)

Videos (from Facebook) courtesy of Paul Wynn (JConcepts)

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