HPI Racing - 2001 HPI Challenge World Finals

2001 HPI Challenge

The Finals

News to some racers on Saturday was the fact that even the Electric B, C, D and E main events consisted of 3-leg finals, so electric racers prepared their cars all morning long. No practice was allowed, so the only track time racers could get was the few laps they might get in before the racing began. Again, this made it very fair to all the racers and meant that racers could not show up early and get in some practice time. This was good, because many racers had had a long night after the Gala!


Getting ready for a Nitro race	The really big picture of the track	Marshalls at the ready

All racers started on the main straight in a LeMans style start, angled towards the first corner with a big gap between each racer. For the most part, this prevented the dreaded first-turn pile up that is so often seen at club races, unless a driver was slow to react to the start tone. The first legs of the Electric mains were first, starting with the low mains, then the Nitro B Main races for all three Nitro classes, which were 20 minutes each. The rest of the races followed in logical order, with the third and final leg of the Electric races coming after the 20-minute A Final for the Nitro Stock class and then the 30-minute mains for the Nitro and Super Nitro Modified classes.

To sum up the racing action for each A Final:

RS4 Electric Mini (A Final) - Leg 1
There may have been a tiny jump start by cars 1 and 2 which the referees gave a kind warning for, perhaps this was because this was the first round of the finals and the drivers were caught off guard by the start sequence (counting down from ten). It turned out to be a very close race between car 1 (TQ Fotis) and car 2 (Andreas). Both pulled a lead of around 10 seconds from 3rd and 4th but were incredibly close at the 6 minute minute mark to end the race. Swapping the lead a few times during the race helped make the race very exciting! The German team was cheering their driver Andreas as he made a clean pass coming onto the straight to take the first leg win by a mere 0.6 seconds.


USA racers Derek and Jon getting ready	Kristopher Ritchie and his father prepare for a race	Start of a Mini A Final

RS4 Electric Mini (A Final) - Leg 2
A clean start for the 2nd Leg. This time everyone decided to wait for the buzzer before starting! Again the man on pole Fotis and Car 2 Andreas instantly pulled away, Werner in 3rd was desperate to keep with them but dropped back slightly. The lead two are racing themselves as Werner makes some mistakes and drops back, the race is now between 3rd and 4th who battle till the end, actually crossing the line for a dead heat as both drivers clocked a time of 17 Laps — 6.00.00.

Andreas won to complete the class victory followed by Fotis and Werner and Thomas Voltz sharing 3rd (equal).

RS4 Electric Mini (A Final) - Leg 3
With the Mini Class wrapped up Andreas had nothing to lose, Fotis however wanted to show everyone why he was sat on Pole Position and stormed away with this leg. The battle running through this final was for 3rd and 4th place overall. With a good run and coming home in 2nd place in the 3rd Leg of the A Final, Thomas Voltz was able to climb to 3rd overall.


The Germans dominated many of the classes	French racers set up for a day of racing

RS4 Electric Mini (A Final) — Final Results

Andreas Kruse (Germany)
Fotis Agelakopoulos (TQ, Greece)
Thomas Volz (Germany)
Werner Spannerbruckner (Austria)
Patrick Ziegler (Germany)
Josef Dragani (Germany)
Peter Sobota (Germany)
Marcus Bauder (Germany)
Goerge Karaoulias (Germany)
Jordi Vives (Spain)

RS4 Electric Sport (A Final) - Leg 1
With Britain's Ricky Copsey on Pole the Brits had someone to cheer for, but it didn’t all go to plan for Ricky who had looked so strong in qualifying…


Start of an Electric Sport A Final	The top ten Electric Sport drivers	Cars passed through scrutineering

From the start in the first leg Ricky made a bad error and hit the second corner getting collected by everyone and finding himself way back in 9th position. The race was a messy affair so (lucky for him) Ricky was quickly able to get back up there to 4th place on lap 3 and chasing the leaders hard. Car 9 (Patrick Gassauer) made a great start after the 2nd corner pile up caused by Ricky and was out front followed by Car 6 (Sebastian Franzschky) and 7 (Andreas Weyhoven). With 20 seconds to go the order was car 9, 6 then 1 but coming onto the very last corner onto the start finish straight Patrick got hit and dropped down to 3rd allowing both Car 6 and 1 to come flying by, a bit unlucky for Patrick but unfortunately that’s racing.

RS4 Electric Sport (A Final) - Leg 2
The second leg started a lot better as Ricky and Car 2 got a clean start and pulled a large lead, this race was really great, Ricky was under so much pressure all the British crew was nervous for him, ultimately he made a mistake and Christian got by and pulled away. His car looked really quick through the infield and he won with ease. Near the end Ricky pulled up to 3rd but car 6, Sebastian who won the 1st Leg 1 came home in second place.

But that wasn’t the end of this race as back into Technical Inspection it was found that Car 2 was DQ’d from the race. This means Sebastian (who was 2nd in Leg 2) moved up to 1st place and with it took the Sport Class World Championship title.


Timing and scoring	The straight was about 120 feet long	Getting psyched

RS4 Electric Sport (A Final) - Leg 3
The result of the Sport Class was already settled, but the last leg is still to run and as usual it was the other podium spots that were up for grabs. Ricky doesn’t mess his start up and pulled a good lead early on while the pack of drivers behind him make his life easier by making several crashes. Ricky was still out front by around 4 seconds yet seems to be backing off as the following cars appear to be catching. Christian who is looking for second overall drops out of the race with a minute to go, leaving Ricky certain of the runner-up spot. Going into the last lap and Ricky clipped a curb and needs marshalling while a surprised Sebastian makes the clean sweep and takes the win claiming all 3 legs. Ricky finished 3rd in this race but took 2nd overall.

RS4 Electric Sport (A Final) — Final Results

Sebastian Franzschky (Germany)
Ricky Copsey (TQ, England))
Timo Kurtz (Germany)
Patrick Gassauer (Germany)
Andre Severt (Germany)
Karlhienz Scherer (Germany)
Andreas Weyhoven (Germany)
Dominic Carter (England)
Christian Mertke (Germany)
Peter Winton (England)

RS4 Electric Pro (A Final) — Leg 1
A big crowd of racers and spectators from the local area gathered round the track to watch what wass undoubtedly the premier racing class, the 1/10th scale Touring Car Pro Class. With 40 of the best HPI Touring car drivers here there was plenty of support for every driver and almost every country was represented and we were set for some excellent racing.

From the buzzer the top 3 pull straight away by about 5 seconds, that’s pretty impressive already, first off Kris knocks the barrior then car 4 does the same coming past race control and the leaders group up again. The final then gets a bit scrappy apart from Car 2, Dominik Bauer who pulls way ahead, keeping out of trouble. It finishes with Dominik, Kris then John Sotiropoulos 3rd.


That's a lot of Germans!	The track from the timing and scoring end

RS4 Electric Pro (A Final) — Leg 2
Kris makes another good start but rolls almost straight away and drops to 4th, Dominik leads again by 6 seconds and looks very good remembering that he’s already won leg 1 and was now in a position to win the Pro class title.

The rest of the field are simply handing the race to Dominik who easily holds on, and in fact continues to pull away at the front for the simplest of race wins and claims the title - Well done Dominik, showing the rest how to do it… Artyom and Sebastian Kunz come home 2nd and 3rd.

RS4 Electric Pro (A Final) — Leg 3
Kris leads from the start again but is followed closely by Dominic again. They both pull away with a huge lead by about 6 seconds again in 3 laps. The rest of the field although well down are close together and battling for the remaining places.

As we’re watching the lead cars there’s a loud banging of colliding cars at the end of the straight as a stranded car gets thumped full pelt by car 7, the body is squashed flat but carries on regardless, everyone is amazed the car (a Pro 3) took such a hammering yet carried on, it didn’t even seem to have a ‘tweak’…. I think that’s called luck!!


Spectators line the barriers	Greek racers at the ready	Electric Pro B Final racers

Kris is still out front as they enter the last minute but another small mistake means the still pursuing Dominik takes the lead and with it a clean sweep of A Final victories.

RS4 Electric Pro (A Final) — Final Results

Dominik Bauer (Germany)
Kristopher Ritchie (TQ, Scotland)
Sebastian Kunz (Germany)
Artyon Lopukhin (Russia)
Thorsten Severt (Germany)
John Sotiropoulos (Greece)
Steffen Stien (Germany)
Stefan Thuner (Germany)
Jeremi Mastroianni (France)
Jon Sterling (USA)

RS4 Nitro Stock (A Final) — 20 Minute Final
This was the first of the long Nitro Finals, which is nice because while these guys are racing, our scrutineers and other helpers could have a breather, and some dinner…. Anyway, as anyone will tell you with a long race, the secret is to finish it!! It was good to see that only 1 car didn’t make the end and that up front it was close between TQ man Rudi Haupert, Kostantin Agrafiotis and Artyom Lopukhin from Russia.


The local racing club had live web updates	Drivers get prepared	Not many of the LRP speedos came back

After 30 minutes and plenty of pit stops and rushing around collecting cars that stalled and cars that ran out of fuel, Rudi, car 1 came home first followed by Artyom and Kostantin from Greece.

RS4 Nitro Stock (A Final) — Final Results

Rudi Haupert (Germany)
Artyom Lopukhin (Russia)
Kostantin Agrafiotis (Greece)
Maxin Gulin (Russia)
Antonis Zoulias (Greece)
Loic Zimmwerman (Switzerland)
Limnios Thanasis (Greece)
Hubert Caulavier (France)
George Arkoumanis (Greece)
Julien Merle (France)

RS4 Nitro Modified (A Final) — 30 Minute Final
This was the second of the long Nitro Finals, this time 30 minutes. This class places even more attention on the preparation as not only do these cars race longer but they go faster and run 2-speed gearboxes and you can even go through a set of tyres in 1 long Final. Noting that 1 of these races is nearly the equivalent of 2 races meetings without stopping!!


Nitro Modified A Final drivers	British racers setting up their pit	Start of the 20-minute Nitro Modified A Final

LRP driver Andy Kramer sat on pole but didn’t have a good run and retired with 66 laps on around 20 minutes which left it up to John Sotiropoulos from Greece to finish the race up front. John ended up well clear of 2nd place, showing that by keeping your car running and going fairly quick you stood a chance of winning a race like this. Fellow Team Mate John Arkoumanis strolled home 4 laps down and another 2 laps ahead of 3rd placed Kris Ritchie.


The first corner of the Nitro Modified A Final	The food was still great on Sunday!	After the race, everyone shook hands

RS4 Nitro Modified (A Final) — Final Results

John Sotriopoulos (Greece)
John Arkoumanis (Greece)
Kristopher Ritchie (England)
Dan Trnka (Switzerland/USA)
Bernard Courtois (Belgium)
Alain Gaillard (Switzerland)
Loic Bonnardel (France)
Andy Kramer (TQ, Germany)
Jon Sterling (USA)
Remy Romano (France)

RS4 Super Nitro Modified (A Final) — 30 Minute Final
This was the last final of the weekend and the last of the long Nitro Finals. These are still a favourite class because of the size and appeal of the cars, especially with the introduction of the Suzuki Pikes Peak body which was seen around the track over the weekend and was doing well in the Final.

These cars are pulling around 30 — 40mph down the long back straight before hitting the brakes hard to slow them for the first corner…

The Le-Mans start worked fine and with some sensible drivers realising that because of the length of the final, there is no point rushing around risking breaking your car hurtling into the first corner on the first lap, especially with cold tyres (believe me you do see it happen)!!


Drivers for the Super Nitro Modified A Final prepare	Some drivers had to start their Nitro Final late

Again we had British interest in this final in the form of young Dominic Carter whose car looked excellent all weekend, although in practise he’d managed to wear out 3 rear drive belts with small stones jamming his rear diff. With a bit of gaffer tape and some common sense, Dad Derrick made some protection against the small stones that were getting lodged and Dominic promptly stormed away with the race winning by a massive 3 laps.

His mum couldn’t quite believe it and was soon in tears, the UK Team were all cheering at the top of their voices and little Dominic didn’t even realise he’d won. A classic racing moment to finish off the weekend… Well done Dominic!!

RS4 Super Nitro Modified (A Final) — Final Results

Dominic Carter (England)
Gilles Nottoli (France)
Michael Hamann (Germany)
Christian Maechler (Switzerland)
Patrick Barriot (France)
Fausto Ameli (Switzerland)
Alain Durand (France)
Walter Cossatto (Switzerland)
Daniel Trnka (Switzerland/USA)
Marco Cannes (Switzerland)

Group Pictures!

The weekend would not be complete without pictures of all the countries that were represented. The entire event had a sort of Olympic-type feel, with all sorts of countries represented on the track. Although there was a clannish atmosphere because of the basic language barriers between many of the racers, (luckily) many of the racers spoke English well enough to get their ideas across to other racers who they had befriended during the weekend.


Team Austria	Team Belgium	Team France	Team Germany

Team Greece	Team Russia	Team Spain	Team Switzerland

	Team UK	Team USA

Trophy Ceremony

Austen Macrow and Frank McKinney set up the presentation area for the trophy ceremony with the winner's kits, trophies and engraved metal plates. Patrick of Avio & Tiger had ordered a prize podium constructed and put on a stage platform, and what Frank called "soccer hooligan barriers" were set up to keep the crowd back so proper pictures could be taken. Of course, Greg Hill said the barriers wouldn't last five minutes at a proper English match!


The podium ready for action	The barriers take a beating!	The receiving line of gift presenters	The Mini class winner accepts his prizes

With Dries from HPI Europe announcing driver's names and positions in German, French and English, every driver from every final was called forward. The top five got to stand on the stage, with the top three occupying the podium after accepting their kit, trophy or engraved plates from Greg Hill, Tatsuro Watanabe, and the mayor of the town of Orange. Lots of pictures were taken of everyone that went up, and then each driver was given Team Orion body decals by HPI Europe's Jamie Booth.


Electric Pro A Final	Electric Sport A Final

Nitro Stock A Final	Nitro Modified A Final	Super Nitro Modified A Final

Team Orion and LRP Electronic both provided not just the handout equipment for the HPI Challenge World Finals, but also a variety of prizes to the winners, like three matched 6-cell packs and body decals (for electric A Final winners) and nitro receiver packs from Team Orion as well as the famous "Blue Is Better" T-shirts from LRP.

So the final score was Germany - 4, Britain - 1, Greece - 1. A very respectable result for the Germans, and great wins for Britain and Greece as well. Unfortunately for the other countries the competition was just tough enough to keep them out of the running for any wins, but everyone still came away friends and happy with the weekend overall.

Sunday night finished with most of the competitors driving home (especially the Germans, who knew what would happen on a 14-hour bus trip!). Many of the UK and all the USA racers stayed over and had one last dinner at a nice restaurant, compliments of Mr. Watanabe. Apparently it's the custom for everyone to get up and make a speech of some sort at the end of an event like this, and it all started with young Dominic thanking HPI, Patrick, and the HPI Europe team for hosting and organizing the race series. Eventually everyone was coaxed onto the chair to say a few words before the first groups had to leave to go home. A very fun end to a great weekend, although the VIP tour was still to come!


Dries takes food orders one last time	Dominic "takes the chair"	The racers basically took over this restaurant