22.02.2012 Category: Site news
Tim Bervoets met up with Ronald Völker at the Nurnberg Toy Fair early February and spoke with him about his successful streak of VRC Pro racing end of 2011.
TB: Ronald, good to see you again here at the LRP booth at the Toy Fair. About the 2011 VRC Pro Worlds at Eppelheim, that was a stunning performance in these 3 finals, all runs 23 laps! Congratulations winning the Masters title (didn't expect anything else from you...)
You have been very involved in VRC Pro the last few weeks, how did it feel after VRC v3? Can you describe a bit how close you think we have come with VRC Pro, especially with the 1;10 ISTC?
RV: first of all,the tracks are amazing. for example the eppelheim tracks looks more than real, everything got perfectly detailed 1:1. the cars feel similar to what we are used to have in real, its still about some details and of course, the difficult challenge to bring everything on screen..
And additionally the spec class showed how popular vrc pro became with more than 400 entries in its worlds event.
TB: do you remember back in December in 2004 when we launched VRC v1, you were there as one of the first, racing in the German Tamiya Cup I believe it was. Didn't you qualify for the tamiya finals in Japan?
RV: I used to run Tamiya Cup for a long time and qualified for Japan in 2003 and 2005, I remember before it launched for its first time many racers were excited to see the opportunity to race rc cars in a serious game with serious cars and tracks.
TB: So you went twice to Japan? When did you start racing 1:10 ISTC and was that also with Tamiya? When did you get your first 'factory' contract?
RV: I started 1:10 ISTC Modified back in 2003 with a tamiya car beeing still a rookie in the touring car class, but finished with some A main results in 2004 & 2005. The big step came with a factory contract by LRP beginning of 2006, where I ran a Hot Bodies and got into the 2006 ISTC Worlds Final in Collegno.
TB: Collegno, remeber that race, I was there to take photos and measurements of the track and ended up being the race announcer. Collegno is one of your favorite tracks, also in VRC Pro you once told me. You have raced a few more in VRC Pro now, is it still your favorite and why?
RV: it was a special moment beeing more competitve than I expected and my biggest success at that event, that I obviously love the track. Both directions were great to race and in VRC pro and real, even I wasnt there since the Worlds, it´s one of my all time favorite tracks.
TB: You have played with setup quite a bit in the past few weeks and it showed with how your results improved. Did the setup changes make sense to you? You also worked with Frank a lot on the 1:10 nitro chassis.
You think they are realistic enough for a lot of racers to learn to set up their real cars too?
RV: there are tons of options to optimize the car step by step, so not different than in real. I tried some things I would try in real and was seriously surprised that it improved most of the time like shock positions or downstop.
off record:
Frank gave me some setups and I didnt tried anything just diameter of tires and front spool. So I would not really say we worked together as he did everything ;)
TB: You have also been involved a lot with development testing of the 1:12 chassis and especially the tires and motors the past few weeks. Were you surprise to see how sensitive small changes are to the ‘feel’ of the car?
RV: it is interesting to see the developement of 1:12 trying to make it as close as possible to a real one, I think the released spec 1:12 got really really well. its a big challenge to get those sensitive cars working fast in real,so its about the same in VRC, but the good thing is you cant break the car here ;)
TB: Of course sim racing is different from real racing where you have all the other racers around you, have to prepare your car, charge batteries. The track side atmosphere is missing, a chat here and there. VRC Pro is more or less just driving. But just for the driving experience, does it get the adrenaline pumping for you just like real? Same kind of stress of being on the edge all the time?
RV: i definately get a similar feeling during a run,getting more nervous when you need to push to improve a tenth here and there. So it´s for sure a good practice in concentration! Luckily Im sitting with my feet upright in front of the notebook and my radio on the leg, so I didnt got physically stressed. ;)
TB: Seeing you race in VRC Pro is like watching a real race, just awesome to watch. You’re one of the very best racers in the world. Would you recommend VRC Pro to all racers? Would even top racers benefit from VRC Pro? Or do you think it is just great fun to be able to race anyone anytime, also people you maybe race with just a few times per year? Do you think VRC Pro is good enough to entertain even the best racers in the world (I know you were having fun….)
RV: with the option of multiplayer sessions, that was a big step forward having even more fun. time trial and racing against the clock is nice, but racing against each other is even better. I enjoy VRC Pro and it would be nice to see some more top racers to run VRC.
TB: In VRC Pro track side atmosphere is created with chat and race talk forums on the social network site VRC World. All the race results are posted there automatically and you’re able to analyze and compare results. Did you use these features a lot?
Did you get a feeling the past few weeks that you were involved in a real r/c racing community? Is there anything missing in this community that you would like to see added?
TB: You have done a lot of VRC Pro sim racing in the past few weeks, the 1:10 nitro and 1:10 ITSC Worlds, plus the 2011 Masters mp sessions for these classes. Did you enjoy these events and the Masters mp sessions? Any special preparations for it?
RV: its a great feature to see all the details in laps and time and I definately like it.
the network is growing and growing, you have a lot of possibilites to talk and share informations with each other.
for me it was a perfect timing having those events between mid of december,holidays and new year. I enjoyed all those events and will join some of the monthly events from time to time during the year.
TB: We have released the Haarlem track which will be used for the 2012 IFMAR Worlds for 1:12. What do you think of this track? Have you driven at the Heemstede track yet which has the new chicane on the back straight which will be used for the IFMAR Worlds in July?
RV: the Haarlem track is great, I hope the Worlds will be held in a similar way of style, it would be a great event.
I drove some laps with the new chicane, I still never showed up in Heemstede in real but from what I feel it is a lot better than having no chicane as this track is stil very very fast for electric cars.
TB: Lots of success this year especially at the Worlds here. The Heemstede track is just 400m away from where our office! So if there is time you're invited for a drink! Look forward meeting you then. In the meantime we stay in touch. Do drop in once and a while in Test to see what's going on and maybe you have time to test a few things once an a while. Your feedback means a lot to us!
RV: thank you very much, will let you know when I will be in Heemstede for testing.
TB: what's your favorite class now in VRC Pro and why?
RV: I still prefer 1:10 electric both modified (and spec for its close racing) as it is my favorite in real too.
RV: still not happy with my mp runs today, didnt got it together in all 3 runs ;)
TB: the semi final was just 1 second off your Worlds winning time, not bad for an mp session... The second main final would have been faster than your Worlds time if it was not for that 16.4 lap... It's on video, will post these videos tomorrow, all 3 main finals.
Comments
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(Total posts: 1)
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Giovanni F. D
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It's difficult to post a comment with all this speach... But VRC presence in TOY FAIR with a top driver as example of success for the younger ( and parents who buy toys ) presenting a "serious simulator" is a nice thing for the future, my question is
" must we have to wait an another generation to see the sim turn into a realy funny game called VRC-TOY for all the family and all ages ? "
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