JConcepts @ Efra Euros In Austria

After a day of flying and with a new plane from Boston to Amsterdam. I was finally on a plane that had a ton of entertainment at each seat. With thirty movies. I watched the remake of Footloose. Being old enough to have seen the original, not much has changed. But of course, I will pick Julianna Hough over Lori Singer any day. Transformers 3 was next, followed up with the classic Office Space. Still funny no matter how many times I see it. Yep, three films, no sleep. Not good.

Welcome to the sights of a typical European village. As I cruise around Austria, heading to the town of Fehring for the 2012 Euros. Small towns filled with narrow streets, shops and restaurants right on top of the road and no parking. Many of these buildings are probably older than America.

Here at the 2012 Euros, in Fehring Austria, the facility is amazing. Full concrete drivers stand, marble floor, with a platform. Two monitors in the stand, three in pit lane. More in the pits. A full on cantina for food, and in Europe, of course beer on tap. The main pit building is all stained wood, tables, lighting, outlets, concrete floor.

I like coming to the races in Europe. They are so much more structured than the US version. When you arrive, the heats are already setup, with a time table and a schedule of the days events. Really, the weeks events. Of course you will be switching heat race number after the timed practice. Practice day was two rounds of open practice, in heats. One ten minute in the morning and a fifteen minute session in the afternoon. The next day will be two five minute timed sessions, using your best three laps to determine your heat. All ran like clock work. With strict in and out of pit lane, warmup area and tech.

While the facility is top notch, the track is European. Not much prep on the dirt sections, the layout is fast and flowing and considerably less jumps than in the US And they love their multi surface. Dirt, brick pavers, a rubber corner, steel mesh bridge and carpet jumps. Traction was fair in the morning session, with the later rounds having a lot less dust in the main groove. The fast times so far are in the 36 seconds range, on the 14 corner course. Standing in the drivers stand, the track looks deeper than wide. And even though the stand is off to the side from center, it doesn’t seem too bad moving from one end to the other.

It is kind of funny, the track music is all American. I guess you could call it pop. Actually, the station in the rent a ride is the same. But dinner last night was definitely not American. Sitting outside at a sidewalk cafe, in downtown Fehring, eating a traditional Austrian pasta meal, with some of Europes fastest RC drivers.

By JConcepts