Kyosho Masters (France)
- Ryan Lutz
- Jun 3
- 5 min read
Since the start of my Professional R/C career running for Kyosho in 2006 I have dreamed of attending a Kyosho Masters event. An event that is for Kyosho cars only and this year I finally got that opportunity to attend. Held at RC94 in Sucy-en-Brie, France, this has become a very unique track over the years. From what i've heard, they layout is nearly the same as it has always been but the surface has evolved over the decades and now is nearly entirely multi man made surfaces including astro, rubber mats, cobblestone, wood planks and more. In general most of the surfaces provided pretty high traction for our R/C cars with the slickest being the plastic with holes in it that allowed the 'weeds' to grow up in it which provided just a uniqe fun experience. The track also had great racing inspried red/white curbing and yielded a fun experience once the set-up was dialed in.
The event this year saw around 200 entires in the Nitro buggy and Ebuggy classes and was a sell out event. All 5 of Kyosho's top pro drivers were able to be in attendance and we were all treated to a first in Kyosho history, the release of the next generation buggy, the MP11 which we got to check out for the first time. Did I mention the amount of tracktime yet? Three rounds of open practice followed up by six, 6 minute qualifiers. Then four, 10 minute Ebuggy mains (for all the mains) and for nitro a 20 minute semi and 45 minute A-final! I found myself working hard each day in all the time between rounds to make changes and get as dialed in as I could on this track. In the end I think my set-up ended up pretty similar to what I ran in the Philippines (except the shocks) and I do wish I would have started with that set-up. But it was a journey to get there because we had both grip, but also some bumpy sections to contend with which required a more absorbent shock set-up than the PM25 event.
Throughout much of practice and into qualifying I was primarily going up in diff oils and trying different combinations. Many saying they were running pretty heavy front and center and a rear about half as much. But I found the most success and ease of driving for myself with a more square set-up with the same oil front and rear and a slighter lighter center. 50-60(3 gear)-50 was what I ended with so most similar to 50-40-50 if using 10/20s all 4 gears. Shock wise there was lots of variability with springs. I ran the black for a while but found they were a bit too bouncy in the bumpy uphill astro on the back of the track. I then was trying the 70/81 Blues but again found at least the rear to be too bouncy but I liked the support of the 70 blue up front for the high grip cobblestone corners. So started to go lighter on the rear and ended with the 81 Purple on the rear. Piston wise I settled with a pretty basic 1.2x6 front and 1.3x6 rear. 8 hole for me was a little too bouncy as well as the tapered (SP) pistons.
The other necessity was taping down the foams and gluing the sidewalls of the tires to try to help avert traction rolling. Clay was the compound of choice for this multi surface track and there was plenty of traction all around. Much of the considerations on set-up were also lowering the roll centers and finding the right swaybar balance. Many of the locals ran very high rear bars, but Phi and I just couldn't get comfortable with that and stayed more basic in the 2.4-2.5 range.
Qualifying was a bit of a struggle making a few too many mistakes and having some tough nitro runs especially. My ebuggy was pretty fast though and I was able to run closer to the front on a number of runs but generall it was mistakes that would keep me from being closer to the top. I would qualify 4th overall in ebuggy and 12th in nitro buggy and I knew I still had work to do come the mains. I did have a positive though as In Q6 of ebuggy I captured this onboard footage of this beautiful track!
Sunday morning brought so much wrenching as I felt I was getting closer to comfort. My ebuggy mains on the day ended with disappointment though while I was having too much fun and pushing too hard through the tight chicanes and it ended up biting me giving me two dnfs out of the 4 mains and thus an overall finish of 7th. Nitro buggy though I got figured out better and would have a good semi-final run finishing 2nd in my semi and allowing me to start 3rd in the A main. For that main I thrashed to do a quick rebuild of the clutch and a couple last minute changes and my car was the best it had been all week. I felt racy and had a good start but got into Ricardo as he was crashing and I got the worst of it and ended upside down and fell back to 7th or so. I fought back up to 3rd though and was just having a great time as it was so much fun pushing so hard and threading the needle through the chicanes on the back and front sections. I had great pace and would throw down the second fastest hotlap of the race. My achiles though was a couple too many mistakes with traction rolling when I pushed too hard and it had me in 5th but with about 5 minutes to go I was right behind Savoya and Phi and it looked like a 3 way battle could ensue. But I couldn't stay clean and lost touch and settled for 5th, but what I load of fun I had driving in that main.
Overall it's just a bucket list event for anyone who appreciates their Kyosho cars and wants to attend a fun event that is laid back and friendly yet competitive and challenging at the same time. It was a great celebration for the 25th anniversary of the event and I am so greatful to Kyosho FDL Europe and Kyosho Japan for the hospitality and assistance in attending this event. I'm so glad to have been a part of it.
Set-up notes:
Rubber bump stop washers for front shocks (approximately 2 shock orings or one of these: https://www.lutzrc.com/product-page/rubber-spacer-o-ring-shim-3-37mm
Shimmed up Ackerman plate about 4mm (not easy, have to install nut upside down to be sure it captures the nylon.) At least 3mm is doable without much worry and will help lessen the amount of bump out to have smoother corner exit.
Temperatures were in the 70-80*F range and grip was high and there were bumpy sections.
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