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Date: 3.2.2013
Race: DRCMU 4
Track: Djurs RC – Grenaa
Condition: Carpet – fast – 20 degr. C – medium/high grip
Class: Modified
Result: 4.

Up to the race

I was very happy with my result at the DHI Cup, and now I want to attack in the DRCMU series. At the first two races both times I ended outside the podium on the unloved fourth place. At least I wanted to climb the podium in Djurs, and my weapon for it would be the new S411 2,0 Eryx. The car arrived in the afternoon Friday. Saturday morning I would travel to the race. My mechanic had a job to do Friday evening: to built my new car. Late – about 1 o’clock it was built and looked great on the table.

Practice at the race

Well arrived at the track in Grenaa the last setup was doing on the car. The track is a high speed track. Although the track is almost 600 m2, it has only seven corners and the best lap times in modified are less than 10 seconds. The first roll out was quite good. The car rotated well in the few corners and was stable on the high speed parts. The next couple of batteries I tried different setups and the car got better. I also tried different tire additive, and in the evening I was really happy with the performance. My fastest lap time was a 9,7 seconds driven on used tires. Then I had a strange accident. I drove a little hard on a plastic curb. The car was immediately difficult and wobbling to drive. As I checked the car I found the fault: the spring support at one of the rear dampers were missing. I searched for it, but it was nowhere to find. I had no spares, and spring supports from other brands didn’t fit. I ended up using the rear shock tower and two dampers from my old TE. I tried a last battery with the new configuration, and the car felt ok.

Qualification

The qualifying started with two rounds of practice with the best three consecutive laps to be counted for seeding for the qualifying. In the first round I used old tires and I made a second place behind Steen Graversen. My fastest lap time was 9,834 seconds. I the next round I ran the new control tires for the race. I could not improve my time – neither could the other drives. In the first round of qualifying I got heavy traction roll. I didn’t know why. I drove as usual, did tire preparation as usual. I ended up as sixth. I could not test anymore, so I glued the side wall of the front tires to avoid the traction roll. I also did several small setup changes within the next batteries. It helped a lot but I had still several times high traction and drove on two wheels. The next two qualification rounds I both ended up as fourth and I had to start as fourth in the finals.

Finales

The finals were all the same: I had a good start, I could for most of the laps follow the cars in front of me, but occasionally I had those high grip parts with driving on two wheels. I was never really pushed from behind, but on the other hand I was not able to put any pressure on the three in front of me. I could not do the same lap times as in the practice the day before and in the morning sessions. Tire problem? I have not checked the tires back to back to another set, but I will do later. Sad, but once again – for the third time in a row – I ended up as fourth outside the podium.

After the race

I was disappointing after the first two races in the DRCMU series, but I am more disappointed after the race in Djurs. I got the new amazing Eryx, but I could not do an improvement above the other three drivers in front of me. I will test setup with the new Eryx, when I get the spare spring support. A strange accident: to lose a spring support while racing. In ten years of racing rc cars I have never lost one before. OK – one must be the first time. J

Serpent

The built of the Eryx was superb. My father and I were so happy about to see all the small improvements everywhere in the car. Fx. the lower overall weight; the split in the cvd axle, which now has a flat spot; the new lighter gear differential; the servo mount but also the mount of the shock towers with countersunk screws. Every part fitted right on spot. No complaints.

The loss of the spring support was not fun, but the car felt ok using the rear shock tower and dampers from my old TE. I can’t use the loss as an excuse for the result.

I want to thank Serpent and especially Ronald and Jirka for the sponsoring and Marc and David for the development of the S411 series.

See you all at the racing tracks.

Best regards
Rasmus Tobias Callesen