oOple race report

Team Durango race report

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Chris Doughty took the TQ in 2WD with his Team Durango DEX210. TQ doesn't really mean much here at the Players, since the racing is in the REEDY format and it's only important to get into the top 24 during qualifying to ensure you're racing in the seperate 'Elite' category - but its still good to TQ for bragging rights.

Chris is using his DEX210 in mid motor, 4 gear configuration with all LRP electrics including a 6.5 wind motor. Chris's car is pretty much standard apart from the gear differential.

Chris's LRP lipo's are from the 2008 EBOR 24h race - and still going strong.

INTERVIEW with Chris Doughty:

Congratulations on TQ'ing the 2WD Chris - how?!
Old tyres! (Thanks Skelding). To be honest I was expecting to come here and get into the top-25 and race to see how I could do. I didn't expect this.

How long has it been since you raced a big electric meeting?
It would be the last electric national meeting I did - at the end of 2007. I've only done a couple of club races along with the York EBOR 24h meetings since then.

With this car, the Team Durango DEX210 - I tested the first production prototype at Coventry and have done two mid-week club meetings prior to this.

What secret test bits have you got on the car - what if any setup tips can you give?
My car is standard - I think the setup is actually as-per-manual (Check the online verison for the pistons - the manual in the kit has an error here - that's my fault, sorry guys!).

Other than the bling blue washers (Cadburys purple????) my car is standard apart from I'm using the new Team Durango gear differential - which should be out worldwide very soon.

Chris's pit table	LRP 6.5 turn motor powers Chris's MM4 layout car

Did you try the ball diff or start with the geared diff - and what were the reasons?
When I tested the ball differential I found it squared up too much - with the geared diff it felt like it stayed in the corner as I got on the power. Initially it was harder to drive so I went to a thicker oil and am now running 7,000 cst.

Chris's car is all about the LRP action - I asked Jurgen for an LRP drive last year and he laughed, and walked off, I'm not sure if that was a yes?Jimmy.

Did you try the car in rear motor or arrive and drive with mid? Do you think rear motor will be as quick around here since the floor isn't high traction?
I think the rear motor car would have been safer to drive and you could probably have pushed harder but I didn't want to spend too much time worrying about finding a setup for both and choosing between them. I'm honestly a little out of electric off road - having not raced much for a long time and I'm not fully up to speed - so I wanted to keep things simple at this meeting to concentrate on driving and setup.

Will you be racing any other big electric meetings this year - nationals perhaps?
Nationals will be unlikely as I can't commit to the full series and my main focus is the 8th scale national series and development. I'll hopefully be attending the oOple race though!

You work at Team Durango now - what's your role there and have you helped develop the DEX210?
I'm project co-ordinator at TD, so I basically make sure the projects flow right through from design to prototype and all the way into production with many things to think about on the way.

With the DEX210 I didn't have any input into the geometry as that was all done with the testing from Gerd, Hupo, Yawn, Adam and the rest of the guys. But I did have input into some of the design features and the way the geometry came into the production car.

CD goes for it

The fourth running of the Worksop ‘Players’ race took place this past weekend at the hugely popular Worksop indoor venue. The race uses a very similar format to the famous ‘Reedy’ race – where every heat is a race in itself and there are no finals.
The top 24 drivers in 2WD and 4WD would qualify into a seperate ‘Elite’ class – where they would only battle against each other for the titles.
In timed practice on the first day of racing, Chris Doughty put in the fastest lap out of all the drivers and was the second quickest on overall time. Three rounds of qualifying would use the fastest three consecutive laps to determine those who’d go onto the elite class and race against the best – so the drivers had three runs to put in their three laps.

In Chris’s own words:
For the first of the 3 rounds of qualifying I changed to a newer set of tires. I found I was lacking a bit of general pace and found myself getting caught up in other peoples mistakes. It was a similar story for the second round – always managing to find a crashed car to get stuck under on my 3^rd consecutive fastest lap. I eventually got 3 reasonable laps in, and this put me 7^th overall.

For the final round of qually, I thought I was pretty safe inside the top 24 to get me through to the elite class, so I put on my old tires from practise and my car just came alive again. Instantly I was much faster – starting near the back on the stagger start I could see I was catching everyone. Half way through the race it was announced I had gone fastest counting my 3 consecutive laps - I continued this pace until the end of the run and set the fastest 5 minute run of qualifying along with the best 3 consecutive laps to sit at the front of the Elite class qualifiers.

For the head-to-head races it was all about getting a good start, I had a few good starts, I also had quite a few starts where I ended up in the wall.

When the starts were good and my tires were working I was able to convert them into wins, but some bad tire ‘set’ selections in some races and some bad starts meant that I didn’t capitalise on races where it could have been a good win.

I found myself sitting in 5^th position going into the last 2WD race, I needed to win the race and set a faster time that the current 3^rd place guy.

I had my tire selection right for the last race, instantly on the warm-up lap the car felt completely switched on. I lined up for the start – front row this time and I was able to get the holeshot and put in 2 fast out laps. I made a careless mistake at the end of the straight, luckily it went back onto its wheels and I only lost one position. I fought back up to the lead and didn’t look back – putting in some fast laps all the way to the end of the race. I took the win, and in a time that was quick enough to take 3rd overall. If it hadn’t been for the silly mistake near the start, I could have taken the fastest time of the meeting – as it was, I wasn’t far off.

Summary:
I went to the 2012 Players intending to enjoy a bit of 10^th scale 2WD as a break from racing 8^th Nitro outdoors in the cold and wet winter. I found myself fastest after qualifying and on a pace that was fast enough to race for the win. Even after a couple of bad races where I was hampered with poor tire selection and bad starts, and still having to count a 4^th in my overall scores of 1^st, 1^st, 1^st, 2^nd, 2^nd and 4^th - I was still able to finish 3^rd overall.

What’s more impressive is that Chris’s car is virtually box-stock – with kit springs. The only change from standard is the new DEX210 gear differential that Chris used all weekend – ending up with 7,000 cst oil.

In the 2WD open class – Paul Crawford took his DEX210 to an impressive victory – racking up a perfect score with 6 race wins running his DEX210.