You got to love being involved in the international RC-racing scene!
A race in Gran Canaria! When the date and location was announced my first thought was „expensive“. That was probably the reason why only slightly more than 100 drivers made the trip to the island next to Africa.
We (Chris Grainger, Chris Ashton and me) decided to go early and do some pre-event testing as we had never used the new CXL on tarmac before.
Flying from 3 different Airports made logistics quite interesting. I mixed up german and local time (I thought we’d arrive at 17.25 which was correct, but it was 16.25 in local and UK time) but everything was fine in the end.
On Monday ( arrival day, so pretty much wasted) we went from the Airport to the track watching Völker and Hagberg go round a very green track. It looked very slidy which made us change our minds about doing a practice run on monday
I did not know where our hotel was until we arrived there but I was happily surprised that it was a Golf Bungalow kind of resort we where staying at. It was located in Maspalomas, probably about .. 2-3 km away from the very famous Playa del Ingles (tourist capital of the island basically). It’s the southern most city of the island and the weather is very nice there.
Having said this, we not did a single touristy thing during the whole trip. Might seem weird but we where there to race and not on holiday so practice was on schedule.
This for me meant alarm clock at 7.30 ? bathroom ? breakfast ? leave
Tuesday morning, walking past the pools (yes plural! There where 2 of them!), we thought the weather was quite nice with it being comfortably warm at around 16° already in the morning and not the slightest breeze. A 40 minute drive later we arrived at the northern part of the island where the track was located (Telde). You could see the sea from the rostrum it was this close!
Unfortunately the weather was a lot different to the weather in Maspalomas. There was constant wind (I reckon because of the Atlantic being there and the nearby mountain) and temperatures where about 10° lower than in Maspalomas. Time for Sweatshirt and Jacket then.
The track was still very green on Tuesday even though there where more drivers than I had expected them to be there. Track conditions got better … very slowly. Leaving the racing line meant stones, dirt and no grip. A day to learn the track then.
Chris Grainger backflipped going down the straightaway in his very first attempt (I cannot call it the very first lap because he only made it to the end of the straight That was the point when he decided that a UK setup on the speedo was just too fast for european style tracks.
It has to be said at this point that UK tracks are quite different to what you get to race on at ETS races. The straights are longer / wider and the tracks are generally rather high-speed. I got to learn that when I did a UK national in Aldershot last summer. I ended up running a 3.5T with 8° of Highspeedtiming. That was when I found out that departure speed at the Aldershot straight is just above 120 km/h The topspeeds at the ETS where in the 102-106 km/h area so still reasonable speed I’d say.
Having completed a day’s racing at the track we went back to Maspalomas and did a Lidl big shop Lidl seems to put quite a lot of money into their marketing campaign in GC with signs of them present nearly everywhere! Finding a Lidl then if more complicated than you might think! But we ended up finding one. The prices there where surprisingly cheap! None of us paid more than 13€ I think for 3-4 days worth of food! ? very good
Maspalomas seems to be full of amusement parks with various casinos and restaurants as well. We found some random Italian and just had dinner there. It was quite good and super fast service. Prices again where very reasonable.
Wednesday was the second practice day. Get up at 7.30 .. well you know the routine. I guess during the day, there where about 30 – 40 drivers present already. Track conditions got better. Our cars where working pretty good already so we tested stuff we wanted to. Chris took my laptimes with a stopwatch app on his cellphone and was surprised that my laptimes where not far of his, even though I did slow-stock Testing addatives, rebound vs. no rebound, springs, swaybars, shims here and there the day passed quickly.
Back at the hotel we decided to have chinese food at another resort nearby ours. It was delicious! I had noodles “singapore style” with pork, beef and shrimps all together. I was not sure about seafood but I did not get sick so it was alright I guess Again very cheap (dinner + drinks about 9€ each!)
Time to rebuild the cars again. With all the stones and dirt at the track I had to change belts nearly every day! Bearing got dirty pretty quickly so I took the whole car apart, rebuilt the drivetrain and put it all back together. Again this was my evening routine as soon as we got back to our bungalow I did it every day ? it is quite relaxing as well
Thursday (Day 4 already! Time passed quickly), get up at 7.30 …
The track was full of people now! You had to queue to get a proper spot on the rostrum and with all the mod and slow-stock cars on the track a proper practice run was nearly impossible.
During the day we found out that Chris’s stopwatch actually was not right The first 2 laps where about fine but then the stopwatch got slower, resulting in quicker laptimes towards the end of the run laptimes would be about 2 seconds quicker than they actually where!!!! Quite disappointing I have to say
This meant that some of the tests done on Wednesday had to be repeated. But only those of whom I thought where a 50:50 decision in feeling. This way I could not test everything I wanted because we ran out of time. We practiced until it got dark and the flood lights got turned on.
The late ending of the day meant dinner at McD. Not nice but food at least food. Back at the hotel ? rebuild time again.
Friday, get up at 6.15! because we had to be at the track by 8.00 with the practice runs starting at 9.
the practice runs where alright. I did some final addative and tire treatment tests as I was fairly happy with the way the car worked but you could already see that it would be a tough competition.
Controlled practice ended at around 16.30 so it was finally time to have a dip in the Hotel pool! We could not have gone to GC without having taken a swim once! With the day almost at an end and the sun almost set, it was quite chilly but still a very welcome refreshment. After a shower (unfortunately not hot because we ran out of hot water ? FAIL) we went to the hotel restaurant. The food we ordered a la card was quite nice and a nice change in the menu, which so far contained sandwiches, McD, Chinese and Italian Not exactly healthy.
The day ended as every other day in GC ? rebuild time
Saturday ? Qualifying
A very mixed affair with a lot of bad luck for me which cost me 2 possible (and quite secure up to the certain moments) TQ runs. This meant I tied on points with another driver but with him having done his TQ run in cold conditions on new tires, he had TQ and I started from 2nd on the grid.
Chris Grainger had a very good tire strategy and therefore was able to make the mod A-main starting 9th on the grid. Mr. Ashton was even more unlucky than I was, traction rolling twice in the sweeper coming onto the straightaway even though we don’t know why up until now.
Successful day for Schumacher then with 2 cars in 2 A-mains. Both of them using the same setup
Dinner at the Hotel again. This time it was to be the dinner buffet. Very nice aswell even though I got my various courses quite a bit mixed up having soup after desert
Quick car rebuild and then a good nights sleep to be ready for sundays finals.
Sunday ? Finals
After a practice final in the morning A1 was to be on schedule. The start went ok and I was chasing the pole-man. But some poor opening laps where my driving let me down meant that I lost a bit of time. I was able to battle my way back throughout the run almost being in striking distance in the last lap. But not quite, so I finished 2nd in A1.
In A2 (on used tires now) I tried to make a move in the second lap. I was on the inside and most people thought it was a hard but fair move. I was told to let the leader by again which I did. Unfortunately I got hit during this process which meant my bodyshell was tucked in at the rearend even though I ran body stiffeners! ETS races are quite hard…
I was way at the back of the pack but managed to fight my way back into 3rd place. The race was decided though which meant I could not win anymore …
So I had to make sure to become second at least.
Starting from pole in A3, I managed to stay in the lead quite easily just cruising around the track trying not to make any mistakes. Ivan Laptev and Tony Streit both showed to very fast in pace but my lead was big enough to ensure a victory. Ivan finished 2nd which meant he would take the final step on the rostrum.
Chris finished 7th in the A-Main which is very respectable! It was a bit poor, that A3 Modified only started with 7 cars on the grid with Eric Dankel being at the Airport, Christopher Krapp having decided not to participate after he had won already and Ronald Völker not doing any finals due to a contractual reason (more info @ ets.redrc.net).
Still a very nice result for Schumacher. Maximum Success!
The price giving ceremony was quite nice with champagne (well not really but close ) to be sprayed. I’m sure the 2 Chrises hated me on the way back as, not expecting champaign, I had not brought any spare clothing.
Getting to the hotel proofed to be quite a challenge as with it being the carnival week in Maspalomas and Saturday being the day the biggest party of this week took place at Playa del Ingles, the whole area was locked by police and we could not get to our hotel which was located in the locked area. It took us almost 1 ½ hours to get to the hotel then!
After arrival I went straight into the pool ? getting rid of that smell
We went to a different hotel afterwards which was the one the Price family was staying at. They booked an all-inclusive holiday which was the reason why they did not do any track testing monday – wednesday but rather chilled at the pool. We where able to have all inclusive dinner even though we where not having wrist bands! It’s all about being good in pretending.
We sat at the pool bar until it closed at 11 PM chatting and having a very nice time! Great laughs as well! At this point I have to say thank you to the Price family as they got us drinks!
Back at our bungalow we repacked our suitcases and hand luggages for mondays flight back.
Departure day:
Get up at 7.30. Leave at 9. Far too early for my flight but Chris Ashton’s flight back to Birmingham was scheduled to take off at 12.25 so we had to leave this early as the rental car had to be given back. After Chris left us, the other Chris and me had breakfast discussing the test results of this very nice week. A few hours later it was time for Chris G. to check in and I was to sit around and wait on my own then. My flight was to take of at 17.25! Again you see 3 different airports causes trouble.
After a very long wait and some nice shopping (not got the headphones I wanted but got some nice other stuff) it was finally boarding time. I happily paid an extra charge of 20€ to be seated at an emergency exit which meant that I had enough legroom at least. Best decision of the day. My Luggage went straight through weight control even though it was 1.5kg overweight. Another RC driver was 10kg overweight and he had to pay quite a lot of money for it so I guess I was lucky. Or my requested emergency seat made the check-in lady forget about my luggage excessing the weight limit
In fact I am still having very nice leg room as I am writing this report on my notebook somewhere above france I guess. It’s already dark so it’s hard to say where we are right now. That’s probably the reason why this must be the longest report I have ever written. Arrival is scheduled to be in about an hour so still got plenty of time left listening to music and doing some “paperwork”
So what is the conclusion of the weekend then:
the CXL is great on tarmac and definitely an improvement over last years car
they promised: good grip, nice weather, shorts and t-shirt … well not quite
Ride tires vary quite a bit with Chris Grainger having a set of final tires which just did not work at all
not having done anything touristy is probably to be considered a bit dumb when you race in Gran Canaria but then again, it was not a holiday but a race that had to be taken seriously
Carnival in Gran Canaria is a hugantic party! And you couldn’t even imagine some of the costumes! Having only seen it form the car I can only imagine the amount of people
the boot of a ford focus is bigger than you’d expect it to be
if you go to Gran Canaria, stay in the south!
With GC being a part of spain they finish the track while you practice!
they don’t do carparks! The sump guard of the poor rental Focus knows best!
emergency exits rock!
I love RC racing!
Enough to read now, let’s do some pictures.
See you at the track!
Peace out.
Martin.
