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Date: 1.7.2012
Race: DM – round 3
Track: Regnbuebanen – Glostrup Denmark
Condition: Tarmac – Mixed – 22°C – Low grip
Class: Modified
Result: 2^nd (A – 2)


Up to the race
After finishing the indoor season end of April with the ETS in Poznan, I was busy with my study at University. I had some important exams. I got my new S411 TE, and it was built by my father, who is my mechanic. I also got new electronics, as I have switched from GM to Hobbywing V3 ESC and Thunderpower motors. Due to the exam I wasn’t able to race the first two Danish Nats, but the 3^rd race was held in Glostrup, and it would be my outdoor season opener. I had done some practice outdoor in Odense on a large track with a similar layout to the one in Heemstede, where the WC will be raced end of July, and which I will attend.

Practice at the race
The track in Glostrup is known by many foreign drivers as the EC was held here back in 2005. It is a lovely track for 1:10 cars with a nice layout. In the DASU Nats we have to drive 7 minute races, and we have to use Solaris Hard pre-glued tires. We are allowed to use 6 tires for qualification and finals, and we can change each tire whenever we want to. I knew, the Solaris tires were bad for modified, but it turned out to be worse than thought. Saturday I started the practice with one round on Sorex 36. It was ok. Then I switched to brand new Solaris. After the first round I had to change my setup, as I had problem with almost no rear traction. During the rest of the day, I did many setup changes. Some of them didn’t work at all, others were ok. In the evening after 12 batteries I had an ok setup – or better, I had a setup, where I could drive the car. Other drivers had huge problems too finding a drivable setup.

Qualification
The weather forecast for Sunday was rain until noon, but it turned out to be a really sunny Sunday without any rain. The track temperature was higher as on the day before. In the morning the setup still worked fine on the old used tires from Saturday. We were only three drivers in modified, so the starting order for the finals wasn’t too important. The first qualification round on new tires was ok. I was trying to save the tires by handling them soft. I ended up second about 5 seconds behind the leader. In the second round I drove harder, still I ended up as second but now just 0,1 second behind. The car was in the end of the heat bad to drive. From now on the car was almost impossible to drive. I tried everything. Setup changes, tire changes, tire preparation – nothing helped. The other two drivers had the same problem. Their cars were also almost impossible. The cars were different from one round to the next even if we didn’t change anything. Then it’s not easy. The superstock cars drove ok on the tires, but they don’t have the power and speed like the modified cars. The superstock cars were in the end only half a second per lap slower than modified.

Finals
The finals were difficult to drive. No grip braking – no grip steering – no grip acceleration. Like driving on ice. The grip changed during the heats, but the competitors felt it the same, so we were all in the same boat. I ended up as second. It is the best to tell from the race.

After the race
I only have one thing to say about the race: wrong choice of control tires. The superstock drivers don’t like the tires too, even if they didn’t have same huge problem.

The race was the last before the WC. I had hoped, that I could use some of the practice time Saturday practicing something for the WC, but due to the problems with the Solaris tires, I used all the practice time for this race. I’ve now made agreements with other drivers, going practicing for the WC. Now I’m hoping for good weather forecast for the next two or three weekends.

Serpent

My new Serpent S411 TE is a nice car on tarmac – only not on Solaris in hot conditions. I’ve driven many batteries with Sorex 36. I never had a car with better steering and handling outdoor. No problems driving faster than 100 km/h and brake into a 120 degr. corner.

Last weekend – the weather was again rainy in Denmark – I drove to my local indoor track, as I wanted to test the ESC setup for superstock. I didn’t change the car at all – just used the setup from the huge tarmac track on our small indoor carpet track – only changed to used indoor tires Sorex 28. The car was brilliant – easy to drive and handle.. The first two batteries I used for setup changes on the ESC and checked motor temperature twice during the heats. In Denmark we drive 17,5 T boosted in the superstock class. On the fourth battery on the old used tires I made a new track record for 17,5 T boosted – by 2 seconds.

If my outdoor season seems to be spoiled due to the bad control tires, I can look forward to the coming indoor season, as I now have seen what the car can do on carpet. I hardly can’t wait.

Best regards
Rasmus Tobias Callesen