So I finally did an outdoor race again! Last time was two years ago in 2016, and I had not actually run the TRF or any ISTC car outdoors since then. This was therefore also my first run with the TRF419XR outdoors.

I only made the final decision to go a couple of days before. Luckily I made the effort to go there (Kouvola – 450km away), luckily the weather was great, and luckily I even had the chance to get a few runs on the Friday before the race on Saturday.

The first runs were awful, showing the lack of asphalt track time, but also a lot of pollen making track conditions tricky. But it got better with each run, and on raceday the conditions were decent enough for a good race. I was plesantly surprised by how well it went after such a long break. I qualified 7th, and finished 8th, after one good and two bad finals.

Obviously I tried a few things and did some changes, but the base setup I run was very close to where I ended up with the 419X back in 2016. As it has always done, indoors and out, the 419X(R) worked really well and was easy to drive fairly consistently, despite the obvious lack of running.

Of the new bodies, I settled on the Bittydesign JP8 for the race, as I felt it was fast but also easy to drive consistently.

Now I’m really looking forward to do more testing!