For this weekend (Mibo race, Rd3) on Friday (free practice day) I started with my base XRS setup see below, except rear diff with 5k oil.
I knew what I wanted to test for Mibo, since the black carpet will provide the same challenges as before. I was conscious not to repeat the pattern that Friday would be good, but Saturday (high grip) the car would not improve and feel 'stuck' in the corner....the only thing in past changed from Friday to Saturday was to switch to new tires (2x4 minutes break in practice)
Things I was sure to test:
- Go with normal springs (3.0 all around)
- Insert suspension spacer under the front blocks (0.5-0.5)
I also wanted to race on used tires (I thought this could have been a problem for Saturday) so I planned to use on Saturday a tire with 8x5 minutes race included, which probably was not a perfect idea :)
Friday – free practice
1-2 free practice went ok with base setup, I was learning the layout and the track timing suggested there is a chance \i could make it into the top 10 out of 42 drivers. However I knew I need to change and my car settings as the grip will come up very soon.
When the track became more sticky I changed springs to 3.0 which worked well :). Next round I added 0.5mm spacer under front suspension mounts, this made an even bigger impact :). The TRF felt amazing and it looked like I had found what I was missing.
I played a bit with ackermann by adding 0.5 shims (didn't work) tested 6k oil on Friday but that didn't work (it didn't work since 6k diff was softer for some reason than 5k oil J - realised just later.) Finally I did run a 4 minute on the planned set of (used) racing tires not to have a surprise on Saturday. The car was ok.
Saturday – Qualifing
Saturday morning I decided to prepare a set of dampers with 550 oil and 8k diff oil but using 1.4g oil instead of 1.5g. Q1 went well, and the car was easy to drive, quite a bit of gap from top guys, but it was the best setup so far.
For Q2 I took the risk and changed to the 550 dampers, and swapped out the rear diff to 8k and boooom, there car was there. Just 2-3 second from the TOP guys after 5 minutes. Impossible I thought, but it was possible. I left the car unchanged for the remaining Q3 and 2 finals. Finally I qualified on A5, which is a risky position...
Finals
A-Main 1
I got hit on my back and rolled in first lap which cost me a lot of time and I essentially started the race from P10....I did push hard, and the car was amazing! Finally In last lap I performed 2 passes and finally ended in P6. I had mixed feelings as the car was excellent, but it was a great recovery drive.
A-Main 2
I made a small driving mistake and I was not able to pass the guys (7th) and the tires started to wear out... Hmm maybe old tires are not the best idea :)
A-Main 3
Since the grip was really high, I decided to add all the screws under the bulkheads (no other change).
I knew I needed to be 4th to be 5th overall (which was the target after Q2!). Everything went smoothly, and I made my way to third quicky and had a 2-3 second gap to the guy behind. I decided to drive in safe mode. Suddenly at the end of the straight my car span under breaking for some reason (It never did before) and gap was reduced to 0.5sec, which I managed to hold onto until the last lap when an attempted overtake from the guy behind, collided with the back of the shell and my body tucked under! Unfortunately the marshals didn't notice it so I lost 3rd position and ended with a DNF. All screws btw didn't work (despite it works with carbon chassis)
Overall
I am very happy with the car but a bit disappointed since my final standings could have been better. I also have in my mind what else I will test in first race of 2018 to attack for the podium (Xrays and Awesomatix are dominating at the moment). Would be good to see a bit more flex alloy chassis similar what orange guys using. Hopefully XR version will soon get a revised alloy chassis to try, although I think there is even more speed to tap from the current chassis.
Whether it is the best setup? Hopefully not and I will find again a „best setup” for black carpet with high grip. Definitely a huge step improvement for me.
Cheers
Marton Toth, Budapest - Hungary
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