> News

My Winternats 2006 (23/02/2006)

By:: Rene Cornella

The 30th annual Winternats

The 30th annual Winternats in Ft. Myers took place from 12 to 18 February.
We (Michael, Richard, Steven, Franky, Stef, Jack and myself) arrived in Ft. Myers on Saturday evening.

Sunday

Completely prepared for the race, we went to the track on Sunday morning.
Through the night it rained a little. The track was still wet when we arrived. The track was nice prepared and new painted. I could not wait to start practicing.
After registration and saying hello to a couple of people, the track was dry.
In no time the track was full of cars. Sure that the traction was not so good, but it was perfect to run in some engines, what I did.
I think, I did not tell that it was way to cold for Florida (felt more like a warm winter day back home).
So first day was over, before I recognized it.

Monday

Second day was still free practice, but now it was split in 1/10 and 1/8 scale groups, witch was very good. It still was cold in the morning, but the nice shining sun started to heat up.
Our cars performed well. Especially Paolo’s and Scotty’s 710 where flying.
My car was very good too, but I had more problems with the track than with the car,… .

Tuesday

Tuesday qualifying starts and I had a good feeling about our performance.
And yes, Paolo, Scotty and Richard went very well.
After the first day, for me and some other guy’s it was like: Ft. Myers 2 : Driver 0

Rest of qualyfying

On Wednesday it was the same picture. I got a run, but I was not fast, just to be sure to finish it and have standing a time.
Last qualifying day: Tosolini used the morning run, improved his time and got the third spot. Kandelhart (first time driving with the 710) set a good time in the last run.
For me it was : Ft. Myers 5 : Rene 1 point.
My save run was just fast enough to get me the 11th spot in the finale. I got lucky, but I did not have a good feeling about that.
Serpent performed very well. We got 5 car’s direct into the A-Main.
With Paolo on Pole and Scotty on second place.

Still hope

The Friday was the day for the lower but also very interesting Finales. For me and other drivers this is the day to prepare the car for the finale. And ok, have time for your self.
After the lower Mains we got some time to practice and the possibility to try out some setups for the Main.
My car performed well. (Maybe I still have a chance to finish on the podium,… .)

Sunday and the Finales

From the B-Main DJ made the way into the A-Main. Serpent had 6 of the 12 cars in the A-Main.
Because of my bad qualifying result, I was the second last person to choose the place on the driverstand. Normally I drove on the right side, but now I was forced to stand complete on the left side.
In the warmup I tried to get used to that. I had a very good car, so it was not too bad at al.

After the start (I had a good start) I could gain the 6 position very fast. Than my first little driving mistake. I felt back to the 9th position. So I started to push. In one corner I just was too late with slowing down the car, so the rear end slides away and my car traction rolled. The result was a broken rear shock tower (witch I never had since we have the stiffer version). My final was over. But my car was soooo good. So we (my Pit crew Michael and Barry) and I decided to repair the car and go out again.
In the mean time Paolo was leading the race, but Scotty was not far behind. The both had already more than a lap on the 3rd placed car.
Back on the track my car still performed very well. Later on I broke again (my fault).
We repaired it again, but now the car was not as good any more. So I broke it again. After that I choose to stop. Paolo still in front, followed by Scotty. Than the timekeeping announced that Scotty’s Transponder stopped working. His Pit crew changed the battery, but he already lost a lot of laps on Paolo. He came back on 4th position and ended up on 3rd place. Paolo took the victory. A few laps down Tosolini get the second spot. Kandelhart finished on a strong 4th position. Again 3 Serpent’s in the top 4.

Great job Paolo, Scotty and Kandi !!!!!

A big “THANKS” to the organisation for the great even.

I also want to say thanks to my Pit Crew (Michael and Barry) they had a lot of work with my car :).
I really had a good time over there.

Thanks to my Sponsors: Serpent MRC, Serpent USA, Maxy’s Fuel (great stuff) and JACO (best tyres ever).

See you
Rene

The track

My car

Paolos Sedan

Kandi's Car

Scotty in action

That's the man !!