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FRANCE GP 1/8 (28/03/2006)

By:: Mark Green
Linked to:: Serpent 960 1/8 scale 4WD, Serpent 960 07 1/8 scale 4WD, Serpent 960 08 1/8 scale 4WD, Serpent 966 1/8 scale 4WD EVO, Serpent 966 -TE 1/8 scale 4WD, Serpent 966 -TE v2 1/8 scale 4WD

GP TRACK B.M.V.R.C.

I arrive at the track with my pitman on thursday.There was already some people going around the track.

The track was tight with a fullthrottle righthand corner onto the straight,with a hair pin at the end which was very hard to stop the car at.The grip was low but ok to do some testing with the 960.

My car was very easy to drive so made learning the track easy.The main handling i was looking for was more steering.I changed my set up to Michael's set up which had the highest rear roll centre,this gave a lot more steering but the rear was more loose so as grip was low i put on 3.5 toe in,now the car was really good.We left the car like this and headed for the hotel.

Friday had a lot more drivers testing.The grip was much better and i was able to take off some of the rear toe in.The car was still good so i tested the new DSII mega,this Engine is a lot different to the old one.We had very good bottom end and good top speed but even better we could do 5mins with fuel left over.

Qualifying

There was 6 rounds of qualifying.The weather remained dry with some sunshine so the track got better with grip but the racing line was very narrow,after 6 rounds Michael Salven was TQ with the new DSII engine just missing 20 laps,He showed everyone how it's done.I was able to get 4th.

Final

The warm up did not right as my personal transponder was not working so we had to change it.The car was feeling really good and the engine sounded great.

The start was good with no crashes from the drivers,after some laps i was 2nd behind Michael,who seem to have a lack off grip,Michael then let me pass.I was able then to pull away and drive hard to make a gap,the tyre wear was high so most people had a tyre change,mine was at 25mins,i came in and the engine cut,the plug had broken,my pitman quickly changed and i was back on track,
I don't know what postion i was so i drive as hard as i could,but the engine with the new plug was rich so the gear change was late making the car a little hard to drive.but the end result was 2nd.The meeting was run very smooth with no problems by the club B.M.V.R.C.

I would like to thank my pitman Matt Baker and Michael Salven,Franky Noens for there help.

Serpent,Sanwa,Mega,grp,runner time,Elite RC,Stacey bodys,

Next race is UK 200mm Mendip.

Mark Green

Hair pin at end of straight

Full throttle right hand corner

Paint by Alan Stacey