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First Belgian national â€˜06 (28/04/2006)

By:: Nick Cuypers

Dear racefriends,

Last weekend the first Belgian championship was held at the track of Houthalen racing team. Our season started nearly two months later then last year whitch gave us more hope for a good weatherforecast. The track is very technical and surrounded by wooden barrels whitch makes it very dangerous , your first mistake is often also your last one.That’s why it’s important to make the car very easy to drive , if you have to fight with it, you probably won’t make it for 30 minutes.

Saturday’s practise

We started practise around 12 o’clock. It took a few hours before the track was in good condition,after my first laps the car was very dirty.
I started practise with a locked one-way, I knew from last year that it would work.
35° in front en rear shocks,3holes and red springs and a normal set-up.

In the beginning the car was a bit loose in the rear and needed more steering.I raised front roll-center and narrowed the car whitch was a big improvement . Now there were a lot drivers on the track so traction became better.After braking a driveshaft adaptor , and 2 more past weeks, I decided to go for the front diff.The car was easier to drive now and after hardening the diff a bit more it went better then before.Meanwhile Michel Tomagra(710),Raphael ,Bert(710) and other drivers were doing fast laptimes.Around 7 o’clock we took another engine, in whitch I had more confidence, new exhaust,tyres and body and went for a last run.I was satisfied with car and engine, handling was very good.

Sunday’s race,

After cleaning and preparing the car untill 4 o’clock in the morning with Steve Lambrechts , we woke up at eight and it was going to be a sunny day.Already drivers were doing their laps, trying to get some last improvements on their car.
37 drivers were present,15 T1 and 22 T2 , a good start of the season.
Before 3 rounds of qualification we get five minutes of timed practise.
I started in first position with Steve (710/mega) on my tail , who stayed there the whole time .It was going to be a close call for pole position. Also Maarten Kempeneers,Bert Aerts and Jochen Lenaerts were going fast.Competition didn’t lose any excitement of last year
Because of the high tyre wear we decided to use 42° tyres in the final.I also tried this in qualification, the car felt the same and wear was less. There was enough traction now so I hardened the rear roll-bar and closed one more hole in the rear shocks to get the car a bit more responsive.
In the last heat I was half a second in front of Steve who was 4 sec. ahead of Maarten.Jochen completed the top 4 qualifiers.

Raphael Robert was the fastest in the first semi-final , followed by Luc Deweerd and Stephane Roufosse.In the second semi Bert Aerts took the lead and brought it home,Tomagra and Jerome Renaux completed the A-final.

Final

I started the final a bit to slow and lost 3 spots before the first turn.After a few close battles I was back in the lead with Steve on my tail and Maarten pushing hard. After 3 minutes Jerome Renaux was out of the race, don’t know what happened.Steve had some problems with his engine and was out of the race for about 10 minutes but came back in and completed the 30 minutes.
Meanwhile I was slowly pulling away from Maarten , who was still closely followed by Bert , Raphael and Jochen.After 24 minutes my engine flamed out, started again and flamed out a second time.after the race we saw the clutch was broken.I managed to keep 2nd spot ,only 2 sec. ahead of Bert. Maarten won the race with almost a lap ahead of me.

Final ranking

1.Maarten Kempeneers (3) 106L 30.01 Kyosho
2.Nick Cuypers (1) 106L 30.15 Serpent
3.Bert Aerts (5) 105L 30.01 Serpent
4.Jochen Lenaerts(4) 105L 30.10 Mugen
5.Raphael Robert(6) 105L 30.14 Hobao
6.Michel Tomagra (7) 99L 30.07 Serpent
7.Stephane Rouffose(10) 98L 30.07 Serpent
8.Luc Deweerd (9) 84L 29.45 Hobao
9.Steve Lambrechts(2) 55L 30.09 Serpent
10.Jerome Renaux 9L 2.37 Kyosho

I was very pleased with both car and engine this weekend .Together with the Gammalube fuel and Ellegi tyres it’s a good combination for the remaining of the season.
With the new rear diff and new shocks , serpent has made a big improvement on their 710.
I think it’s going to be an interesting year with good results , especially the euro’s.

I woul’d like to thank the HRT members for the organisation of this race, also thanks to serpent motorsport and Gammelube , last but not least by brother Steven for the assistance during the weekend.
Hope to see you all, and even more, at the beautifull track of M.C.C.Kockelscheuer in Luxemburg.

Greetz
Nick

hrt track

my mega powered 710

start of the final