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SERPENT TAKES NORDIC WIN (05/07/2006)

By:: Laurant

Report by Frank Andersen

The Nordic championship for 1:10 Track 200mm was organized in Oslo 1. and 2. of July 2006 at the Hvervenbukta track host of the 1:8 euros in 2003. 35 drivers enjoyed very good weather with temperatures around 25 degrees which proved for good traction and a lot of good racing.

Qualification on Saturday was mainly a task of getting it right in the first round in the morning. During the day temperature raised and traction / engines performed lower so only a few drivers managed to improve their times from the morning. Maybe it’s about time to discuss a points-by-round qualification scheme to make things more interesting? However, a total of 5 rounds meant you could test various setups on the car and try to find a good balance.

I ended up with a setup something like: Front - Gear diff 60’ oil, 1 degree toe-out, 2.5 degrees camber, 4mm caster, upper roll center position, 37shore tires with shocks 35 oil and 3 holes. Rear - Gear diff 40’ oil, 3 degrees toe-in, 3.5 degrees camber, middle lower roll center and inner upper roll center, 37 shore tires with shocks 35 oil and 3 holes. Engine was Mega ZX12 Race with EFRA 2602 pipe. Although I didn’t manage to put in the really fast lap times like the previous afternoon, my car was very consistent and could easily do at least 5 mins 30 secs. After qualification the top 4 drivers were

1.   Martin Christensen - Mugen (Denmark)
2.   Roland Ström - Kyosho (Sweden)
3.   Helge Johannessen -710 (Norway)
4.   Frank Andersen - 710 (Norway)

In the semi finals we had drivers like Georg Ellingsen (Norway), Morten Bremsrud (Norway), Per-Ola Hård (Sweden) and Mickael Brandt (Sweden). All set for exiting competition the next day.

On Sunday the semi finals saw all favorites advance to the main final except the ever charging Georg Ellingsen who experienced problems with his car. Tire wear was not that bad in the qualification but as always most drivers expected tire wear to be marginal after 45 minutes of running. The track is no longer as smooth as it was so ride height over the bumps with small tires would be critical towards the end of the final.

In the start, Martin took the lead following Roland and myself. Prior to first pit stops I managed to overtake Roland who didn’t seem to carry the same pace he had in qualification the previous day. Then Martin ran out of fuel losing a couple of laps before regaining the race. This resulted in me getting a small lead and being able to run my pace and conserve my tires as much as possible without losing ground. The only real fight I had was with Morten Bremsrud around the 10 minute mark with some really close racing. Morten tried to drive on the inside in one turn and hit the curb losing some time and later got problems with the exhaust seal ending his chances. After that it was basically a question of keeping the distance to Roland and conserving tires to the end without making any mistakes. I was so happy making the checkquered flag as leader after 171 laps. Roland was 3 laps down with Martin a further 3 laps behind. Here are the results from the final:

1.   Frank Andersen, 171 laps
2.   Roland Ström, 168 laps
3.   Martin Christensen, 165 laps
4.   Per-Ola Hård, 163 laps
5.   Mickael Brandt, 160 laps
6.   Markus Paskarbeit, 157 laps
7.   Morten Bremsrud, 155 laps
8.   Helge Johannessen, 103 laps
9.   Micael Ek/Petersson, 96 laps
10.   Marting N.O. Hansen, 19 laps

I was extremely pleased with my driving in the final, not a single curb or spin resulted in consistent lap times throughout the final and could allow for a larger margin of error. All in all a very nice event and hopefully the retirement of my 710 as I await the arrival of the 720.

Cya soon,

Frank Andersen

Frank Andersen (centre) won the 1/10th 200mm Nordic Championship

The Hvervenbukta track