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Australia: Serpent 1 and 2 (08/06/2010)

By:: Reporter
Linked to:: Serpent 733-EVO 1/10 scale 4wd, Serpent 733-TE 1/10 scale 4wd

2010 WA IC Onroad State Titles

After a 2 hour Drive south, early Saturday morning, I arrived at the track in Bunbury
In Western Australia. The weekend was looking like it would be cold, and chance of rain.
We had a 15 min practice in the morning and a chance to see what grip the track had.
After making a change to the rear diff oil, it was too thick , and the car was ok but could be better. I ran the thicker oil for most of the day, as I thaught the grip would come up mid after noon. This was the time the track could be at its best, and I set a new Qualifying record , previous from last year with the 720, an improvement of 3 seconds was made.

I then concentrated on the 966, and I also layed down a time that was good enough for TQ.

Saturday night, the change to lighter diff oil for the 733 was made, as the chance of rain increased, and overnight due, may have taken some grip from the track.
It was a late night, and very entertaining, as I was staying with a fellow racer who I had built a 733 for during the week prior. So all the cars were ready for the next days racing and finals.

A 15 min practice session, and I was testing out tires for the final. The car was great. Tire wear was as I expected, as I had staggered a combo for the 30 min final. With the 966 I concentrated on getting the clutch right, and just tried some different clutch settings prepping for the final.

After Qualies were finished, it was the 733 and 966 on TQ, and also 720 in 3rd, and 2 more 733’s in 4th and 5th. 8th scale, 2nd was 960 and 4th was another 960.

The start of the tourer final was clean , and I jumped out to a 2 second lead from the first few corners, and built up a lead as the race went on. The car was really consistant from start to finish, and I had a big lead at the end of the race. The race for 2nd was on, and a flame out prevented a serpent 1-2 result. Final placings, were 733 (Patto), Nt1, 720 (Rob Leete), then the 733’s of Les Ralston, and Rowen Delahunty.

To gear up for the 8th final, the warm up was incident free, and things felt good.
Got a great start, and went on for 2 laps, and when positions were called , the computer wasn’t picking up my transponder. So I came in to the pits, and looked at it. There was a broken wire, so I rushed back and soldered it up, and went back out. I lost 10 mins of the race, and 34 laps down. Knowing I had plenty of tires for 20 mins , I drove at times too hard. After 42 laps, I started making positions, at the 58th lap, I gained 2nd place, and finished up 18 laps down on 1st place, Ken Isbister with the serpent 960.

It was a disappointment to have the transponder problem, but to come back and make 2nd, I was very happy , and that the serpent was 1-2.
Id like to congratulate all the drivers for a great event, the guys and Girls that ran the event, was just a great atmosphere to be racing.

A big thanks goes out to Ken Isbister for the great pit work for the tourer final, and Mike Mule for the 8th scale. Walter RC, for their support in the last four months with the Serpent products, and the Xceed tires. Also thanks goes to Serpent for 2 really great cars in the 733 and 966.

A pic of the Serpent drivers, from left to right, start at bottom.
Patto (733-966) Rob Leete (960-720) Rowen Delahunty (733) Ken Isbister (960)

Patto
Team Serpent Australia