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Michael Salven reports ENS round 2 Rupchen NL (28/05/2019)

By:: Reporter-2
Linked to:: Viper 988 1/8 GP

Just being back home from the Dutch ENS race, I want to let you know a bit about this race.
The track is not big but super fast. An average speed of 73km/h says a lot.
Our team including the Bologna winner Dominic Greiner struggled initially. We just couldn't find the steering and rotation to go fast. We tried a LOT of stuff. Besides doing the obvious like more caster, we tried all sorts of anti-roll bars but it didn't really solve the problem.

My car did really improve when I removed the shims between the upper and lower part of the steering blocks and used less Ackerman (long servosaver). I also removed the inserts on the bumper altogether which on this track seemed to work better.
My first qualifier was ok but in my second one my rear brake pulley came loose and I lost rear wheel drive. The third one was bad because the driver had a brain failure.
So the 4th one I had to do a save run which I did. Unfortunately it made me end up in the C main while I felt that pace wise the B should be no problem.

Anyway. The C main was quite easy at the end. I had 1 less fuelstop than the other drivers and a very good pace too. Only the last 3 minutes the front outside tire was almost gone completely.
For the B final I could have decided to change the outside tires or try to make the life for the front outside tire easier. I used a stiffer rear anti-roll bar and raised the front ride height.
I had a good start and moved up to third quickly. With my pit stop strategy I took over the lead around the 10 minute mark and later went to 2nd when Dominic passed me.
Then about 2 minutes from the end I had Steven Cuypers on my tail. He had changed tires and had a lot more pace now. I tried to keep him behind me but at the end I did not manage that and came home 3rd.Missing the A main by that little was painfully but I was happy with my pace. You might know that they say that kids make you slow....I don't think so...

At the end Dominic went on to finish second even with one flame out due to running out of fuel. Super job again from Dominic and Thomas. Congratulations to the winner Simon Kurzbuch.

See you guys soon
Michael Salven
Team Serpent