Race Report
Driver : Patricio "Pato" Concha
Event : 2008 Southamerican Championship - Caracas/Venezuela - "La Lagunita" Track
Event Schedule : 1 free practice day, 1 controlled practice day and 2 race days (1 x qualifying + 1 x mains)
Format : 100% IFMAR Tree format
Result : 21th General position, from 50 drivers from 5 countries, went out finishing 4th place on the 1/4th finals (just 3 make the bump up)
Car : CEN Matrix FRE
Engine : GO Tech - 7 Ports .21
Pipe : GO Tech FEMCA 0801
Tyres : VP PRO - 802 Soft
Air Filter and Clutch Bearings : Power Save Racing (Germany)
Clutch : M2C Racing 4 Shoe model - 1.0 x 4 springs + Regular Medium Shoes
Body : Parma Xciter
Fuel : Maxy's Fuel 25%
Car Setup :
Diffs : 5k - 5k - 1k (ofna)
Transmission : 43/10 - 44 - 43/10
Clutch Bell : 16T
Shock Oil : 45wt / 35wt (associated)
Shock Springs : Mugen Grey front and rear
Front Upper Arms : Dismissed, replaced by direct links to the shock tower
Ackerman : Mid Hole
Shock Towers : Stock CF front and rear
Front Toe : Out 1º
Rear Toe : 3T/1S aluminum piece
Camber : 2º Front - 3,5º Rear
Wheelbase : 6mm inserts on the front of the rear hubs
Rear Links : Out on the hubs, lower inner hole on the shock tower
Front Shock Angle : Out on the arms, inner and up on the shock tower
Rear Shock Angle : Out on the arms, inner and up on the shock tower
Comments :
CAR (CEN Matrix FRE) : Just very happy with it, it was a 3 1/2 days process to "know" the car (first time ever touching dirt was on that race), felt guilty for not having the time to know the car before the race. The initial setup was 180º different from the final setup, wich i liked very very well (posted up on this text). My offroad experience prior to get the CEN car was almost 3 years of MT (Tamiya TNX and Losi ones) and Jammin FTE Buggy, and i must say that im very surprised by the performance of the CEN buggy, the setups are very different of what i used on the jammin, but its a very stable and fast with a high rotation capability and great jumping, waaay more agressive than my jammin and very good on the feeling of every change you do on the setup. Thanks CEN USA for giving me the chance of raceing for you, hope to give better results during this 2008 season.
Engine (GO Engines .21 7 ports) : Just amazing. One of the fastest on the straight even with the 7mm restrictor, great kick for technical sections and 8 minutes and 45 seconds of run time. Not a single flameout during the whole event, not a single sign of hesitation or anything, just due to a pitman mistake, my 1/4th finals started a little rich and he tried to solve that during pit entries. The pipe combination was very very good and it seemed that the clutch setup was perfect for what i needed from this engine. A lot of people were interested on see my engine and in fact a very well know southamerican modder ended asking me permission and opening my engine for see what was inside
, he was very pleased with what he saw and gave me a "congrats" about it.
Tyres (VP PRO 802 - Soft) : Very very good choice. I tried the adviced tyres for the track (Panther Gator Soft and Proline CF M3) but when i fitted the VP PRO 802-Soft the car was on rails and with a very good wear rate. I hope you guys in USA and other countries have the chance to test them out, keep an eye on the new 804 tyre in soft and medium compounds !!.
Clutch (M2C 4 Shoe) : I selected the regular mediums for this race, with 1.0 springs x 4. Excellent choice, great response and very very low wear rate, in fact i dissasembled the whole clutch setup just for checking it and its almost new after more than 5 hours of use.
Air Filter and Clutch Bearings (Power Save Racing) : Great products as usual, the track had a little dusty condition and a lot of drivers had clutch bearing problems, i used the Power Save Racing ones and i just changed them once just for precaution but they are almost new without problems. Filters as usual worked flawlesly, best air filters i ever used.
Here you have couple videos a friend took of my CEN on the track during 1/4th finals. Maaaaaaaan that stop and go i received on the start made me crazy now im watching it, any opinion about it ?, well applied ?, i lost the chance to go for semifinals by 2 seconds, and the stop and go was 10 seconds so do the math
:
First Part :
http://www.revver.com/video/838562/2...-fre-01-of-02/
Second Part :
http://www.revver.com/video/839160/2...-fre-02-of-02/
Soon i will be publishing more videos of the race with shots from the finals and all ...
Thanks to all my sponsors, this is my first big event of 2008 season, hope to make it better for all you next time !!!
cya !!
Pato Concha
CEN Racing
Maxy's Fuel
Power Save Racing
VP Pro Tyres
GO Engines
Upgrade RC
M2C Racing
Pits Hobby Shop Colombia
[email protected]