Had a great report from John Spencer who had a cracking day at the HNMC Panther Proline wars series...
Only his second time out with the car (or rallycross in general!) and in the 3rd round ended up 6th overall against some very very good competition. Looking at his lap times he seems very consistent with it and is certainly settling in well.
Driver: John Spencer Car: Caster ZX1.5 R Engine: Caster MK II
Race: Pro Line/Panther Wars Rnd 4 - Ware, Hertfordshire UK
This was only my second meeting with the Caster ZX1.5 R, the first was at Frankley for the Answer RC Challenge. I am a newby to 1/8th rallycross having spent most of my R/C days in 1/10th.
The track at Ware is 99% Dirt with one or two jumps covered in astro turf.
On arrival i was quite suprised with how good the track looked, especially for this time of the year!!! There was a couple of icy patches on the track which later thawed and made the track very sticky off line.
My reasons for entering this event was to try the car on another surface and to gain track time, with drivers like Boots, Jackson, Chung, Craddock in attendance the competition was high.
Having never raced here before i had no idea on tyres or setup, i decided to try the Panther Komodo Dragon 2's as my rubber (Crimefighters were the correct choice). For setup, i decided to leave the car as per Mark Redmond setting.
Rnd 1:
I was placed in heat 2 which was the first heat of buggies, the track was very slick due to some icy patches but the car was handling very well. The power from the Caster MK II was more than enough and at times was diving down the inside of fellow participants!! Having run the car for a good 4 mins of practice before the start the car was well bed in and already i felt i could attack areas of the track. Straight from the go i was leading, on lap 3 disaster struck....... a new glow plug change at the beginning of the day + not done up properly = Came loose!!
Looking at the average from my times i was looking at a good top 12 score, this gave me more confidence as i now knew what the car was capable of.
Rnd 2:
A few ride height changes due to the track starting to cut up after rnd 1. I managed to put in quicker lap times but made far too many errors... the changes made the car very hard to attack the track as the increased ride height was slapping the car down through the bumpy sections. So after managing to finish the run i ended up 32nd in the round.
Rnd 3:
Last chance to gain those vital positions. I removed some of the spacers from the rear shock to lower the ride height, this was the only change as the car was still feeling pretty good overall. The track was very rutted in areas and was going to be a good test for car and driver.
>From the start i was able to drive the car fast, clean and comfortable, certain areas of the track had to be taken with caution as they were more like full blown ruts. I knew i had put in a half decent time as the run was pretty clean, especially considering the track conditions!! A good 8 laps with 10 sec split, this put me 6th for Rnd 3 in amongst the top drivers. It also put me 10th in the B main.
Final:
20 mins of racing on a by now totally blown out dirt track, it was going to be very difficult. I started pretty well and was running middle of the pack by the first pit stop, i was in a good position as the lead pack were only just ahead and i was edging closer to them. I managed to put myself in the mix just before the 2nd pit stop and entered the pit lane running 5th but only 4 seconds off the leader. The last 6 mins though were to be a real test as my left rear shock worked loose leaking all the shock fluid. This resulted in a car that could flip 2 feet in the air on any one of the ruts around the track, as time went on i fell further back and was not gonna be able to match the leaders. This was a shame as i felt the car deserved a place in the A main along side many National A drivers!! In the end i finished around 18th overall, which for a car pretty much out the box, wrong tyres and my first time at the track i felt was a good result.
I would like to thank Pete from Answer RC for the oppurtunity to be part of the Answer/Caster race team, Jimbo my pitman, The Raceplace and Tooley's RC toys for support. Really looking forward to my first year running 1/8th with the Answer-RC/Caster team.