2008 World Championships - Part 2 of 3
The second installment from Dave Duggan's 1/8th World Championship race diary and the competition is just hotting up.
Wednesday 17th
Qualifying started today in wet conditions similar to that of the practice sessions. What seemed a touch unfair was that the guys who went out yesterday and actually attempted a run were seeded in the early heats and were to inherit the worst of the conditions! Both Neil and Graham were affected badly, with Neil in heat 1 and Graham in heat 2. Neither driver completed the first round as the conditions were severe in the least, in fact only 2 cars from the first 3 heats in total completed a 10 minute run. The best that could be said was that it wasn?t actually raining and the forecast was good from here on in. Naturally as the round progressed the track got faster and faster and the times came down.
The Farm II was still a swamp.
It was Associated driver Ryan Cavalieri who set the fastest time driving a great 10 minutes to keep his RC8 away from the worst of the mud. Of the British contingent it was Simon Willetts who fared best, driving fantastic and securing 9th overall in the first round.
Round 2 and the heats were once again run in the 1-15 order and Neil opted to run the ?mud? car again with the skinny tyres and sky high ride height. This proved to be a mistake as the conditions had improved enough that the cars were not picking up as much mud and as a result the ?normal? set up cars were able to run quicker with standard width tyres. Neil tried hard and was able to run consistently if not fast. Kyosho driver Cody king proved that the normal set up was the way to go with a great time that would see him finish in the top 10 of round 2.
Neil's and his skinny tyres.
The track now drying up considerably and went through fazes of being fast, faster, slick and slower and coming back a bit at the end of the round. The difference between the start and end of a round is huge because of the time involved, a round takes over 5 hours to complete, so the track being a living thing is changing constantly.
As it was it was the heats from 5-10 who had the best of it in round 2, as it was still a little tacky and therefore grippy. The later heats found it had cleaned up more and became a little slick which showed up in the fact that most of the cars were suffering with understeer. Notable blow outs today with two really bad runs were Ryan Maifield, Adam Drake and Jared Tebo. All these guys didn?t get anything of any note on the board and so will be relying on the last 4 rounds to secure their qualifying positions.
The overall list after 2 rounds doesn?t really mean anything, as the one posted only took into account the best single rounds score. With the weather forecast being good for the rest of the week, hopefully the qualifying will sort itself out over the next few days and we will see the ?fastest? guys at the top.
Neil's catches some air.
Tomorrows rounds will begin with heat 6 so with any luck Graham and Neil will be in the best position to take advantage of an improving track. On the technical side, their really hasn?t been too much discussed on the set up front other than how to make your car last the distance, so maybe tomorrow we will get into the things that make them go quicker.
Thursday 19th
The weather was as promised and we looked set to have a good days racing. Again what time you were out on track would have quite a bearing on what times you were able to achieve. The very first heat on in the morning actually had a fast track as the surface was still a little tacky from the overnight dew, and had Jon Hazelwood not made some errors he would have been able to post a very good time.
As the round unfolded the track was getting quicker and quicker as the rubber was laid down and the blue groove started to appear. In heat 3 we had a fantastic race with Josh Wheeler, Ryan Lutz and Ryan Maifield all challenging to take the TQ for the round and it was Wheeler who managed to sneak in front of the other 2 on the last lap. Josh looked in good shape to hang on to it until the last heat, number 5 when Mike Truhe put together another great effort to nose past these 3 guys.
Of our guys, Graham had a steady round as he has nothing to fall back on and will need all 4 of his remaining rounds to count, so a controlled drive that saw him about 50th was a reasonable return. He will stiffen the set up of his car for round 4 to improve the jumping and also help as the traction comes up. Neil?s bad luck seems destined to continue as he was on for what would have been a top 15 time when after a hard landing on the triple jump his motor stopped, the most likely cause something touching the flywheel.
Round 4 and the pace only got faster, again it was Mike Truhe who pulled an amazing drive out of the bag to take the round. His effort all the more impressive as his first 2 laps both had crashes which cost a total of 5-6 seconds, this man is in the groove.
Ryan Cavalieri, Ryan Maifield and Richard Saxton all put their RC8 cars in the round top 6 as the track starts to come toward the set up. After a re-tune to try and Improve some bottom end ounch, Neil once again was on for a top 15 time at worst until a slower driver got hold of him and cost him 12 seconds in 1 lap. Neil kept his composure knowing that needs all rounds to count and maintained a good pace until the end to secure a top 30 round score.
Graham found the changes to his car a great improvement for his driving style, as he had adopted Jeremy Kortz?s setting until this point which although very fast for him were not so suited to Graham. Graham once again drove within himself to get in to the top 45 of the round, and made great use of his amazing fuel mileage which allows him to run the 10 minute qualifying sessions without a fuels stop. Both drivers will need to have 2 good rounds tomorrow to try and ensure that they don?t slip into the lower finals and give themselves a really tough job to reach the semi?s.
Friday 20th
The track was now in good condition and once the first few heats were out of the way it provided pretty consistent grip for everybody throughout the rounds. For round 5 Neil had Rody Roem of RB come and do re-tune on the motor to offer a little less power, as he felt he was trying to hang on to it a little in the rounds yesterday. Once again though Neil suffered a tough run and despite his best efforts in the latter part of the run he couldn?t quite force into 13 lap pace.
The track was now in much better condition.
Neil?s has been really unfortunate with his heat, as he seems to have found not only the worst track conditions, but also some worst driving to be seen here at the race. Whenever someone is near him they spear into him or he gets caught up in their accidents.
On an organisational note, there are no listings posted for the results of each round so actually finding out where you were in a given round is not the easiest challenge. Another complaint is that because of the constant commentary no refereeing can really take place as the drivers can?t hear what the referee calls out. Is this an example of American show over substance as we see in full size motorsport?
Graham once again drove another steady un-eventful race to bag another 50th or so in a round having made no major changes to the car. It was once again Mike Truhe who took the round and in doing so put himself in a very strong position for the overall TQ.
For the 6th and final round of qualifying the track was now really baked and blue grooved. The traction was immense in places and Team Associated driver Ryan Cavalieri used this to the full to take the round and the fastest time of the meeting. He actually had to work for it as he chose M3 compound tyres and these were giving too much traction in places meaning the car was very twitchy. M2 would have been a better choice for these conditions.
An interesting thing was that Team Associated ?Coach? had been taking sector times out on the track for the top drivers and found 2 areas that Ryan was losing out to Truhe. They showed him where and what to do, and he just applied that information and went faster. The ability of Ryan to just apply the knowledge and make it work was very impressive indeed.
Ryan Maifield had the new Reedy engine with machined head.
Graham drove a fantastic race in round 6 and also managed to knock 3 seconds off his fastest lap times in the process. He actually looked to now have some confidence in the track and his car, he went on to post 18th overall in this the most competitive round of the meeting and in doing so ensured that he would make it in to the 1/8th round of finals and not have to race on Saturday.
Neil once again fell victim to other peoples accidents and did his best to produce a top 35 time at the end of the round. As it was this was not enough to get him directly in to the 1/8ths and he will line up on pole for the 1/16th on Saturday evening. Neil?s bad luck didn?t end there though, his final seems to be the graveyard of all the fast guys who suffered in qualifying. In with him are Ty Tessman, Jesse Roberts and Andrew Smolnik to name a few.
Overall TQ for the meeting went to Mike Truhe after Josh Wheeler failed to take TQ in round 6. There has been some brilliant driving so far. The finals are looking like they will be fiercely contested.
Catch the remainder of Dave's race diary here tomorrow.
The Farm II was still a swamp.
It was Associated driver Ryan Cavalieri who set the fastest time driving a great 10 minutes to keep his RC8 away from the worst of the mud. Of the British contingent it was Simon Willetts who fared best, driving fantastic and securing 9th overall in the first round.
Round 2 and the heats were once again run in the 1-15 order and Neil opted to run the ?mud? car again with the skinny tyres and sky high ride height. This proved to be a mistake as the conditions had improved enough that the cars were not picking up as much mud and as a result the ?normal? set up cars were able to run quicker with standard width tyres. Neil tried hard and was able to run consistently if not fast. Kyosho driver Cody king proved that the normal set up was the way to go with a great time that would see him finish in the top 10 of round 2.
Neil's and his skinny tyres.
The track now drying up considerably and went through fazes of being fast, faster, slick and slower and coming back a bit at the end of the round. The difference between the start and end of a round is huge because of the time involved, a round takes over 5 hours to complete, so the track being a living thing is changing constantly.
As it was it was the heats from 5-10 who had the best of it in round 2, as it was still a little tacky and therefore grippy. The later heats found it had cleaned up more and became a little slick which showed up in the fact that most of the cars were suffering with understeer. Notable blow outs today with two really bad runs were Ryan Maifield, Adam Drake and Jared Tebo. All these guys didn?t get anything of any note on the board and so will be relying on the last 4 rounds to secure their qualifying positions.
The overall list after 2 rounds doesn?t really mean anything, as the one posted only took into account the best single rounds score. With the weather forecast being good for the rest of the week, hopefully the qualifying will sort itself out over the next few days and we will see the ?fastest? guys at the top.
Neil's catches some air.
Tomorrows rounds will begin with heat 6 so with any luck Graham and Neil will be in the best position to take advantage of an improving track. On the technical side, their really hasn?t been too much discussed on the set up front other than how to make your car last the distance, so maybe tomorrow we will get into the things that make them go quicker.
Thursday 19th
The weather was as promised and we looked set to have a good days racing. Again what time you were out on track would have quite a bearing on what times you were able to achieve. The very first heat on in the morning actually had a fast track as the surface was still a little tacky from the overnight dew, and had Jon Hazelwood not made some errors he would have been able to post a very good time.
As the round unfolded the track was getting quicker and quicker as the rubber was laid down and the blue groove started to appear. In heat 3 we had a fantastic race with Josh Wheeler, Ryan Lutz and Ryan Maifield all challenging to take the TQ for the round and it was Wheeler who managed to sneak in front of the other 2 on the last lap. Josh looked in good shape to hang on to it until the last heat, number 5 when Mike Truhe put together another great effort to nose past these 3 guys.
Of our guys, Graham had a steady round as he has nothing to fall back on and will need all 4 of his remaining rounds to count, so a controlled drive that saw him about 50th was a reasonable return. He will stiffen the set up of his car for round 4 to improve the jumping and also help as the traction comes up. Neil?s bad luck seems destined to continue as he was on for what would have been a top 15 time when after a hard landing on the triple jump his motor stopped, the most likely cause something touching the flywheel.
Round 4 and the pace only got faster, again it was Mike Truhe who pulled an amazing drive out of the bag to take the round. His effort all the more impressive as his first 2 laps both had crashes which cost a total of 5-6 seconds, this man is in the groove.
Ryan Cavalieri, Ryan Maifield and Richard Saxton all put their RC8 cars in the round top 6 as the track starts to come toward the set up. After a re-tune to try and Improve some bottom end ounch, Neil once again was on for a top 15 time at worst until a slower driver got hold of him and cost him 12 seconds in 1 lap. Neil kept his composure knowing that needs all rounds to count and maintained a good pace until the end to secure a top 30 round score.
Graham found the changes to his car a great improvement for his driving style, as he had adopted Jeremy Kortz?s setting until this point which although very fast for him were not so suited to Graham. Graham once again drove within himself to get in to the top 45 of the round, and made great use of his amazing fuel mileage which allows him to run the 10 minute qualifying sessions without a fuels stop. Both drivers will need to have 2 good rounds tomorrow to try and ensure that they don?t slip into the lower finals and give themselves a really tough job to reach the semi?s.
Friday 20th
The track was now in good condition and once the first few heats were out of the way it provided pretty consistent grip for everybody throughout the rounds. For round 5 Neil had Rody Roem of RB come and do re-tune on the motor to offer a little less power, as he felt he was trying to hang on to it a little in the rounds yesterday. Once again though Neil suffered a tough run and despite his best efforts in the latter part of the run he couldn?t quite force into 13 lap pace.
The track was now in much better condition.
Neil?s has been really unfortunate with his heat, as he seems to have found not only the worst track conditions, but also some worst driving to be seen here at the race. Whenever someone is near him they spear into him or he gets caught up in their accidents.
On an organisational note, there are no listings posted for the results of each round so actually finding out where you were in a given round is not the easiest challenge. Another complaint is that because of the constant commentary no refereeing can really take place as the drivers can?t hear what the referee calls out. Is this an example of American show over substance as we see in full size motorsport?
Graham once again drove another steady un-eventful race to bag another 50th or so in a round having made no major changes to the car. It was once again Mike Truhe who took the round and in doing so put himself in a very strong position for the overall TQ.
For the 6th and final round of qualifying the track was now really baked and blue grooved. The traction was immense in places and Team Associated driver Ryan Cavalieri used this to the full to take the round and the fastest time of the meeting. He actually had to work for it as he chose M3 compound tyres and these were giving too much traction in places meaning the car was very twitchy. M2 would have been a better choice for these conditions.
An interesting thing was that Team Associated ?Coach? had been taking sector times out on the track for the top drivers and found 2 areas that Ryan was losing out to Truhe. They showed him where and what to do, and he just applied that information and went faster. The ability of Ryan to just apply the knowledge and make it work was very impressive indeed.
Ryan Maifield had the new Reedy engine with machined head.
Graham drove a fantastic race in round 6 and also managed to knock 3 seconds off his fastest lap times in the process. He actually looked to now have some confidence in the track and his car, he went on to post 18th overall in this the most competitive round of the meeting and in doing so ensured that he would make it in to the 1/8th round of finals and not have to race on Saturday.
Neil once again fell victim to other peoples accidents and did his best to produce a top 35 time at the end of the round. As it was this was not enough to get him directly in to the 1/8ths and he will line up on pole for the 1/16th on Saturday evening. Neil?s bad luck didn?t end there though, his final seems to be the graveyard of all the fast guys who suffered in qualifying. In with him are Ty Tessman, Jesse Roberts and Andrew Smolnik to name a few.
Overall TQ for the meeting went to Mike Truhe after Josh Wheeler failed to take TQ in round 6. There has been some brilliant driving so far. The finals are looking like they will be fiercely contested.
Catch the remainder of Dave's race diary here tomorrow.
