Once again my journey was to the HUDY Arena in Slovakia. I did arrive allready on Friday by lunchtime to be sure to have the time to do quite some runs. This was due to the new X4 chassis which are completely new to me. I knew I had both to do shakedown runs on both cars as well as try to find a setup of my likings. As the X4 differs totally from the previous T4 platform I've been using since 2013 I could only rely on my knowledge of chassie dynamics and hopefully get some help from the fast drivers to more quickly find my setup and get up to speed. 

• The modified car

• Stock car

I started out on the tyres from the previous race and also ran in two sets per car. The level of grip on friday afternoon was a bit less then on the previous race and it made it hard to evaluate my changes. Anyway, as closingtime of the track came I felt I got good speed in the stock car but still lacked steering in the modified one.

Touring Stock 13.5

To this race the level of the drivers where up one notch from previous with more drivers making for a closer topfield. My car was really good and I had the fastest lap in qualifying. Unfortunately I made a mistake in my last run and lost rougly 2.5-3 seconds which took me from a secure second spot to fourth on the grid. Check the numbers and results from quali and you will see it was intensely close. 

For the finals I tried some minor changes, put in all the screws on the topdeck and the car was great. 

But, starting from fourth makes it hard to compete for the win. Even though I managed to pass #3 on the opening lap and the 2nd placed Márk Valent just a couple of laps after i couldn´t go any faster than Oliver Havránek (factory Xray driver) in the top and had to settle for second. In the second final I did overtake both Karel Kratochvíl on 3rd and Márk Valent in the very early stage of the run just to hit a corner marker and roll my way out of that final. In the last one i hunted down Márk Valent for a good three minutes with just a car lenght in between us before I made the pass. From there it was just a safe drive to secure the win and the second place in total.

Touring Modified

In touring I definetely gained some speed over the last race. My personal best lap was 0.7 second better but I never got below 12.0 seconds on a single lap. The fastest drivers where doing some 11.7-11.9 in the openings of their runs. The chassis was good but I still struggle with the feeling of my Sepeedo/motor combo. It is a bit to aggressive and thats why I´ll go back to a 5t or even 5.5t motor for the next race.

For the finals I looked for even more rotation of the car from mid to exit of the corner. I raised the shocks on notch all around, raised the rear rollcenter by 0.5mm and lowered the droop by the same amount. I also opted for one point softer anti-roll bars both front and rear to reduce the initial respons and gain more traction from mid in the corner. The car was now very drivable.
I managed to get to the A-main as sixth this time from the qualis. But the finals was just a pain. In the first I got hit and the spur lost a couple of teeth. In the second, when battleing for fifth I overtook the oponent on the outside in the corner after the straigh… I think he was chocked so we crashed… Then, In third I did my best run which was basically fault free but I still couldn´t quite get the speed as the front runners. Final position got seventh which I´m still happy about.

The new X4 chassis

You for sure by know has seen pictures of the new car or even experienced it for real. I can tell you the best part with it is the accessability to parts. Get the diffs out is now a matter of four screws, a change of rear toe just a twist on the key. It´s great that I didn´t feel the need of the option 1.6 topdeck or -0.5 wheelhubs in stock class which makes for less options for you guys doing this class.
performance wise it really is like in the comercial. It is easier to drive and a lot more precise in its behaviur. I´m sure I will be even faster as soon as I get some oppotunitys to do some more testing and practice. The advises regarding setup I got from Martin Hudy trackside where spot on.

Bodyshells

I took this race not only as a practice but also to check on some bodies. In stock I tried  the Twister (0.5), Twister Speciale (0.6), Zooracing Wolverine (UL) and the to me well known Bittydesign Hyper-HR (UL). I couldn´t gain anything from the new ones so I continued with the Bittydesign one as that gave me the best overall feeling and lap times. Be advised though, some of the UL-bodies are really weak at the back and needs additional support to behave reasonable.

 For the future I will definetiley continue with the Hyper-HR. 

In modified it was a matter of the Twister and the Brutale. I couldn´t really decide if one was better than the other and went for the freshest one. More to come on this subject afte rnext practice.

To sum it all up

Going to a race at the Hudy arena are great fun. Being able to race at this big size of track and being surronded by a lot of nice people is really great. My pit-buddy this time was the well known Micha Milanowich who really helped me out between the runs in the finals. He even got some pizza for us in the pits which was great.
The hungarian brothers Márk and Gergő Valent are both great guys with good speed and great sportmanship. Martin Hudy who supports all the drivers while himself being both a driver, speaker and organizer makes a really nice touch.

I dont have any movies from the racing this time. This was due to me forgetting an adapter for my action camera. 

Next race for me will probably be in february and hopefully I´ll have the chance for some good practice prior.

Until next time I wish to thank Zombie/RCballz.com for their superior batteries as well as Minicars AB/Futaba for the electronics.