Sandhem 220430 Race Report, first race of the season!
I started with 5-10 minutes practice just to get a feeling of the car, all felt good no problems. I just wanted to get through the first qualifying round with a decent result to start in the A-group to make sure not to loose any valuable points. After two laps the car just died, completely out of the blue. I took it in a tested I had a spark, no problems. But I had no compression, so I started to take it apart and found out that a small chip from the clip that holds the pin for the piston had caused a huge scratch in the cylinder wall.
Luckily I brought a spare cylinder and piston that was already broken in and could fairly easily replace the parts to have a working car again. This made me miss the first 1/8 final so I know my day was already destroyed from a point perspective but I just wanted to race and get some practice with the car.
I started last in the C-final in the quarterfinal and won that fairly easily lapping the rest of the field. Took it easy and didn't want to push the car, just drive it and get a feel for it. Just when the signal sounded for the heat ending the throttle just stopped working. The engine was still on and steering worked. What's going on?
I turned out both my brand new Savöx 2920 throttle and brake servos was completely dead and very hot. Why did this happen? Again, very luckily I had removed my throttle/break servo from my Loss and had another spare servo. So I had two identical SRT 9037 servos I could show into the car. But a new car it takes time to to wrenching and I mixed the semifinal. Didn't really matter as I knew I was going to end up in the B-final anyway.
I started last in the B-final but was already out from after the first lap (a lap is about 36 seconds on this track) and could then just control the rest of the 20 minute final to bump up into the A-final. This was the first heat during the day that I finished and the car was still working!
In the A-final I started last (again) from the bump spot with 9 MCD cars in front of me. The track was really technical and quite narrow so I know I needed to have patience and to not get tangled up in the start. I just waited out the field and I could already pass 2-3 cars in the first couple of corners. I then slowly worked my way up in the field. After 5-6 laps I think I got the chance to go up in the lead and I could then pretty comfortable extend that lead and hold it for the rest of the race.
The car felt really good on the track, balanced, agile and very direct on the input. This was exactly what I was hoping for but to be honest I was just happy the car hold up for two intense 20 minute finals in a row (with just a 20 min final in between for 2wd).
I have never been so tired after a race. Constant problems and wrenching and then finish with very intensive racing and then top it off win a win. This was definitely the win I had to work the hardest for ever. Unfortunately this will be a drop race for me as the number of points I scored was really bad. But the win in the final nobody can take away!
