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| Race report by Robin Frischkopf |
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| This February the first 1/8th off-road buggy indoor race was held in Flawil, which was attended by approximately 100 drivers from Switzerland and Germany. The track was very tight because it was inside a rather old, small horse riding arena. This was my first race with my new XRAY XB8TQ buggy; I was very excited because when I built and tested the buggy in the fall of 2006 it was amazing. The build was great, as expected from an XRAY kit, and when I drove the buggy on our practice track I was already faster than with my previous car. During the winter I couldn't wait for the season to begin. |
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| Saturday morning was the only practice heat, and after that there were three qualifiers. The practice heat did not go so well because the hall was not ventilated well enough so in the far parts of the track I almost couldn't see the car. It already handled well though and I was confident. The ventilation problem was then fixed but it was still very foggy inside. In the first qualifying round I only made one small mistake and so I was quite pleased. It was very difficult at times because the track was so narrow and tight and there was a lot of traffic so sometimes other cars slowed me down or even crashed into me when I lapped them. This was what happened in the second round. I was crashed into twice in the second lap and so the heat was ruined. The third heat then went very well again, this time with no mistakes at all. At the end of the day I was in 12th place. However I was not very happy with myself and I felt I should have been faster. The car was okay, but very nervous in the rear end. I had already changed some things, for example soft springs in the rear, but did not feel a lot of difference. |
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| On Sunday morning the 4th and last qualifying heat brought no improvement. A chip of wood got stuck in my flywheel and my engine stalled. I dropped down to 15th place and this meant I would have to start in the quarter final. As I had set my goal to get into the semi-final, I was now really disappointed with myself. During the quarter final I was driving very consistently and I could bump up into the semi-final. |
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| However now I needed to make some drastic setup changes as the rear end was kicking around sideways a lot and up and down because of the bumps and holes that now got worse with every heat. I consulted the setup sheet of my XRAY teammate Patrick Hess which he had made for another race in a similar riding arena (the indoor Glovelier which will be held this march again) and noticed that our front suspension setup was nearly the same, however his rear suspension was different. I did not have a lot to lose so in the 20 minutes between the two finals I changed almost my entire rear suspension geometry. I switched around the plastic inserts to gain more anti-squat and more toe-in, something I couldn't have done as fast with my old car, and I changed the rear camber to 6°. I also put in more preload clips in the rear so the chassis would be a bit higher. |
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Even when I was driving the warm-up for the semi-final, I noticed that the car handled better... a lot better actually. It still felt almost the same to drive, very easy and lots of steering, but now it swallowed up the bumps a lot better and I could simply drive faster. Even though I started from 8th position I managed to win the semi-final. The car was now almost two seconds faster each lap and in the same 20 minutes as in the quarter final I managed three more laps. I also managed to get the pole position for the final because I had the fastest time in both semi-finals. I was now very happy and excited for the final.
The start of the final went well, but just when I came back to the section next to the straight I was rammed by a car that had started out of the pit lane and flew off the straight into my lane. I fell back to 4th or 5th position and had to fight my way back up the grid. After a while I was leading the race again. However, German driver Markus Eirenschmalz (also driving an XRAY XB8TQ) was a little bit faster than me. We battled for a long time and were only seconds apart. Nearing the end of the final I was again in some traffic and got crashed into, so he was half a lap ahead of me. For the last part of the final I tried to catch up but I couldn't quite make it. In the end there was still only half a lap between us so I settled for a good second place.
Final results:
1. Markus Eirenschmalz - XRAY XB8TQ
2. Robin Frischkopf - XRAY XB8TQ
3. Erwin Weinmann |
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I was very happy with the result of the race and very relieved after my poor qualifying performance. There were a lot of very good German and Swiss drivers and it was great to get the pole position and get onto the podium for the first race of the season... and with a new car. In the end thanks to the drastic setup changes I made the car was very fast, and just brilliant to drive and I'm now very confident with the XB8TQ and looking forward to the next races very much.
Robin Frischkopf
XRAY Swiss Team |
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