|
(click to enlarge) |
|
| Race report by Robin Frischkopf |
|
|
| Swiss Championship â“ Round 4 (OberbĂĽren) |
|
| Round 4 of the Swiss Championship was held on the great new track in OberbĂĽren on August 21-22. The weather was great and there were 52 amateur and 55 expert category drivers present. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
| Practice rounds on Saturday morning were weird because my engine kept flaming out all the time. For the qualifying rounds I switched to another engine, that of my mechanic Etienne. It ran so well that Etienne insisted I keep it for the entire race. Thanks for that Etienne! We later found out that the new exhaust pipe that I had mounted just before the race had some sort of a fault and later my own engine ran fine again with another new exhaust. What a weird experience, but it just goes to show you that you should test everything first before going to important races. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
| This whole business unsettled me a bit but nonetheless I won two of the four qualifying rounds and this was enough to give me TQ for the day. The car was performing very well and I drove very relaxed since I had been to a GP, a club race, and a 2-hour night race on this track, and also won the unofficial truggy championship here. So I only made some very small changes to the set up. For example, using the 3mm rear roll-bar to get some more steering in the many tight corners, and going back to 3° rear toe (from 2.5°) to get some more stability in the fast corners and especially the concrete banked corner that had a lot more grip now because of the RB sign painted on it with very rough paint. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
On Sunday afternoon, the semi-final went well. I made a mistake in the first lap and had to climb back up the field but in the end I was in the lead and also secured pole position for the final ahead of my main championship rival Didier Perrin (who was very fast despite having never driven on the track before).
In the other semi-final, the three fastest drivers had some very bad luck. Philippe Lachat, Patrick Hess, and local driver Ronny LĂĽber (who was amazingly fast â“ 2nd in qualifying) sadly didnâ™t make it. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
| The start of the 45min final went better and I managed to keep the lead. Didier was keeping up very well though and I had to try to not make any mistakes and get a margin of about 10 seconds since he pitted at 9 minutes and I pitted at 7.30 to play it safe. It was very exciting and until about the middle of the final we were always very close. In the end though it worked out well and due to my making only 2-3 mistakes during the whole final I not only made up the one pit stop but also had a 20sec lead when we crossed the line. It maybe also helped that Jeremy Pittet put Didier under pressure in the final stages and they crossed the line only 1 second apart. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
| To win again in OberbĂĽren after my first Expert victory here last year was very special to me. I like the track and the people very much. I was also excited to win the third race in a row and that my championship hopes were now still intact and healthier than ever. But with our points system â“ where the winner gets 300 points, 2nd gets 280, 3rd gets 260, etc. it was still very close. I couldnâ™t wait for the last round in just two weeks time. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
| R4 final results |
|
1. Robin Frischkopf XRAY XB808
2. Didier Perrin
3. Jeremy Pittet
4. Yaël Zurflüh
5. Christoph Affolter |
| Swiss Championship â“ Round 5 (Montagny): |
|
The last round of the Swiss Championship round was held on September 4-5 and once again we had good luck with the weather; it was sunny all weekend. There were 56 amateur and 51 expert drivers who were all excited to return to Montagny. Itâ™s a very challenging layout and track surface: especially with the âśmini-golfâť section, the âśdancing on iceâť plastic part, the huge banked corner, and the very fast hard-packed parts of the track.
Having won the last three rounds of the championship but having a DNF in the first round, the title was still up for grabs for anyone. I knew I needed to finish at least 4th in the final should Didier win. Nonetheless I tried to be as relaxed as possible during the weekend. I didnâ™t want to aim for a specific place and instead I would just drive the way I normally do, leave the rest to luck, and the result should be enough. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
Qualifying went well and by having some good rounds (amidst the mandatory terrible one) and winning the last round I was in 2nd place which put me on pole position for semi-final B. On Saturday evening we had a nice dinner in a nearby restaurant with the entire club, where my friend Etienne dared me to eat the local specialty: snails. I gave in and had one of the poor creatures since Etienne said I would lose the race if I didnâ™t. It wasnâ™t even that bad, actually.
The semi-final on Sunday afternoon was an instant classic. I had a good start and had built up a good lead. After the first pit stop went trouble-free, my nerves finally relaxed. But then on the outlap it happened. I couldnâ™t get such a good run up to the triple jump after the straight and the car landed right with the flywheel on top of the third small hump. The engine that had until then been running totally fine all weekend flamed out. The car rolled on over the fourth hump which we canâ™t jump, around the bend and just barely over the lap counting loop. My heart nonetheless dropped and I hoped the engine would fire up again. Etienne ran to get the car and restarted it after about 5 eternal seconds on the starter box. I was so lucky that this lap had counted and I only lost about 20 seconds as a result instead of a whole lap and more. I was able to get back to 4th place in the remaining 12 minutes and so started the final from 7th place.
|
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
After breaking the upper link in the semi-final at the second race in Rolle, popping it back in and barely getting into the final to then win it, this was the second time this season Iâ™d had such luck and I was very thankful for that. Thankful to who you ask? The snail, of course!
After the amateur final â“ during which young Valentin Bader won with his XRAY 808 â“ it was time for our final. Once again it would be 45 minutes. The start was a bit chaotic and after the table jump I had to drive over another car that was pointed in the wrong direction. Later on the photos I saw that it was Didierâ™s and Iâ™m happy that nothing broke. Philippe Lachat â“ who started on pole â“ built up a gap of about 15 seconds over the rest. Didier and I battled our way through the pack and soon we were on Philippeâ™s tail. Jeremy Pittet was also very fast but broke a rear shock very early, though he was able to continue after repairs to finish 5th. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
|
|
After catching up, the three of us had a nice battle for a few laps (see the video) but then Didier and Philippe (later in the same lap) made a little mistake and suddenly I was in the lead! I didnâ™t think I was driving very quickly, I basically just wanted to not break the car and didnâ™t risk a lot. But nonetheless it was enough and I was able to build up a gap. Philippe broke an A-arm after 30 minutes and was out of the race, allowing Jojo Kallen (also very fast) to take up the 3rd position. Didier and I were now a lap ahead of everyone else. I nursed the car around the track and hoped nothing would go wrong. I only made one small mistake on a jump and then the final was over and I crossed the line to win the race and also the Swiss Championship in the Expert category.
It was just great, this was the way I wanted it, not by going for points but by winning. Iâ™m now the first German-speaking Swiss Champion in the 1/8th buggy class.
Iâ™d like to thank my Sponsors XRAY, RB, Power-Save-Racing, GQ tyres and my champion pit team Etienne Kaser and Robin Minkler and of course my club the BCZ which I hope will also be able to one day host a Swiss Championship race to continue promoting our hobby. |
|
(click to enlarge) |
|
| R5 final results |
|
1. Robin Frischkopf XRAY XB808
2. Didier Perrin
3. Joachim Kallen
4. Christoph Affolter
5. Jeremy Pittet
6. Patrick Hess XRAY XB808
7. Yael ZurflĂĽh
8. Jean-Marc Betticher
9. Renaud Ott XRAY XB808
10. Loic Pittet |
|
