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| Race report by Alexander Hagberg |
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After three years absence, I decided to return to Las Vegas and the famous IIC event held at the Riviera Hotel & Casino right on the Las Vegas Boulevard. Back in 2008 which was the last year that I joined the race, things were radically different, where we could race with foam tires and Sub-C cells. These days, touring cars are strictly raced with rubber tires, and various stock classes have developed, those known as "Spec" without the use of timing in the speed controllers. Personally I am not a fan of stock racing, but Spec racing is a good idea, where it is possible to control it in a convenient way.
Anyway, the event saw some 400 entries this year which was the most in a few years. I had decided already last spring to join the race, and to bring my two good friends Niclas Nilsson and Magnus Vässmar, both who are also XRAY drivers. After the outdoor season had come to an end in mid-September, I had spent a lot of time, possibly 4-5 days of testing at the newly rebuilt Minicars indoor track. The testing went really well and I felt confident with both my XII 1/12 scale and my touring cars.
We left to USA and Las Vegas on September 30th. A 15 hours plus total travel time was really exhausting but rewarding as we arrived in the city of entertainment. At this year's IIC, besides from us Swedes, XRAY was represented by Paul Lemieux, Drew Ellis, Eric Anderson, Jay Filipow among other RC America drivers. Martin Crisp from Canada also represented the XRAY team.
As the race commenced on Tuesday morning, six rather busy days waited for us. Very early mornings with open practice starting 7 AM, and late evenings with the last heat of touring car being run around 9:30 PM.
It was as usual, two rounds of racing per class and day. For myself it meant six times on the track as I competed in three classes: 1/10 Touring Car Modified, 1/12 Modified and 1/12 13.5T SuperStock class. I had decided to join the 1/12 13.5T category just for the fun of it. As I had spoken to my friend from Norway, Alf Skaar, he had promised to borrow me his specially prepared Xray XII car for this class. This car featured some innovative ideas which had been tested by Alf over a long time. Being a true 1/12 enthusiast, Alf was eager to help me out in this class. I was pretty excited to try a new class as I had never before raced stock with brushless motors. |
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In the practice session, I struggled, most notably with my touring car as it would always feel tweaked to the left. I did not find the cause of the tweak so I decided to try my second car, which had a radically different setup. And I mean everything was different. Chassis, topdeck, springs, oil, suspension geometry, anti-roll bars, ackerman, even the gear ratio and speedo settings differed. Anyway, I quickly felt confident with this car and started to gradually pick up pace. I was not entirely happy in the first two rounds of qualifying. The car was driving well, being very easy to drive, but a tad too slow. For the last qualifier, I decided to change the diff oil from the regular 600 CST to the significantly heavier 2000 CST oil. I also increased my front negative camber to 2 degrees. The car had a lot more steering, was more reactive, but still easy to drive and I could put it where I wanted it. After putting down a fairly good run I manged to qualify 4th overall in the extremely close touring car qualifying, some 2.5 seconds behind the TQ time of Naoto. In the final I made an early mistake while following the top 3, which put me down the field and I had no chance to recover. The car was again really good so I was really frustrated with my mistake as a podium finish was possible.
Paul just qualified for the main in 9th position and was able to improve some positions in the final. Magnus Vässmar qualified just shy of the A-main at 12th. The super close qualifying in Modified Touring Car saw some 7 seconds divide the TQ and the 12th qualifier.
In 1/12 I got some valuable help from the 1/12 ace of RC America, Eric Anderson, whom with his suggestions and mechanical help put my 1/12 car on the pace. The main problem was that I had never run 1/12 in high traction conditions like these before. I had no basic set-up for these conditions. The car was fine at last year's EC but now it was way too difficult to drive, twitchy, and was lifting the inside wheels in every corner. The main changes we did was to change from 10 to 5 degrees front blocks, use standard steering blocks for more camber gain, take out some slop of the front end, take out some droop. In the rear end we softened the side damping, the front damping, front spring, and used softer, linear side springs. All changes helped to make the car faster. It had more rear traction and did not lift as much. The last change I made for the final which really made the car super fast was to use even smaller diameter tires. 39.5 fronts and
41.5 rears. The car was now super fast and did not lift. I could use as much throttle as I wanted through turns, and just punch it. I had also worked out my power issues with a longer gear ratio and different speedo settings. Without a couple of mistakes in the final I could have finished on the podium, from starting 9th on the grid. Paul Lemieux drove well all weekend and managed to finish 4th overall, just in front of me. |
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In the 1/12 stock class I struggled with both power and car settings.
In the practice, the car was very good. Fast and easy to drive. As traction increased it became too twitchy, and would snap too much mid corner. We decided to change the geometry of the front end, the rear tires, and the diameter of the front tires. We also geared up, and hoped for the best for the last rounds. Unfortunately I could only qualify in the B-main. But I made use of the bump up system, where I after a close race with the Speed Merchant driver Peter Robinson, managed to bump up into the A-main. And thus, I had made the A in all my classes. It felt awesome. In the final I once again had a great start and could fight with the 3-4-5 positioned drivers. The car was actually brilliant, I just needed to drive better in order to pull of a podium position. Eric Anderson of RC America who qualified directly for the final, managed to finish 7th overall. Stock racing is really close. It was probably the most eventful final of all finals I raced this day. But in the end, I must say that Stock racing is depending too much on speedo software and motor. One can gain so much only with power, I simply find it uninteresting. To drive, I have nothing against it. It is acutally closer racing than modified, but it is too frustrating when some people pass you on the straight just because their speedo had the latest software inside.
In the Touring Car Super Stock class, we had 3 drivers in the A-main.
Martin Crisp finished 3rd overall with his T3'2011. Mike Haynes finished 4th and Magnus Vässmar 6th overall respectively.
I would like to give special thanks to Alf Skaar and Eric Anderson for all their help throughout the week! Thanks to everyone at RC America for the good times and Niclas and Magnus for coming along! |
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Touring Car Modified
1. Naoto Matsukura
2. Ronald Völker
3. Viktor Wilck
4. Andy Moore
5. Marc Rheinard
6. Paul Lemieux - XRAY T3'2011
7. Keven Hebert
8. Alexander Hagberg - XRAY T3'2011
9. Rick Hohwart
10. Atsushi Hara
Super Stock 17.5 Touring Car
1. Atsushi Hara
2. Steen Graversen
3. Martin Crisp - XRAY T3'2011
4. Mike Haynes - XRAY T3'2011
5. Ty Tessman
6. Magnus Vässmar - XRAY T3'2011
7. Larry Fairtrace
8. Keven Hebert
9. Brad Johnson
10. Andy Moore
13.5T 1/12
1. Mike Blackstock
2. Hupo Hönigl
3. Pete D'Agnolo
4. Alexander Hagberg - XRAY XII LINK
5. Mike Haynes
6. Naoto Matsukura
7. Eric Anderson - XRAY XII LINK
8. Paul Ciccarello
9. Larry Fairtrace
10. Andrew Knapp
Modified 1/12
1. Naoto Matsukura
2. Keven Hebert
3. Mike Blackstock
4. Paul Lemieux - XRAY XII LINK
5. Alexander Hagberg - XRAY XII LINK
6. Juho Levänen
7. Hupo Hönigl
8. Andrew Knapp
9. Ronald Völker |
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