I travelled south to the Harewood RC club in Christchurch NZ for the May and June rounds of their points series.
The May meeting was a very cool day with temps around 14 degrees. I took the XB9 out for a couple of test runs to get a good feel for the track and what needed to be changed.
From the start it was very slippery so I decided to run with 2.2 sway bars front and rear to help find some traction, I also set the ride height with the arms 2mm above level. With the diffs set at 5-5-2 I had found a good platform to run with and so on we went to heats.
The format for the day was 3 x 5 minute heats and a 15 minute final due to the large number of other classes there were to run.
Heat 1 was very fast with my XB9 running very well on the chosen set up. At the end it was the XB9 taking the win and a good start on an unfamiliar track.
Heat 2 was a second place and heat 3 was another win.
For the final I started on P2 by 600th of a second. The race started cleanly with everyone making it through the first couple of corners. I settled into my work and sat behind the leader putting pressure on him at every turn and just waiting for a mistake to happen. About 4 laps into it I was able to take the lead and from there the XB9 was unstoppable with good consistent lap times. At the end I took the final by about half a lap which ended the day perfect for the Team Xray XB9.
On to June, which was another very very cool day with temps around 6 or 7 degrees I went back to the set up from the May meeting which once again was working perfect on the slippery track surface. Trev Winter, owner of Zoom Resources - Xray NZ was also running today and going very well too.
Today I was trialling some AKA city blocks and from the start the XB9 was unstoppable. Heats 2 and 3 I posted the 2 fastest heat times of the day with a lap record too. The car was dialled in and I was starting to push harder as the day went on.
Come finals time I was high on confidence and that I could push really hard and the car would be able to handle anything I wanted to try. Starting on P1 it was clear from the start that the XB9 was carrying more speed and stability than any other car on the track.
This final was a 20 minute race so there was a couple of pit stops to make. At the half way mark I was well ahead of the closest car to me and at the finish I posted a 33 lapper which was another lap record and was 2 laps ahead of second .
I would like to thank my sponsors Xray NZ -Zoom Resources and TBH Racing for the Argus engines.
