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Jilles & Joel
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This yearâ™s Snowbird Nationals had over 800 entries, and was by far the biggest race on the planet. With an Oval and On-road course, there was a lot of racing and very little sleep ahead of us.
The weekend before the â Birds, XRAY had their final T1FKâ™05 ready. I went to Germany for a race and test this T1FKâ™05, which was slightly different from the car we ran at the DHI-cup. After this race (in which I finished in 2nd place), I felt much more confident than with the previous prototype.
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Ralph Burch
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| On Monday afternoon I headed down to Orlando, Florida. First a stop in Washington, where I met the Hudy family and Joel Myrberg. To get used to the American style, I stopped at the famous Burger King place for a nice Whooper and a large Coke before heading to Orlando. Arriving in Orlando, we couldnâ™t find the belt where the luggage was supposed to be loaded; we were at the wrong level! After loading the baggage in the great rental car that Juraj had arranged, we finally headed to the hotel. We arrived at the hotel around 9:30 in the evening, which was for us already bedtime. We checked out the fine carpet track and then went to sleep. |
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Mike Dummas
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| The next day practice started at around 4:00PM, so we had plenty of time⦠NOT! Juraj brought the latest changes for the T1FKâ™05, so we had to start all over again. Most team drivers had it finished just before the first practice; others were going out with the good âśoldâť FK. |
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| The track layout changed from last year with two big sweepers coming onto the straight and at the end of the straight. This was followed by a hairpin with two chicanes. Laptimes were around 9.5 sec; pretty fast! Runtime was crucial. |
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Joel Myrberg
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On Wednesday we started again around 4:00PM just after the oval guys finished.
Most people were running the Parma Alfa body, so I really had to try one. I asked my fellow team mate Jared Scott to borrow his, just to have a go with it. The car was actually really good with that body, so I really had to have one. Fortunately, Chris Doseck had a spare one, unpainted so I purchased white paint in the shop and gave it a nice white color! Thanks Chris!
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Jared Scott
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| Thursday, I began to try some set-up changes. I tried the middle position for the rear roll center which gave me enough rear traction. Now I tried a bit softer damping, going from 40W to 30W oil. This gave the car a great reaction, especially in the chicanes! From the previous years I can remember that when the traction came up, many drivers traction rolled almost. With the new car it didnâ™t happen at all; maybe we had found the best set-up? |
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Chris Doseck
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| Friday started with qualifying. Most touring car guys ran both 19T Expert and Modified class to get some extra track-time. In the first qualifier I took early TQ in 19T, which gave me a lot of confidence for the Modified qualification. In Modified it was Joel who dominated the first round. He TQâ™d with a perfect run. I finished 5th after the first day, with a few small errors in my heat. |
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Martin Hudy
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| On Saturday the track had changed a bit, and had a few more bumps. This was probably caused by the cold weather in the night that had some impact on the wooden floor under the carpet. With a few more bumps but higher traction, it was hard to find the good set-up to go faster and improve on Fridayâ™s qualifying times. I discussed what to do with Juraj and we decided to soften the car with a more flexible top deck. The car was much smoother over the bumps but understeered a bit in the sweepers. With one spring rate softer in the front this problem was solved. At the end of the day I took TQ in both 19T and Modified classes which was quite a surprise for me and many others! |
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Track layout
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| On Sunday the big show was right before the start of 19T. âśPlease one minute, I ask the refereeâť. My transmitter was empty! Fortunate a spectator handed me 8 penlights which was really nice! Thanks! Before the tone Juraj yelled at me, âśJilles, relax!âť |
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| After the tone my car was really good and I needed a few corners to slip away from the rest. Mike Dumas from sixth was second and was pushing hard to get me. I tried to keep the same gap and I did. For XRAY it was a really good debut for the new car. Mike Dumas was in second, with me crossing the line first! |
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Prize giving ceremony
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| In the afternoon the last final of the on-road Snowbirds 2005 was almost starting. After a nice drivers presentation the speaker said: âśDrivers ready, marshals ready? Weâ re gonna race on the tone!âť The whole crowed was silenced â til the tone. In the first corner, as always, a few were lucky and a few were unlucky. Soon I noticed that I was the lucky one that had a clean first lap so I tried to get away. |
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| Joel Myrberg who was starting second just behind me had a bad luck in the first corner, when he was pushed out of the track and had to start from 10th positon. My car was so good that I was driving very safely and still pulling away from Mike Blackstock who was in second. I really canâ™t remember the last minutes, I only know that I crossed the line first and it finally became reality: I won the Snowbirds! |
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Top three winners
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| Specials thanks goes to Juraj Hudy for making the best car out there. Juraj has been working so hard on this car and it finally paid off. Also thanks to Joe Pillars and Derek Furutani for providing me the best power and runtime. Chris Doseck to tune the 19T handout motor! The whole team: Joel, Martin, Ralph, Greg, Mike, Jared, Chris, Drew, Espo, Brain, and Alex. Also thanks to the Snowbird organisation to putting up this great event. |
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Team celebration in the swimming pool
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Last but not least all my sponsors: XRAY, Hudy, Peak, Team Much More, Hara racing products, The Border, and Jaco.
Hope to see you all next year!
Jilles Groskamp
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Martin Hudy to pose with awards girls
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Joel Myrberg to pose with awards girls
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Ralph Burch to pose with awards girls
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Jilles Groskamp to pose with awards girls
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XRAY Racing Team
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