With only one day of testing at the track I think the result is pretty good!
On Saturday which is all day practise, I came with a car built that I didn’t test here as it wasn’t ready and not to sure what direction to go in. I spoke with Martin Hudy and Alex Hagberg with a set up that would work with some small adjustments. I put it down in the first practise and from the off it was much easier to drive, the second practise I ran my other car that I tested here but nothing different it flipped 2 times down the straight. So for the rest of the practise runs I made the choice to go with the first car. Which ended up the day in P3! So I knew I had good pace for Sunday.
What I tested:
-Aluminium 1.5 vs Steal 1.2, steal by far was more easier to drive and faster on single lap and race pace.
-Normal shock against PSS, PSS gave me less grip which freed up the car and was much nicer in all the longer corners.
-Linear spring on the front, I normally like the 2.5-2.8 here however with the PSS it felt a bit too progressive and with the 2.5 to start with it felt it was more likely to flip on the straight.
Sunday race day!
It rained in the morning which meant all the grip was gone as the weekend before they had some nitro cars going round. So practise was wet which again my car was pretty good. Onto qualifying I gambled going out in the first round as it looked like it was going to rain either during or after I was running too P5 when 3 minutes went by and the rain came still managing P7 overall. Round 2, was totally dry my car felt a bit weird in the middle of corners when I came back a part was missing but still P6. Round 3, I changed some parts and went back on 3rd run tyre, which felt pretty good and got P4 in round. Round 4 I gambled again and put on the same tyre so I could have two new sets for the finals which still I felt I had good grip getting P6 in round. This put me P7 overall!
Onto the first final, I managed to move up one spot in the early laps but couldn’t find a way to move further up having a great battle with Bailey and Chris so P6. Final 2 I felt pretty confident to move up more, on the first lap a car span in-front and I managed to hit it, I was pretty much dead last and about half a lap down. I got my head down and started to drive the best I could to catch up, I started moving up the grid and about 3 minutes in I was in sight of the top 5. They had a coming together which put me into 3rd and I knew I had pace to catch 2nd, pushing the car I managed to catch within 2-3 laps and for the last laps I managed to take 2nd place!
This then put me 3rd on the podium and my first this year! Really happy as I drove my best final I’ve done for awhile.
What I changed:
-I started on M hub, I tried G and H to try free up the car a bit more however I think because of the rain the track lacked the grip so I went back to M.
-All screws in the top plate just to stiffen the car up a bit gave me a better feeling.
-Split top decks I ran solid top deck for all Saturday and most Sunday with the splits it again freed the car up and was able to get a bit more of a nicer feel of rotation.
My XRAY X4’26 was amazing along with Hobbywing Technology Team EAM, Inc and SRT RC
(click to enlarge)
Results:
1. Elliott Harper
2. Matt White 3. Harley Eldridge - XRAY X4
