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The first weekend of March marked the beginning of the 2008 1/8th Buggy racing season in Switzerland. The MORC International Indoor Race was held in BĂĽtschwil. The weather was very windy and sometimes wet, but since it was an indoor event we didn't care!
A large group of 132 drivers from France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland attended the event. Racing and qualifying was in groups of 12 cars. |
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The track was located in a horse riding hall and was about 36 x 23 metres. There were all sorts of corners, fast and sweeping, tight and slow, and one very steep table jump.
Grip was low and it was very slippery because it was very loose dirt as usual in such riding arenas. On the outside of the corners, piles of dirt appeared and you had to avoid those because they slowed the car down a lot. While the track was very wide, the racing line was about as narrow as two car-widths at some parts of the track. For the driver's area we had another big hall where there was enough room for everyone and the spirit between all the drivers was generally very good. There were a lot of spectators throughout the weekend and it is always a great feeling when you're racing in front of a large crowd. |
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I had built my setup after the experiences collected in last year's Indoor races, with a few additions and tips I got from Team Drivers in the XRAY Forum⦠for example how to cut the A-Arms where the inner hinge pins go (in order to gain more flex) as seen also on the new XRAY 808 buggy.
The starting setup proved to be very fast and had good balance, but over the holes in the track (which became bigger and bigger) it was a bit too bumpy.
After the two practice rounds the track was already very blown-out and bumpy so I decided to try some setup changes to make the car more stable so I would make less mistakes in the qualifiers. I changed from medium to soft springs and added more ground clearance. In the first qualifying heat I won in my group (the last group, so the track was worst for us) and altogether came in 9th position. |
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For the second qualifier I changed from the rather soft anti-roll bars back to the standard ones. This helped smooth out the bumps out as the wheel that bumped first now transferred more of that shock to the other wheel. I was then more than 10 seconds quicker in the second 5-minute qualifying heat even though the track had deteriorated more⦠this is because I had more confidence in the car and made less mistakes.
The third qualifier also went well which seemed odd to me as I made more mistakes and tried some other tyres that didn't seem to hook up that well. In the end I had the same time though and on Saturday evening after the first three qualifiers I was in 4th place overall. I was very content to be in the semi-final as lots of other good drivers struggled with the track and ended up in lower finals where they usually donâ™t belong.
On Sunday morning we had the last qualifying heat. It was once again a bit unfair as the track had been repaired overnight (due to the festivities that took place in the hall) and the groups started in the same order. Consequently I dropped back one place even though I had a perfect qualifier with no mistakes. I didn't mind though as the finals would set everything straight again I was sure. |
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Now began the long wait for the semi-final. I checked my car thoroughly but couldn't find anything wrong or worn. I only cleaned it, charged it up and changed the clutch bearings and glowplug just to be on the safe side.
After the last qualifying heat I calculated (with total time driven and fuel left) how long I could drive per tank. Due to the good performance of my RB WS7III engine, even with a 6mm restrictor and the track characteristics, with not a lot of power needed the calculation returned twelve and a half minutes. This meant I could pit one or even two times less than others in the semi-final and hopefully in the final so I was looking forward to those.
In the 20-minute semi-final I started from position #3 but didn't have a very good start as the straight line was very crowded and I got slammed in the first corner. Also, I made a few too much mistakes for my taste. The track had now turned into a very peculiar mix of totally bumpy mountainous terrain and at some corners a racing line of very slippery floor meshing that appeared as soon as all the dirt was swept away from the other cars. On these parts of the track you could drift through the corners with almost full throttle while on the bumpy parts it was as slow as ever. The straight was now the worst, with the biggest holes and bumps. Sometimes I was overtaken by a much faster car, only to see that car flying off into the wall. So on the straight I never applied full throttle for long and mostly crept through at ⅓ throttle. |
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I was afraid that now that the track had actually gotten faster again on the floor meshing that I wouldn't be able to pit at 10 minutes but these concerns turned out to be unfounded. The pit stop went without problems and with fuel to spare and I finished the semi-final in 5th place.
I was not overly happy with my driving in the semi-final; I made too much mistakes. I decided to make another setup change and lower the roll center by moving one hole up in the rear upper link. I hoped the car would then be even more stable in the corners through the bumps. I mounted the same Splinter Super Soft Tyres I had already driven in the last qualifier and in the semi-final as there was hardly any wear on them and they seemed to grip just as good as the other ones.
I started the 30-minute final from position #7. I was once again involved in a first corner crash and lost a few positions. However from then on I managed to drive consistently and even faster than in the semi-final and caught car after car, sometimes overtaking them on the floor mesh in full drift, which was a lot of fun. After they had all gone to their first pit stop at about 7 minutes I was in 2nd place behind Philippe Lachat. |
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The first pit stop at about 10:30 minutes went without problems and when I exited the pits I was still in 3rd position. At about 15 minutes, when all cars went in again I was in 2nd once again and I awaited the last pit stop. Up until now I'd only made a few mistakes but I was still happy as all the cars seemed to be on their roof now and again in the very bumpy parts of the track. The second pit stop at about 20 minutes also went very well thanks to my brilliant mechanic Thomas with the help of Alu, my teammate Marc Heimâ™s pitman, who unfortunately didn't make it into the final. After a very strong semi-final, my German teammate Markus Eirenschmalz unfortunately had a few flameouts in the final so it was left to me to represent the Team. I wanted to bring home my 2nd place but at the same time I knew that anything could still happen so I tried to relax and just drive.
At 5 minutes before the end it seems I was a bit too relaxed as I made about three mistakes in just a few laps and I watched car after car pass by me. I was able to catch half of them again before the horn sounded and the final was over, but I wasn't sure if it had been enough as in the last 10 minutes there were no position updates from the speaker and I didn't know who was on the same lap and who wasnâ™t.
I had no idea what result I had made and came off the drivers' podium puzzled and a bit disappointed by those last mistakes. I asked the race director about the result but he just smiled at me and said heâ™d like to keep the suspense and that Iâ™d know in a few minutes at the prize ceremony. |
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As name after name was read from the results list backwards my tension grew. Finally, when he announced who came third and it still wasnâ™t me I was thrilled. I knew that Fifi Lachat had won, but that meant that I finished in 2nd place⦠the best of the rest, and that surely was nothing to be disappointed about in the company of a former European Champion and much more than I had dared to hope with all these very good drivers from all over Europe.
After this successful race and great experience I had I can't wait for the Swiss Championship to begin and for the amazing new 808 Buggy.
1. Philippe Lachat
2. Robin Frischkopf XRAY XB8EC
3. Michael Kallen
4. Erwin Weinmann
5. Tobias Deicke XRAY XB8EC
6. Yael Zurfluh
7. Gottfried Muller XRAY XB8EC
8. Christophe Plancherel
9. Christoph Affolter
10. Markus Eirenschmalz XRAY XB8EC |
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