Round 3 of the Portuguese 1/8 TT nitro regionals was held at the Circuito TT Automodelismo do Funchal. We received the car just a few days before the event and started the Saturday practice trying to the discover the difference between my old 808 and the new XB9. Just with the basic settings the car proved to be a step forward in handling and overall stability, and after tweaking the set-up a little and some tire changes the times started to drop.
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We started qualification at 11:00AM on Sunday. In my first round, things didn't go well. We had some problems in fine tuning the engine, but at the end of qualifying I managed to get in 2nd place. Starting the 45 minute Final, we hit trouble again with an engine flameout in the box, started in last position and 4 seconds behind the others. The race pace was strong but we started gradually overtaking and by mid race I was in 2nd thanks to a longer fuel stop and the superb handling of the car. The battle for 1st started and it was all about the refueling strategy, so we opted to stretch it for as long as we could for the final two stops and it worked just fine! I was in the lead with 2nd place right behind. At 10 minutes to the end the most direct opponent had trouble, so we held on to win by a 2-lap lead at the end.
Round 3 of the Madeira Island nitro and electric on-road regionals was held at the Cancela track. In the 200mm 1/10 scale nitro class, we started qualification with a good result â“ a 2nd position â“ after struggling a bit with traction rolling. In the main final, things didn't start well and we had some trouble, making a mistake with the wrong front tire shore, losing some time to the rest of the pack, but by the end of the race managed to close the gap and secure 3rd place.
In the electric touring class it was multi-time regional champion Jo?o Gaio (XRAY) who took all three A finals, with electric debutant Paul Miguel Rodrigues (XRAY) being in the runner-up spot. Third place went to Nuno Lourenco also driving an XRAY.
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Final Results 1/10 200m Nitro
1. Luis Cortez
2. Luis Angelo 3. Paulo Rodrigues â“ XRAY NT1
