I would like to let you know about my experiences with the XRAY RX8 2012. As many of you know this was the first year for me with XRAY and obviously I needed to get used to everything that comes with joining a new team.
Fortunately XRAY is a very professional and organised company that knows exactly what customers and their team drivers need. So for me this made things easy and I could concentrate on getting to know the new XRAY RX8 2012 car.
Right after I received my stuff at the end of January I started to build the car and as expected the fit and finish of this car was really good and the car was finished in no time without any
mods needed. The thing that is really different with the XRAY car is the driveline, itâ™s really very smooth because of the perfectly round pulleys and ultra smooth bearings, also the high quality of the drive axles and other drive line parts make this kit stand out from the other available cars in the 1/8 onroad market.
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The standard setup was pretty close to what I liked, the only thing I changed was Red springs in the rear and 7.0 springs front. Also I think the best shock setup to start with is 2 holes front and rear with 500 oil in the back and 700 in the front.
After my first test I only found a small thing that needed attention, I found the tension on the servo saver spring a little soft so I made it a little stiffer. Please be carefull because by stiffening it up the risk of a broken servo also becomes bigger.
So early April was the first real test as we had the first national race at the Real 80 track.
Also on this track the car was great and I was able to improve my personal and track records
once again. We TQâ™d and won this race so I was really feeling good about the car for the upcoming races.
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Results R1
1. Rick Vrielijnck - XRAY RX8
2. Steven Cuypers 3. John Ermen - XRAY RX8
4. Arie Manten
5. Joey Sorber
6. Frank Baggen
7. Daan Haling
8. Arco de Jong
9. Gunther v Steay
10. Robin D'Hondt
The second race was at the brand new MRG Genk track and because the car and especially the track were completely new to me I decided to go for some practice on the Friday before the race. However I allready felt the car was handling great so not much efforts were needed to also TQ and win the second round.
During the other rounds the car was also performing really well and at the last race in Gouda we managed to win the Dutch national championship title. I was really happy with this since itâ™s not always easy to have the same results right away with a new car but the XRAY RX8 2012 proved to be a very easy and fast car so we were even able to improve the records already!
Results R2
1. Rick Vrielijnck - XRAY RX8
2. John Ermen - XRAY RX8
3. Michiel Renting
In between the national races we also attended the European championship in Portugal. This race was held at a very large track and also the asphalt was very rough so the setup was changed a little and the car was very competitive, unfortunately engine problems, partly due to the 8 mm carb rule and very hot weather caused an engine failure in the semi final and because of this we could not transfer to the main final this time. However I had a very good feeling with the car and learned some new setups.
The last race we had was the Efra GP in Apeldoorn, at this race I used my basic setup and also some new parts like the new radioplate stiffener ( #346090 ) and the aluminium servo saver
( #342511 ) I personally felt that these parts improved the reaction of the car and by using the radioplate stiffener I feel that changes in the setup can be felt better, so for me itâ™s better to start out with the stiffener and when the setup is nearly perfect you can take it out to see if it feels better or not.
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Results EFRA GP
1. VRIELIJNCK Rick - XRAY RX8
2. HĂ„CHLER Silvio 3. ERMEN John - XRAY RX8
At the end I managed to TQ and win the race and also set a new record for the single lap, 7 minutes qualifyer and for the 45 minutes final.
So 2012 has nearly come to an end and offcoarse iâ™m allready looking forward to 2013 were we have the Worlds in Japan as the main event of the year.
Iâ™m feeling very confident with the car as it is and iâ™m sure if you also choose the XRAY car for the new season you will be very satisfied with the handling and quality that this kit offers.
