The First Buggy Cup 1:8 scale off-road Buggy Cup race in The Netherlands showed good results for XRAY.
Appingendam in the North of Holland was the venue and with 75 drivers to attend one of the largest number participants recent years. The full Astro Turf track has an average lap time of 40 seconds so we describe it as a large track. As this was the first race we saw new faces and new cars at the track. Some dedicated XRAY drivers took the step from XB9-2012 or XB9-2013 to the all-new XB8-14. Saturday free practice on a dry track already showed the good performance of the new car. With 3.0 mm anti roll bars in the front and rear some drivers mentioned about the massive amount of steering this car shows. Normally you hear it the other way around where people complain about not enough steering!
So after some set up changes like lower number king pin inclination plates most cars were on pace and the drivers confident. Race day was a different story. Instead of the sunny weather from a day before the prediction was rain and rain. In the morning the track was still damped from the night fog and rain but the real heavy rain stayed out in the morning. With the damped track the anti-roll bars had to be changed to lower numbers to get better sideway grip. A new âśRainâť tyre was added to the tire regulation list. The Schumacher Spirals performed well and gave a good amount of grip and traction on the slippery track. XDAP RC-Connect driver Bart Mullink skipped the first qualification due to the rain prediction. But the rain stayed out longer and so in qualification round 2 and 3 he drove nicely and steady which brought him straight in the ? final on position 1. XDAP RC-Connect driver Kevin Cornelis suffered some engine problems with his FX engine during the qualifications and had to start in the 1/8 final. Kevin was able to climb to the A main final and so was Bart too with a win in the ? final.
Before the A main Sportsman buggy final, the Buggy Cup series runs the A-final for the Hobby class drivers that were not placed in the ? finals or lower. Leon van der Heijden this year also running a XB8-14 won this Hobby Final with one lap ahead of the rest of the field. He left the rostrum with a very big smile. Not only happy with his win but also with the performance of his XB8-14.
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Youngster Jarno Pijpers still running his trusted XB9-2013 could not manage to step up to the A main final but was awarded with the first place as best driver overall in the Hobby class.
So now it was time to start the A main final and guess what? It was dry the whole day although it is was predicted it was raining but at the start of final the predictions came out and it started to rain slowly. Bart Mullink was battling for the lead with Jordy Velder for the first part of the 30 minutes. During the race the rain came down in larger amounts and puddles appeared on the track. Just before the second pits stop Bart closed the gap to the leader Jordy Velder and made a pass but then suddenly Bartâ™s car had a run away and the servoâ™s stopped working due to water in the battery compartment. He had to leave the race so now only Kevin could show his XB8-14 performance. Halfway the final at spot 6 Kevin also suffered water problems in his radio box and had to stop also. One by one the cars were suffering all kind of problems including the leader Jordy Velder. In the end only 5 cars finished. With a win for Kay Koops with a water tight package.
This weekend showed a good atmosphere in the Dutch Buggy Cup and good performances for all XDAP drivers. We are looking forward to the next race with some more practice with the new XB8-14.
Thanks to XRAYâ™s Hurjay and his team for providing a new and excited car with a lot of promises for the this race season.
