The second race of the XRAY Challenge 2005 in Greece was again held on a brisk (10°C) though beautiful day at Stamata (Athens, Greece).
There were two qualifying rounds and three finals for each heat. For the first qualifier the track was very slippery and most drivers decided to use Take Off CS 27 tires as it is the official tire for the 2005 National Championship; some racers, including myself, wanted to get more experience with these tires.
First and second qualifying were pretty much identical for me as I managed to claim pole position easily from the first attempt. Nevertheless, the car was terrible to control with absolutely zero traction due to âśstrangeâť track conditions. Although the track was clean and the sun was out, still no one could get any grip out of the Take Off CS 27 tires whereas in other races on different days (even cooler days without any sun) traction level was a lot higher. The main reason I managed to outperform the competition was the very efficient drive train of my XRAY and the consistent and predictable slides which I managed to control and make some clean laps.
Top 3 qualifying positions were as follows:
1. John Doucakis (XRAY)
2. Vangelis Papachristos
3. George Amaxas
For the finals my good friend and second placed racer in qualifying Vangelis (HPI Challenge European Champion 2002) decided to go for the win and changed his tires from CS 27 to CS 22. This was enough to give him the advantage he needed and in the first final he easily pulled away as I was struggling to find any grip with the CS 27 tires. Still I managed to hold on to second place, not to far behind Vangelis. Specifically on the second final, when on the last 2 laps I finally managed to get some heat into the tyres, I closed up on Vangelis and we had a very close fight, bumper to bumper, but Vangelis had a clear traction advantage which was just too much and on the last turn he dived on the inside as my car drifted away from the apex of the turn, and took the win. In third place came George Amaxas with his TAMIYA TRF 415 who was also struggling to find grip.
Top 3 of the A Final were as follows :
(click to enlarge)
1. Vangelis Papachristos HPI PRO4 2. John Doucakis XRAY
3. George Amaxas TAMIYA
A big thanks to XRAY for making such a great car and to NOSRAM speed controller and batteries, and ORION V2 motors for plenty and consistent power.
