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WC 1/12: Mobers reports (01/07/2010)

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Reporter

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Serpent S120 Link 1/12 pancar EP, Serpent S120 Link-Tube 1/12 pancar EP, WC EP 1/10 and 1/12


1/12 World Championships 2010

Dear Serpent lovers,

this time I am reporting from the 1/12 World Championships in Germany. The race took place in Burgdorf, which is 30km from Hannover.
Before this major event we knew the race would be held on the famous CRC carpet, together with Corally Jack the gripper additive. This is used at all major US races, so we expected lots of traction.



After a so so result at the EC 1/12 sooner this year, me and Paul Cicarello tested lots of new bits to solve our problems with Lipo Modified. By the way Paul, thanks for all you do, its really nice working with you!

As you can see on the pictures added we changed lots of things, we replaced the monoshock by tubes, modified the motor-position and placed the servo laydown. Further we played around with setting the car, which already resulted in a TQ at the german Nats, against names like Völker, Reinhard and Fischer.

This was a big improvement and I was very sure that our car would perform superb on the high traction circumstances, as also in practice at Schermbeck track before the Worlds, I was faster than Reinhard, Naoto or Fischer.

So off to Burgdorf on saturday. After we checked in at the hotel we went to the track, to take a look and reserve a pit place. The track, drivers stand and pits were superb. The track layout was nice and challenging and I could not wait to hit the track.

Sunday was all practice runs and we expected the traction coming up very quickly. To the surprise of all competitors the traction was super-low and it did now go up at any time. In the first three practice runs I was in the top 5 all the time, but the traction issue worried me. Due to the superhot temperatures outside the hall warmed up and the traction additive evaporated.
There was not even one black spot on the carpet, it simply looked brand new after three runs.

In the 4th to 6th rounds of practice rounds the track did not change and lots of discussions started in the pits.  People did not like the way things were going and after discussing this with the IFMAR representatives and referees, it was told that this issue will be discussed overnight.

On Monday morning I was very surprised when the organizers asked me to provide my Speedtech Foam Liquid to the competitors. Well, luckily, I had brought 18 bottles with me, as I knew before there could go something wrong.
Sure, I handed out the additive to the organizers for a low price, as I wanted this event to be fair and stop all discussions immediately.

IFMAR decided to give us three more practice runs to get used to the new traction circumstances. This was very funny, already heat one went faster than the fastest previous lap from Naoto yesterday. The carpet started to get a black line immediately.
In my first practice run on that traction I was doing ok, the traction increased immense and I needed to change some on my car. I moved the cell way forward and changed to a short upper arm frontend. This was way better in the next run and I was in the top 10 after practice.

Well, the hall warmed up very much again, the traction went away again, but not like before. My car was ok, but I was losing traction after 4 minutes for some reason. In the first 5 qualifiers I was moving between 6th and 11th spot, but on IFMAR rules the two best runs on laps and times counted. I was lying 10th or 11th after day one of qualifying, so I needed to find another good run on Tuesday morning.


I knew the track would be superfast on Tuesday morning, as the temperature of the track would be lower, which improves the traction. In my qualifier all was going very good, I was on an easy A main pace and catching up to Josh. I did not want to take too much risk, so I decided to simply follow Josh, as that would be enough to make the main. Well….you never should start thinking….bang….I hit the boards and the car was stuck for 5 seconds. So stupid! I now ran the hell out of the car to make the 37 lap run needed to make the main but I missed it by 0,8 seconds. …..I was out off the main and qualified 13th.

Still, the B mains were fun, had some good racing with Moore, Levanen, Howarth and Hagberg.
I enjoyed this race very much, even if I messed up the last run. So I ended on spot 12 and tem-mate Jan Asmer in 17th, same B Main.

One thing I know, we are all set for next season. The improved car is excellent with Lipo on any track conditions.
Within the next few weeks there is more to come about our new parts and I will take time to write an advice for all Serpent users, how to set the car with lipo batteries. Updated Car-release is planned for september.

I wanna thank my wife, Serpent, LRP, SMC, Blackart and Sanwa for their great support. Special thanks go out to Paul Cicarello and my pitman Sven. See ya all soon!

Markus
Team Serpent