Robitronic Worlds 2010, Frankfurt - Germany

Its a fact, Rhein Main is one awesome RC Offroad Track. Definitely one of the best in the whole World! The track has everything, fast sweeping corners, hairpins, jumps, a rhythm section, bombhole, mogul section, banked corners, you name it. Fast and flowing, awesome to race on! I once again decided to let two slave drivers test THE Car. This time Mervyn Muller and Tom Wiesner got the chance to get familiar with the pre-production cars.

Track Images by Marc Kreisig

Qualifying

Qualifying was great, a whopping 6 rounds, with 5 on Saturday, and the last one being on Sunday morning. I again tested some different set ups, but didn’t have the same luck as at Slough, it didn’t improve each time. I wanted to try and achieve a set up that was super easy and stable to drive, yet have a lot of steering. I got close but not quite there yet. For the main I had all the steering I wanted but I didn’t have the traction I wanted. So it can still get better. Anyway, I did improve towards the end, and actually TQ:ed the last round. That was great as I haven’t managed to TQ anything international in a long time. The last round secured 2nd overall, as local Losi legend Maximillian Cordts TQ:ed.

My test slaves did well. Mervyn said he was doing well for his level of driving, and all I know is THE Car looked to be handling ok. I think it jumps and lands, and accelerates well, other than that it’s hard to tell, watching someone else drive it. He qualified in the 1:8th final. Tom managed to qualify into the 1:4 final.

THE Test

Marc Kreisig (who also is crazy, quite fittingly) had a brilliant idea, one that only an organised person like him could come up with, He announced that anyone wanting to test THE Car could do so, by signing up on the notice board. I would have just said anyone want to drive? Get on the drivers stand now! Maybe the organised method was better, as over 50 people signed up! Slightly unexpected but brilliant.

We used my race car, and Mervyns car for the test, and I quickly changed the set up to what I thought could be the box stock set up, and was quite happy with the results. Beginners either said that it was very good and smooth to drive, and jumped very well, or said it had too much steering at first, but after a few laps it was ok because it was controllable, and race drivers all said it didn’t have enough steering, but acceleration, cornerspeed and jumping was great. So the results were good, and I felt I was close to finding the right box set up. Maybe more impressively, nothing broke, until a top rival who shall remain nameless due to legal reasons, tested my race car last of all, and immediately broke it. I suspect sabotage. Actually it was really sneaky sabotage, as he didn’t even crash, but still managed to break it.

I had promised Jess Saunders, who had successfully raced THE Car in the UK the week end prior, that no 9-year olds would drive his car, before he gor it back for another race. You see he wasn't happy that he had to rebuild his test car, and he blamed it o the 9-year old who had been racing it before him. So this one's for you Jess! 

Finals

Mervyn bumped into the 1:4 finals, and was pretty happy about that. He drove well, even though his wheels were purple. Tom bumped from the 1:4 to the semi, even though his ride height adjustment nut loosened completely on one rear shock, meaning his suspension was all out of whack. Mervyn unfortunately didn’t bump, finally falling victim to those purple wheels slowing his progress.

I hate semis, I really do. I get so nervous, because there is so much to loose. I knew I had the speed to win this race, but on the other hand I could also finish 24th. I didn’t this time, and made the main, as did Tom, which was awesome! 2 cars in the main, and now I was sure THE Car is ok. If someone who never driven it before, can take it and make the main in an international race where he wasn’t necessarily expected to make it anyway, it can’t be all bad.

The A main proved to be quite interesting. Bayer and Max immediately crashed, letting Carsten Keller, me and Alex Hardt through. I got the lead on the second lap, but then made a mistake and dropped to 4th. Then I caught back up and made some cool passes, if I may say so myself. I don’t really know why, but there was one section which I was doing differently to everyone else. After the long left sweeper, everyone else was keeping a tight line out of it, avoiding a man-made bump on the inside of the following right. I instead carried more speed, and drifted out, drove over the bump, and turned on a dime at the next right. I passed a number of cars there, and don’t know why others weren’t doing it.

After the race settled down, Bayer was out with electrical issues, and I was leading. I was thinking that I will win if I don’t do anything stupid. Then it started raining. This was bad news. I was on M2s not M3s which are better in the wet. Also my set up was quite “loose”, I set my car up not to have a lot of traction, as I like to drive like that. Well, not good news for the wet. I didn't have enough traction anymore, to be able to keep up, and dropped to 5th. Then something strange happened. The rain stopped, and within a few laps the track dried enough to where it had traction. It actually changed 80% of the total amount IN ONE LAP! I can’t explain it. One lap I was drifting, and next lap I was dialled again. I started driving well again and managed to get into 3rd. Then Keller had some problem, and I was in second. That’s all I could manage as Alex Hardt was driving well, and won the race! So second place in Germany, not great but not bad either. And Tom finished 6th, so all in all a good week end of racing.

The next day Marc, Tom and I went to the Astroturf track for some testing and general crazyness which was fun. I found some awesome lines but unfortunately they cut about half the track length out, so I’m not sure they would be race legal.

Mervyn proved to be quite talkative, so here is Mervyns take on THE Set Up:

More Great Pictures, some of which I stole, thank you Marc Kreisig.

Images of Racing and such things.

And THE Gallery