European Championships 2010,

THE Car’s first major international race.

The coverage of the major races is rather good these days with many websites offering live coverage along with race reports. So I decided I wouldn’t actually write anything about who won and in what way, since you will already know. Instead I thought I would mainly write about how it is to attend the Euros with your own pre-production car that is supposed to be released at the end of the year.

Half of Team Finland decided to fly to Portugal early, for some practice and preparation for the race. We went to a track close to Porto for 2 days of practice before the Euros, which turned out to be a really good time. Mikko Mäkinen was ready to practice first, and he ventured out on the track full of confidence. As he completed the first lap he entered the front straight, and pinned it. Next us in the pits heard a loud thud, an engine stop, followed by a shout, “OHO” a few seconds later. Mikko had forgotten that the front straight ends right after the drivers stand, with a 90 left turn. He plowed straight into the concrete pit exit ramp wall. Nice one.

Can you spot Mikko Mäkinen?

Rule number 1:

Always check the layout of the track before attempting to drive.

Layout checked, ready to go!

Fast forward to the Euros, and I made sure I checked the layout well, as I was in the first heat of practice. Not the optimum place to be, but as I was driving a new car, it was a good chance to showcase it, and also soil oneself on the drivers stand due to the added pressure of everyone watching. I shuddered at the thought of going out there and breaking, or spazzing out, and making THE Car look bad. First impressions last, and I wanted to make a good one. Me and my friends still laugh and joke about the first impression we had of 2 brands that debuted a few years ago at the Euros, and broke off the first small jump on the track. That impression has lasted in all of us, regardless of what the brands in question have done since then. It is a scary thought.

Team Finland, and some Norwegian dude...

I had more pressure on me for this race than normal, because it was the first time, basically the whole of the European top racing scene would see THE Car in action. Before the race I had thought about many issues, for example what I should or could be able to achieve. At the beginning of the year I had hoped to go to the Euros, and seriously go for the win, but as June was nearing its end, it was clear to me that the best realistic goal I could set was to make the A main, and see what happens. THE Car wasn’t as ready as I had hoped, and I still received some parts only days before leaving for the Euros. And most importantly, I didn’t have enough wheel time with a good race set up. I was always testing all kinds of things, and my comfort level was not high enough yet. This worried me a bit, as I knew the Euros track required a lot of accuracy and throttle control.

Track was technical, specially after it got bumpy!

I also considered the marketing side of things, should I allow pictures? I decided to continue with my policy of no pictures. Some people laughed about it, but if you weren’t at the race, and you didn’t walk up to me and ask to see THE Car, then you probably don’t know what it looks like naked, and when I do release the pictures they will be new and hopefully interesting to you. And you may even be curious as you read this, as to what I am hiding under that bodyshell.

No you can't take pics Phil!

Anyway, back to Round 1, Heat 1. The track was opened, and I left the pit lane second, but after the first corner I was first, and THE Car was the first car to complete a lap of the Euros track! Awesome! And somehow I drove pretty well, and based on feedback, THE Car looked good. So first impressions were taken care of. Nice. I was stoked.

Leading the pack, thats how it needs to be!

Qualifying

I changed the set up of my car for each run. Tyres were a big question mark at this event, as the track was really tricky, with many different traction levels. I tried ProLine revolvers, recoil, calibers and bowties, different compounds, different foams, and in the end I settled with my favourite tyre, bowtie, with the stock foam. How uninteresting. It felt like all the testing was pointless! After I settled on the tread, I needed to figure out the compounds, and after a couple of wrong moves I figured out, M3 before 12 noon, and M2 after worked the best.

All of this playing around with tyres was not the best situation to be in, as I was trying to figure out the set up of THE Car at the same time. Basically, in a nutshell, it started out good, then I changed shock pistons, oils, link positions, diff oils, swaybars etc, and it just got worse until the 3^rd round of qualifying, and then I managed to start improving it again. For the mains I changed to 6 hole pistons from 5 hole ones, and it improved the bump handling which was the main issue in the mains.

The Aigoin Brothers dominated qualifying! As if one fast Aigoin isn't enough!

My qualifying runs were not very good, because I was quite nervous, but also I just lacked confidence. I made a lot of small mistakes, and at least one big crash in each run. I was happy that I was not too far off the pace, as I checked my laps apart from the standard one long one, and they were usually good enough for top 10 to top 15. So even after qualifying low, into the 1:8^th finals, I was confident I could move up, as usually I am less nervous in mains, and make less mistakes as I can pace myself better. Actually I qualified in the exact same spot as at last years Euros, 3^rd on the grid in the 1:8^th final. Nothing to cheer about, but at least after qualifying I was more confident with the car, and looking forward to racing.

Mains

For the main I was actually quite calm, even though I felt like I HAD to bump up, just so I could get a better result and showing for THE Car. In the first corner I was hit from behind and dropped to last. I didn’t worry too much though, as I was on a 1 stop strategy for the 20min main. And sure enough, at the halfway point I was already into a bump up spot. In the end I finished 2^nd, so I bumped.

For the quarterfinal I changed my rear pistons. I had been running 6x1.3mm pistons in the 1:8^th final, but changed to 6x1.4mm rear pistons. It made the car handle the bumps much better, and I didn’t have to be so precise with my line choice and throttle control anymore. In the 1:4 final I was once again on a one stop strategy, which I believe would have enabled me to grab the last bump up spot to the semi final, but unfortunately I broke, crashing badly off the double jump. That really really sucked! But of course, if something breaks, it will break in a race, at the worst possible time!

I had to change shock settings in order to improve bump handling.

THE Summary

All in all, I was happy, even though I didn’t finish, and I will never know if I could have made the main or not. I proved to myself that even at this early stage in production, THE Car was already at least as good as the others. I got the same result as last year, and the car seemed to handle well enough even with my limited experience on this kind of surface. Next year I will be in a much better position to do well, as I will have 1 full year of wheel time, and also, I won’t be alone, as there will be a team of drivers racing THE Car.

Finally, this Euros was also a bit different for me, as I not only had to focus on racing, but also figuring out the distribution network of JQ Products, by having meetings with numerous distributors, and showing and explaining to them what THE Car is all about. This was the first time I had my own mechanic at a race, so a big thank you to Kim Larsen from Norway for making the whole week a lot easier for me!