1^st Round of the Finnish Nationals, Kauhava, Somewhere in the middle of the forrest.

Finally after a long list of dissappointments and ridiculousness, it was really going to happen. I was going to race my own car. All the work, all the sacrificed hours slaving away with a dremel or in front of the computer screen, testing at the track, or just thinking and planning when supposed to be doing something else....it all came down to this one moment. The first race. Some people may not think it's important. But to me it was. It could either be a great success, or a huge disaster. That's how I thought of it, but maybe my biggest fear was that it would just be boring and nothing special. I was getting nervous. I prepared like i haven't prepared since the worlds in Indonesia in 2006. I was ready for everything. This was the first car I ever designed and produced, and I was entering the first race with it. In all my life I only have ONE chance to win the first race. I wasn't going to NOT win because of something falling apart or something I forgot to do. So I went overboard with locktight, superglue and general paranoia. My friends were laughing at me but I didn't care.

The race was the first in our 4 race long Finnish National Championship Series. It was held about 5 hours by car, north of Helsinki, where I live. Last year there had been a national at the same track, but I had missed it, but I heard the track was great. Turns out it was. Smooth dirt track, with average traction, and just abit of dust. A good layout with a bridge, and some challenging jumps made for a great racetrack.

It was a one day race, two practice rounds, three 5min qualifiers, christmas-tree style finals (like at euros and worlds), and a 45min A-main. We had already arrived earlier together with the already legendary Heinonen brothers and some other random people for some practice on Friday. So when we hit the track on saturday morning we already looked like we knew what we were doing.

Practice went well, and Ari and me were fighting for the fastest laptimes. It was obvious that qualifying would be really close!

Qualifying was abit more interesting than normal, because I wasn't in the top heat, as I only did 2 races last year, so I would do my run, and then go and watch the top heat, and see if someone could beat my time. In the 1st round Ari Heinonen kicked my ass, and I was 2^nd. Second round I managed to TQ. For the last round I was such a nice guy that I gave Ari the PL Recoil M3 tyres that I had just run, and he thanked me by TQ:ing with a near perfect run, beating me by 2 seconds. We were actually running different tyres each run. I started out by running Holeshot M3 in the first practice. They were too loose, it was a bit too dusty. I then tested the Recoil, and realised they were really good. Then 1^st qualifying round, I used Revolver M3. They were very easy to drive, but lacked some steering. 2^nd round I ran the Recoil M3, a lot like the Revolver but more steering, and more consistent traction. For the 3^rd round I ran Revolver M4, which were very easy to drive, and even had good traction offline in the dust. The best laptimes were about the same with all tyres, and my results were 8L 5:05, 8L 5:05 and 8L 5:02, so even the times proved that they were all good tyres! So Ari TQ:ed and I was 2^nd.

the dust, in the 27 degree heat. How is that for Finland?

For the semi final, I was pretty nervous. I knew I would make the main if I didn't break, but anything can happen and that's why I hate semi finals! I ran Caliber M3, and for the first time in my life they were actually good. I always thought Caliber was loose in all directions, and generally abit boring, but now they were really good, with good steering. Only the rear end got abit loose, if I punched it out of corners. But laptimes were once again the same. I beat Ari's semi final time and got to start 1^st in the main.

One cool feature that the organisers had adopted, was something I had suggested, which was to make the championship points leader use numbers with a red background, like the ones in Motocross. I think it is cool, as the people watching will know who is the man to beat. In this race it was Ari, as he is last years Champion.

For the main Ari and I decided to run the same tyres, Recoil M3s. Throughout the race we only ran the stock blue moulded foam because they are dialled. The track was pretty fast and used a lot of fuel, so we both stopped at 7:30, which meant, that it would be down to the driver to get the job done, as the strategies were equal. I wasn't as nervous anymore, as I had avoided disaster, made the main, and proved THE Car's dialledness to everyone watching. I was happy. But ofcourse I wanted to win. I even superglued my batteryconnector. I was going to finish this race. As for the performance of THE Car, one thing was obvious. It has a lot of steering everywhere. I actually had oversteer in places, I never have oversteer. I am one of those drivers that likes that a car has steering and cornerspeed in all situations, and I was really happy that I hadnt designed a complete dud. At least the thing turns :-). It jumped well too, and there weren't many bumps, but I could tell I still have a few changes to make so it will handle the rough stuff better. But I'm not far off anymore, it really felt like a “real car” and not some hacked together prototype, and I was excited about that. I also didnt break anything all weekend, so I am not too worried anymore about the whole project.

Back to the race! The main started, and Ari and I started a battle that would last the full 45min. It was awesome. For most of the final, I was leading, and Ari right behind me, anything from 1 second to 6s. I think I managed to get the gap up to close to 10s twice in the race, but both times I made a mistake, once with a backmarker, and once on my own, and Ari was right there again. I bet it was an exciting main to watch! The last few laps were really tough, specially the very challenging jump in the middle of the track, where we basically had to time it so we landed on a postage stamp of a table-top, and then doubled out. It was difficult because you were heading towards the driverstand, and the car dissappeared from view before taking off. So I didnt want that jump to decide the race on the last lap, and luckily it didn't, although Ari was so close, that I did have to jump it every single lap. Afterwards it's scary to think about, but when driving it's not so bad. Someone actually asked me how I time the jumps right, and I have no idea. When you think about it it's crazy. How can someone go to a new track, and immediately time a jump correctly, with an RC car, driving it from 20m away. I don't know. One just learns to “feel it”. I don't understand how someone can just go out and do a tripple in supercross just like that, but I guess they just “feel it” too. All I was feeling though was a HUGE weight off my shoulders as I crossed the line first WITH MY OWN CAR! How cool is that? Very cool, now I can tell you because it happened and I didn't just dream it. Thank you to everyone that has helped me get this far. Not too many months to go I'm sure! Things are moving, and it couldn't have gotten off to a better start.

Thank you also to my sponsors who have stuck by me for my last 2 years which weren't all that good. Lets hope it will turn around now since I don't have any excuses left, and I'm racing THE Car.

ProLine, OS Engines, Werks, LRP, Savox, Maugrafix, JVD, Neobuggy.net, http://www.modellismorc.net/