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When: February 7th to 11th
Where: Shepparton Radio controlled car
club
Melbourne
Australia
Why: Australian National titles
Stats and Facts:
2 practice heats (no open practice)
Six, 10 minute qualifying rounds.
30 Min Semi Finals
60 minute main final
102 buggies entered.
30 Degree Celcius average temp.
Rained hard just before our final.
As you all would already know
the M1 was recently released by Team Magic, this buggy being the
most innovative to date. As expected there has been plenty
“arm-chair engineers” that have given their imput. The results
below should put all the critics to rest.
Prior to going down to
Shepparton we had 2 practice days and one club race. The car ran
well throughout the practice days and with my new found engine I
have had zero motor issues, which in the past has been my
personal major flaw. During the first few practice sessions we
found the car to have plenty of steering (too much for the bumpy
track), and not enough traction on power out of most corners.
Dialing the steering out was not much of an issue with heavier
front diff oils, and slightly heavier shock oil. The rear grip
was found by using 3degree toe blocks and zero anti squat. I
personally think the 3 degree plate is a “must” on almost all
tracks. We now have a reasonably setup car that was pulling some
decent lap times on a rough track, which is usually the norm
come finals time.
Down to Shepparton we went,
new car a basic setup and a whole lot of hope. I personally had
never been down to Shepparton before and this was going to be
another hurdle.
Day One: Controlled practice of 2 ten
minute sessions (cut down from 3) were run and one qualifier in
the afternoon. After the first practice round I was quite happy
with how everything went. For the second practice session I made
a couple of changes and was faster again. Time for the first
qualifier and this is where the nerves kick in, its time to
produce the goods. Overall I finished third in the first
qualifier, which I was pleased about.
Day two and more qualifying
rounds, four to be exact. Finishing in the top 5 in all
qualification heats including one round win has placed me in
second position with one round remaining. No real changes were
made to the car today besides shortening the rear link which
seemed to lock the rear end of the car in more on the Blue
Groove surface. Bumps had started to form but nit too many.
Day three and the last
qualifying round, just had to put another solid run in to secure
second on the grid and once again produced the goods, second was
mine. Time to go home and fully rebuild the car as the top 3
placings go straight into the Main final. Rebuilding the car is
essential not because the car needs it, but to make sure nothing
goes wrong in the Main final.
After good nights sleep I feel
a million dollars and you need to be. After all lower and Truggy
finals were run it was time for the buggy main. RAIN RAIN RAIN
just before our final, drenching the track. Back to our pit
areas to make some changes. Inside Job tyres were glued up, as
these do not hold as much dirt, a smaller clutch bell (13T) and
raised the ride height. I was a bit behind the 8 ball here as we
had not raced or run the car in these conditions, but you take
what you can get.
Final: The first 10 minutes of the race I
was cruising around in third position, the track was still very
tacky and there was plenty of grip. 15 minute mark second place
dropped out with a issue, I now found myself in second 11
seconds behind 1st place, the problem was the guy in
third was catching. I started to push and made a couple of
errors dropping back to third. 40 minute mark I droped back to 4th
due to a couple more errors, I found that I was unable to push
the car due to the amount of rear grip. 60 minutes and the race
was over, the M1 finished and finished a strong 4th
place. No breakages no problems just a strong run race.
I wish to thank Team Magic for producing
the M1 Buggy I am confident with some more track time and
development the car is more than capable of placing at the top
of the table. Also wish to thank my Pit crew Ben Darley and
Michael Zlotkowski for their ultra fast pit stops.
Here are the qualification round placings
and finals times:
http://www.mdn.net.au/results.htm |
