"Hello folks, here goes a brief (not so brief) report about the WC warm up race....
Due to business commitments I just arrived at the track on Saturday and still had to break-in a new engine, I spent the day getting the engine ready and used the qualifying rounds to do it. The turnout was very low so the traction has never came to the level we expected, so I just focused on getting used to the car and set my engine to make 5-minute as it's going to be the key for the 10-minute qualifying at IFMAR WC. The winter season in Americana city brings a lot of moisture in the evening and my Sunday morning practice didn't happen as the track was still wet until 10AM. So I made several changes on the car and went straight to the main final without further practice. The track was around 0.4s slower than Saturday and I could clock the same laptimes, so my car improved a lot, driver still lacking the concentration and pace for 1/8 scale which I haven't raced since July 2014. I made a good started and even passed JJ Wang on first corner, but prefered to not take the risk of ending our race on the first hairpin with all cars coming from behind, I let him go and the race went smooth for him and for me. Few drivers fought for 3rd place and I could pull away as I was racing ''alone'' and also thanks to the 5-minute fuel stops and super fast tire change.
My engine and clutch were set extremely conservative, I could even make 6-minutes but I'm sure a more agressive setting would help to have a quicker pace and I'd still make 5 minutes.
In the end, after some driving mistakes during the race I finished 2nd place. Not bad with almost no testings and I know that the driver must improve a lot smile emoticon
The first thoughts about the R8.0 are the best as possible:
1.) The plastics are incredibly strong and precisely manufactured, I had at least 2 heavy crashes in the main final and the car still stood perfect.
2.) 2-speed transmission is super small and light and the quality of spurs and pinion is so good
3.) The clutch is not only beautiful but also as good as the famous aftermarket clutches we know
Now I'm looking forward to go practice for the worlds for a few more days and fine tune the car but I'm sure. For my driving style I will focus on getting more corner entry and next time I will set the clutch way more agressive than I did on this race, and of course practice more and more to get more used to 1/8 scale and how the car behave differently as the tires get smaller and uneven."
Photo credits to Adriano Berton
Source: Team ARC
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