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Coventry Summer Series Rd3

Electric Rallycross – Coventry Summer Series Rd3 22 July 2012
Report by Ben Cosgrove

Finally great weather appeared on the few days leading up to the latest round of Coventry Clubs well run summer series. The turn out was a little low as there was also a national and TMSC warm up race on the same date but that did not stop the 30 drivers from having a great day on the dirt.

This round also saw the Coventry grass track being used for the 1/10th buggies for one of the first times this year and it looked to be in great condition. This club can run 3 tracks during one meeting which is a very impressive feat!

The dirt track was very dusty for the practice runs and it was clear that controlled driving would be the order of the day. I started the day on the Pink Gridlock HB tyre as we used at the Rallycross national and this was working extremely well. The track seemed to have cleaned off for the first round of qualification and I had a good run to take TQ.

I decided to spend the rest of qualifying testing shock oils like I had don the week before at NDOR astro track. I was convinced I had too thick an oil in my shocks and thought that maybe I had an astroturf setup. To my surprise going down 100cst all round made the car much harder to drive and didn't feel as good landing off the big jumps. I still took TQ in the round but my laps were a little slower.

I went back to thicker oil like my starting setup but increased the rear oil 100 cst which to my surprise again made it very good both on the bumps and on landings. Laptimes were nearly a second faster and way more consistent. Another TQ meant I had wrapped up pole for the A main already with a round to spare.

I decided to go to a harder compound tyre to test before the final switching to the Red Gridlock HB tyre. This was a very good choice as I instantly dropped another second off my lap times and was very close to that time every lap. The harder tyre had more side bite on the hot track which meant I was close to flipping in a couple of places but it just felt better. A much faster TQ time was set and I was very confident going into the final.

The A main was 15 minutes long which is the same as the electric Rallycross nationals, perfect practice. I had an absolute nightmare on the 3rd corner hitting a bump and causing me to flip. I then fell down to last position but I knew I had a strong pace so just knuckled down and put in the times. It was hard to know where I was as there were lots of cars closing bunched together. After 4 minutes the computer called me in the lead to my relief so I went into cruise mode and just stayed consistent to the end. I did set my fastest lap of the day right at the end of the 15 minute final proving the tyres were the right choice.

After 3 rounds of the series I have a perfect score with my Trophy Buggy Flux and I am looking forwards to the Midland Dirt Masters re-run on the 28/29 July.

News ID: 2012072301

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