This weekend the Swedish Cup circus went to Boras in western Sweden, for the second race of the season. The Boras track has very verying surfaces, including asphalt, concrete, wood, astro turf and clay. It has a special section which always gets bumpy and very loose early on in the race. It also has a long triple jump with a slightly flat landing. The combination of these two sections makes the process of setting up the car more complicated. Settle for landing ability or bump handling? I went for the latter, which turned out very well for me.
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> Last Swedish Cup race in Vetlanda was a large drawback for me when I had to retire in the lead in the quarter final. I learned a lot though, and got my shock setup sorted out. Vetlanda had a lot of big jumps and overall smooth surface. I used the 8-hole conical shock pistons with 1.3 mm holes with 25 WT oil in the rear. Turned out to be a really pleasant combination that could handle both bumps and jumps. For Boras, I changed to thinner oil to adapt to the rough sections of the Boras track.
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> Saturday’s qualifying rounds felt like a test session. I started out with AKA Cityblocks to get good traction in the loose sections, but it also made the car difficult to drive because of sudden traction rolls. Switched to the outer shock position in both set of A-arms, which gave the car much more “pushability”. Still not satisfied, I went for AKA Impacts to make the car even more forgiving.
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> Boras is one of the rainiest locations in Sweden, with over 300 days of rain per year. This day was one of the better ones, with just one small shower right before my fourth qualifying round. The rain made the track slick and slippery, but it still turned out good for me, becoming the 6th fastest driver in the round. I’m still a bit bummed about that rain shower, though…
> I made the semi-finals cut by claiming the 12th position in the end.
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> The competitiveness of the Swedish races have gotten alot harder the last few years. Just making the A main is a struggle nowadays. In the semi finals practice I tried to apply my eco-driving mode in an attempt to cut away one pit stop, but Mother nature hade other plans. Fuel consumption was higher than expected, so no 10-minute strategy in the semi finals. Instead, I pushed hard and got through the semi final with a fast and flawless run, placing me 8th on the grid in the A main.
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> After a few early mistakes in the 45-minute A main, I finally got into the right mode and started to make some progress through the field. The track got bumpy in pretty much every section that wasn’t made of concrete or asphalt, but my Serpent Cobra still handled it neatly and easily. I ended up in 8th place, which I am very happy with.
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> /Michael Nilsson