Serpent Teamblog

Malaysia: Brunei Wirawan with his S411 take TQ & Win Sabah indoor Championship 2012.

Date: 7^th & 8^th April 2012

Venue: Sabah, Borneo sports arena.

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Click to watch video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWXzDa-TfSA&feature=relmfu

The 2012 Victorian Titles was held in the country town of Wodonga, Australia – 4 hours out of Melbourne. With 97 Entries across 5 classes – many had made the travel to make it to this prestigious event.

Whilst I had only built my S411TE three days before this event, I was able (with the help of Marc Fischer on messenger) to put my car on the top of the time sheets after the Friday practise ahead of top Australian drivers, Simon Nicholson, Antoni Caretti, Sandy Iavazzo and Oscar Piastri. I was using Marc’s German Nationals setup, with a front gear diff with RIDE Diff Putty.

For the first few qualifiers on Saturday morning, I had a hard time to get the car to be on the same pace as the Friday practise due to the increasing traction of the morning. As this was the first time I had ever driven the car, it made it very difficult to know what to change. However I changed droop slightly and changed to HPI Silver, and decided to make my car very easy to drive and consistent. Consistency at this track was crucial and not so easy, as the track was very tight and technical and had large curbs, which were unable to be driven on. In the final four rounds of Qualifying, I was able to get 2^nd, 2^nd, 1^st, 1^st, which put me into TQ position for the finals, ahead of Simon Nicholson (Kyosho), Antoni Caretti (Hot Bodies), Sandy Iavazzo (Associated) and Oscar Piastri (Xray) – Making it five different brands of car in the top 5!

The first A-main would have to be one of the best races of my life; I made a mistake in the opening laps which put me to third. Mistakes by Simon and Antoni then put me back into the lead. Simon passed me on the last lap as I just clipped a curb unsettling my car, I was then able to pressure Simon on the remaining few corners, leading to a super small mistake on the final corner from Simon, where I was able to just get the inside and get a better drive off the corner to take the First A-Main by 0.1 Seconds!

In the second A-Main, I lead for most of the race with Simon pressuring me hard for 3 minutes. We had pulled a fairly large gap on the rest of the field. I got it very slightly wrong through the chicane onto the straight, causing Simon to accidentally hit me and tuck my body. Simon very courteously waited and we continued to Finish 2^nd and 4^th, with young Oscar Piastri taking the win.

The third A-Main was the decider; Myself, Simon and Oscar were all contenders to take the title of Victorian Champion, but with an early mistake from Simon and Antoni that put me to the lead with Sandy Iavazzo on a charge from 4^th on the grid a few seconds behind. I was able to drive consistently and maintain the lead until the second last lap, in which I just hit a curb and rolled, allowing Sandy to win the last final and myself coming in second.

The final results were:

TQ & 1^st – Ryan Maker (Serpent/SP)

2^nd – Sandy Iavazzo (Associated/Reedy)

3^rd – Oscar Piastri (Xray/SP)

4^th – Simon Nicholson (Kyosho/LRP)

5^th – Antoni Caretti (Hot Bodies/SP)

I am very excited to drive Serpent’s new S411TE, as this very promising result is only the beginning. I will be testing more and working closely with Marc to get the most out of Serpent’s fantastic new car! I would like to thank Serpent and Australian Importer; Walter RC Hobby City for this opportunity.

Ryan Maker

Team Serpent Australia

The 2011/2012 season has come to an end for the 1:10 TC Electric racers in Denmark.

It all ended on the 25^th March with Championship finals in two of the three Unions in Denmark.

The Sunday prior it was the new Union, DMSU who had their Championship race.

At least one to many Unions – for this small country.

On the 25^th March, Steven M.
Olsen was in Skive, Denmark, for the DRCMU Final with his Serpent
S411. With a good race and some luck with other drivers positions in
the race, he could grab the overall 3^rd place in the DRCMU
Championship 2011/2012.

It was a rather large track, but sadly
traction never really found it’s way to the carpet.

Qualifying went OK. Steven
had good speed and stability in his S411, but the lack of traction
caused him to be perhaps a bit too careful when running against the
clock, thereby loosing a little time to the fastest drivers in the
Super Stock class.

The result was a stating
position as 4^th for the A-main in Super Stock.

The mains could easily had
gone better.

The start of the first main
failed completely. Due to the carpet layout, Stevens car was
positioned on a tape line, and this coursed the car to go out of
bounds, and put Steven last in the pack of the eight A-main drivers.
Steven recovered and gained back a position as 5^th as time
expired.

The second A-main went much
better. Now luck was actually in Stevens favour. In general it was a
messy one to watch. In the opening laps there is a big crash that
involves most of the cars. Steven get through with out any big
trouble and cruises on to take 2^nd place in this main.

The final main didn’t go at
all!

Practice laps resulted in
broken battery tape, that had to be fixed prior to the heat start.
Steven tumbled on his way to the drivers stand, nearly breaking the
transmitter. He did get a good start, but just a few laps into the
race, the car catches some loose tape on the track, sending the car
into the barrier, breaking the battery tape for the second time in
just a few minutes.

Note: Steven has bought new
tape…

But luck hadn’t left Steven
all together.

Steven finished overall 4^th
in the race. This together with the result from other drivers in
contest for the overall Championship 3^rd place podium
finish, gave this position to Steven, with two point in the final
standings.

A great result for Steven,
who had one visit to a race podium in the DRCMU series, when he
finished in 2^nd place at the 3^rd race of the
season in Vamdrup, Denmark. For the remaining four races Steven
finished just outside the podium spots.

——

The Sunday prior, on the
18^th March, Steven also drove his Serpent S411 to an
overall Podium finish. This was at the DMSU Danish Mini Touringcar
Championship race in Tølløse, Denmark.

There had been two Cup-races
prior to the Championship race, where attenders got a point for
participation from each race they had attended. This they then were
credited at the Championship race.

Steven had attended the
second Cup race, and did so well an finished 2^nd.

At the Championship race
things were looking good. The S411 had good traction and Steven was
running well. It looked to be a close race, with four drivers with in
just a few seconds on a five minute run during practice.

As the Championship
qualifying began, Steven wanted to push just a bit more. This looked
to be good, but sadly a few mistakes came crawling, and times didn’t
quite reach times from practice. One heat did how ever go more or
less according to plan, and Steven put his Serpent S411 on 2^nd
spot for the A-main, trailing by about three seconds on the end time.

The first main was rather
straight forward. All came well of the grid and there were some close
race during the opening laps. Then the cars spread out and nothing
more really happened. Steven raced nice and even and kept in control
of his 2^nd place.

The second A-main didn’t
have any more action than the first. Again a rather clean start and
Steven took home yet a 2^nd place finish, as he wasn’t able
to maintain pressure on the leader an winner of the race.

The last main had some more
action.

A messy start had Steven
going to the lead on the opening laps. About minute in, Steven
crashed going into a corner too early, leaving him to recover as 5^th.
Steven gave what he had, and drove his way get back into 3^rd
place and had a great fight for 2^nd during the last two
minutes. He made a few good overtaking attempt, but was well defended
and denied, and Steven didn’t get past.

The overall result were a
2^nd place finish for Steven and his S411 in the DMSU
Danish Mini Touringcar Championship 2012.

Steven has been focusing on
the DMSU and DRCMU Championships this winter season, and to grab a
2^nd and a 3^rd place overall is very satisfying.

On the final days of March
Steven characterise his season this way;

“If I am to sum up my
season, I would say a roller-coaster ride..! I’m very happy with my
overall results for this season. Especially my 3^rd
place in the DRCMU championship. It has been great races with plenty
of competitors. You had to be at maximum for each race, just to be in
the A-main. It’s been the best racing in Denmark this season, in my
opinion. I did have my eyes set on at
least one more podium finish during the season. I have had the speed
most times, but luck, that is always needed, hasn’t always been
there. But that’s racing I think. Other then that I find that
the season and races has been quit close. I’m very happy about my
Serpent S411. It has been easy to find a good and workable set up.
How ever on tracks with low traction I have been struggling a bit,
not being on pace at those races.

Also I have to thank my
friend Nicolai Nielsen for his help during the season. He’s the
reason I chose the Serpent S411 – and I do not regret my choice. We
have had some great team work about set up and likes, with the car.

Naturally a big thanks to
Serpent for building a very fine Touring car.

Now I look forward to the
coming 2012 outdoor season. I hope to run strong, so we can keep the
S411 on the podiums.”

Date:              24. and 25.3.2012

Race:              DRCMU 5

Track:            Hemhallen – Skive

Condition:     Carpet – mixed – 20 degr. C – low grip

Class:             Modified

Result:           2.

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Double TQ for Serpent S411 at West London Summer Series R1

Last weekend saw the first round of the West London Racing Centre Summer Championship take place in the UK. Glorious sunny weather adorned the track which has been extensively refurbished during the last 18 months with a new track surface, drivers’ rostrum and painted lines.

Serpent UK team driver Mark Stiles headed to the meeting to conduct some pre-season shakedown/test running with his LRP/Xcelorin powered S411. For 2012 all competitors at BRCA nationals will be using 10.5 motors so this was the first time Mark had run a pro-stock setup, having previously driven in the modified class.

The grip levels were very low in the morning as conditions were chilly and the surface was quite dusty. Things improved throughout the day as cars laid down some rubber and the track warmed up, although the grip levels never reached high levels during the day.

After a familiarization practice run, Mark made a few subtle changes to his S411 in the early qualifying rounds. These modifications improved the consistency and on power stability of the car allowing Mark to put in some smooth and consistent runs on used rubber. Fine tuning of tyre treatment and preparation followed and the result was a stable looking and easy to drive car that several other competitors commented upon.

Mark was fastest in all four of the qualifying heats and was the only driver to achieve a 20-lap qualifying run. In the finals Mark was almost unchallenged and took comfortable wins in both of the A final legs ahead of the TOP Photon of Brian Eldridge to give him a perfect championship score to start the summer season. Mark will conduct further testing in the coming weeks before the BRCA nationals start in May.

In the very competitive 13.5 class, Rich White took TQ running a privately entered S411 ahead of top local driver Spencer Jones and the Schumacher of Ashley Wiffen. David Saul qualified 8^th with the second S411 in the A final. Unfortunately in the finals Rich was unable to convert his pole position and despite taking 2^nd place in the first leg, a DNF in leg 2 left him 7^th overall. David Saul fared slightly better, improving on his grid position to take 5^th overall.

set-up|:  Stiles WLRC Summer 1&2 2012

lap-chart: lap chart

Mark

Ryan Maker won 2012 EP Victoria State Title over weekend after putting a super TQ on the list.

Ryan Maker just moved the week before form HB to Serpent 411, but it took him very little time only to get to speed with the Serpent 411.

Little oversteer in the beginning, but super right after.

Report to follow.

Team Serpent Australia / WalterRC

“  Serpent TQ´s and gets 2nd on the first round the Portuguese TC National Championship  ”

On the 25th of March 2012, took place the first round of the Portuguese 1/10th TC National Championship at the “MiniAutódromo de Torres Novas”.
32 drivers attended the season openers race with great enjoyment.
The track surface was clean and dry with the air temperature reaching 28ºC.
2011 National Champion Hugo Miguel, Top Qualified on the hands of a Serpent S411 2011 spec.
For the finals very close battle was observed between Hugo Miguel, Bruno Coelho, João Martinho and Bernardo Cosme. Hugo Miguel won the first round of the finals benefiting from fresh rubber and sharp handling.
The 2nd and 3rd round were won by top driver Bruno Coelho followed by João Martinho and Hugo Miguel. All finals saw intense and skillfull driving with lots of action and overtaking!!!
I would like to  thank my RRF Modelismo/Serpent Portugal and SERPENT for theoportunity to drive the high performing S411 for this season!
My thanks also go to the organisation and all the racers that became part of the event, it turned out to be a fun and great day spent with you, my friends!

Regards,

Hugo Miguel / S411
Team Serpent Portugal

Team Serpent