Serpent Teamblog

Sweden: 1st 1/10 and 1/8 onroad GP race

Ronald Baar — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:17:01 +0000

PEO Reports SwedishCup R1, Växjö Sweden,
Last weekend, first round of the Swedish on-road cup 2012 in Växjö, a nice track with good traction!
Double podium finishes for the Serpent Sweden team, a promising start of the new season!

Drivers started to practice Friday afternoon, sunny and perfect conditions all day!
Saturday saw light rain so the last and 4:th qualify was postponed to Sunday that brought nice racing weather again.

1:10 Racing
Mikael Fransson focusing on 1:10 this race took TQ with his Serpent 733-TE but in the final he retired shortly with a broken spurgear.
Per-Ola Hard took 2:nd in the final racing the Serpent 733-TE, he was in the lead but ran out of rear tires at 40min and had to make a change and lost several laps.
Young David Hassel normally a fast buggy driver borrowed a Serpent 733-TE from the distributor in Sweden Hobbyprodukter, David had
Klas from Hobbyprodukter as mechanic and finished on a nice 3:rd place in his first nitro onroad race ever, well done!
Winner was Xray driver Markus Hellquist from the Växjö Sweden after a consistant and fast drive!
http://www.myrcm.ch/se/waxjo/20120512_902897/1-10_NT/Final/F_hA_s1_r1.html

1:8 Racing
Markus Lindner racing the Serpent 966-TE took TQ in the dry 4:th qualify held Sunday morning!
In the final Niklas Johansson with his Xray was the man and took a convincing victory!
2:nd and 3:rd was closer and a battle between the Serpent Sweden teammates Bengt Andersson and Marcus Lindner.
After 45min of good racing Bengt was in 2:nd and Marcus in 3:rd, both racing the Serpent 966-TE car!
http://www.myrcm.ch/se/waxjo/20120512_902897/1-8_Track/Final/F_hA_s1_r1.html

Thanks to the local racing club in Växjö south of Sweden and its members in for hosting a nice race!

Next race of the season will be the Nordic Championships in Trollhättan Sweden 9-10:th of June.
See you on the grid then, I hope to race the new Serpent 747 “Jumbo” then

Happy racing,
Peo Hard

Sweden: 1st 1/8 onroad race

Ronald Baar — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:12:42 +0000

1st round of Swedish Cup 2012

1st round Swedish Cup 12-13 May

Last weekend the first major race in the classes 1:8IC and 1:10NT took place in Växjö. This is a small but nice track in south east of Sweden. The weather forecast for the weekend was of a really mixed nature, with sunny and relatively warm temperature on Friday and Sunday but Saturday did not look good….. More about that below.

We headed towards Växjö after lunch on Friday and had a nice 250km drive. When we arrived at the track some drivers had already arrived but it was not crowded in any way, so we unloaded the car and prepared for the first outing. We opted to race with the NovaRossi PTS engines from last year at this first event because there has not been any good weather (=read warm) to test the new NovaRossi Keep-On engines.

We started the first test with the same setup as previous weekend tests in Gothenburg. The Serpent 966Evo did look good from the beginning but we were not 100% sure about the pace due to that no timing was available. However we continued with more engine and clutch tests and settings. End of Friday we felt ok with the preparation for the race. Talking about preparation how about this picture from technical inspection… not too much and not to little… just about right! J

Good planning Wolfgang, good planning…

Looking out from the hotel window on Saturday morning did not make us happy…. rain…

When we arrived at the track it was wet and basically it did rain the whole day. 4 qualifying rounds was planned but it was obvious that no one (ok, maybe one or two dare devils) would put a car on the wet track. Finally the race officials cancelled the qualifying sessions and decided to move the 4th qualification round to Sunday. This was a good decision because who wants to race in wet conditions…. Now we could spend some quality time with race friends whom some we haven’t seen since last year…..

Sunday looked good with clear blue sky’s and sun (although a little bit cold in the morning). A practice session was scheduled before the first and only qualification session. We took the chance to use this practice session for final tuning of the car before the serious stuff started. Our experience from last year was that the PTS engines with the new cooling head caused us some confusion for how warm the engines should be operated for optimal performance. Anything under 130 degrees would make the engine too rich but it was also very sensitive for fine tuning. There was a big difference in humidity between Friday and Sunday (although the temperature was the same) and because of this we had to tune the engine a lot during Sunday practice but in the end we found it reasonable ok to run around 135-140 degrees.

Having just one qualification round is a bit of a gamble but on the other hand it is the same for all participants.. We felt well prepared but we were not sure about the pace compared to the rest. However the qualification run did go really well, Marcus drove a stable but also fast run. He had to keep the pace up not losing tire temperature and it looked good. The result? Well, how about TQ! A really good start of the 2012 season. It was a close deal as Niklas Johansson (Xray/Picco) was only 0.5 sec behind after a 7 min. Bengt Andersson (Serpent 966/Novarossi PTS) was also running good an took 3rd spot.

After the qualification session we made some analysis of tire wear and we concluded that we needed to do a tire change around 24 min. Our plan was also to refuel every 4 min. The final started good. Marcus and Bengt started with a good pace. Niklas Johansson hade to start from the pit as his engine flamed out during the starting procedure. It took not many laps until the first back markers had to be overtaken. This was a real gamble. Two times Marcus was suffering by being hit by back markers but overall drivers did give each other room during overtaking. After 10 min Marcus did just briefly hit a curb and on power the car flipped. Bengt was now able to go into the lead but Marcus could quickly gain grounds by some good driving. Tires were also getting better when the size was more “right” compared to beginning. Bengt had an incident with a back marker and this gave the opportunity for Marcus to take the lead again. Around the 20min mark Marcus wanted to change tires. This was slightly earlier than originally planned. Tire change went reasonably well. Niklas Johansson was now able to take the lead as Bengt Andersson was involved in another incident.

Some happy faces from the podium

The 2nd set of tires was not good…. at the time we had no clue why… Well, 2nd place is not bad and there is still plenty of time left of the final. However the luck should soon turn around…. when there was 10 min left of the final the engine flamed out and also hit the glowplug….

Quickly change the glowplug and refuel but considering a 1min 37 sec stop on a 14 sec lap you lose places…. Marcus was able to give a good fight and retook 3rd place when there was 5min remaining of the final. Niklas Johansson drove a good final and was awarded 1st place. His pace was hard to beat this time. Well done and well deserved! Bengt Andersson ended up 2nd and Marcus on 3rd making the complete podium.

Overall we are satisfied with this first race of the season considering the good performance in qualification and 3rd place overall.

We now have a two weeks break from racing as I am heading to US for a two week business trip and Marcus is heading towards Netherlands doing aerodynamic measurement on a Eco Marathon race vehicle.

Until next time!

Marcus and Wolfgang

USA OFR: Ryan Johnson wins Ohio Pro Serie

Ronald Baar — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:03:42 +0000

Race-report for Serpent Cobra TE gaspowered buggy:

This past weekend was the first round of the Ohio Pro Series, held at Medina RC Raceway. This would be the first time for me at this track, so we decided to get there Friday for some practice. The track layout was a blast to get around; fast laps were high 25 seconds and low 26s. There were a couple sections that you just had to slow down to be fast, this is where the 811 was a step above the others. As my practice day came to an end I was very confident in my set up and tire selection. I had only made a couple changes to my set up throughout the day, going to a softer spring front and rear springs.

So for saturday morning the track crew had done a lot of work to the track, fixing pot holes that had developed from the rocks and little pebbles getting ripped out of the dirt. They also blew the track off and watered it to try and keep the dust down. As the first round of quals were coming up I decided to make a clutch adjustment, going from 4 carbon shoes with MED. springs to a more aggressive setup, 2 carbons same spring and 2 Alum with extra hard spring. I ran the first qual and ended up 4^th for the round. Originally after day 1 I went to a softer rear spring(purple). After the 1^st round of qualifying I felt it was too soft and went back, only on the rear to a stiffer spring (green). The first round ended up being the fastest round out of the 3. The rear spring was still an improvement in the later rounds, but tire choice was a cause for not improving my time.

As it came time for the mains I’d say it had dropped at least 15-20 degrees as the sun went down and the lights came on. I kept the setup of the car the same and just went to a softer tire than I had been running all day. As I took my warm up laps I was thinking wow I’m gonna win this race, my car is hooked up and suuuuuuper easy to drive. As the tone went off and I came across the start finish I was in 3^rd with 1^st and 2^nd not too far away. The 2^nd place car made a mistake in the double double section this made it easy to get around him and now I Had my sights set on getting my 811 out front. Once I caught the leader I made my move on him very quickly and was driving as hard as I could trying to stretch my lead because I knew just about everybody was going to be coming in for fuel around the 10-11 min mark and for some reason I could only go 8min. As I came out of the pits Second place was still behind me so I kept the same pace until I heard his pit man call him in for fuel. Now I just set the cruise control and tried to keep it clean, for the next 20 min. which is exactly what I did. Bringing home the BIG W….

My set-up: here: Ryan Johnson Ohio Pro Series Modina

I want to say thanks to my sponsors: Serpent America and Proline.

Ryan Johnson

Spain OFR: Junior Cobra Driver Oscar on podium

Ronald Baar — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:54:34 +0000

The last weekend we took part the second round of the Madrid Regional Championship, with an attendance of 71 drivers, with several National Top Ten.

This year there are only ten minutes of trainings before qualification rounds and the track was very critical, very bumpy.

After the qualification rounds, we started the semi A in seventh position, going up to third place.

The Main looks very hard, the weather was very hot and the track very very bumpy.

After the start reached the second position, a mistake we relegated to sixth place.

Again we reach the second position until a engine flame out we lost a position in which we would remain until the end of the race,

With this result, Oscar with Cobra TE is in second place in the Championship after Dani Vega.

Team Serpent Spain.

Germany: Salven sets TQ and wins with 747Germany: Salven sets TQ and wins with 747g

Ronald Baar — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:45:51 +0000

Michael Salven had a good start with the brandnew Serpent 747, setting TQ and winning the 1/10 German West race last weekend.

Report and set-up to follow

Team Serpent

Sweden: Larsson takes 2nd with Cobra buggy

Ronald Baar — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:53:54 +0000

Sweden: Cobra TE second place, group one (pro) in “Mittsvenska Cupen”.

Hungary: Gergely wins Nats with 733-TE

Ronald Baar — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:33:34 +0000

The 2nd round of the Hungarian Onroad Championships was held on the 13th of May in the Hungaroring. It is always a special feeling to race in this great facility on this track surrounded by the real F-1 track. This time full line-up of Porsche cars were making the “musical dubbing” Organiser club RC RING MC did a tremendous job to prepare for this event. The complete track was re-painted and cleaned-up by vacum cleamer. A very big thumbs up from the racers!

The weather forecast was really bad but luckily for the last round of the qualifications the rain stopped and we had some sunshine for the finals. Gergely Cseko took the TQ position by 3 seconds ahead of Simon Ciudan. After the start Gergely and Simon quickly opened the gap on the rest of the field. At the 10th minute mark Gergely run out of fuel coming into the pits and needed to restart. He come back to the track in 2nd position with about 9 seconds behind Simon. The pit strategy needed to change accordingly, with one more stop, not being able to make the 5 minutes in pursuit mode any more. For the last few minutes Simon completely ran out of tires so Gergely could get back to the lead and won the race with 1,5 laps in front.

1. Gergely Cseko – Serpent 733-TE / RB Concept TXR / RB Fuel / Xceed tires

2. Simon Ciudan – Sheperd / Sonic

3. Laszlo Kiss-Orban – Sheperd / Orcan

Best Regards,

Gergely

France: OR: Abisset takes victory with 966-TE

Ronald Baar — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:18:06 +0000

France onroad: Abisett wins 1/8 A-class with 966-TE and Ramella TQ-s and wins the B-class also with 966-TE

Saturdays weather was crazy for the qualification and only two rounds were runned on full dry track condition. But at the end of the D day, both Novarossi/Serpent drivers Ramella (B class) and Abisset (A class) took the lead from the beginning of the A-main and keep leading till the last minute. Cédric Ramella had already TQ on saturday : he’s now leading the B championship after winning the 2nd round of the championship last month in Ampuis. After some bad qualification, Anthony Abisset was significantly faster in the mains Novarossi team driver gave no chance to his competiotor and finish a lap ahead of promising Christophe Louis.

Cyprus: Alp with 411 wins !

Ronald Baar — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:22:33 +0000

Alp report:

Turkish EP Nationals Round 1

Race report by Mustafa ALP

On 5-6th of May we had our first round of Turkish EP Nationals, in cooperation with Cyprus team, at Team-NCRC arena. I arrived at the track and joined to the team on Saturday just before the free practises. My car was ready with the setup from last asphalt race, to see how it would react. After free and controlled practises, I opted for my basic carpet setup, which again worked really well. I made little changes about tire prep to have a smoother car, and car was perfect to my driving afterwards. Serdar Aytemiz was trying really different setups, and I was always shocked when hearing what he had done to his car… At the end of controlled practises, results were like this:

1	ALP MUSTAFA	SERPENT TURKEY	3	0:34.323	6 [4, 1, 5, 3, 2]
2	AYTEMIZ SERDAR	SERPENT TURKEY	3	0:35.718	4 [6, 5, 3, 2, 1]
3	DENIZ NIYAZI	DENIZ PLAZA RC TEAM	3	0:36.385	5 [6, 1, 2, 4, 3]
4	AKBER AHMET	DENIZ PLAZA RC TEAM	3	0:36.658	5 [2, 6, 4, 1, 3]
5	CAGLIOGLU FERHAT	DENIZ PLAZA RC TEAM	3	0:36.806	5 [6, 2, 3, 4, 1]
6	TURKAY BARIS	TEAM NCRC	3	0:37.174	3 [6, 5, 2, 4, 1]
7	BEYSUN BEHZAT	DENIZ PLAZA RC TEAM	3	0:37.344	4 [3, 5, 6, 2, 1]
8	SOYLU YAVUZ	SERPENT TURKEY	3	0:37.789	2 [6, 4, 5, 1, 3]
9	OZTUMEN UMUT		3	0:38.984	6 [5, 3, 4, 2, 1]
10	TABAK MEHMET		3	0:39.071

On qualifiers I was at the top of the timesheets again followed by Serdar. Yavuz claimed the final grid of the main final, starting from 10th position. Çağhan Turna, who had the pace for top 10, had nightmarish qualifiers and ended up starting from pole of the C final.

In finals I kept calm and won all 3 from start to finish. Real battle was between Serdar and Ahmet, they both had one 2nd and one 3rd in first two finals with a really close race. In 3rd final, Ahmet had the 2nd position and Serdar had to settle to 3rd.

In C final Caghan, who is now powered by Orca, dominated the finals and took a convincing win, showing that he would have a good shot at A main.

more info: http://www.myrcm.ch/main?pLa=en&hId[1]=arv&dFi=ncrc&dId[E]=8686

I want to thank Race organisators Umut Turkay and Team NCRC for hosting and my sponsor Serdar Aytemiz(Evilhobbyshop) for providing the best support on Serpent and Xceed products. See you next race!

Serdar report:

Race report for the last weekends race

This is the first year EP and GP are being run as a seperate Championship series. There series consists of 4 races and the 1st one was held in Cyprus. So with great anticipation and excitement I got on board our flight with other racers and headed for the wonderful carpet track at NCRC Arena.

The weather was just beautiful with around 23 to 28 degrees out side and slightly higher indoor. The wonderful team at NCRC made a new layout for this event which was very fast with high speed direction changes. After looking at the track I decided that the setup we had in the first race will be too sluggish I opted for a setup that I wanted to try for a long time. I installed the new steering bellcrank with aluminium knuckles. at first I used the A% body but it made the car very nervous so opted for the mazda 6. I had some issues during the practice day but in the end I managed to secure 2nd spot for the qualification day.

Qualification was quite eventfull for me. I manage to run the first qualification perfectly fine but in 2 consecutive races I lost my wheel. apperantly the center of the wheel wore out and I didnt noticed. and one other I had issues. the last qualification I managed to run a 25 lap and that place me in 2nd spot for the A-Final behind Mustafa Alp’s S411 who was running low 26 laps.

We basically knew if nothing went wrong Mustafa was going to take 1st spot. so we were all gunning for second spot. The first race I finished 2nd and Ahmet finish 3rd, then next race Ahmet finished 2nd and I finished 3rd. So everyone was waiting for the 3rd round as the 4th and 5th place runners were also looking at the 3rd spot if me or Ahmet dropped had a chance as the podium. First corner I got tapped and was in tenth spot after that I couldnt make up the time. So I had to settle for 3rd spot.

it was a great season starter and looking forward to other series races now.

Swiss: Lechner with 733-Te wins Nats

Ronald Baar — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:30:07 +0000

At the Lostallo track in Swiss, Klaus lechner took victory in the 200mm class, and Marco Reiser took 8th.

Reiser was in 3rd when his gearbox played up.

Dear racer,

Last weekend we met us again in lostallo for the 2. Swiss champ 1/8 and 1/10.

The Family Lechner was on 2 tracks. I went together with my dad to lostallo. And my sisters, mama and luca to nürnberg for the first race in south Germany for serpent/xceed support!

The weather forecast says unfortunately again bad condition / rain, rain again rain….

So we prepared my old 960R and klaus 733 for rain.

Saturday morning we leave in Germany at 5 o’clock. So we arrived by rain in the track at 8:15

We had until lunch break 3x 20 minutes practice for every category. But nobody was testing in the wet! After we started with the 4 qualification on Saturday. In my group it was always raining or the track gets a bit dry. 1/10 had more luck because they could drive 2 heats on dry condition. So it was good for my father. He was with the rain car at 3rd position. TQ was traugott schär.

On 1/8 we had always unluck with the weather. We could not run on the dry track TQ was luca martinelli

I just was on 10 position because in my group was the weather always changing… But important was to be directly in the semifinal

Sunday morning: rain over rain!!! We started at 11 o clock with 1/4 final 1/8 amateur class. After 2x semifinal 1/10. The semifinal of klaus was good. It was raining all the 20 minutes long. Traugott was the leader and behind my father.So he was very happy to be in the final

Semifinal 1/8 expert was after lunch break. The Weather was crazy, so I prepared booth cars. The sun comes out and our final started dry. Before the start we had again some drops. So Silvio häckler took time out and we changed also again to wet car… On the start I lost 3 laps because my transponder was not counting. Step by step I could go on 5th position. It was ok to be in the final. But then brake my front belt I had to go very very slow and then it started again to rain. So an other pit stop for everybody to change to rain tyres…

So race was finish for me!! To much unlucky for me in 20 minutes.

Final 1/10:

The first few minutes of the final it was a fight between Traugott and Klaus for the first place. But then Traugott was the leader he could run over 6 minutes and we had our stop all 5 minutes. The Track was half dry and half wet….

But traugott got after 10 minutes technical problems and my father took the first place over the last 20 minutes

1. Klaus Lechner – serpent733/picco/hot race tyres

Final 1/8 amateur won Pasqual Kurzbuch

Final 1/8 expert Simon Kurzbuch

See you this weekend on the hot race trophy in Prato / Italy

And thanks to all my sponsor and my mechanic

Ciao ciao Sabrina

Team Serpent Swiss