Merlin Fuel news » Belgium

“The first round of the Belgian Championship was held at the rather small and very technical track of Houthalen (Limburg). Weather forecast was not as a normal racer would want it to be …

Many rain on Sunday they said so I prepared some rain tires for this weekend and a second radio plate also for the rain.

On Saturday morning I was the first man on the track racing, trying to get my car between the bars so fast and smooth as possible. The first laps were good but not fast enough, the back of the car was a bit loose and in some corners I wanted some more steering. The first thing I changed about the setup were the springs. I went from purple to blue in the front and from pink to red in the rear of the car because the car felt to drifty, not much grip all around the car.

The other springs improved the car a lot, but still a lot of things had to change. I was running with downstop in the back 8 and I thought because of the fast reactions that the car has to make 10 would probably be better. And indeed it was much better.

After this I changed to 11 downstop in the back and 2 in the front => PERFECT!

With this setup my laptime was 14.100 (wich is fast at this track) and after disabling the front anti-rollbar my fastest laptime went to 14.043.

I have never driven without front stabi and I must say the effect was surprisingly good. A lot of more steering and the back of the car was more stable.

So I ended the testing, the car was perfect, I started cleaning and preparing my car for the next day.

Sunday morning, I wake up laying in my tent and I heard rain. Sounds like the weather forecast was right … grrrrrr :D

The first qualify I ran with MS aqua rain tires and these were the best at this track I think … but one problem, I only have one set of these. So I only ran one qualify to spare my rain tires for the final (you never know it it rains in the final).

I was fastest in the first qualify with Gunther Van Staey in second.

So second and third qualify I choose not to race to safe the tires, Gunther did race the second qualify, and the track was faster but still wet, so I lost my pole position but Gunther lost he’s only set of good rain tires.

In the final the starting order was:

1. Gunther Van Staey

2. Robin D’hondt

3. Michel Bourgeois

In the final after some laps I was first after passing Gunther and I stayed first till the end of the race …

There isn’t much to say about the final, only that I did a tire stop because of the huge tire wear (10 mm in 10 minutes).

Final result:

D’Hondt Robin 118 30:14.789 Serpent 960-08
Van Staey Gunther 114 30:01.040 Kyosho M3
Bourgeois Michel 109 30:07.457 Mugen Mrx-4R

The car went really fine in the final, the new car has improved a lot (I was driving OS2) and every change I made with setup I could feel immediately.

The new fuel of Merlin has also improved a lot, more power and less fuel consumption!

And since I drive Merlin fuel now the engine looks so clean on the inside.

Thanks to my sponsors Serpent motorsport, ATS tires, Mega Engines,

Merlin Fuel, Ghiant RC car colours for trust and support.

And special thanks to my 2 mechanics, my dad and Lode for the fast refueling and tire stops!“

Thanks to Robin for his chronicle and congratulations for the victory.

Tags: 1:8, Belgium, Racing

16 Apr 08 | English | Comments (0)

Victoria de Robin D’Hont Iª Cto. Nacional Bélgica 1:8

Robin D’Hont nos envía un crónica desde Bélgica, relatando cómo ha discurrido la primera prueba del Cto. Belga de 1:8 pista, en la que se alzó con la victoria.

Esta victoria, es un buen punto de partida para Robin, que esta temporada defenderá su título de Campéon Nacional.

Una carrera complicada por factores meteorológicos, en la que había que usar la inteligencia y planificar la estrategia a conciencia.

Esto nos cuenta el campeón Belga;