Renaud Savoya wins C-Netic Challenge
Factory Xray/RB/Sweep driver Renaud Savoya made the second stop on his Asian Tour, hitting up the C-Netic Challenge race in Indonesia, getting in some last minute international running prior to the World Championships in 6 weeks time. Reno filed the following report. “Asian tour round 2. This time I flew to Surabaya, Indonesia for C-Netic challenge. From what I saw last year, the track seemed to be one of the most selective in the World. That came true as the layout was fully 3D, with 9 meters elevation on the back section. The club put a serious work together to get this done. Asian racing is probably one of the best place to race RC in the world as they have crazy layouts, professional marshals, awesome pit area etc.
I had the chance to practice 2 full days before the race, as the format was 90 people racing on 2 days. It wasn’t too much as the average lap was 53 seconds. I got in with the set-up I was using in Korea. The track was very different, but I feel the car is really stable and fast with this basic set-up. I raised the shock oil 100cst heavier according to the temperature and went 600 front 550 rear. The set-up was already really good, and the first hour was only track time to get the lines and timing.
Then, I improved it with small changes, such as going lower to 4000 in the rear diff as the traction was very low. It gave the car more corner speed and made it easier to drive. Unfortunately I had problem with Fedex and my shipment of tires, so I had to reuse my sets more even if the track was very abrasive. I got TQ in 2nd round with the best time over 10 minutes and fastest lap in 52.6. Only 52s lapper of the day. Unfortunately, I was fighting for overall TQ with Kyle McBride and one of my steering block screw came out in Q3. I had to stick to 2nd. Great performance for Jason Nugroho from Jakarta driving XB9 who was doing great in semi and should bump up to the main before his pressure line broke.
Kyle McBride broke in semi, so I took the start of mine having in mine just to drive safe on this very difficult track, and avoid crashing as much as possible. I rolled upside down only once over the 30minutes, so I got a pretty comfortable gap over 2nd pacer Atsushi Hara. I was using square armor tires I already ran 20minutes into qualifications, so I knew how my car would react at the end of the main. Even bolt, I could do 52.0 in the very last lap.
60 minutes on this track with 40 degrees under shadow would be a real challenge. Not many cars finished the race without at least one flame out or broken parts. Wasn’t the case for top 3. The final saw a nice battle with Atsushi Hara. However, I knew I would pit once less than him so I stick to cruise and no crash. After the 20 minutes mark, I had a comfortable gap and then cruise to the finish line without bubbles.
Another great victory for XB9, showing once again the extreme reliability of the Xray machine. It was a great pleasure to race in these conditions, my car was so dialed and layout so amazing. I will definitely race here next year.”
Source: Xray [teamxray.com]
