Mini-Z Norway: PNWC Stockholm Sweden 2011

A little writeup about PNWC Sweden, April 2011.

Image: Isak Hjelte

This year I did not have to travel alone. Oslo Z'ers Christoffer and his father Dag joined in, and gave me a ride down to Stockholm.

We arrived at the track friday evening, and was met by a lot of nice swedes. Super friendly as always.

The sight that met us inside was amazing. The track was the biggest i have ever seen live. It measured 17,5 X 7 meters.

The event were held in MHF's locals just outside Stockholm. The facilities were very nice, although a bit cold. The temperature in the building was only 13 degrees celsius, so i am glad I brought my slippers and some thick sweaters.

As always Jocke & co gave us a really nice professional event. Everything went according to their plans.

Christoffer was attending his first race ever, but he has a lot of practice on a local track in Oslo. He knows what to do, and kept his cool all weekend. Only 16 years old, he has shown a lot of improvement this year. He is open for setup tips, and really sucks up all the information he can get.
He signed up for stock and mod GT with only one car, and you can say he got the hang of changing motors between qualifiers and training! My guess he will be builiding another car for next outing:-)

In mod GT he had some troubles initially, but just kept on practising. In the end he qualified for B finals, and ended up in a very impressive 11 overall. Considering the level all these guys are at, this is very impressive for first outing.
In Stock he had a bit easier way to the finals. In the last qualifier he managed P6. A big crash at the start of the A-main messed up the field a bit, but he came trough and finished in P3. Well done!
I am sure he will be hard to beat in the future, as he has shown big improvement in the last few months.
Christopher rocks an all Reflex Racing tricked out car, wich he is truly happy with. His driver profile will be up later. Here you can see pics of his car.

As for myself, I signed up for Mod GT and Pan car.
I really dont like pan cars that much, and have never raced one in my life. But I really enjoyed the experience. These lightweight cars are very fun, and can be really fast.

I had a base setup I had decided to use before the race, and stuck with it. The car was quite easy to drive, but not as fast as some of the others out there.
Q1 & Q2 went ok, and I was in the A main. In Q3 i had a horrible crash at the end of the main straight. Busfrö went on the inside and we brushed for a second. I ended up in the wall 1 meter above the track and destroyed two wheels. The Jomurema carbon axle actually held up the punishment! This surprised me, and I am now very sure of its durability.
Q4 went very good, and I ended up P3.

The race was very good until my nerves cracked. I was P2, but started to shake as a leaf and made a lot of mistakes.
Busfrö beat me to third by 3 tenths of a second. Ola Nordström took an impressive second. Dahlis took a superb victory. Congrats!

Mod GT.
I really struggled with traction rolls at the end of the main straight. The cars had around 35 kmh at the end of the straight, so you had to be extremely careful with the steering input.
After Q1, Q2, and Q3 I was in the A-main, but was unsure if it would hold as a lot of the other racers really found a lot of speed.
Before Q4 I completely altered the setup. I usually use small bodies and 0 - 1 offset wheels. This time I went for 2 front and 3 rear to get the car a bit wider. This helped with the traction rolling problems I encountered earlier.
P6 was my result in qualifying.

My goal all weekend was a podium, but this seemed to slip out of my hand.
Before the mains I took a chance and went for a very soft setup.
This did the trick, and I secured 3 place! I was super happy with that. I also had the second fastest lap of the race. 1 tenth behind the super fast Dahlis. Ola Westholm secured second, after a thrilling battle with Dahlis. Ola must be one of the fastest guys I have ever seen on the track. He is very laidback, but extremely fast.
I only had 1 second down to Busfrö in fourth, so you can say the racing really was tight.

I feel I am starting to learn more about RCP, and how the cars reacts to setup changes. Chatting up with Dahlis and Busfö gave me some good setup tips for RCP.

The traction at this race was extremely good. Even better than what we experience on Regupol with rubber tires.

I also must send out a big thanks to Cristian Tabush, and Reflex Racing for their great support, and wonderful parts.

As for the F1 class. I really wish I could have attended this. These races looks so much fun. Actually this tempted me so much, that I have now built me a car so I can join in on the fun next time :)

Finally. A big thank to Jocke and everyone who made this possible. Also a very big thanks to every racer attending. The racing was very clean, and everybody are friendly to each other. You are all extremely good drivers!
See you next time in September!

My Setups.
Pancar:
Front;
Wheels: 1 offset. PN Delrin dish wheels.
Tires: PN Slick 8 front. Trued to 23mm.
Reflex Racing low profile front end.
Caster 4 degree
Camber 1 degree
Toe. 0 degree
30000WT grease for front dampening.

Rear:
Wheels. 2 offset. PN Plastic.
Tires: PN Radial 6. Untrued.
PN 98-102 LCG V4. 98mm.
Lowest rideheigt
Diff: QteQ, Jomurema, Reflex.
PN/ Reflex tri damper. Mix & match:-)
Kyosho 15000WT grease.
Kyosho oil shock. 560cst oil. Yellow spring.
QteQ T-bar set to "free floating".

Other.
Bearings: Reflex Racing High grade
Body: PN Lexan
Chassis set to level.

Mod GT: