[:en]Euros B 2015 Herts. Report and setup by James Le Pavoux[:fr]Euros B 2015 Herts. Reportage James Le Pavoux[:]

[:en]Euros B 2015 Herts. Report by James Le Pavoux

Euro B 2015

So onto the next race which was the Euro B at Herts in the UK. Going into the event I was feeling hopeful we could have a good result. I have never made a national A final at this track as it is arguably the most popular track in the UK for Nitro Rallycross so a lot of drivers have practiced a lot around this track. A massive entry from the UK (Over 60 drivers) including all the top UK drivers bar the top six or seven.

First off I would like to give a big shout out to the track crew who had spent the last few weeks at the track getting it ready and it looked amazing. Onto practice and the weather was really nice and warm. My first thoughts of the track were really good, great fun to drive around. We had two un seeded practice rounds and then two seeded rounds in the afternoon to put you into heats for qualifying the next day. The first two rounds went ok and the car felt really good using Catapult soft and super soft. I was using my Kent setup as a base and just went back to a 2.5 roll bar on the rear and 6k centre diff oil. The two seeded rounds didn't go that well. A crash in both put me down the order in 38th after day one. I was suffering from being very nervous which never normally effects me but for some reason it did that day. This was ok though because the top 48 drivers got spread over the top four heats. Also standing further down the rostrum would help as the really fast section on the left of the track was a big weakness for me. That evening we were left scratching our heads a little.

Into Qualifying and we got to the track and it had rained all night and the track was not looking good. A lot of puddles for the track crew to deal with. The start was delayed while they got the track ready. Little did we know that it would rain for most of the day so most of the racing would be done in the rain where a boat may have been useful!! I felt more confident now it was raining as the track would slow everyone down and I would have a chance. Round one was good and consistent which put me 10th in round. I was very happy with that! Onto round two after having to clean the car which was not nice as after each round the car was covered in mud. I stuck with the Gridiron super soft for the rain and another decent run but with a few small mistakes put me 18th in round. Again decent and good enough for the Quarter finals which after practice I would have taken. Now we could try and push a bit harder to try to make it straight into the semi's. In round three it was very wet so we went to City blocks as is was puddles and the tyres were not getting clogged with mud. The car was very good but slightly harder to drive but very fast. A clean run put me 8th in round. I was very happy as this should put me into the Semi with two from four to count. For the last run the rain had stopped and a dry line was appearing. I was hopeful I would be ok with the drying track but was slightly worried about my lack of speed in practice. A clean but slow run put me 22nd in round. It didn't make much difference as I was in the Semi's but a good dry run would have boosted my confidence.

Onto finals day. We had all morning to get the car ready thankfully as the car was filthy from qualifying. A strip down and rebuild was done. It was dry which was good as it is not nice racing in the mud. We didn't know which way to go tyre wise for the semi final as it was wet all day for Qualifying and had got bumpy and edgy and the grip had changed a lot so practice could not be used to take information from. Thankfully we had the 10 min warm up to test tyres for the semi final. We managed to test 5 sets of tyres in this time!! (Catapult / Gridiron S and SS / Handlebar / Rasp). Big thanks to my pit crew and Bernard who were very quick changing the wheels. It has become a bit of a habit for me to do this in the practice and people think it looks crazy. We settled on the Gridiron super soft for the Semi and Catapult Super soft for the main if I got there. Into the Semi we went and a good start put me inside the top 5 in the first lap. Car felt amazing and I knew I could make it if I did 20 minutes without crashing. Thankfully I managed this and made it into the final. The final went well but a random flame out near the end dropped me from looking good for a top 6. I think the flame out was a stone hitting the flywheel as the Reds R7 ran perfect all weekend and once restarted did not miss a beat. A mark on the flywheel would suggest this was the case. In the end finishing 8th after losing 7th on the last corner with a crash. All I could do was laugh in despair but never the less a great result.

It was great to see the guys from Kyosho UK / FDL.

 [:fr]Euros B 2015 Herts. Report by James Le Pavoux

Euro B 2015

LePavoux Setup Herts 2015

So onto the next race which was the Euro B at Herts in the UK. Going into the event I was feeling hopeful we could have a good result. I have never made a national A final at this track as it is arguably the most popular track in the UK for Nitro Rallycross so a lot of drivers have practiced a lot around this track. A massive entry from the UK (Over 60 drivers) including all the top UK drivers bar the top six or seven.

First off I would like to give a big shout out to the track crew who had spent the last few weeks at the track getting it ready and it looked amazing. Onto practice and the weather was really nice and warm. My first thoughts of the track were really good, great fun to drive around. We had two un seeded practice rounds and then two seeded rounds in the afternoon to put you into heats for qualifying the next day. The first two rounds went ok and the car felt really good using Catapult soft and super soft. I was using my Kent setup as a base and just went back to a 2.5 roll bar on the rear and 6k centre diff oil. The two seeded rounds didn't go that well. A crash in both put me down the order in 38th after day one. I was suffering from being very nervous which never normally effects me but for some reason it did that day. This was ok though because the top 48 drivers got spread over the top four heats. Also standing further down the rostrum would help as the really fast section on the left of the track was a big weakness for me. That evening we were left scratching our heads a little.

Into Qualifying and we got to the track and it had rained all night and the track was not looking good. A lot of puddles for the track crew to deal with. The start was delayed while they got the track ready. Little did we know that it would rain for most of the day so most of the racing would be done in the rain where a boat may have been useful!! I felt more confident now it was raining as the track would slow everyone down and I would have a chance. Round one was good and consistent which put me 10th in round. I was very happy with that! Onto round two after having to clean the car which was not nice as after each round the car was covered in mud. I stuck with the Gridiron super soft for the rain and another decent run but with a few small mistakes put me 18th in round. Again decent and good enough for the Quarter finals which after practice I would have taken. Now we could try and push a bit harder to try to make it straight into the semi's. In round three it was very wet so we went to City blocks as is was puddles and the tyres were not getting clogged with mud. The car was very good but slightly harder to drive but very fast. A clean run put me 8th in round. I was very happy as this should put me into the Semi with two from four to count. For the last run the rain had stopped and a dry line was appearing. I was hopeful I would be ok with the drying track but was slightly worried about my lack of speed in practice. A clean but slow run put me 22nd in round. It didn't make much difference as I was in the Semi's but a good dry run would have boosted my confidence.

Onto finals day. We had all morning to get the car ready thankfully as the car was filthy from qualifying. A strip down and rebuild was done. It was dry which was good as it is not nice racing in the mud. We didn't know which way to go tyre wise for the semi final as it was wet all day for Qualifying and had got bumpy and edgy and the grip had changed a lot so practice could not be used to take information from. Thankfully we had the 10 min warm up to test tyres for the semi final. We managed to test 5 sets of tyres in this time!! (Catapult / Gridiron S and SS / Handlebar / Rasp). Big thanks to my pit crew and Bernard who were very quick changing the wheels. It has become a bit of a habit for me to do this in the practice and people think it looks crazy. We settled on the Gridiron super soft for the Semi and Catapult Super soft for the main if I got there. Into the Semi we went and a good start put me inside the top 5 in the first lap. Car felt amazing and I knew I could make it if I did 20 minutes without crashing. Thankfully I managed this and made it into the final. The final went well but a random flame out near the end dropped me from looking good for a top 6. I think the flame out was a stone hitting the flywheel as the Reds R7 ran perfect all weekend and once restarted did not miss a beat. A mark on the flywheel would suggest this was the case. In the end finishing 8th after losing 7th on the last corner with a crash. All I could do was laugh in despair but never the less a great result.

It was great to see the guys from Kyosho UK / FDL.[:]