Rain returns and calls end to Day 1
The flood lights have been turned on at Bumod but unfortunately the pits are empty after the rain returned to Bursa bringing to an end the opening day of Turkey’s inaugural international nitro event. With the track wet the drivers have called it a day and made their way to what has to be the most plush r/c restaurant in the world, for dinner compliments of the race organisers. Drivers did however manage to get some partially dry running on the track, with two corners falling to develop a dry line.
The big interest here is the new prototype Serpent 7XX with two cars present for Jilles Groskamp and DJ Apolaro. Groskamp has been testing the car at the MACH in the Netherlands but Apolaro only saw the car for the first time when it arrived last night with designer Michael Salven. The American ace was full of praise for the design of the new car saying it was very open and felt like more like working on his 1:8 car. Asked about the handling he said that it was difficult to judge with today’s conditions but the car has lots more steering than the 720. Groskamp said the track will be totally different tomorrow, if the weather forecast proves correct, and that the track will be more than a second faster than today. Salven described himself as being quite happy with the first public outing of his latest creation. The two time 200mm European Champion said finding set-up is not so easy due to their lack of knowledge with the 7XX. The team are also trying a number of prototype diffs in the car but changing oils is proving a messy affair as no seals have being produced yet and they are having to use silicone sealant. Commenting on his own 966 which he is racing here this weekend, Salven said the car is good and feels when the track fully dries it will be faster than Lostallo.
Surikarn C., who is better known for his electric touring car exploits at which he was the 2002 World Champion, was happier with his Xray after getting some further mileage. The Thai driver is finding the track huge saying it is double the size of what he is used to back home. Surikarn ran both an OS and a Max engine today finding the Japanese unit to have the edge but his Max is still very fresh and needs more running to open it up. Dirk Wischnewski said his Novarossi powered Xray was working OK but the conditions made it hard to really feel how the car is handling. The 2008 European B Champion has Bertram Kessler, the man behind SMI Motorsport, pitting for him this weekend and tried the company’s new Audi A5 bodyshell. The damp track made it hard to judge the difference between it and his Protoform DNA so he will do a back to back test again tomorrow. Austrian driver Gerhard Kandlehardt, who is also driving an Xray, but with Max Power, said his combination was running well but feels the track is a little big for 1:10.
Focusing on running in two new engines today, factory Mugen and Novarossi driver Robert Pietsch shares the same view of Salven about the track. The German 1:8 National Champion thinks once dry Bumod will be much faster than Lostallo which in August hosts the 2009 IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championship. So one day down and three more to go at the the inaugural Bumod Grand Prix and the drivers are retiring to their hotel with fingers crossed that the sunshine, which makes Turkey a popular holiday spot, will greet them in the morning.
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