Hi all,
it has been too long ago that I've updated the blog but it doesn't mean that we're just changed in sofa potatoes ;-). In my last post I did mention to go back to the same front suspension settings as last year thinking to have a simple solution for our problems. But of course it wasn't that simple.
Probably because of the different weight and power curve of the 650 engine it didn't work out as expected. But first back to the trip to Aravete located about 60 kilometres from Tallinn. We took an almost empty Saturday evening ferry to Tallinn and checked in at our hotel situated at the out skirts of Tallinn. I've noticed that the prices for a stay at the hotels, especially in Tallinn, have increased remarkably. But with a little bit of internet shopping you still can get a room for a decent price. At the end it's only for a single night, no Hilton with our racing budget.
After breakfast we steered the van to Aravete's track. The track is situated to the West of the village and we had a short cut that saved about 20 kilometres, knowledge is power? 4 other teams from Finland had arrived the evening before, Aronen/Mantila, Lehtinen/Hietala, Lindgren/Sahane and the Kunnas brothers. Some burglary had happened during the night and from several teams some issues had been stolen. When you think that this track is located in the middle of nowhere its rather surprising when things like this happens.
The weather was not too good, hard wind and rain showers. When the side car class started their training sessions heaven opened all the gates it could open and in 15 minutes poured down more water than the Niagara waterfalls do in one hour. There's a video clip from a Latvian spectator at Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEraB6GOrJs .
We did 3 laps and both our goggles where completely unusable and that was our input at the training session, not a good time but we knew that we would end anyhow at the second row with over 15 entries. All the teams had the same problems and the track emptied before the training session was officially finished.
The start of the first heat showed a pile up in the first corner and we had to wait a few seconds to cruise around the wreck yard.We chased an Estonian team in front of us for 4 or 5 laps but didn't find the possibility to pass. Then my batteries went zero and we just drove the hack to the finish for points. The second heat was a copy of the first except that the same Estonian team was now at our back. We got rid of them but at the end of the race I stalled the engine, tired? Last place at the finish anyhow.
The last year front suspension set up didn't work out as expected, when we viewed the video made during the training session we noticed a very weird behaviour from our front forks, back to the workshop! We drove with all the teams from Finland together back to Tallinn. Some had the evening ferry, other the first morning ferry and we took the night ferry. We were happy that the ferry was going and even on time because the wind was very strong. Later in bed the ferry was moving that much I felt like laying on a water bed with waves.
Till next post,
Regards,
Stephan
A link to pictures: http://www.snap.ee/user/milvipilvik/album/aravete__emv_iv_etapp
Our trip: http://goo.gl/maps/pa4x
Mylaps: KV = side cars
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