Janssen scored second straight Dutch championship after final round victory

0 Sept. 9, 2016, 9:33 a.m.

By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Press release from HRC Distribution:
blog.hrcdistribution.com

Team Magic boys dominates another round of Dutch Nationals !

Last week-end was the fifth round of Dutch Nationals at the MRM Track in Lelystad (Netherlands). The Team Magic drivers Rob Janssen and Richard Arts made a new double win, and Rob secured his second national titles in a row !

Great job guys !

Top 3:

Rob Janssen – Team Magic E4RS III Plus / HRC Racing
Richard Arts – Team Magic E4RS III Plus / HRC Racing
Fons Stabel

Original Report from Rob Janssen:

On Saturday we had all day to learn the track and improve our car. Right from the beginning my car felt pretty good. I combined my set-up from previous year when i did modified at the track and some new improvements from last races i felt comfortable with.

This turned out well as from the beginning i was able to top the time sheets with practice. I also prepared my rain car for the Sunday as there was a lot of rain expected.

Unfortunately on Sunday there indeed was a lot of rain and many people called in to tell they were not coming. Q1 and Q2 were wet so i started with my rain car which worked really well.

The last heat was dry so everybody went on the track. First few corners were tricky as I was used to a more sliding car on the wet track from previous runs so now I steered in to early the first few laps. After that I started pushing and the car worked great.

Final 1 and 2 were pretty easy for me. From begin to end I drove in front of Richard. For sure the first few laps he was able to catch up but never a moment to really catch me

Final 3 was all wet again. As I already won 2 finals and secured the National title for 2016 I gave my rain car to Richard to make a good result.

Unfortunately after a few laps the receiver became an issue with some glitching. Maybe some water damp or something was still in after Q1 and Q2. I don’t know.

Richard had to stop the race. Now I dried the car and tested it again in the living room and everything seems ok with the electrics. Next time I try to improve my waterproofing skills haha.

At the end i won this round of nationals and secured the National Title for this year !

Original Report from Richard Arts:

The 5th race for the Dutch Nationals, was hosted by MRM club near Lelystad. The circuit is a mix of technical and faster corners, often covered with sand and dust from the neighbouring motocross track.

After a late arrival on Saturday due to traffic jams, the afternoon was spent creating a setup and getting a feel for the track. The dusty conditions were getting worse during the day, so I decided to stick with a somewhat understeering but predictable setup.

The weather forecast for Sunday was not very “summer-like”, and sadly this was correct. Heavy rain during the night and early morning, meant the the dust was washed of the track, but the track would not dry out before the 3rd round of qualifying.

Sitting out the first 2 Q’s, I was able to score 2nd spot on the grid, in the 3rd Q.

The changed conditions compared to yesterday were asking for some setup changes as the balance was off, and the car was missing responsiveness. I opted for a lower roll-center in the rear, and harder springs on all around.

In the first final this felt better, and resulted in a 2nd spot behind Rob. For the 2nd final I made again some changes, this time I increased the rear track width for a bit more rear-end stability in the hairpins and chicane. This worked well, and I was able to push more, and drive a bit more aggressively. Unfortunately with lapping inexperienced drivers, I got tangled up in a crash just in front of me. This caused me to loose connection to Rob, but still finish 2nd.

The 3rd final was all wet again, as a heavy rain shower soaked the track again just before. I started the final with Rob’s rain car, but unfortunately issues with the receiver forced me to stop early. For the 2 minutes I was able to drive, the car drove great in the wet.

Overall result was again a second place for me, with Rob coming in first. The car performed great all weekend, and responded great to the setup changes.