RDRP interviews Czech superstar and team driver Kaja Novotny

 

Revolution Design Racing Products owner, Michael Vollmer, has put together an impressive product line and an impressive race team as well. Michael sat down with one of his star drivers for an interview, going behind the scenes with Czech National Champion and rising star, Kaja Novotny.

  

 

Hello Kája, how are you?
Hi Michael, I am fine. Thanks. And how are you?

I´m, doing great!

 

You have so many titles under your belt. And now, you won the Czech Winter Nationals in 2WD. What is your goal to make it happen?

Thanks, my dream (for Czech nationals) was to became Czech winter and also summer national champion and this year, thanks to Team Durango cars, highly equipped by RD products, my dream came true.

We want to know, how you prepare your car for a race and how you make your set-up on a track. We know 2WD is your favorite class. So our questions are only 2WD related.

First, what electric equipment do you use?

We changed the radio just after the EOS, because of during the last few races we had quite a lot of problems with the receivers. Now we have Sanwa M12.

 

Servo – Savox

 

Speedo – LRP SXX V2

 

Motors – we used to have Speed Passion V3 but now we have purchased LRP X20(both 7.5 T). It was easier to drive with Speed Passion, but the car did not have enough speed on the straight. As the cars are faster and faster I started to loose some positions on the straightaways (like EOS 2012/13 round 1 – in last four laps I was racing with Matt Castelano, it was a great race, but in the last lap on the straightaway I didn´t have as much power as Matt and lost a position in A-main ). Therefore we are trying LRP X20 now.

What type of battery do you use usually? A stick-pack, or a shorty? What difference when driving ,do you feel between a shorty and a stick pack battery?

We do have stick-pack batteries only. Because of I also race with 1/8 electric buggy and I don´t have any sponsor for batteries, we can´t afford to have so many batteries. Once someone offered me to try his shorty battery, so I did it, but the car was worse than normally. As we are using RD balancing weights, we have managed to have perfectly balanced car with the normal battery.

What Motor do you use most to fit your driving style? Is there a favorite wind of motor you use?

I have already mentioned that I like Speed Passion but now it became to be too old and seems to be little bit slow for me, therefore we have bought LRP X20 and so far I am happy with it. (We have to ask Hupo for proper timing). In 2WD I am using just 7,5T motors.

How do you start making set-up, when you are on the track. Time for practice is tight to find a good set-up on the big races. What settings do you change first and what settings makes the biggest difference for you to get a good result? We give you a chart of setting-methods. Please set them in the order of you personal importance. And please add some comments with some more details about, how you set-up those things.

Most of the work on the cars does my dad, I am learning from him and trying to gain some experiences, it is quite complicated but slowly I am starting to understand something, mainly thanks to valuable advices from experienced profi drivers on EOS races. So I would like to thank to my parents, that they make it possible for me to race in EOS series which gives me a lot.

Springs/Shock positions/Oil/piston  – for indoor races we are using one of the Jorn´s set-ups and because of the car is great we are not changing it at all.

Weight distribution  – the front weight from RD helped me a lot (car has much more steering) and in general since I installed it, the car is much easier to drive.

Suspension Geometry  - It is quite a complex and difficult point. DEX 210 has a lot of possibilities so we are slowly learning its advantages, but in general, again we are using that what was already discovered by Jorn.

Motor  – When we have a new motor, we only ask someone, who is already using the same one, for gearing and timing, we set it and that s all. We do have a conservative approach in this field and we change motor only when the old one it is almost gone.

Battery - We have to use that what is available here and currently we do have quite old mixture of batteries from a different brands, but they are still OK.

Speedo  – We do have LRP speedo and we do have it mainly because it is easy to set up it. So, during practice we do few laps with the set up as it was from the last race and then we play just with the feeling setup as per the track conditions.

Transmitter  – I started to study the transmitter possibilities just when I have got SANVA and discovered that there are a lot of advantages you can get if you know all the possibility of your transmitter. With the old radio, we used it just as it was set from the production. (Of course father had made that basic set up like servo travel and so on for each car.)

Ride-height  – We try to set the car as low as possible and then, if there is some problem because of low clearance we are going up step by step ( using RD tools) until it is OK.

Tires/inserts  – In Czech Republic we use mostly dBoots Nanobytes tires with Schumacher hard inserts on the carpet and as I am quite happy with that, we are not trying other combinations. We are only playing with the cutting of the outside pins. And for outdoor racing we use Pro Line tires and inserts.

Differential – We use gear differential, our basic oil is Durango 2000 cst.

Body  - JConcepts – and we are happy with it – only problem is that it is not available here, we have to order it from the US and then I have to spend at least half a day at customs office.

You have all RDRP weights for the DEX210 as option for your car. How does affect the weights the handling of your DEX210? When do you use them, when not.

We do have the front one in the car permanently. As I already mentioned, when installed, the car is much easier to drive, I think so that everyone should have it. Regarding the rear ones - we have got them just recently and did not have chance to try it, but I am sure that they will be great mainly for outdoor races.

How do you prepare your tires? What tires Do you use, and tell us, if you do cutting the pins, or preparing the inserts.

Tires are glued by my father, but I am trying to learn it, to make the races more comfortable for him as he has a big problem with his eye and therefore it is more and more difficult for him. For summer season we use Pro Line tires and inserts (cuting the edges of inserts).For carpet we use dBoots tires and Schumacher hard inserts. Usually cut the outer row on rears and outer and inner on the front. We do not modify the inserts. We are very happy that dBoots are the controlled tires for EOS as they are perfectly packed, they are clean, easy to fit and they do have the best performance out of all tires we have used so far. For races in Czech Republic we are using our worn tires from EOS and they are still fantastic.

There are many discussions about the TD Big Bore shock pistons. Do you have a general set-up on your shock, what you use very often, or do you change it from track to track. What pistons and oil do you use mostly?

We are using standard TD pistons and we do not have any problems at all. We did not hear any complain about it here. Again we are using the pistons, springs and oils as per Jorn´s set – up, which works well everywhere.

Do you have some special settings on your transmitter, what you use most?

Last week I raced 2nd time with my new Sanwa M12 and the manual has 120 pages. So I am still learning something new. M12 offers a lot of settings .It is good for experienced drivers, or for those, who are patient enough to learn the whole manual. But when one manage to understand it and knows what to do with the transmitter, he has a great advantage.

Can you please explain us your driving style? Who are the top 3 of your favorite drivers and why? Do you try to match the driving style from another driver?

I am doing my best to be as fast as possible, but without a mistakes. I am not the fastest one on the track, for instance I lose 0,3 s each lap, but all my laps are almost the same, I am patient and in case I am faster, I follow the competitor as close as possible and waiting for a chance. Sometimes it is difficult, mainly in qualifications if someone holds you for instance for three laps, but if I loose the patience and just try it, usually both of us are out. . So I try to concentrate and think all the time I drive and be just as fast as I can.

In what age did you start racing?

I started when I was 8 years old.

Can you tell us, what was important for you to improve your results and to become an international top driver, like you?

Thank you very much, but I don´t think so that I am top driver. The biggest change came when I have got my first Team Durango car. I started to drive buggies with another brands – we had three different brands , but we weren´t able to set the car for me. Then Durango came with their first car – DEX 410 and in the first season with it I finished 2nd in the Czech national championship, Since the first race with DEX 410, it was clear that I will never drive any other RC car then Durango . Their cars are for everyone: basic set-up fits to everyone, but more experienced drivers have many options to set the car as they want. Durango is the only real racing car in the field of toys. So it is easy to have good result when you have such a car. But it is coming to be more and more difficult for me, as almost all good drivers are switching to the Team- Durango cars.

What races are on your agenda for 2013?

Czech national championship (summer and winter) 2013 1/10 and 1/8 E, all races of EOS, Summer Mibosport cup 2013, Astra nitro cross 2013, maybe German national championship 2013 1/10 and 1/8 E and maybe (but I don’t think it will be possible) European championship 2013 1/10.

What race is on your wish-list outside Europe?

At least once in my life I would like to go to race in US.

You told us, you have dancing lessons. Do you have other hobbies and interests outside rc?

Dancing lessons – it is not my hobby, it is somehow a must for everybody at this age here, as it is considered as a part of basic education, but I enjoy it.

I have to study hard /this is my top priority/, so there isn´t so much time for other hobbies. In the past I did archery, but now there is no more spare time for it left.

What are your plans for your future, when you leave the school? Do you want to study something?

I would like to study the law or medicine. It isn´t an easy way, but I trust that I will make it.

What is your dream car?

Now it is Audi RS 6, but I don´t think I will ever have so much money to afford it, and if so, I will be already too old to drive such a fast car.

With what person do you want to meet?

I have never thought about it, but in the world of R/C cars, I would like to meet Rob Hopkins and Atsushi Hara. (Rob is a very funny guy.)

McDonald´s, or Burger King?

Definitely McDonald´s.

What rims are faster? Yellow, or white?

I think so that the yellow one have more steering and the white are faster – this is a reason why I drive special combination of rims on my DEX 210.

Kája, thank you very much for taking time for us! Is there something else, what you want to say?

Thanks a lot for interview.

I would like to thank to the Team Durango, to you and to my parents for everything you did and you are doing for me. I do appreciate it very much. Without the support from all of you, my racing would be hardly possible.

Thank you, Kája! We are looking forward to see at the next races. We think, you become a true top driver in the future. It is always great to see you driving and to see, how much you enjoy racing. Hopefully you will find a Sponsor for your batteries soon! See you at the next EOS! 

 

 

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