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Lin takes Durango to the top in China

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Mike Garrison

0 Jan. 3, 2012, 3:15 a.m.

Main Photo: Lin takes Durango to the top in China

1/3/2012

By Mike Garrison

LiveRC.com

Team Durango Race Report:

Being the last nitro race before the year end, this race held in Fei Teng Race Track, situated in the southern part of China attract nearly 60 persons. By living in the southern part of China, we are blessed with a snow-free weather, and we can continue to race throughout the year. Although never reaching below zero, the temperature on the race day went as low as 10 degrees Celsius, and freezing fingers are always a problem!

After my last race success with the DEX408, where I choose to run with a normal rear suspension config (with the shocks in front of the arms), I decided to give this layout another try on my nitro DNX408. When I first started with the DNX, with the shocks in front, my 408 twitchy and I preferred the shocks mounted on the rear. After nearly one whole year with the chassis, I have learn a lot setting wise and I am eager to see whether this new found set up can improve my previous lap time on this track.

Qualifying:
Qualifying is very much a learning process for me. The biggest difference with the shock set-up is mainly on the steering. With my new setting, I was able to attack corners more aggressively up to a point that my line and braking point will be very different with my previous set up. After 3 timed qualifying rounds I was sitting in second place, with a 6 seconds gap towards the TQ position.

Final:
Getting use to the new set up, I was very confident on taking a win here but the start was not what I was hoping for. I was locked in a fight with the pole man which lasted a whole 40 minutes! At the same time, the 3rd and 4th qualifier was able to run a much cleaner run than us. After finally pulling from my fight, I was able to catch the top two quickly, within a few minutes, I was able to lead the pack and hold on to the first position to cross the line amd tale the hard-fought win.

Last words:
Although I have been running the DNX-408 ever since it was on the market, this race just proves how much I still have to learn. The car continue to improve and with more tuning and setting I was able to make the car fit my driving style perfectly – it just proves spending time with your car are so essential!

This will be the last race for me before the New Year, and I will like to take this chance to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a very Happy 2012! Thank you very much for the support TD, and I wish 2012 will be an even better year!

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