Stringer TQ&Win at the Rocky Cup!
Report by Mark and Aaron Stringer
107 attended the 15th annual Rocky Cup in 2015. Drivers came from interstate (some travelling over 12 hours in car each way to attend). We decided to fly in, however, this turned into a marathon effort to get to the Rocky Cup. As ever weather had hit Brisbane the day we were to fly out (500 mm of rain in 12 hours!!!)
Our flight was delayed for 5 hours which meant we missed all of Friday's practice, but we were lucky to get there as many flights were cancelled that day. As usual Aaron was entered in Truggy and Buggy. This was to be our first big competition with the new Mugen's, we were keen to test out the new cars in race conditions as testing had gone very well.
Qualifying.
The organisers decide to hold a round of practice Saturday morning which suited us fine. Aaron quickly got to grips with the track and we soon felt we were on the pace.
Round 1
Truggy
Aaron was quickly on the pace and took TQ for the heat.
Buggy
The REDS R5T TE V3.0 in both cars was working beautifully allowing Aaron to take the TQ with a 17 lap run the only driver to do so in Buggy.
Round 2
Truggy
The track was starting to groove up nicely and the lap times were coming down allowing Aaron to complete 17 laps over the 10 min run and once again taking TQ
Buggy
Another 17 lap run saw Aaron take another TQ for Buggy
Round 3
Truggy
A wet track saw Aaron miss a 17 lap run and finish second for the round
Buggy
Jason Dyckhoff set a blistering fast time in this run and we new the pressure was on, however, Aaron laid down a brilliant run to go 11 seconds faster than Dyckhoff and setting the fastest time of the event using all of the Mugen's huge potential.
Round 4
Was held on Sunday morning and as we had wrapped up TQ for both classes we decided to try some set up changes to see if we could improve out times.
Truggy
The truggy was on fire allowing Aaron to set the fastest time of the weekend and taking his 3rd TQ out of 4 rounds
Buggy
We made a few changes to the car and tried some different tires. The car felt pretty good and Aaron took another TQ giving him 4 TQ's out of 4 rounds
Finals
Truggy
Car was just flying and Aaron had a comfortable lead until we suffered a mechanical failure and our race was done.
Buggy
After the disappointment of the Truggy final we were keen to make amends, Aaron got a great start and was followed closely by Jason Dyckhoff. The 2 drivers battled for the 10 mins with less than 10 seconds between them. However, Dyckhoff made a big mistake that gave Aaron another 7 seconds. After that Aaron started to drive way and took a comfortable win 1 lap on Jason Dyckhoff in second and Sam Penny in third.
Overall the REDS Engines performed brilliantly giving great durability and speed. We are now gearing up for FEMCA in Perth in 4 weeks
