oOple 2010 Austria Euros Coverage
oOple’s server is sadly down, so they’ve wacked up the Euros report on another site, so you can still get all your oOpley goodness.
So far Lee Martin topped 2wd, can he do the double in 4wd too? He’s racing a Tamiya Manta Lee out in Austria. His team-mate Marc is running a Manta Rhein. How many more Manta Ray jokes can I come up with? And where’s Jamie Booth when you need him?
Check it out here: http://10thoffroad.com
Written by simon.
Stotfold: 2010 BRCA National Series
Now I’ve cleaned, repaired and tested my cars from the punishment they got at Stotfold, I thought it better time I blogged that.
Friday
Mark and I travelled up on Friday evening, later than usual, so it was dark when we arrived at Stotfold. I managed o find it without Sat Nav, result!
We were clearly the last people there, and the caravanners had left us a tiny gap at one end next to the toilet. Awesome! No, really, it was fine, just the right size.
A bit of a chat and then off to sleep, the chuckle bus rolling with two single beds, and a pile of car stuff and bags down the middle. Cosy.
Saturday
I hadn’t slept well, far too excited, but I was surprised to see folk walking the track at 6am. Nutters.
We were of course in Heat 1, so booking in was done, and out on to the track for practice. But, it was rather damp. I chose to miss the first practice session.
Why? Wrong tyres. We only found out that everyone uses Schumacher Greens in the wet at Stotfold. We niaively thought it was Ballistic Greens…
We got some tyres glued up for the second practice, and boy was it a slippery track, the rain not falling, and the track was greasy as hell. But only in certain areas, depending which way the astro was running.
Okay, fair enough.
Drivers briefing was illegible, Mr. Worseley, use the commentators microphone? Yardy also offered to take our stuff to the Euros. Nice, but unecessary, it’ll be many years before we’re good enough to go.
Round 1, first heat out, oh joy, the car was fine, going around happily. But then it decided to go straight on at one corner, but then okay again. It did that a few times.Until I finally put it in the fence. Next to Rasey’s feet, of course. “Crabby, we need to have words.”
Turns out just a stripped servo horn. No worries.
Round 2, that was uneventful, the car went fine, I finished the run.
Round 3, ahh, yes, it all happened. Just before Heat 12 of Round 2 the heavens opened, and all play was stopped. By the time we hit the track it was rather puddlesome, despite the fine brushing skills of (mainly F1) drivers.
My car bundled round enjoying the grip that the rain gave (how does that work?) until it stuttered to a halt. Water in the somewhere.
Round 4, and would you believe it, the heavens opened once more. The brushing was this time less thorough, leaving lots of phat puddles, and my car didn’t last too long this time, again stuttering to a stop.
I spent some time with WD40 and bluetac, in an attempt to get it dried out.
But, all to no avail, I was 2nd from bottom. Not my best performance ever, then…
The finals came about, and just 2 people showed up for the 4 car L final. Graham Blitzboy Smith was the only one with a working car though, as mine failed to get to the end of the straight, my electrics still failing to perform.
Oh well, never mind. All eyes were on the A final, Tom Cock was sat marshalling, and he needed Ellis to come 2nd, and when Kev Lee brought home the bacon, Tom was relieved, and hands were clapped.
Awesome result Tom, you got it done!
Barbecue and general drying out happened on Saturday night. Along with a little Durango preparation for Sunday. The forecast was dry.
Asleep by 11pm!
Sunday
Awoke 5 minutes before the alarm, a glorious night sleep!
Slightly nervous about running a brand new car for the first time at a National. I didn’t even have a shell, but Jimmy had kindly oOpled me one, thanks!
Out in heat one for Practice again.
The Durango was just superb, seemed very similar pace to Mark’s 511. It needed a few setup tweaks, and the track was drying quickly.
Round 1, I ran Schumacher Greens, and the car was flying. Until the commentator started saying I was quickest in heat, then I got the shakes, and made a few mistakes. But, amazingly I was quicker than Mark with his 511, which is unheard of, Mark is a quicker driver than me, always has been.
Round 2, track dry now, so I was onto a nice new set of yellows. I didn’t drive too well though, all quite ordinary. Popped a ball cup off a few times, replaced it just in case.
Round 3 the car was great, and Round 4 too. Nothing to report!
A the end of Qualifying I was squeezed to K1, by Mark in J10! How close! And amazingly, I’d had a 76th in one of the rounds, which was quite shocking, I’ve never been in double figures before.
So I was loving the Fandango by now.
Final came, and I was on pole. Buzzer went, but my car didn’t. Shit. Before we knew it a B44 was in the back of me. The B44 didn’t come off well, the Durango had a tiny scratch.
But, the Durango didn’t work again. I’ve no idea what happened, it was fine on the practice lap, and then just had zero power on the line. Ouch.
But no matter, I love the Durango, it’s so quick in the corners, so responsive, and I think it suits my slow thumbs, as it reacts quickly, catching up with my inputs!
Mark had a storming run in the J final, qualified 10th, he was quick and careful and ended up finishing 2nd! Awesome drive!
Something happened in the other finals, I’ve no idea what really. We shot off after the 2nd leg of the A final, amusingly Simon Moss took the win using Nathan Ralls Cat! A hard charging Neil Cragg didn’t give him a moment peace, but all credit to Si, he didn’t put a wheel wrong.
The drive home took ages, we spotted traffic on the M3, so came off and took a different road.
The weekend was ace in the end, the Saturday rain left me feeling a bit damp, but the Durango pace left me full of hope. When’s the 2wd coming out?
[Pictures to follow.]
Written by simon.
Atomic Carbon Cougar Moustache
Today I received a prototype Schumacher Cougar SV rear shock mount from Atomic Carbon.
It puts the top of the shocks lower, for increased rear droop.
But, most of all, I especially like that it makes a rather fine moustache.
Written by simon.
Crazy Bob’s Cat
I’ve not done much racing lately, but today I popped along to TORCH to prepare the cars for next weekend’s Stotfold National.
Seeing as I’ve sold all my Tamiya 4wds I’m without a 4wd car for the National, so Crazy Bob has very kindly lent me his Cat SX.
It’s half SX and half SX2, plenty of SX2 parts on it, and a set of my spare big bores. I raced it today at TORCH, and it goes well, I didn’t have the damping quite right, but it was a lot better once I’d sorted it out.
It seemed very agile, almost as if it’s too light. Does anyone run extra weight in the Cats?
Mark’s 511 was brilliant, he had the setup perfect, and it was very nice indeed to drive. A lot more forgiving than the Cat. But, I was running staggered ribs up front, and I think they are a little rigid and edgy.
I did melt the spur gear and then strip the teeth off it though, I was running the slipper a little too loose. My mistake to be honest.
I gave the Cougar a few runs too, and it went well, I was testing the new brass 3 degree toe in block, and it seemed good, nice stable car, easy to drive. And I went faster with it than I did with the Cat…
Just got to rebuild the Cougar shocks this week, and swap the receiver in the Cat, there was a strange steering glitch.
So next weekend is the last national, and no doubt I’ll be in the lowest final again, but no matter, it’s all about having fun!
Written by simon.
oOple Invernational Race 2010
Day 0: Friday
I got Kathryn up at 6-something o’clock and hit the road sometime before 8. First stop was Fleet, where we loved baps (bacon and egg ones), and had a little dance in WHSmith.
Amazingly, we managed to miss the rush hour and we were on the M1 in no time.
Milton Keynes Tesco Extra provided a food stop and a quick wee at Leicester was our last stop.
So yes, it was an epic journey of services. The Chuckle Bus was enjoying it’s new brakes though.
We got to RHR at half three, so that only took all day. Everywhere seems to take all day to get to in the bus…
The track was already busy, lots of people practicing. They’d laid out a track that used most of the track features, and there seemed to be a ring of fire too…
The circus tent was up and nearly full, we chose to park the chuckle bus up and be anti-social and not pit in the big tent.
I got out there and had a few runs, the track was okay, tricky, but nice, and the double to step up was a nice compbination to get right.
I introduced Kathryn to Tom Cock, I said he was going to be the winner this weekend. She took his photo. He grinned. [He won. My 'you are going to win' services are available for a fee.]
I’ve just broken the 511 by flinging it off the end of the straight into the fence, and the gazebo is about to blow away…
Time now 6pm, till loads of practice time left…
A run with the cougar went okay, slipper slipping too much, couldn’t make it over the double!
Friday night was uneventful, chips were consumed. Crazy Bob and Steph arrived, Steph put the tent up whilst Bob had a practice with the Cougar.
Day 1: Saturday
We’d booked in for a variety of classes between the three of us, but as Mark wasn’t here, Bob n I decided to share the 2wd entry, and each run 4wd on our own.
Saturday was a timed practice followed by 4 qualifying rounds, each of 6 minutes.
The weather was mostly glorious and by lunchtime the shorts were on.
The Cougar was going alright, Bob proving that he could drive it, and I was proving I’d forgotten how to. Bob decided the slipper and diff needed adjustment, and the run after that I managed to strip the idler gears within the first couple of laps.
I blamed Bob’s adjustment crisis for that, but it transpires that a lot of Schumacher’s were stripping idler gears. even Tom Cock was struggling, he melted three sets on his Cat, leaving him to run his Cougar in 4wd! We think the peculiar sandy soil of the farm-based track caused excessive chafing on the gears.
In the 4wd I had some decent consistent runs, very similar speed to Rob, and the 511 worked well, apart from one round that I broke something and didn’t complete the run, but for the life of me I can’t remember what. I should have written this at the time, but I was being grumpy about the poor 3G connection so left the laptop in the bag.
In one run the car wasn’t steering very straight at the end of it, then I remember I heard a crack when I hit something, I’d managed to break a front wishbone, and bend the hinge pin, but still managed to put in my fastest time of the day!
The RHR track was great, and it rewarded steady precise driving. No charging around, crashing was too easy for that, it was all about not crashing. Not quite as fun as going for the big air, but more rewarding to have nearly clean runs – a rarity it seems in off-road
At the end of Saturday we seemed to be sitting around 50-somethingth which was pretty good for us, we’re used to being last.
Saturday night we enjoyed a gourmet barbeque, and a little alchohol. Some people watching something to do with balls, and Kat and I had some quality time in the chuckle bus 
Later in the evening the disco got banging, and we managed to miss the flaming hoop of fire related fun. And we also missed all the excitement relating to dog-walking, whilst sat around with Griff and Mrs Griff and their wee doggies…
Being lazy we failed to hold a team investigation to the occurrencies of that evening… It remains a mystery.
Day 2: Sunday
I woke up at 6:30 or something, and it was tipping it down, so I went back to sleep. When I finally got up the rain was easing, and people had been racing toy cars in the wet. So we’d missed the final round of qualifying.
Finals were planned, three legs of them! And a raffle was held, and I didn’t win a Fandango, which is a shame, as I have a fancification for such a beast… I also didn’t win a motor plate.
Where did we qualify? They’d done 11 car finals, which was entertaining, and meant that in 4wd Bob was F5 and I was GQ! Yay! In 2wd Bob and I had got it into the F final! F6.
Bob was feeling decidedly dodgy after Saturday night’s entertainments, so I took the first run with the Cougar. And I bloody well won it! I somehow chased around for a while and ended up clear of everyone, so I just drove steady and stayed there, winning by a decent margin, nice!
Then I was out with the 511, and sitting on pole, I trickled it around the first couple of corners after the warble, and slowly pulled out a bit of a lead, and somehow won that too! Everyone behind me was crashing all over the place, whilst I just drove around without hitting anything.
That was the highlight of the weekend for me, winning my first legs in both classes, I was happy whatever happened now.
And now it did indeed all happen, the heavens opened and it got rather wet. Bob and I got caught out in our next 4wd runs on yellows, and didn’t have good runs at all.
We’d received a gift from the wealthy land owner, he’d taken pity on us as there was no potatoes ready in his fields for us to steal. He gifted us 3 eggs (not a whole half dozen, note), from the bottoms of his very own chickens that roam around the grounds of his mansion.
So we did eat some rather gourmet salmon and eggs for brunch, we camp like kings in the Lazy team, often the food takes priority over the racing. I carry it well though.
Bob came in 4th with the Cougar somehow in the 2nd leg, even after crashing everywhere.
The 3rd leg was postponed due to torrential rain, and I packed all my stuff away, I wasn’t fussed about where I came anymore, and was getting rather tired.
Up top Tom Cock took legs one and two of 2wd, and Nathan Waters surprised everyone by driving his Fandango in circles around Lee’s 511, well, it was actually amazingly close.
There was some shouting by a man on a table, and it transpired they were going to run the last round, but I didn’t bother. Bob went out though, and broke his car nicely. By this time it was tipping it down again so we packed up and slunk off.
It was a shame it all kind of whithered away with the rain.
I didn’t see trophy presentations, but the trophies were fantastico, but only for the A finals! What’s all that about Jimmy? You gotta give us crap drivers something to compete for!
In the event, the team produced some unnofficial potato based oOple trophies, for my F & G leg 1 wins! I was most honoured to receive these creations, and will be submitted the ideas for more farming based trophies to Mr oOple for next year.
All in all a fantastic event, I LOVED that we had open practice before the event, though running two classes at the same time was tricky, but fun!
Kat’s been running around taking photos as usual, here they are. They’re handy for the things I forgot to write about. A picture is a thousand words, so here’s 234,000 words…
