Proline Dirt Arena
Yesterday I drove a couple of hours up to the Proline Dirt Arena in Bicester. In an unassuming old Formula 1 car factory (yes, really), there’s a big pile of dirt and the best day’s racing in years.
I ran 4wd, and found that Tamiya plastic was a little fragile in my hands… I broke: a front wishbone, and 2 rear hubs, one of them twice… And I came last!
But! I had the best day ever, the track is awesome, so very technical, and there’s never a moment rest. Lots of little kickers, a big table top and an great double-double meant getting a clean lap, never mind a clean run was a challenge.
I learnt that off-road on that sort of track requires epic throttle control. Punching off the jumps and landing smooth is so satisfying, and then having to do it again milliseconds later means concentrating for a whole five minutes! I’ve honestly no idea how the nitro boys manage a whole 1 hour final…
If I hadn’t been wrenching on my car all day getting the setup okay, and fixing it I don’t think there would have been much to do! No tyre prep, a set lasts several meetings, literally, that’s just unheard of for us touring car types.
Setup was a bit of a struggle, my rear end was too keen to kick up, I made rear oil heavier and whacked on some weight, and it was a lot better, and then sorted ride height out. But it wasn’t perfect, on the little jump after the double-double it was all too keep to kick up the rear end.
So what do I do to fix it? Even more weight on the rear end? I’ve no idea how heavy the cars are supposed to go. And what ride-heights should I be running? At least I wasn’t worried about 0.5mm roll-centre adjustments…
Many thanks to everyone for making us so welcome, I’m getting a feeling 2010 will be all about spikey tyres for me…
Comments
Leave a Reply
Buy Lazy Things !
