Talywain: 2010 BRCA National Series
I was on the reserves list for Talywain, and in the week or two leading up to it the phone calls from Paul Worsley started coming through, and bingo, I was in.
And 24 hours before leaving I got another call (10 missed calls…), from Crazy Bob, he too had an entry for 2wd, from something like 13th on the reserve list.
So he spent Thursday evening half building a car…
We drove up Friday afternoon, and were somewhat amazed at the amount of people at Talywain when we got there at 7pm. Some of them had been there since Friday morning! What’s all that about?
After a drive around the field, and some parking confusion, we found a nice spot and set up. Griff turned up just after us and soon enough the barby was on and the banter flowing.
Bob finished builing his car in the dark at about 10pm, and as Griff would say, ‘fair play’!
It was bloody freezing, a cold night lay ahead.
Saturday
Up at 7am, and the frost on the tents was impressive. Booking in was uneventful, heat 1, of course, down with the F5s.
Two 3 minute practice runs, and the track was nice, big double at the back, all a bit sketchy… The RB5 wasn’t riding the bumps too well, needed to soften it up. Which meant drilling out some pistons, the standard Kyosho ones were all too small.
I have to say I was struggling with the RB5, not enough track time at all with it, and I wasn’t really enjoying driving it.
Bob’s X6 was going well though… surprisingly well for a drunken dark build…
Up at the top Lee’s new Tamiya TRF 201X was flying, and looking good. Ellis’ X6 was looking quicker though, and by the end of the day Ellis was on TQ.
Whilst I was wallowing in self-pity down in the L final, Bob had somewhow managed to get to the I final. The sheer amount of good talent at the Nationals is very impressive, so the I final was decent!
I came second from last. Sigh… I’m really not sure a rear motor 2wd is really for me, I really struggled with it. And whilst my heart is looking at the new Tamiya, my head (and half my heart) is looking at the new Cougar SV. Oh look, that would be tidy, a Manta Ray and a Cougar again. Just like I raced in the early 90s…
In the A final it was all down to the last leg. And Lee and Ellis battled it out hard, and not all that cleanly! To me it looked like Ellis was faster through some of the corners, but Lee’s 201X seemed better over some of the bumps. Exciting stuff and Lee took the win.
Saturday night was a festival of fire. Lots of barbies were in action, and we got a nice little camp fire going, which resulted in my fold flat barbecue not being able to fold flat anymore… And we finished the Sailer Jerry spiced rum. It has a lady on the label!
Sunday
Ahh, 4wd, I love it. In practice the 511 was feeling great. But once it got to the heats, annoying little problems resulted in several DNFs… A popped ball joint, a loose sensor wire (we think).
Bob didn’t get an entry, all 120 drivers turned up and booked in. So Bob was my pit man all day. Oh, apart from at the start of round 1. Where is my car, I was wondering, oh, it’s still on my table. Where’s Bob? In the toilet!
We also spent some time trying to work out what a weird transmission noise was, and it was found to be the belt tensioner had moved. Bob wanted me to put a new spur gear on. So I did. But it wasn’t kit size, and wouldn’t mesh, after an hour of rebuilding the thing. Tamiya: make it easier to change the spur!
So I then lost interest in the whole sport, and was about to have a Halifax moment and sell all my gear on ebay. I think stabbing myself in the thumb with a screwdriver didn’t help really, but superglue fixed that up enough to race.
But we panicked nicely and got the DB01 spare car up and ready in a frantic 5 minutes. And it drove great, putting in my best time of the day…
Still down in L final though, 8th. The final was ace fun though, I managed to get up to 3rd on the first lap, but binned it big time at the end of the straight, taking out half the field, leaving me last. I battled away over the rest of the race and somehow ended up 3rd! I was well chuffed, best I drove all weekend. Plastic Fantastic!
We only saw the first leg of the A final, and Lee was on stunning form with his 511, nailing the big back double nearly every lap, inch perfect. And only 5% of the whole 120 drivers were attempting the double in one. I think it was only fractionally faster though, worth the risk? Only if you’ve got super confidence.
All in all a fantastic weekend, great banter, amazing racing from the best in the UK. Could have done better, but it’s all about having fun for me, not being perfect. And Bob will tell you, my diffs are far from perfect – what do you mean those balls aren’t all the same size?
The drive home was smooth and fuelled by Burger King. Bob was keen to carry on pitting for me, so got wrenching in the passenger seat.
Post Script
Lee Martin did the double and won both classes.
He would like to thank his new sponsors: Kellogs Krave – Snax That Make You Brave.
Photos
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Buy Lazy Things !
Great report Simon!
Good to hear reports of the weekend from differing points of view, and good to hear someone else fixed themselves using superglue over the weekend.
I was there on Friday morning.. ish.. after setting out on Thursday afternoon from NE england, stop over in Tamworth, and continued to Taly on Friday morngin… its a big effort with an 8 month old baby…. just glad to get there and get set up… and get the beers open.
Roll on RHR!