Awesome day out at TORCH for Team RCLazy
Finally made it to TORCH for their all day event. You know the idea, this is what happened.
Arrived at 8ish and what a turn out, no space for parking near the track so I dumped off the racing gear and bag o’ bacon with Si. Nice to see young Dan Horton roll up for a nice relaxed intro to off road. He stole my RB5 and drove it like it’s never been driven before – more of that later.
First things first – breakfast. Si had a champions breakfast of cornflakes and a chocolate mini roll (in the cereal!).
I stuck to Sprite and chocolate. Get some real milk for a cup of tea Si! Especially now you’ve fixed the melting fuses in the chuckle bus controlling the fridge!
Drivers briefing gave us 4 rounds quali and 3 finals for everyone Yay! Good work gents, plenty of time for charging and chilling. 6 (pretty) full heats with some notable TC drivers arriving fresh faced and eager to get budgie racing!
Bob was nowhere to be seen but apparently was at a disco in London town and Digweed was splendid. Apparently?
Round one was a shocking result- me qualifying first and beating Phil Williams by a mere two seconds. Great racing Phil. Dan started out a tad excitable but a -30% expo curve calmed that down nicely. Si’s wheel fell off.
Round two pretty similar and Dan was storming through the field and had a very respectable 3rd in his heat.. Si rebuilt his diff. Sorry wrong car, he has gears now and is loving his lack of balls.
I have to stop getting cross with marshalls. Even the ones who applaud your crash before picking the car up, stand around chatting or have to do some sort of rain dance before strolling across an empty track to get you. I know it was my fault I crashed, but purlease at least look like you care. Rant over.
Anyway, soon enough it was lunch, another champion feed of chocolate, and bacon.
Si had made A4 while I was A2 in 4wd and Petit Dan had made A10 in 2wd. A fantastic result for him with my buggy first time out. By this point I had had to hide chocolate from Si, now I know why he was cross with my choice of lemon cakes for the Stotfold national!
Finals went pretty smoothly, nice victories for me in the first two legs and an interesting starting technique from Si. Si’s Fandango literally back flipped on the line. Something to do with a locked slipper and a 5.5 on max acceleration. reminiscent of Lee Martin at Stotfold. Is Si a future Euro Champion in the making? Well done to Lee for clinching the double in Austria, go team Tamiya! Dan moved up 2 positions to 8th overall and looked really in the swing of things before handing the car back. I was amazed it never went that well for me!
Si had found the chocolate again and was feeling pretty sick after an entire tub of mini rolls.
My best moment of the day: being asked if I dominated at the nationals after winning the A final 4wd. “Err… no” I replied “I was over joyed with 92nd.” “Oh.” came the response.
Nice raffle to end the day, sorry you didn’t have the winning ticket Si. So close! All in all a thoroughly brilliant day thanks to the TORCH guys for a splendid day out.
Sorry no pics, left the camera at home. Very Lazy.
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
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.]
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.
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!
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