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
Written by simon.
Stotfold: Mid-South 4wd Regional R1
We weren’t really up for getting up at 4am or something ridiculous on a Sunday morning to get to Stotfold 4wd Regional, so I asked nicely and arranged to camp over in the chuckle bus.
So Saturday tea time we trucked up there, and took ages to get there.
It took so long it was dark when we got to the track. No cheeky practice then (the club don’t allow it anyway, only on race days), instead we ran a lap of the track, and were amazed at how steep some of the jumps were. I lost.
We were woken by cars arriving, and Rude Tony was the earliest arrival. I got up and got set up.
The field soon got busy, and the track was a steady flow of practice. Initially it seemed to be local boys not crashing much.
I thought I’d give it a go, and got the 511 out. A couple of enjoyable laps and I snapped it. Front hub.
Fixed it, and another practice. Snapped it again, same part of the track, the opposite front hub. Annoyingly I lost three of the four king pins that vanished too…
The heat list showed 49 drivers, plus a ‘guest heat’ of 2wd.
How did it go?
First three rounds the car went well, handled great, and I got quicker with each round. I loved the track, challenging, but fast and flowing.
Round 4 all the solder melted on my motor tabs… I think the connectors I’m using on the motor were arcing a bit, and got a bit hot.
I wacked in a different motor, but it wouldn’t run, I’m not sure why, so I put the 511 under the van in frustration and got out the DB01 spare car.
Had a few practice laps and it went well (until the wheel fell off).
Finals came, and I was in the D, qualified 37, not bad for me really.
So there we were, having a couple of practice laps at the start of our final and I gave Nick Wilson a little tap from behind, just to make sure he was awake, and, err, snapped my front shock shaft! What’s all that about? I hardly touched him!
That was my final finished before it was even started…
Thanks to Stuart ‘Sherlock Holmes’ for finding all my lost parts on the track.
I got to marshall the A final leg 2, and it was cool sat in the middle of the track with them whizzing round me. I got shouted at at one point, I think I missed Kev Lee crashing, so he lost some places.
Sorry Kev, I seemed to have a 270 degree marshalling position! But no matter, he took the win over the three legs at the end of the day.
There were a handful of Tamiya’s about, and Alec Springer popped his 511 into the A. It was going well, but it’s one of those tracks were a tumble that needs marhsalling takes a long time. Marshalling often required jumping down, up or over something, which takes time.
The 511 is a terrific car, I couldn’t fault mine at all really, even with a crazy 5.5 in it I was loving it. I wasn’t fast, but I really do need a lot more off-road track time. I’m loving it though, it’s ACE.
Kathryn enjoyed it, cooked a gorgeous breakfast, and took a million and one (quite unique!) photos, cheers chuck, Xy!
Written by simon.
Titchfield Muddy Mischief
Went to Titchfield this morning, hoping for a bit of dry astro action.
Whilst it might not have been raining today, I unfortunately didn’t figure on a week of rain causing a certain amount of dampness…
The track was wet. Full wet. Not damp.
So Ballistic spikes were the tyre of choice, preferably in pink, but I went for green.
The 511 had to get wet and dirty. I almost didn’t want to play… But once on track I had a great time. The car was handling okay, and just got better and better as the day went on.
Titchfield run a rapid show, we had three heats today, and they cracked through 5 rounds in 3 hours! And a final! I couldn’t keep up, so sat the last round out.
I qualified 8 out of 9, but in the final I was running 4th at the 6 minute stage (8 minute final) when my motor went soft (the one that’s already knackered) and I pulled out. I was very pleased at that performance, 4th over a normal final time is better than I expected to be.
The lap times in the final were a second quicker than my previous rounds, the track was a little drier, but not a lot, and I’m hoping the setup changes I tried helped.
Over the day I went softer at the rear, less damping, to try and get the forward traction. I also ran a lot higher than I have been doing, giving the suspension a chance to ride the many small bumps on the Titchfield track.
It was a good morning, I half wish I had the DB01 up and running to run in the wet, but an hour with a toothbrush and a can of Asda Multi Surface (furniture) polish (in ‘Spring’ fragrance…) had the car clean again.
Just got to put it back together again for Stotfold 4wd regional next Sunday.
Thanks go out to Kat for the bacon, coffee, cakes and hundreds of photos! And to Cameron for pulling the chuckle bus out of the mud with his meaty 4×4.
Written by simon.
Neo 2010
I’m loving the online coverage of the Neo 2010 at neobuggy.tv
Looks like Rob Nelson at BBK is doing a great job with time keeping, and we’re all having fun on the chat with Tony Truman commentating.
More qualifying on Sunday, with finals on Monday.
Written by simon.
Sunday at PDA
Well while leader was at RHR pushing the boundaries [he means hitting the fence - Si] of off road. The rest of the Lazy team were enjoying another simply brilliant day at PDA, Bicestershire.
It was the final round of the winter championship and it brought out the big guns for the two respective titles. Staples, Truman, Rasey and Howett
We managed to avoid hearing anything about the Ozzie GP and started racing at 10 after a superb breakfast from the kitchen at PDA. Thanks Mrs T you’re the best.
Team RCLazy were gifted brand new hoodies with shiny logos and pointy hats. Good work Si, we can all carry it well now.
Lots of antics during the day, bodyshell vandalism, MAHOOSIVE air from Howett and my 511 doing some rapid laps with some shiny new pink wheels.
The team managed BQ for Rob in 4wd, which he converted into an excellent win after stripping 3 (yes three) spur gears in 3 races. Big thumbs up for some amazing jumping action keeping the crowd well and truly entertained. Topped only by him falling out of his chair a lot.
Haskell Jr made B2 and was unlucky to not convert it to a win. Dodgy marshalling was a bit of a theme…
I made A8 and Staples A4. I made a 4th in one leg of the final and a 6th overall which made my day and Gray came 4th (I think) overall.
Like I said Championship day and amazingly RCLazy drivers made 3rd (Gray) and 5th (Me) overall. Big thanks to all the Truman’s (even the sleepy ones) for a great series and venue.
Happy days, roll on the regionals.
