Mendip TC National 2010
Are TC Nationals more fun than Buggy Nationals?
Saturday started bright and early at 5:30 for the trip to Mendip on the west coast nr Weston-supermare and although a grey start the forcast was for a good day but rain on Sunday.
On arrival it appeared that nearly everyone had got there several hours before us so the only pit/camping spot was right near the main entry a good walk away from the track, but I like a walk and it was less hecktic.
Practice was great fun my car was nice to drive and fast with no issues that I considered worrying about. So after a few redbull’s to start the morning I figured it was time for a beer and drivers briefing, lots of drivers 80 prostock and 45 ish mod which is good to see in these times.
Round One – Nice and steady after afew sketchy first laps. 16 laps done.
Round Two – After a chat in the pits I decided I needed more speed so switched to a Tekin 10.5 car felt faster after a few sketchy laps but stopped on the last lap. Oh no I’ve killed the motor I thought but on in inspection the pinion had come loose, easy fix.
Round Three – Why are the cars so sketchy on the first laps? Not cleaning off the additive after cooking. Doh, clean tyres worked so much better. Flying run then the car stops about two laps from the end… hmmm too hot maybe… no time to check now beer/ pear cider and burgers to consume now. I was 50th at his point with stu 56th
Sunday started really far too early for me with the first spots of rain at 6 so I stumbled around in cold daze for a few hours drinking tea and eating bacon. The first pain of the day started as Stu attempted to start the rented Genni and broke the pull start, great no power.
First practice and Round Four was missed, far too wet for my dry only car.
The job of ‘fixing that’ was handed to me by Stu who waved the I’m an accountant banner so I started disassembly of the genni, 20 odd screws later the thing was apart and cord re-attached, great get it together and were off. It actually started first or second pull, happy days but then Stu moved it round the back of the car and it cut out, never to start again…. Bloody pile of rented #@?! Plan B swung into action and stu’s car became the charge station.
Round Five – So with about 2 mins of car prep I slung my slick tyred car out and slithered around the final round, I was actually really enjoying drifting round the sweepers but I was getting lapped by the wet tyre shod cars.12 laps oh dear.
So final positions Me pole in the G and Stu 9th in the D, it clearly paid to risk the wet runs.
Final 1 – So the sun was out and the track nice and dry i slowly drove out towards the start line another keen racer decided I was far too slow and smashed me out the way thanks! My car now crabbed round to the start with a badly tweaked chassis and sure enough as the sounder went off my car slewed sideways round the first bend I was last last by turn three on the last lap the car cut out again but I still managed 5th.
In the pits the Tekin motor was being very touchy and would sort of work then stop so back to the Novak and a quick read of the instructions revealed a very handy feature of the new SXX speedo a temp check! And sure enough the motor was showing the full 10 max temp reached Oops, speedo only on 4 tho. A quick rebuild of the rear shocks but no time for the fronts..
Final 2 – Proper cooked and cleaned tyres the speedo boost and feel turned down abit and the car was going well bit down on top end but good enough for 2nd this time. Ricky Copsy (Xray) was leading the way and very nearly lapped me, what was he doing the G final!?
Final 3 – Right then last run, rebuilt shocks, boost back up, have it. I lead away from the start and held on for a few laps but ran out of talent and Ricky drove past but then rolled afew laps later so I nipped through but he was having none of that and passed again. 2nd with an overall of 2nd in the G. woop woop..
Stu geared up afew teeth for the last run and suddenly looked right on the pace, and put in a fine run to finish 6th with an overall of 6th in the D, good work. Ed Clark had clearly gone crazy with the boost for the last run and his Losi jrxs-r (what not blue!) car looked like a missile for three laps until it popped! Chris Granger won Mod in dominant style with his car clocked at 72mph down the straight.
So is TC more fun than buggies…. well no, it’s abit too much like hard work for this RClazy racer, or maybe less redbull next time.
Written by rob.
Reality Racing Cup at SHMCC
My Local Hobby Store, Reality Racing holds a touring car race series at SHMCC every year. Being a lazy racer, I’ve not managed to compete in any of the 6 rounds. But today I popped along to soak up the atmosphere and take some pictures.
The series is a great example of a small business and a local club working well together. 30-40 drivers have turned up regularly for each round, which is great numbers, and as a result there’s some great racing. And that’s not the whole club by any means, there’s probably half again that regularly race who weren’t at today’s meeting.
That sounds like RC is healthy to me, despite the recession!
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- Race Control
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- Dan Horton
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- Untitled
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- Simon Newbery
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- Laptop!
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- Chopper
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- Adam Smith
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- The Shop
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- The Team
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- Dan Dan
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- Schumacher Mi3.5
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- Red Shoes
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- Extra Hole
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- Spekpecker
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- Reuben Manning
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- Personal Best
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- Mr Reality
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- KO
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- Schumacher Fence
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- Drivers
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- Hot Bodies Cyclone
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- Vintage
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- 5ive
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- Bernard
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- Haircut Sir!?
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- Pops
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- Green
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- Green
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- Schumacher Mi4
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- Grinning Fool
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- Cyclone Montage
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- Deano’s Hair
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- Bernie Ecclestone
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- Phat Power
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- Top Photon
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- Stuff
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- Green
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- Chris Newbery
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- Jeff Smith
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- Xray T2009
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- Tissues…
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- Abrasion
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- The Bird
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- Q R1
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- ‘Line’
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- Ross Campbell and a Horse
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- Reality Cup Pits @ SHMCC
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- SHMCC Tarmac Track
Written by simon.
Team EA Motorsports New UK Distributor
Exclusive News.
Team EA Motorsports (www.teameamotorsports.com) have a brand new UK distributor selling their Branded Trinity/Epic Brushless motors.
These Motors will be available in 10.5, 13.5, 17.5 and 21.5 turns on special request.
The new UK website is: www.eamotors.co.uk
Add us to your favourites or talk to us trackside at SHMCC (Reuben or Jason).
Images and Stock arriving Very Soon! We will Keep you posted.
Written by reuben.
BRCA Rd3 – Cotswolds
Ok, I’ll be updating this a bit later… but as a bit of proof of a non-lazy result…
Does this mean I’m no longer a Lazy team member?
Written by ed.
BRCA Round2 – Halifax
Well, in a typical Lazy styley, I’ve left it a bit before putting this up….I’ll also keep it a bit shorter this time!
Anyway, second weekend of July was time for round two of the TC nationas up at Halifax.
For those who don’t know, Halifax is, well…. LARGE! It’s predominantly a gas track, and was recently resurfaced, so the grip is pretty mega, thanks to a combination of the new tarmac, and the foam/oil residue on the surface (although if it’s damp… well, I’ll come back to this). To say it makes pro-stocks seem a little slow is an understatement 
To go well, you need two things… Power (preferably lots), and corner speed..
So onto the action…
In pro-stock qualifying, a bit of rain played havoc in the first round, with the track going from dry-damp and greasy-dry in the space of five minutes in heat 7! Unfortuantly for thoose racers, neither slicks or wets worked… the previously mentioned surface combo litterally had no grip… they could have been on drift tyres for all the good it did.
Thankfully, the track stayed dry for the rest of the weekend, and in the end Jonny Bowden was TQ, taking two rounds, and finishing second in another. Lee Price was second on the grid from Byron Humprhries, the Schumacher drivers now all running the Mi4’s, and looking quick to boot.
Modified was all about the usual suspects, with Chris Grainger taking three rounds to end up TQ with a round to spare. Elliot Harper and Andy Moore were showing the potential of the 6.5t/LiPo combintations to line up 2nd and 3rd. Interestingly, the A final was split 50:50 in runners using LiPo vs 5cell… seemingly nothing in it, despite the weight difference (1500g vs 1425g).
In the Finals, Jonny Bowden showed a clean pair of heals to everyone, taking all three legs. Lee Price held station behind, taking three 2nds. Luke Thompson had an excellent first two legs, taking third in each from sixth on the grid, and ending up third as a result.
The top three in modified made a clean break in each final, managing to pull out a large gap on the chasing pack each time. Chris took the first and third legs to take the Mi4’s first modified national win, with Andy ending up second, and Elliot third.
As for Gossip?
Well, there were a few Photon’s in the pits, Stew Noble managing to get his into the modified B… although Luke Hobson had huge interference issues on the sat, traced to the aerial mount causing the
Motors and speedo’s were a hot topic in Pro-Stock. The final was pretty evenly split, with 5 Novaks, 4 Nosram/LRP’s, and just one GM. Speedo’s was more interesting, with a few old TC specs thrown into the mix against the now de-rigure SPX style. One GM was evident, along with two SXX’s… so maybe the speedo wars are nto as clear cut as we’d like to think
As previously mentioned, 50% of the modified boys took the opportunity to run LiPo, the main reason being that whilst slightly slower, they could be as fast all the way through the run, without a risk of dumping… motor temp now being the killer, plenty of big fans in evidence.
As for your authour… to say I’ve had better weekends was a bit of a understatement. Never really clicked with the track (put that down to a lack of practise), and ended up resorting to my old folly of making too many changes. Made the D (AGAIN, will I ever crack the top 30 at a national?), and eneded up 36th in the o/a, so could have been worse (given I finished 31st at WL, and that was a better weekend). Still the car/speedo/motor/cells combo was working fine… just the muppet behind the sticks at the end of the day.
Roll on Cotswolds (and most deffiently after a good practise this past weekend at the BTCC 
)
