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 
)
Written by ed.
BRCA 1/10th Off-Road National Oswestry
Last weekend Oswestry hosted the 1/10th off-road national.
There is, as always, an awesome Oople report. So just go read that for all the news and pics. It’s worth reading just for the mattress not fitting the tent photo
I really miss 1/10th off-roading, there needs to be more of it in the Southern half of the UK! Are you in the South and wanting some buggy action too? Comment below!
Written by simon.
Nationals Update – Numero Uno
So the dust has settled on the first national at West London, and my report for RACER has been submitted… so now time to sort out my Lazy post (kinda fitting it’s taken so long for me to post, given the name, hehe).
Ok, so new season, whats new?
To be honest, not that much, all the usual suspects were up there, even with the large number of team changes going on.
In Mod, you still had Moore, Grainger and co up front. Interestingly, it seemed to take Andy a while to get into his stride, he came from being a bit middling on early sat, to TQ the final round on saturday, and then taking all three finals… maybe a case of removing some rust from the system The HB proto looked good on new and old tyres, as did Glenn Domans 416, if anything it seeming more comfortable on older tyres, and spot on in the wet!
Chris G was very quick in the first two rounds with the Mi4, some 6seconds clear of the filed! However, he didn’t have very good finals, managing to have an incident in the first turn in every one! The car also seemed to struggle a little on old rubber, a bit of similarity with RedBull F1 car.. a bit too hard on the tyres!
ProStock was pretty much a Schumacher affair, with 5 out of the top ten being the british make, albeit all bar one being Mi3.5’s. Rob West and Jay Westwood were the two to watch in this one, Jay having a bit of a mare on saturday (and almost going home!), but coming on strong in the finals to take the win.
So onto my own experience… well, it was a weekend of frustration really. In the first Q round, it was going ok until the rain arrived in the final minute, making the track really greesy. Was quite happy to see that despite that, I was 28th in round… however, it the weather did effectively loose me one “new tyre” run, as you have to start on new boots
Second round, new boots again, and put in a good time to go 25th, although made a few silly errors. Third round, final set of new boots (sunday was forecast to be wet wet wet, so thought it best to use them while I could!), and went 23rd in round, although again with some silly mistakes. Still, couldn’t be dissapointed as I was lying in 16th overall overnight!
A KFC, 3 Buds, and a kip in the car later… it was sunday morning, and suprise suprise, it was damp!
However, by the time everything got going there was potential for it jut to be damp, rather than fully wet. Being in heat 6, I was paying close attention to the weather… lo and behold, it changed it’s mind 5mins before the run. Cue a rapid change from dry electrics to wet ones… and thats when I had the biggest issues of the weekend! Managed to pop the negative wire off the battery plug by reverse connecting it in a rush (something I’ve now solved with a bit of red heat shrink rather than black). Thankfully the speedo still worked, but with no soldering iron on, it was a case of tape it in place and hope.
Amazingly, it lasted 3mins, until I barrell rolled it out of the first turn, and with the tape being damp, end of run. I was hoping though that I would have got a score in, but on returning the pits, discovered that I’d also plugged in the PT the wrong way round, so it wasn’t counting…. chalk that up to the rush before the start 
Anyway, the final qualy the rain decided that it wanted to make a proper job of it for a short time at least, with puddles everywhere. With all the wet electrics in the car, a bit of an increase in ride-height, and wet tyres on, away we went. quite simply, the car was great in the wet, ending up 3rd in the heat, and 15th in round! If only I’d done the same in round4.. who knows.
With the scores on the doors, turns out that some people had had even more inconsitent meetings (I always seem to fall foul of this in Rnd by Rnd), and despite counting a 25, 23, and 15.. I was pole in the D, dropping 15 places from the overnight, grrrr!!!!
The finals were fun though. I struggled a little in the first one, mainly as other guys around me had saved a set of new tyres for the finals. Despite how good the car was on the older boots, there was a deffinate advantage to running new ones. Posted the fastest lap time, but just pushed too hard, and ended up 3rd.
Second final was unbelivable really, impressed even myself. Got the most fantastic start ever, and the car just was working exceptionally well from the off. First lap was 2s faster than anyone else, and by the end of the race I was 4 up the road, even after having backed off a bit in the final minute. And if I thought that was good the next final would be some of the most fun racing I’d had in ages…
Basically, the rain came back right before the run, not heavily but enough to make the track very damp. If I’d have known how bad it was, I’d have gone with wet tyres (and maybe even starting at the back), but at the time it didn’t look too bad. BIG mistake :p It was very obvious from the first turn, when the car just decided turning wasn’t going to happen. Sorex32’s and wet tarmac are not comfortable bed fellows.
However, it turned out to be very fun, as for lap after lap, myself and Steve Lander were battling for 1st. I was quite a bit faster, but couldn’t find a way past, Steve making it really difficult. I did manage to get by cleanly once, but had taken a bit too much kerb, and was requested to give the spot back. Ended up finishing 2nd, but it was someone else’s turn to have a PT issue, as Steve’s only recorded nine laps, and I bumped up to 1st, winning the D, wOOp!
So a nice new plastic trophy on the shelf (hmm), and on to Halifax. Knowning roughly where I am now, I reckon a B final place at one of the rounds is the target… I just hope it’s dry!
