Apologies for the lack of blogging...

... but since I moved into my new flat about a month ago I've been spending pretty much all of my free time working on that, getting it sorted. As a result racing has been put on the back burner and although I have been racing from time to time I simply have not gotten around to blogging about it.

However, rest assured, the blogging should be back in the New Year. I need to sort out my car, which I plan to do over the Xmas break, but then I shall leap back into action with rekindled passion. The flat is nearly sorted so that's a big thing for me - I might even break tradition and post some pictures of that!

Anyway, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you on the other side.

Morecambe Autumn Series Rd5

As I mentioned briefly in my previous post, I had prepared myself last Friday with some positive vibes from completing a 27 lapper. Unfortunately I was unable to recreate this scenario tonight, managing only a reasonable 26 lapper.

This was despite all my hard work gluing my tires back onto the rims before racing started too! I thought Danny was just saying that making sure the tires were glued on properly was just him making a bit of a deal out of nothing... but my God, it made a massive difference to the car. It felt transformed, like a new car! I must remember to check all my tires more often if this is the sort of difference it makes.

Qualifying was a relatively uneventful affair in which I essentially managed to post near enough the same lap time three times, although I did break the 10 second barrier on one lap in the first round. Consequently I lined up on the grid for the A final, albeit at the back.

We all had a scruffy start to the race and unfortunately it continued in that vein. I lost out big time after I struck the side of a sideways Danny a few laps in and I never really fully recovered. At one point I felt like I was near to catch Andy Cottom back up (who was in front of me on the grid and throughout the race)... unfortunately when Andy came round to lap me, with second place in hot pursuit I promptly messed up both his race and mine... catching his bodyshell up in his rear tyre in my eagerness to rejoin the racing line after letting him by. Silly mistake. If I'd have given him more room, chances are he would have gotten by cleanly and won and I may have still caught Andy Cottom. Of course you can't always think with this lucidity in the midst of it all. Nevermind hey?

It's coming round to that time again where I start to complain with increasing frequency that my car needs a rebuild/some TLC etc. etc. I've been putting it off until I moved into my new flat in Manchester... however that has turned into a bit of a nightmare and taken far longer than possibly anticipated (Oh! Hello week 13!) but it looks like next Monday it might actually happen. Unfortunately this means I will probably end up missing Morecambe that night, but you can't have it all... well, that's what they tell me; but I've never really subscribed to that belief system...

Racing at Blackpool

Racing at Blackpool on Friday night. A reasonable result all told. I wanted to prove to myself that I could go quick enough round the track for Morecambe championship round coming up on the following Monday. I managed to do that in one of the rounds, getting a reasonable 27 lapper which is nice 'n' quick for this track layout.

Although this put me in the A final for the meeting I was unable to do it again, in the last qualifier my chassis was rubbing (after my ride height had dropped by about half a millimetre) due to my tires wearing and me not checking the car. After I sorted that out in time for the final, it merely brought my next issue into focus during the final - my tires needed to be re-glued onto their rims as they were starting to peel and making the car very erratic. Not-to-self for first thing on Monday night ready for the Morecambe meeting.

Final result? Qualified 4th in the A and finished there. Job done.

Morecambe Autumn Series Rd4

Morecambe on Monday was another great night at Morecambe. Andy did a fantastic job with the track again, although I think last week's was still the best we've had for a very long time.

Qualifying was all a very close affair between the guys in the top qualifying heat and the finals ended being up pretty much as the evening began in qualifying. I qualified second on the grid behind Andy and despite having a clean start rolled it on the second corner letting Mark and Ben past. I managed to get past them both but could not catch Andy so settled for 2nd.

The videos below show the track layout a little better, and the epic battle between Kev and Colin in the B final. Adzy was in the running but a mistake meant he fell back before I could get my camera out. Then my camera battery died just in time for Colin's overtake on Kev and we rejoin the action via the iPhone...

Morecambe Autumn Series Rd3

Back to Morecambe again this Monday night for Round 3 of my campaign to redeem myself in the MMCC Autumn 2010 series. My average was still suffering - this could potentially be my third 'good' score to bring my average back to 'normal' so the pressure was on a little bit. Mind you, it was a quiet night so my odds were pretty good.

Andy did a fantastic job designing the track, it was challenging but very rewarding to drive and had an amazing rhythm to it. I could race on tracks like this every Monday very happily!

I was going well in qualifying once again, but a mistake in the final qualifier prevented me getting any higher than 3rd on the grid in the A final. I felt that I had a 36 lapper in me, but never got the opportunity to prove it. Maybe my opportunity lay in the final?!

The final started well enough, I was all over Mark Jordan in 2nd place, but unable to find a way past. A few of my attempts resulted in me getting caught in corners and loosing time. This meant I eventually fell into the clutches of Mark Carter behind me, who got past me after yet another mistake and then when I managed to squeeze past him on the inside we both got caught on the apex of the next corner. Mark let me get away first after we were marshalled as I guess he knew I had made the pass before the incident. But it meant Mark Jordan was gone by that point. A good night, shame I couldn't get my illusive 36 laps though.

Ardent Winter Series Round 1

On a freezing cold Sunday morning we all gathered outside what looks like a dis-used cattle shed, but is actually the home to Ardent Raceway one of the premier racing facilities in the country. Who'd have thunk it heh?!

Anyway, we all filed in hoping to find a warmth which wasn't there. Admittedly it warmed up by about lunchtime and actually got too hot if anything I though by later in the afternoon. I wasn't too worried about the cold, I was too busy getting to work sorting out my car...

I had quite a bit to do: I put a new X12 motor and fixed my broken belt/pulley situation from Friday. I was also sorting out a 13.5 motor for a friend who was borrowing my motor to race in that class. It turned out there was plenty of time for all of this though and I even had time to do some setup checks on the car before my first race.

As you can see from the pictures, it was a very busy meeting and when the power wouldn't stay on at the start of the day, everyone wondered in the mains was able to support the vast numbers of racers who had turned up to participate. However, the team at Ardent came through and did a great job keeping everyone happy throughout the day. The food service was excellent - I enjoyed a very tasty jacket potato with beans and cheese for my dinner!

My first two qualifiers were spent getting used to the racing conditions and learning the track to be honest. I also took some time out to cook my motor - I discovered that the pretty aggressive speedo settings which suited my old GM motor were a tad keen for the temperamental X12. It got up to 152 deg C in one run and I'm pretty sure I damaged the rotor during that run as it didn't feel the same afterwards. Luckily I have a spare rotor which I'll get round to putting in sometime.

Stefan came along and helped me with a speedo setup for the finals and the car felt much better than my setup attempts. I qualified 5th in the C final and managed to come 3rd in the first final and 2nd in the second final. However, this was only good enough to give me third overall, but I'm friends with the guys who beat me (Danny Holmes and Chris 'Buzz' Bosomworth) so I didn't mind too much!

Blackpool

Another Friday night racing at Blackpool, I managed to strip a relatively new belt after qualifying round 1 which was annoying. I later traced it to a worn pulley which I had not checked. I presume the belt I stripped a little while back damaged the pulley and dramatically shortened the life of my new belt.

I opted not to continue racing as I only had one rear belt spare and I couldn't bear to run the risk of breaking that as well. I wanted to save it and make sure I could race in round 1 of the Ardent Winter Series this coming Sunday.

So I ended up spending the majority of my Friday night just chilling out with some mates and watching some racing! :)

Morecambe Autumn Series Rd2

I'd like to apologise in advance for the lack of pictures in this post, I forgot to take pictures throughout the evening as normal - I was too caught up enjoying my racing!

I started the evening in the bottom qualifying heat - paying for my sins of racking up some poor results at the end of the last summer series and thus trashing my average ability rating.

Despite this I managed to get in some good times and place myself third in the A final. During which Mark Jordan and I had a fantastic race where we never felt more than a few feet apart. Andy suffered some issues and dropped out of the running leaving Mark and I to fight it out for victory. Mark ended up taking the win but I managed to claim the new bonus point for fastest lap. This meant we both finished on 99 points, and I took a big step towards redeeming my average.

Morecambe visits the Blackpool Illuminations, kinda...

As mentioned last time, Morecambe was visiting Blackpool for its usual guest session, except this time it was the first round of a new championship. Unfortunately I'm STILL waiting for my 28s from Ardent, not impressed...

It was another busy night, which is great news for both clubs. I was fortunate to make it into the A final despite having to miss out on the third and final round of qualifying due to a slipping/stripped rear belt. I was unable to do any better than last place in the A final without some of the magic JB 28s, but it was healthy addition to my point score for the outset of the new championship.

Blackpool Session

I visited Blackpool club this Friday, another reasonable round of racing although it would have been better if my 28s had arrived from Ardent... unfortunately I'm still waiting... Running on some ancient 32s from the outdoor National series means grip never really gets up to a comfortable level.

Nevertheless the evening proved to be an opportunity for more useful practice ready for the 1st round of the new Morecambe championship starting on Monday and being hosted by Blackpool.

Inbetweener at Morecambe

We're in between championships at Morecambe at the mo. Which is disappointing as I did okay last night and could have used the score to try and salvage my championship ability rating which I managed to slaughter in the last two weeks of our last championship. We had a particularly busy night during a Morecambe @ Blackpool meeting a few weeks back and I had already managed to not scrape into the A final (so was already about 6 points down on 'normal')... then, when I was sitting on pole in the B final, my spur gear gave up the ghost and left me to finish last as I could no longer continue racing. As my attendance in the championship had been patchy at best that score had to count and single handedly dropped my average score by nearly 3 points. Not ideal.

Anyway, back to last night. Mark Jordan and I had some close racing moments during the qualifying rounds - where we seemed to push whoever was leading, but then if we got past were immediately pushed by the new second place! We concluded it was easier to chase someone than it was to lead someone, the pressure was just getting to us I guess.

In I think the second qualifier I needed a good result (although thinking about it when don't you need a good result in a qualifying round?) - allwas going well until I managed to spin the car round on the straight?! Fortunately the others missed my stranded car and I was able to continue once they had gone past, but I had lost the plot and continued to drive poorly for the rest of the round. Anyway, when when all was said and done with qualifying Mark had managed to get a quick, clean run in and was sat in the A final. I had been less fortunate and was sitting behind Mark Carter in the B final.

Our final started well, everyone was clean but keeping each other honest at the same time. At some point fairly early on I managed to get a tight line out of a chicane at the same time Mark clipped the marker so I got the jump on him coming on the straight. Mark skillfully (and politely) gave me just enough room to finish the move and settled in right behind immediately. A few more laps passed when a mistake on the sweeper at the end of the straight pushed me wide and Mark squeezed past to take the lead again whilst I resumed role of chaser. Again a few more laps passed before Mark repeated my mistake on the sweeper and I returned the favour, putting me back in the lead with a minute to go. I kept it steady determined to not make an unforced error - I thought if I could do that I should be able to keep Mark behind me. Mark unluckily clipped another corner and rolled the car temporarily giving me the breathing space to take a comfortable win. Fantastic race, I thoroughly enjoyed it! Bring on next Monday...

Hopefully the Inbetweeners fans amongst you may have noticed my very witty and clever pun in the title for this post - I rush back every Monday now after racing to watch the show - good times! ;)

Blackpool RC Car Club

Last night I was at Blackpool RC Car Club, my new Friday night haunt. The car was going well again, although I was struggling to reach the elusive 25 laps on their current layout. Danny Holmes on the other hand, managed to get the first 26 laps last night!

I qualified 4th in the A final and finished there too, as everyone else was comfortably managing 25 laps and although I came close a few times with very quick 24's I couldn't quite make that last leap. Next week maybe... if they don't change the layout!

MMCC @ Blackpool

Due to a lack of participants for the usual Monday Morecambe venue I ended up racing at a spontaneous event at Blackpool on the Monday following the West London national weekend.

It was a fairly quiet affair and I enjoyed it. I was also relieved to find out that my rebuild had considerably helped my Tamiya's performance indoors as much as it had out. Note to self: maintain your car more often - you enjoy yourself when you do!

West London National

This weekend played host to the final round of the 2010 BRCA TC Nationals, held at West London. The sun was shining (for the most part) and the parakeets were singing as racing got under way.

My car felt much better than it has done in previous weeks, which I was delighted about considering all the work I'd put in for the rebuild. It was also looking rather cool, glistening in the morning sunlight... which is more than I can say for Adzy with his cap and sunglasses...

After practice was finished with (which always seems to take ages on a Saturday) qualifying got going. I was all ready with my three sets of tyres, a relative luxury compared to the one set per weekend which I have allowed myself for all the rest of the series. While I was busy working on a tyre strategy for the weekend, Dean was catching up on some Z's after his very early start that morning to make the trip down from Preston

The more sensible among us had come down the night before and were busy working away, feeling very well rested!

Qualifying went pretty well, I managed to get in three clean runs between Saturday and Sunday but unfortunately these were quick enough to get me any higher the Q5 in the D final.

Despite leading one of my finals for a little while my finishing positions culminated in me once again finishing where I started, in 5th place. Nevertheless one of my better results this season. And with it staying dry all weekend - something we had not anticipated - it made for a rather nice finish to the 2010 outdoor season.

I'm looking ahead now to racing in the Ardent Winter series and Stafford Carpet Masters over the colder, wetter months (as you can see from my updated countdown timers) so maybe see you all there.

Rebuild and upgrade for the Tamiya

So, I've just finished rebuilding the car in preparation for this weekends racing at West London. It's the last national in the 2010 TC series so I'm hoping to go out with a bit of a bang!

I've gone through the car and replaced anything that looked a bit worn or slightly bent. I've also installed a fresh set of bearings, a new Xenon spur gear, the new Tamiya LiPo chassis, rearranged my fan setup and mounted a new bodyshell... amongst other bits and bobs. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking though: