NICS Rd 4

Yesterday was the latest round in the NICS race series run by Ribble Valley RC Car Club. Due to the fact that there's a lack of 'big-race free' weekends currently, the organisers decided to put it on Valentines Day. This did lead to a lower than usual turnout. On the plus side we were done and out of there by about 3pm. On the topic of Valentines Day racing - a special shout out goes to Mr Cottom who is so dedicated to his racing he left his wife in bed to come and join us... despite her non-PG rated attempts to convince him to stay... Andy, you're a fool, and I salute you.

Early on the Sunday morning a new track layout greeted us. Seems the organisers have decided to change the layout at the start of each NICS race to prevent any unfair home advantage for regular club members, and then they run that layout until the next NICS event. Lubbly jubbly.



My day started when I was alerted to the fact my diff felt like goblins had taken the liberty of rebuilding it using sandpaper and grit whilst I slept; naturally a diff rebuild ensued. However, it was one that only ended in a marginally better feeling diff and me wishing I'd not taken the gamble and just flipped the plates after all. Unfortunately I was out of time and practice was calling me.

The car was okay all day if I'm honest, and I think it was me who was more out of it than anything. Although it did feel like (and look like on the bench) that all the racing I've subjected it to with little or no maintenance in the last few weeks was finally taking its toll. 4 weeks and 13 race meetings is about the little Tamiya's limit it seems.

Lack of numbers meant rounds were surprisingly rushed and little time was left for playing with the setup changes I had planned. That and I didn't feel that the car was in any place to be receptive to little setup changes. I did get a chance to play with the stock profiles on my Speed Passion GT2.0 speedo though. Upon first plug in, I discovered I was already running a stock profile - '091110STOCK' which was a kind of pleasant surprise. However, I already had been told this wasn't the crazy one, so loaded up my other stock profile option - '091107STOCK' and geared it down 6 teeth (going from 5.47 to 6.56 FDR)...

Crazy is a good word for this profile, even with the loss of 6 teeth I didn't feel like I'd lost anything significant down the straight (although in hindsight, 6 was probably a touch too cautious) but it felt very aggressive on the infield. Actually, it felt a little weird, in that there was very little control in the bottom end of the throttle range, making it very easy to overshoot corners. That said, after a few laps getting used to it, it was more than controllable and the 'ponies' brought a childish grin to your face whenever you came onto the straight.

I'll confess I went back to my 'slower' stock profile for the finals as I felt it would take a little more practice to get used to, and therefore get the most out of, the '091107STOCK' profile. I would even argue that for a track this size, it's too much... but I have a sneaking suspicion that it would be spot on in a 12th or on the bigger outdoor tracks we have coming up for the 2010 TC Nationals. I look forward to experimenting with it some more in the not too distant future. That said, I was promptly beaten in the finals by our dear Mr Cottom, who's Speed Passion GT2.0 I had kindly switched over to the '091107STOCK' profile.

Here's a couple more pictures of the track and venue, good job on the layout Mr Murray!







No racing at MMCC club meeting for me tonight, I needed a break and so does the car (whilst I sort it out to look all shiny, new and fast again!). Next Friday evening we'll be en route to the Maritime 12th Nationals so RVRCCC club meeting is out also unfortunately.

Next reports will be from Maritime, and I'll be up to my 'live' result posting antics again. So, keep yer blinkers peeled!