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:

MMCC

Nothing special to report from MMCC this week, other than I liked the track layout and numbers were down quite a bit. Car wasn't running very nicely at all, but I have plans to rebuild it this week before the West London National at the weekend. I've got some new bits and some replacement bits to put on it, so hoping it will be rejuvenated to its old race-winning self after all that.

MMCC @ Blackpool

Every month, on the first Monday of the month MMCC now visits our neighbouring club Blackpool to race at their permanent facilities. This Monday was my first time down with the MMCC guys, and I was amazed to find out it was better attended than our 'usual' Monday night meeting. Is this the future of MMCC perhaps?

Qualifying was an interesting affair. My car handled like a bit of a dog, once again reminding me I owed it a rebuild I've been promising it for months now. On a plus note the super grippy carpet at Blackpool made my recycled national tyres, the Sorex 32s, feel much better than they usually do indoors. Despite this I was only able to qualify in the B final.

The A final was a busy one with 7 drivers in and some very close racing ensued. Great fun to watch if a tad 'heated' at times... naming no names of course!

I enjoyed my night right up until the point in my final where my spur gear said "goodbye cruel world" and promptly mangled itself, leaving tiny white flecks of plastic all over my car. Just before I took the lead too. No really. A great pity seeing as it was new on for the West London BTCC. Ho hum.

West London BTCC

This past weekend I was down in Uxbridge, West London participating in the Schumacher BTCC. I went down with Andy on the Friday night and stayed with my parents nearby. We then traipsed off to the track early Saturday morning for some practice. We also met up with Buzz there, who conveniently rolled in with fish & chips around lunchtime!

Andy managed to set the record for number of practice laps on Saturday, travelling around the West London circuit 294 times. Dedicated. I on the other hand only managed 2 and a half 5 minute runs all day. Could do better. My excuse for the distinct lack of track time is that I had to change over my motor and fix a few bits on the car when I arrived, only to break it again halfway through my second go on track. C'est la vie.

Sunday morning came around far too quickly and before we knew it, we were track side once again. Andy as always was delighted to be there - we find it hard pull him away at the end of the weekend... honest!

Sunday morning started well and with a healthy dose of sunshine to boot! I decided to put some new boots on as Andy had concluded in testing the day before they were worth half a second a lap. Admittedly only for the first run really, then there was quite a big drop off. I ran an old set for the first round, thinking the track would need to be cleaned up and I probably needed the practice anyway!

When I put my new tyres on (first new set I've used at a BTCC meeting this year) I was not disappointed! My best lap improved by over 6 tenths and I was on B final pace. Fortunately I put in a quick clean run which, with the FTQ layout agreed on at the start of the meeting, put me roughly middle of the B final grid.

I think this shot of my pit table sums up Sunday afternoon pretty well. With intermittent showers it was a case of gambling how dry the track was going to be when you went out and what tyre combination would be best. As a result I did not improve on my time set with new tyres. Fortunately for me, not many others did either. When qualifying came to a close, the rain cleared and the had dust settled I found myself 5th on the grid for the B final. A result I was much happier with than my more recent finishes.

I'm not certain where I finished in the finals, I had bad luck on the first hairpin in both of them. Under braking to avoid running into the car in front I was flipped on my room by the car behind me in both finals. I know everyone is fighting for a position, but I can't believe these drivers cannot control their cars in close quarters. I suspect everyone just thinks its okay to drive dirty in the first few corners to get the position they think they so badly deserve. I disagree, but it seems a case of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" Hopefully my finals at the upcoming national will be more successful...