Blogtastic

Ladies and mainly gentlemen, a drum roll please!

Ye olde blog hath returneth!

He's obviously pleased to hear the news...

What's that? I don't deserve a drum roll? Because I've been a lazy bugger? Oh ok... I'll just get on with it then I guess...

Well, haven't times changed?! I'm no longer sat in my student dorm room at Lancaster University writing to you all. I'm all growed up. I have a Masters in Environmental Management & Consultancy. I've gone and bought a 2 bed flat in the centre of Manchester. I work as an Environmental Consultant for a consultancy based in Chorley, called Apollo Enviro. I have 250 business cards which say so.

So now I find myself blogging to you on my new red leather sofa sipping a scotch whiskey and ginger ale. It's what cool grown ups drink trust me, or just ask your Grandad.

See, the red leather sofas look much better than you imagined huh?

So where to start? I am back racing again - since the start of the New Year actually. I had a bit of break whilst all the madness of starting a new job and buying/moving into a new flat settled down. The break was good I think, I was definitely excited to start racing again when I did eventually head back to Morecambe on a Monday night again. Less excited when I remembered that despite my constant bitching at the back end of last year I had still not sorted out my car.

Straight back to my tidy pit table ways

That's partly why I didn't start blogging again immediately, the passion hadn't quite fully ignited and I didn't want such negativity bringing down my blog posts, as they did increasingly throughout 2010. I wanted 2011 to be more upbeat and positive reflection of my racing experiences. As you rightly guessed at the start of the blog, the other reason was one of sheer laziness - guilty as charged.

Anyway, I set about ordering a load of new bits for my Tamiya - to fix broken parts, replace worm pieces and generally provide me with some much needed RC retail therapy. Last weekend I had some time off work and made it a much improved 5 day weekend. Quite why man didn't decide at the beginning of time we should have 5 day weekends and 2 day weeks instead I'll never know... but I digress.

During this time off I set aside a whole day and half to work on my car and get it sorted once and for all. Well until next month at least. I also painted and mounted a new bodyshell. Unfortunately my pro-painted design ones have 'run out' now and I won't be getting anymore for a little while, I've got a mortgage instead! In case you were wondering, the rest of my time off I spent re-fitting and re-wiring electric storage heaters in new locations, putting up a shelf and fixing a halogen light transformer. I also filed in my 2011 Census form. I could be the poster child for proud new homeowners everywhere.

Shots of the rest of the open plan kitchen-diner-lounge area

I then headed down to Morecambe Model Car Club hosted by Blackpool RC Car Club at their purpose built, permanent facility on the Monday night just gone. I had high hopes for the car, I'd pulled out all the stops and if I still wasn't having fun by the end of the evening the future was looking rocky. In spite of some issues with a poorly re-built gear diff, the car was good, very good. I might even stretch to epic, considering how broken it was feeling before I got my grubby mitts on it. My best was a little more than 2 laps quicker than I had gone around the same layout the previous Friday. I even help fastest lap in one round - the sign of a truly great car... obviously.

The aforementioned offending gear diff getting sorted out

The current track layout at Blackpool. I'd give it an 8/10 - I like it

All in all the evening was a great success in my eyes, despite my not finishing as high as I might have liked or been capable of in the final. Even then though I had a good race with a certain Mr Cottom and genuinely enjoyed myself. A novel feeling after racing recently I'm ashamed to admit.

My current easy-for-an-idiot-to-paint bodyshell design

So, there you have it. In a nutshell as they say. I'll play you out with some pictures of my flat and of with some general shots of racing on Monday night. As you can see from the refreshed countdown timers at the top of the page, I'm back at BRCCC for some more good times tomorrow night. Until then...

Going for a minimalist scheme throughout with a "white, black and a bold colour" colour scheme

If you drive an Associated you may be happy enough at the time, but you will end up looking like this. You've been warned.

The beginnings of my dedicated RC car pit room, it's the last room I need to decorate, tidy and furnish

Some familiar, friendly faces to be seen here and every Monday night at MMCC...