MMCC

Track under construction - look at 'em go!

This Monday was the first Monday I've been to MMCC's normal venue in the heart of Morecambe, Lancashire since my rebuild work on my Tamiya TRF416X. Given my recent success and enjoyment with the car, I had high hopes for yet another fun-filled evening.

Qualifying started well - I seemed to be more on the pace than in previous weeks, only just a lap down on Andy Murray but very close (just 0.04 secs) in terms of best lap.

Two very tidy pit spaces!

This continued throughout qualifying, I managed to get quicker and quicker times but couldn't break into the elusive 38 laps Mr Murray was churning out consistently. In Q3 I was within touching distance, managing 37 laps in 300.35 secs! Our best times remained very close throughout also, by Q3 only 0.01 seconds separated our best laps.

The rest of the MMCC pits

I qualified 2nd on the grid in the A final, with Andy in front of me and Ian Joyner behind me in 3rd. Lights go out and I'm immediately racing Ian, who I had forgotten can be very aggressive in finals. Don't let his super smooth and calm qualifying style fool you! The battle which raged for a few laps allowed Andy some clean air and he was gone.

Ian going 'really fast' round the corner at the end of the straight

I managed to break free of Ian in lap 12 when he made a mistake. However I could do nothing to catch Andy who was flying round. When the buzzer sounded we saw Andy had managed 40 laps, now, considering he had only managed 38 all through qualifying and no on else had broken the 27 lap barrier throughout the evening he really was shifting! He said his car felt awesome and he was really happy with it for the first time in a while. He also mentioned he wished it had been that good at Ardent yesterday because he reckoned an A final position would have been easily do-able and, to be honest, I don't doubt him - no one could hold onto him this evening.

Final track layout, another corker from A. Murray

That was also the last round of the MMCC Winter Series, as it turns out I finished in 3rd place, behind Andy in 1st and Mark Carter in 2nd place. I think I could have managed to repeat my 2nd place finish from the Autumn Series if I had rebuilt my car as soon as I realised it needed it - rather than struggling for a few weeks and allowing Mark to build up a bit of a lead. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though...

Focus during the qualifiers

No racing tonight (Friday) as I have some mates from down South coming up for a flat warming celebration. I'm back at MMCC on Monday though. Have a great weekend!