Toast-tastic

Another mixed bag tonight, had some reasonable moments and the odd clean lap but still nowhere near the level I feel I used to be. Had some driveshaft woes in rounds two and three which fortunately didn't drag me down into a lower final due to the fact there was only one touring car heat. However it's a problem, and unfortunately the only apparent solution involves spending frankly ridiculous amounts of money on the ECS style driveshafts. I may succumb but I'd rather keep the money in my wallet for other things.

Andy kindly spent some time on my car trying to calm it down for me as I've been struggling with the relatively aggressive standard setup I was previously running following my return to regular-ish racing. Despite the limited trial time I got with it afterwards, no thanks to my front left driveshaft, it did feel a lot better and a more stable base from which to regain my confidence - so thank you Andy.



To be honest it's a bit of a vicious circle I'm finding myself in currently, I'm not enjoying racing massively as I get frustrated because I'm not as good as I was this time last year, however I know the only way to get back to that level is to spend some time working on the car regularly and getting as much practice in as possible - however the fact I'm not enjoying any of it at present means my motivation to do the work needed to get back to where I want to be, is minimal at best. Ho-hum.

Getting there

Had another stab at the ol' racing malarkey on Friday night at Blackpool again, t'was good fun and I think I improved a little bit - i.e. one more step back towards where I feel I was before!



The track layout has been changed again, partly to get rid of a vicious corner, partly to go around the bit of the track which gets wet when it rains due to the hole in the roof!





In summary it was a good night, like I said before I felt like I improved again - bar the moment when I clipped a track marking and sent my car backwards into the far wall. I came away unharmed so I put that down as a draw in the ongoing wall vs. me war. My best lap was often second fastest behind Andy but consistency was my achilles heel again, putting me a lap down on the top runners in my best qualifying heat and two laps down in my final, which ended messily despite a strong start.

I'm not back for two weeks now due to a friend's birthday party next Friday but I'm planning to get some work on the car and some new bodyshells painted in the break.

Hello again old friend

It's been a while. I'll throw my hands up and admit that, but sometimes life can just take over. I was back racing at Blackpool the other week, although I must confess I have unfortunately had to give up on Morecambe as a regular occurrence - I just don't have the time or money to make the trek every Monday.

I am however booked in for all five BRCA Nationals coming up this summer and I'm already looking forward to them, I just need to make sure I put in the practice beforehand and get back up to where I feel I was before I took another long break from racing.
Anyway, back to Blackpool, I dusted the old girl off and gave her a run around. I felt very rusty and it showed in my lap times. Best laps weren't disastrous but my consistency was, not really too surprising considering that's what always 'goes' for me when I stop racing regularly.

Blackpool have got a new track layout too which I'm really liking. Less destructive potential than the old track bar one corner which I think we're planning to change in the coming weeks anyway.
All in all it was a reasonable return to racing although I do need to sort out my car after it's storage period and get some new bodyshells painted too. Oh and I got beat by a kid who just started racing touring cars... but what can you do eh?!

Morecambe on a Monday

at Blackpool to mix things up of course!

A good night all told, left it till the last round of qualifying to put in a good clean run but it was my fastest ever at Blackpool when I did. Put me in the A final, which then only lasted a few laps before my motor shifted after a heavy knock and the gear mesh came undone... or so I thought - turned out three of the bulkhead screws had come lose/left the building and once they were back in everything was back to being sweet and rosy. Cost me any chance of a better result than the 4th place I qualified in though. Ho hum.

Blackpool on a Friday

Racing on Friday was an example of how I remember racing used to be back in my XRAY glory days. Turn up, race a car that just works, have a laugh with mates and go home with a car that doesn't need 3 hours of TLC to make it usable again.

I filed down the rear driveshaft blades at the start of the evening so all the little tweaks needed to get the XRAY  in tip-top shape. That said, just as I thought I had finished faffing, I realised that the ball joint screws that go into the top of the bulkheads for the roll-centre settings have a shoulder on. This means that they're fine when used with a washer, but without a washer (as I want to set the car up) you cannot screw them in all the way because of the shoulder. Sloppy XRAY, very sloppy...

Anyway I think I finished 4th on Friday night which was a reasonable result although I felt I could do better. The car felt great, the only issues were little mistakes I made, so once I've got a bit more practice over the coming weeks I'm hoping I can do a little better than that!

A return to form?

Racing at Morecambe on Monday signalled something of a return to form for me. I feel like I've been struggling with the Tamiya for a few months now and I've been eager to get back to the sort of level I feel I used to race at.



After some solid qualifying runs I found myself in 3rd place on the A final grid behind Andy and Mark with Colin sat just behind me. A minute or two into the race Mark made a mistake in front of me and I squeezed past. Despite a far from perfect run I managed to keep him behind me for the rest of the run and finished in 2nd place. A result I was very pleased with... the hunt for Andy begins next week!

Teething issues

My subsequent few meetings with the car were troubled by front driveshafts falling apart. Once I put a flat spot on all the pins though this sorted itself out.

Someone also pointed out that I'd been a bit hasty with my assembly of the steering, meaning I had the black plastic arms upside down. Once I flipped them over I was able to get my steering turnbuckle the right length. That said, I know someone else who built it right but still had to fit a smaller turnbuckle in the car to get it all fitting together as it should.

I've also made some changes to the standard carpet setup which I initially put on the car - this has made it much easier to drive consistently fast and I'm feeling very happy with how the car feels now. I must confess I have also succumbed to the 28 JBs again, the car just feels so much better on them.

I still need to take a bit of material off the end of the rear driveshaft protector things - to stop them binding up the diff at full suspension travel. But I plan to get that done before the next meeting on Friday.