Normal service is resumed

Another busy Friday night at BRCCC

I was at Blackpool RC Car Club (BRCCC) yesterday evening, my usual Friday evening haunt. My car was going as well as it was on Monday thankfully. Although despite my best efforts I just missed out on beating my Monday 25 lapper during qualifying. My best lap improved I think, which shows there is still definite potential there though I guess.

Now the car is feeling more balanced and predictable I think I need to turn my steering rates back up to full, rather than the 90% odd that it's been at for a while. Although I'll confess to liking a car that pushes, I'm almost certain my times would improve considerably if I had all my steering lock and I just manned up and got 'used' to not always using full lock even if I have it available to me. I'll do that first thing when I unpack my transmitter on Monday I think.

My blue-tastic pit bench and accessories

Qualifying went well, I made few mistakes, however I didn't have a run where I didn't make any whatsoever - that has to be the goal really, doesn't it? Nevertheless, I was genuinely having a great time and thinking I could do this all night, maybe all weekend! Whilst I'm sure this feeling may be familiar and come regularly for a lot of you - I know a certain Andy Murray who managed to race 6 times in one week recently - I'd forgotten what it felt like. To be honest, my racing has felt like a chore for a while, but not any more!

Blurred without flash, eerie blue colouring with flash - I can't win

Anyway, I was having so much fun that I got a little too caught up and 'tried too hard' for the final and although I started well and had made progress from my qualifying grid position I threw it away with numerous unforced errors - something I need to remove from my driving skills repertoire as soon as possible. As a result I ended up pulling up a few laps before the end of the race as I was starting to worry I might break something, what with all the bits of track I was attacking. Perhaps not the most mature option I recognise, arguably I should have taken a deep breath, re-focused, forgotten about the 'race' and just driven it round cleanly... but hindsight is a wonderful thing to have once the red mist has cleared.

Not exactly the end to the evening I was shooting for. But it did leave me wanting more and eager to do better next time - at the end of the day I guess that's not a bad way to leave a club meeting.