Clanfield Summer Series Round 4

Showing the recent track work done in prep for the National

Clanfield Summer Series Round 4

3rd July 2011

With warm weather it was going to be a good and (Hot) day's racing for everyone, turning up at the track at 8am to find a good turnout already with their gazebos up.  With just over 30 driver's turning up which is a shame but with a National on the same date it was always going to be a lower number meeting. 4 Heats in total 1 truggy and 3 buggy heats I was in heat 4 with a few of my Championship rivals Grant Fribs and Jon Wolfe.

After having not touched or raced a rc car since Dirt Master's June 11th-12th. Which was a weekend to forget racing wise I was back, and tbh enjoyed a few weeks break away from RC. And felt I had more drive to win and relax, as I was beginning to put more and more pressure on myself after a great result at the Slough National.

Showing the great job the committee have done on the track in prep for the National!

I went out for a few laps in practice just to shake down the car, and check everything is hunky dory, which it was and seemed to have put the electrical gremlins to one side for the time being!

Q1. Was a solid run and main thing was consistency which I did and came out ontop with a 1 sec avg gap from 2nd place Jon Wolfe. Followed by Jamie Holmes.

Q2. Was a similar affair with myself taking the top spot again and most importantly improving on all my times which is always good to see. Jon wolfe coming in 2nd place again followed by Jamie Holmes.

Some Video footage of my run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIH-mZdwmxQ&feature=feedwll

Q3. I was going well, but still slower than my previous 2 heats and 1 minute before the end a rather large  brake flip ended up cutting my engine, so I only got 7laps coming in 7th place. Top 3 were Jon Wolfe, Jamie Holmes and Wesley Robinson.

Q4. I decided to take away a touch or rear camber to try and get the rear a bit more stable and locked in, but it was a lot more edgy to drive which meant having to take a few of the high speed sections a touch slower. Top 3 were Jon Wolfe Me and Grant Fribbens.

In the B Final

Unfortunately for fellow agama driver Rob Hedley who was winning the B Final by 1 lap and mid way had a servo go on him which was a great shame. As he was all set for the bump up, unlucky buddy! Cheers Pit Man!

A Final starting Grid:

1. Jon Wolfe

2. Jamie Kerr

3. Jamie Holmes

4. Grant Fribbens

5. Francois Nerriere

6. Darren Warburton

7. Wesley Robinson

8. John Bennett

9. Mark Byrne

10. Neal Beagley

11. Michael Daniel

12. Jonathan Warburton

13. Phil Bennett

14. John Dear

A Final for me

I got a great start in the A Jamie Holmes got into p1 with myself close in 2nd place on lap 2 I was able to get past Jamie H but then making a silly mistake let him back through on lap 3. I was then in 2nd place until lap 12 I think when I came in for fuel, which I was then down into 5th.  With a unfortunate cut after my pit stop, due to the engine not having enough time to clear out I think. I was then working my way back up the pack and by lap 18 I was back into P2 spot just behind Jamie H again. By lap 21 I was through and into P1 knowing I had a weaker (More stops) to do than most of the top guys, I knew I had to push hard to gain a large buffer for my extra stop. As I was not confident I could make the 10 minute mark easily which is needed. I then stayed into P1 for the rest of the race, driving very well and consistent. A few times I got lucky on some landing's but everyone needs some luck to win races these days as its so close. By the end of the race I was 1 lap up on the field and did 45 laps in 30 minutes and fastest lap in the final and of the day with a 36.88 which was a nice surprise and had some great battles along the way with Jamie Holmes. Some great driving by everyone and very clean driving too. Its nice to have my 1st win under my belt with my Agama, which is nice to tick off as such and car was fantastic all day and thankfully the driver was in the zone too. Unfortunately for Jon Wolfe he had Electrical/carb issues in the final-Not sure if it was sticking carb or Electrics. Which is a shame to see, as he was yet again on the pace and could have been in the top 3.

Finishing Positions:

1. Jamie Kerr

2. Francois Neeriere

3. Wesley Robinson

4. Darren Warburton

5. Grant Fribbens

6. John Bennett

7. Jon Wolfe

8. Mark Byrne

9. Micheal Daniel

10. Jonathan Warburton

11. Phil bennett

12. John Dear

13. Jamie Holmes

14. Neal Beagley

A final podium
Pic courtesy of Levon!

Clanfield Summer Series Round 3

Sunday 22 May 2011

Clanfield Summer Series Round 3

P.S. Please ignore the poor grammar and spelling :) All Pics courtesy of Adam Bailey

It started off a overcast and very windy day-Watery eyes springs to mind! with a great turnout of 49 people it was going to be a great meeting. And with some of the Durango Team out-Kev B, Elliot B, Callum N 

it was going to be a fast paced day for sure.  

I decided to pop out for a few laps of practice, only to realise I had a cracked rim. So I decided to switch tyres and go out for a few laps to make sure car is working fine, and clutch shoes were bedded in.

They say hug the apex-What's wrong with that??

There was 5 heats overall, 1 truggy and 4 buggy heats. I was off in heat 5 with some of the faster driver's which is always good news. For round 1 I came in 6th with a fairly slow avg for the pace of the track and found my tyre choice to make the car far to edgy for me. So I was having to hold back on some of the faster sections on the track. 

Round 2 I decided to slap on a set of SS AKA Impact's which I had left over from Neo. With a solid run I came in 3rd just behind Elliot Boots and Kevin Brunsden which I was happy about. 

Round 3 I kept the car the same and went out again, knowing the car felt good and just pushed it that little bit harder, having a almost near perfect run. Letting Boot's through and following him till the end missing out on a 9 lapper by 1.43!!! And coming in 2nd behind Elliot

Round 4 I was keen to try and get this 9 lapper that only Boots and Kevin had gotten, keeping the car the same again. With another solid run, I brought the car in 2nd place again behind Elliot. 

Next up was the finals with the final being 30 minutes. It was a tough call on what tyres to run, It was between a set of used Ibeams or Used set of Impacts-which had done a  total of  6 runs. I decided to stick whith what I know that worked and left on the Impacts. So starting off 2nd in the A was a great result for me with the stiff competition. I was still running a half a gallon one Rebuilt speed, so it was a bit of a gamble on runtime. So I decided to got for 7:30-8 mins just to be safe, Getting a good start I kept in 2nd place just behind Elliot and trying to keep up with his blistering pace. Which I always find nice to follow, as we both started to pull a bit of a lead with Kevin chasing down fast.
 I then kepts into 2nd place for most of the 1st few minutes, and then kevin overtaking me. Then shortly after me taking the place back, I was then in 2nd with Elliot pulling out more and more of a lead. 1st pit stops come and I come into the pits. With a fast stop from Tony RC and Dave I was back out again, and back into 2nd place and I was trying to keep it on all 4's and trying to get a buffer from 3rd place kev b. 2nd round of pit stops I cam in and pitting then only to have a flame out 4 corners after the pit lane! -Must have been so low on fuel, It pulled in some air and new plug had been fitted before the final.

So I went from 2nd back down into 5th place!.
 I was very frustrated and had to really push hard to crawl back into the top 3 by lap 28 I was into 4th place but then I was back into 5th by 31 then was still in 5th for a few more laps. By lap 37 I was back into 4th place and on a mission to take 3rd place from Grant F and chasing him down fast it was a battle that would turn into a good fight. Lap 40 I was just behind Grant and closing in fast when we both came upto a back marker on the straight with 3 abreast it was going to end badly and unfortunately for Grant he was clipped and dropped back from myself and had to get past the back marker to then start the chase on me. Luckily I had a lap or so to the end, which was good but a small error from me cost Grant to gain distance and accidentally clipped me just before the double's. Which-I didn't realise Until he said after, and then drove as fast as I could and nipped him to 3rd place with him 4 seconds behind me. 

Was a great race overall, and Elliot had some bad luck with a rear diff going on him few laps from the end then that meant kev B snapped up the win with Elliot coming in 2nd and myself in 3rd. A fantastic race overall, and some great driving by everyone.. solid result for Mark Byrne coming in a respectable 5th with his very new agama, and tough luck for Jon Wolfe with his fuel line splitting! and Les Taylor, who seemed he could have done a fair bit better after his great qualifying. 

Overall results:

1 Kevin Brunsden

2 Elliot Boots

3 James Kerr

4 Grant Fribbens

5 Mark Byrne

6 Callum Niblett

7 Bryan Burrows

8 Wesley Robinson

9 Les Taylor

10 Francois Nerriere

11 Jon Wolfe

12 Rob Rasey

13 Chris Slevin

14 Neal Beagley

15 Marc Jacka

My setup sheet:
Tyres were Impact not City Block.

BIG BIG thanks too:

Clanfield Committee for a great meeting

Specially Chris, Grant and Nora

And to everyone else who made it a great meeting

And support from

Nemoracing

M-K Racing

RCDisco

Kifopaint

RC Sure-Start

Clanfield Summer Series Round 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V3712In4Ec

I decided to take a slight detour on my way back home, from southampton past the track on thursday afternoon. And upon arrival I was shocked at how well the track looks, as I had not been down there for a while it was nice to see the track in great condition.

I decided to spend a hour tidying a few bits up and for some reason decided to carry on the Neo feeling and sweep the whole track-Dont ask me why!

But boy did it look good after it! so I then swept the track and did a quick track walk just to show people the condition. And then had in mind what I wanted to change on my setup since the last time I was down.

Clanfield Summer Series Rnd 2

8th of may I arrived at the track with a hope the track was ok and that the rain would pass by. And not surprisingly the track was very dry considering the rain the night before.

I'm not going to lie after racing at Neo-It has helped a lot of aspects of my racing. The main point, is mental preparation and making sure your car is prepared. But importantly the mental side which takes time to nail. But to be good at any sport you need to have a strong head, to be able to perform well and have the right mental attitude when racing.

Right back to the interesting stuff...

I went out for practice to get back into it after a week's break after Neo and just to make sure my car was ok. And felt very good, it was starting to pick up some muck. So I only did a few laps, and noticed my RX was trying to glitch on me.

Qualifying went ok for me, Mixed struggling with glitching in Q1+Q2 So I decided to rebind. And thankfully seemed to solve the issue. And the other 2 rounds went ok coming in 3rd and 4th I think. And then putting me 7th in the A.

Which is ok but I should have done a lot better tbh Top 3 for sure, but sometimes it just does not happen.

A Final

I decided to stick with doing 8 mins 30 which I can do very easily, I go a good start overtaking a few people into turn 1. Which I seem to be able to make solid starts most times. And luckily avoiding the usual 1st corner (MUST WIN) that some driver's get. Makes no sense to me specially in a 30 minute final!

Anyway I was lucky enough to slip past it all and think get into 3rd then take 2nd spot after turn 3 and then it was time to hunt down Jon Wolfe, who already had a scary lead.

So decided to keep it fast, but keep it on all 4's and we both started to pull away from the pack. And suddenly on lap 12 my car ran out of fuel! Which was very strange, so that cost me a 2 minute lap. So I went from P2 down to P8! great, so I needed to really push hard to work my way back through the field and did just that putting in 5 laps 38's 1 37 and 1 39 then the rest were 38's. I started to then work my way back through the field by lap 25 I was back up into 6th and slowly hunted them back down. With about 3 minutes to go, I was in 4th and could here Chris on the mic, calling out my lap time's and new fastest laps and so on. I was determined to take that 3rd spot, getting within about 4 seconds of 3rd spot. Then disaster struck, and my car ran out of fuel at about 6:30 mins! think on lap 43 just after putting in the fastest lap time of 36.88.

I then came in 5th place after being overtaken by 4th place, It was very gutting to have issues-that is very odd. I think there could be a crack or something in my tank and a tad rich bottom end. Either way I will find out the issue, but was a great shame as It has to be my best race so far in terms of flat out pace and consistency. My avg was down to 42 but should have been lower if that 2 min lap was not there. Either way was a cracking race, and great driving by all driver's and letting faster cars through and so on. Unfortunately for Jon, his fuel line split on lap 30 which cost have massively coming in 7th. 

Great to see all the Agama driver's Jon, Ben, Mark and myself were on pace. Unfortunately for Ben, a unfortunate tyre choice and first time with a new car and new engine. He was leading the B final by a long way and driving great, but unfortunately engine block came loose costing him. And Mark B who was doing well all day, and slowly getting used to the Agama after years of truggy. Everyone seems to be enjoying the car.

Big thanks again to the Clanfield Committee for putting on a great meeting! And my Pit men Lee and Ben

Big thanks too


Nemoracing
M-K-Racing
RCdisco
Kifopaint
RC Sure-Start

Neo 2011

Neo 2011

My Adventure

It started on  the thursday afternoon, picking up my pit man Ben Kennett on route up to Neo in Telford. The journey was a long 5 hr's drive which was very slow and painful, but the excitement of the next 4 days was keeping me going and awake at the wheel. We pulled up at around 8:45pm and collected our room key and meet up with a few fellow mates. And then swiftly decided to head to the bar and chat and meet up with everyone else. After a few hours of drinking and it being about 1ish, it was time to hit the sack with a early 8am start. 

Friday:

Friday consists of 1 round of Un-timed practice and then 2 round's of timed practice. Practice one was a solid run from me, and was very happy with tyre choice and how the car felt, P2 And 3 went ok, not as good as P1-Which unfortunately was not timed!! But then it was best 3 consecutive laps-would then place us into out Quali Heats. 

Saturday:

Saturday was 3 rounds of quail, setup wise I decided to leave the car the same but move the rear shocks out on the arm to get a bit more lateral side bite which helped. 1 run I got a 38 second 1st lap to then have no throttle movement after the straight. Unfortunately my servo horn nut had come loose so that was Q1 out. Q2 Was a solid 10 lapper, missing out on a 11 lapper-which would be needed by 0.21 seconds, and Q3 was a slow 10 lapper it was interesting to see how dirty some of the racing in the heats was. It was very bad in my view considering the caliber of driver's at the event. Maybe the European's have a different attitude to racing than us brits-Who knows?

Sunday:

Sunday consists of 3 more rounds of quail with only having think x2 10 lapper's and 1 DNF it was crucial I needed to get atleast x2 11 lapper's to sit myself above the Cut off point for monday. Q4 Went ok, with another 10 lapper missing a 11 by a few seconds. Its a very tought track to be super consistent, and with some-Not so polite driving costing people. I was side swiped just coming onto the straight, hoping the car got a warning but nothing was done. And was hit another x2 times by the same car just that Quali round. Q5 Was ok I managed to get a 11 lapper but not by much, making a few silly mistakes and being clipped a few times too. Q6 was make or break for me and I unfortunately only got a 10 lapper, with some error's and trying to get around a train of 4 driver's for a few laps. 

I was then on the border of making it into monday, thankfully I qualied 162 which cut off was 170 something if I remember correctly. My main goal for Neo was to finish top 130 but that was out of the window by sunday morning. So I my main goal was to make it too monday.

Monday:

Myself and a fellow buddy were out at 8am in the 1/256 A I decided to go out on some new M3 holeshot's which instantly felt better than my JConcepts Doube Dees. Starting in 6th I was in the Danger zone at the start. Was used as a slowing down device coming into turn 1. Luckily managed to get control of the car and keep it tight on the pipe. And avoiding a large pile up, and coming into about 4th or 5th. I then put my head down, and drove a good and consistent race getting up into 2nd place for a good 60% of the race trying to hunt down Milan-who was on fire with a good 1/2 lap lead. After some light abuse on the mic from Tony T I came in 2nd about 1/2 a lap down from Milan. So I then bumped up into the 1/128 A. Starting off in 13th it was going to be a hard race with a few big A final driver's in there started off ok, but made some silly error's which cost me, so I just played it safe and kept out of the leader's way and came in 10th place overall I finished 154 our of 225 I think in total.

Overall I was very happy with how my new Agama A8 went considering its only my 5th meeting with it. I feel more and more confident with it each meeting and really love driving it. Was great fun having loads of mates there to have some great banter and meet some new friends and talk and race with some of the best drivers in the world. I cannot wait to Neo 2012 it is the best RC event I have ever been too and now I know why there is such a fuss about Neo.

Big thanks to all the DXR crew for building a fantastic track this year and everyone else involved. And big thanks to all my mates there for some great banter and all the Nemo team for there support over the Neo event. And big props to my super start pit man Garry Barlow lol

ALL PICS COURTESY OF NEOBUGGY.NET

Until Next year!

Jamie Kerr

TORCH 27th March 2011

Started with a brisk sunday morning with a fair few people already there at 8am, I was excited to get the rango back out after a few weeks. And with the weather looking promising it was looking like a great days racing. Until Chris S brings out his -15 rear camber Rango WTF.. either way he lessened the obscure amount of camber, and got into the A so hey maybe he's onto something!

With the normal turn out there John Clarke, Tony rc, Chris s, Cammer's, Rob R, and the RC Lazy crew of simon and mark.

Q1: For me, it went solid coming in 2nd just behind local wizard Steve B and Rob R bringing it in 3rd. I decided to stick with Schu Yellow's but added some more camber to my norm setup. As the track was very dry.

Q2: Went perfect with only 1 silly mistake but coming in 1st with Steve B just behind followed by Mark T, I decided to decreas my steering throw from 100 to 85. Which helped with the high grip track, and I tried hard to avoid cutting more spikes off my very new tyres.

Q3: Went ok, another ok run just wasn't putting down consistent lap's and struggling with a bull cup popping off. Which seems to be a very annoying point, which I will amend for next time. Steve B Rob R then me coming in 3rd.

Q4: Was a dissaster, DNS for me as somehow had killed my pretty new Savox servo which was new in the rango! But hopefully its just the gears and not a whole new servo needed. Steve B, Mark t, Rob R

Final's
A Final 4WD

Final was mixed, I was going well for the 1st few minute's but yet again lightly clipped a pipe. And by ballcup popped off. So it was a bit of a blow, but eventually came in 3rd.

1. Stephen Brown
2. Rob Rasey
3. James Kerr

Overall a great day, and the track layout was brilliant was a lot more flowing-which aids in some closer racing tbh. Car was great all day, and was changing small thing's all day which I tend to avoid. But car was getting easier to drive as the day went on. After the racing, A few of us decided to stay for some fun and some testing. I got to try some DBoots MultiBytes-which were impressive to say the least. And provide some crazy forward traction. They are a tad aggressive but some small setup changes can alter that. I did some testing for Martin, with a few track changes and it was the best layout as of yet. And decided to discuss some track features and ideas. Which will work very well and cant wait till its all done. A big thanks to the Torch chaps for a great days racing and look forward to the next time-Hopefully sunday!!

Clanfiend Winter Series Round 7 Final Round

Prizes for winter series

Clanfield Winter Series Round 7

Sunday the 20th March 2011

The day started with a very smooth and clean Clanfield Track, thankfully the weather had been very good. And a dry track was a great sight, and with a report of 9 hours of sunshine. It was panning out to be a fantastic days racing.

Qualifying started, and for myself it was mixed Q1 I came in 3rd which I was happy with. As I had been struggling to get my new A8 to feel the way I like to drive and the rear always seemed to stiff. I decided to drop the shock weight and a few other change's, which in turn my car was a tad on the soft side for the smooth track. Which I was impressed at how smooth it was, but It made the car very stable and easy to drive. So I left it as it was at the start of the day. Qualifying in general went solid for me, nothing special but no issues so I was 5th in the 30 minute A final.

Quali

Final's were 10 mins away, and I was still 50/50 on what tyre choice to run. I had tried some used M2 revolver's last 1quali, which made the car very forgiving and even less edgy on the banked section. Which my avg was down .10 seconds from some New Med CityBlocks which I ran in Q1,2,3.

I was going to run the revolver's but a last minute choice to go back to Cityblocks was a good call. Considering the length of the final.

The start went well for me, getting into 2nd after turn 2 with some great overtaking. With people doing the common overshooting the first few turn's trying to win the race on lap 1. I was snuggly behind P1 Jamie Holmes, who was driving very well with his MP9. The frost 7 mins was consistent, but making a silly mistake and letting Jon Wolfe through. So we both pittied at the 7:30 mark Both came out the same time, but unfortunately for Jon he cut on turn 1 causing us to both get tangled. And then costing me 10+seconds on Jamie Holmes.

Me chasing down Jon

Pit Stop 

So it was time for me to really focus and hunt down p1, I was slowing closing down up until the 24 min mark. When (sods law) my front wheel decides to overtake my car!!!

It was a big Blow to me, having driven well the 1st 25 mins, and finally getting the A8 where I want.

So then I eventually came in 7th place, Jon did a fantastic job and crawled his way back up to a very respectable 2nd place with Mark Thomas in 3rd.

Cracking Pic Ross

Air Time

Final Podiums of the Clanfield Winter Series RC Sure-Start

BUGGY Final Series Podium

BUGGY

1ST Place Jon Wolfe

Agama A8

O.S./Novarossi

MK Racing-NemoRacing

2ND Place Jamie Kerr

Agama A8

O.S.

MK Racing-Nemoracing-RcDisco-Kifopaint-RC Sure-Start

3RD Place Grant Fribbens

JQ The Car

Nitrotec

RC Sure-Start-Pit coach Rob Rasey:p

TRUGGY:

Truggy Final Series Podium

1ST Place Mark Byrne

Associate RC8T

O.S.

MK Racing-RC Sure-Start

2ND Place James Tatlow

Losi 8ightT

O.S.

3RD Place Adam Bailey

Hyper ST

Alpha

Congratulations to the 2011 Clanfield RC Sure-Start Winter Finalists Series

Full series results http://www.clanfieldrc.co.uk/results/current/index.htm

Photos courtesy of Ross Whitelock, Adam Bailey + John Clarke

More great pics here:

http://rc-picz.smugmug.com/Other/Clanfeild-2032011-RC-Surestart/16272083_ojeee#1222509882_6sYqG

A big thank you to my Sponsors

NemoRacing

MK Racing

RC Disco

Kifopaint

RC Sure-Start

Taplow RC Indoor 04/02/2011

TAPLOW INDOOR OFF ROAD 1/10 MODEL CAR CLUB

http://www.taplowrc.co.uk/index.php?page=home

Poor design show of the layout

-Large black on right is rostrum

Black are jumps 

Far left -table top

Brown-Wood boards-slippy

Myself and John Bennett decided to take a trip unto Taplow, as john has not had much of a rc fix for a few weeks now. And with him having his B4 ready to go, we both jumped at the opportunity and ordered in some Schumacher Yellow Mini Spikes. With both our, deliveries arriving the friday morning. It was all systems go to get them glued up and the cars prepped for racing-Well not in john's case hehe

I have never driven on carpet-well 1/10th anyway, I decided to seek some help from the TD website. And decided the best setups to browse would be from the recent Petit. So with that done, shock oil changed, camber re adjusted and rear hub tinkered with. I was ready to hit the road, until realising in my car's stationary form it had stripped the servo arm! 10 Mins before I was due to set off!

Pani over, car sorted and ready to go, decided to meet john B at morrisons car park- for easy get away. Now for the interesting bit!

We arrived with about 45 mins to spare, before practice was over and heats were listed. John in his usual form, not even having his tyres glued up! we rushed to book in, and get his tyres all done and ready. We then decided to see what this indoor milarky is about. With john, getting some advice to try stock ribs up front. It was not a good move, his 2wd would more of a roller with 0 steering and a heavy thumb. I was going ok, trying to slowly build up speed and getting used to the track and the sections. Feeling comfortable, I decided to give john a hand and get on his front mini pins-Which are a few screw issues was ready. And massive improvement already, with a few 10 feet to flat jumps the B4 was holding up well.

My table setup

Q1

With a turn out of about 22 or so, there would be 3 heats. Unfortunately with only 3-4 4WD's there was not a separate 4WD heat. We both were in heat 1, and with a solid effort, I was 1st with John I think 5-6th. My average was not very good being around 23s

Q2

Started a bit better, but made a few silly mistake's on the jumps- landing to flat a few times.. which is not a pleasant sound at all. I came in 1st with john 4-5th if I remember correctly. 

Q3

Was a throw away, with the starting system into chaos.. we eventually had to rerun it. Which was a shame, as John claims he put in his best run then!

Q3 -Redo

I went well, becoming more consistent and getting my Avg down to about 21s and setting some fairly low laptimes too. Coming in 1st with john, having a few niggles along the way

Q4

I got off to a flyer in Q4 and made only 1 silly mistake but kept it fast and on all 4s finishing 1st, and getting my Avg down to 20's and fastest lap down to about 18's. Which I was pleased, as each heat my avg was coming down same with fastest laps. John was going well until a strange crash causing him to crack a rear arm and the hub pin falling out. 

Final's 

John was in the B final, but with his recent DNF he decided to call it a day, as some of the screws on his b4 and a bit iffy. And didn't want to make them worse, and do them properly at home. 

I was 2nd off the grid, in the A which I was pleased about for only the 2rd time out with my DEX 410R.

I got off to a flying start overtaking Janos into the 1st set of jumps, and starting to pull a bit of a lead then on lap 2 getting my 1st sign of grip roll all night. Going back into 3rd, but getting back into P1 a few corner's later. But half a lap later, by pinion decides to depart from its shaft and caused me to have to Quit. It's such a shame it happened in the final, but these things happen. Would have been nice to see where I would have ended up in the end. But that's racing!

A BIG THANK YOU to all the guys at Taplow! it was a great evening, and run very well I can see why they get 20+ drivers each week! I will be back for sure, and Im sure I will bring some more people too.

Clanfield Round 4 Race Report

size=200]Clanfield Winter Series Round 4 Sponsored by [color=#BF0000]
RC SURE-START[/color][/size]


Some of the racer's

With a great turn out of 38 drivers! and with some big names making a appearance, Jon Hazlewood and Nemo clan with newly signed Brennan Ralls. Losi driver richard barton, Tommy Chung and Xray driver Reece Sawyer. We all knew the day would be tough. And with the track, having taken some light abuse the saturday before and with the winter weather. It was clear, the track was not in fantastic condition and was going to favour the smooth and calm driver's.
Practice got underway the rostrum was rammed full of driver's wanting to try out tyre choice, and make any last minute setup changes and so on. Myself I decided to do a few laps to bed in some new clutch shoes and bearing's. To then find my throttle servo died! Perfect, so franticaly replaced it with a backup servo and I was ready. Qualifying was originally going to be 5 rounds best 4 but, after 1 heat the committee decided to reduce that down to 4 due to time. So with 4 and 3 to count, it was game on. Q1 for heat 4 included myself and Jon W and Ben Elliot. Q1 Went Ben's way with a very solid 8 lapper followed by Jon with his new Wagamma with a 8 lapper and then myself 3rd with a poor 7 lapper. I was overdriving the car, and in these tricky conditions makes you pay for it!

[B]Q1 Heat 4:
Ben Elliot
Jon W
Myself

Q1 Heat 5:
Richard Barton
John Hazlewood
Reece Sawyer

Q2 Heat 4:
Ben Elliot
Grant Fribbens
Ian Dudman

Q2 Heat 5:
Richard Barton
Jordan Hart
Brennan Ralls
[/B]
Myself I decided to risk not coming in for a top up, and then stupidly flipped on my roof, and then cut and decided to retire for this heat. Jon W found that a stone had wedged between his flywheel stopping his car dead.

[B]Q3 Heat 4:
Ben Elliot
Jon Wolfe
Myself

Q3 Heat 5:
Tommy Chung
John Hazlewood
Richard Barton

Q4 Heat 4:
Jon Wolfe
Myself-James Kerr
Ben Elliot
[/B]
I was one for FTQ until stupidly thinking I had finished and slowing down to let other's through.. throwing that away! :evil:

[B]Q4 Heat 5:
Tommy Chung
John Hazlewood
Jordan Hart
[/B]
With all of the qualifying out of the way the final positions were as follows:

[b]Truggy A:[/b]
1.Mark Bryne
2.James Tatlow
3.John Clarke
4.Adam Bailey
5.Paul Berkinshaw
6.Simon Hunter-DNS

[b]Buggy C:[/b]
1.Stuart Parnell
2.Jamie Armitage
3.Carlton Williams
4.Paul Langley
5.steve carter
6.Mark Holt
7.Ellis Dove
8.Brian Burgess
9.Dave O'Dwyer
10.Phil Bennett
11.John Dear
12.Will Bogie-DNS

[b]Buggy B:[/b]
1.Damian Tigwell
2.Wesley Robinson
3.Francois Nerriere
4.Mark Thomas
5.Marc Jacka
6.Les Taylor
7.Ian Dudman
8.Carlton Williams
9.Stuart Parnell
10.John Bennett
11.Neil Beagley
12.Jon Legg-DNS
13.Jamie Armitage-DNS

Now for the Buggy A Final:

FINAL POSITIONS:
1.Richard Barton
30/20m 13.22
40.44
38.61 (27)

2.Tommy Chung
30/20m 28.07
40.94
37.92 (16)

3.Jon Wolfe
29/20m 1.33
41.43
38.15 (9)

4.Damian Tigwell
29/20m 21.67
42.13
40.39 (5)

5.James Kerr
28/20m 9.38
43.19
38.07 (18)

6.Ben Elliott
28/20m 28.74
43.88
39.88 (7)

7.Jordan Hart
28/20m 37.46
44.20
40.23 (27)

8.Wesley Robinson
27/20m 14.87
45.00
41.11 (21)

9.Grant Fribbens
27/20m 16.00
45.04
40.90 (7)

10.Francois Nerriere
26/20m 0.99
46.19
40.65 (4)

11.Jon Hazlewood
26/20m 31.87
47.38
38.26 (15)

12.Reece Sawyer
21/15m 10.13
43.34
38.74 (20)

13.Brennan Ralls
1/ 56.62
56.62
(0)
19.074

The A final I heard was a great one-being in it is hard to say what happened apart from my view haha Tommy and Richard were battling it out most of the time, with Jon W on there tail having a fantastic race with his new Agama A8. My start went from great to dreadful, getting into about 4th by turn 2 then over the 2nd jumps out of the bombhole. Landing onto of Bren then caused delays, then unfortunately catching someone else in turn 3 set me back by half a lap already. And then the next few laps, trying to drive to hard. Which was not making things any easier for myself, getting lapped fairly soon by the top car's meant it was very tricky to work out who was lapping me, and who im racing and who I need to stay clear of. After a few laps, I had done the good thing and let the leaders come through. Then nailed it slowly crawling my way back through the field. Then eventually taken 5th from 13th with a very strong field I felt I did well. Just a shame the start went so badly. It was a pleasure to be driving in a race with a strong field of driver's and cant wait to see the number's like sunday back at Clanfield RC for good!

A big well done to Jon W for driving a great race taking 3rd spot behind Tommy Chung and Richard Barton. Unfortunately there were a few people struggling with there setups and elecs throughout the day. With bren having a old servo let go on him during practice. Its great to see some big names back, and look forward to seeing them again. A big thank you to the Clanfield Committee and everyone that raced and helped on sunday! Was a cracking days racing and hopefully again!

Thanks too:
Rob Rasey-For THE Humor laugh1
Mark B -Pit Biatch :D


Full results here:
[url]http://www.clanfieldrc.co.uk/results.html[/url]
Pictures:
[url]http://www.clanfieldrc.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=22[/url]
[url]WWW.RCSURESTART.CO.UK[/url]

See you guys next time!

Titchfield (1/10th) 9th Jan 2011

This was my 1st visits back to Torch since it's revamp, and can honestly say its for the better! track is better longer and the new astro is great too. I was a liitle worried turning up to the new track and layout. And to make it worse, a new-To me DEX410R. I had tried it once on twice on the grass to make sure I had everything setup.

WWW.KIFOPAINT.COM

I rocked up with my freshly painted rango tango shell and custom hoody-making sure I was racing half decent before revealing it to the world lol

Anyway! we got into the swing of things by 9:30.. and started getting ready for Q1. After sorting out my membership and changing PT number's I was ready to go. Being in the same heat as Tony Rc and Dave.. I knew it would get interesting. From Q1 the car felt fantastic, being used to 1/8th nitro I love the idea of diffs and so on. And with the low CG the car handles a dream, and surprisingly similar to 1/8th scale.
After a solid Q1 coming in 2nd after Stephen Brown. Which I was very happy with! considering the 3 mins of runtime on the car beforehand to try and get used to the track. Q2 went the same way finishing in 2nd and Q3 I was able to get in 7 laps before, trying to take a too fine of a line. And managing to break a solder joint, but luckily I was able to solder that back up pronto. Q4 Ended the same as Q1 and Q2 with me in 2nd.
Which put me into a solid 2nd place In the 4WD A Final:

4WD A:
1.Stephen Brown
2.James Kerr (Me)-My Secret starting setup!

3.Dan Brown
4.Dave O'brien
5.Mark Andrews
6.Lee Davies
7.Mike Scott

4WD B:
1.Tony Scott
2.Richard Parkes

3.Martin Brown

4.Neil Randall

5.Ian Brawn

6.Ai Lecomte

The A 4WD final started fairly standard, with me clipping the pipe on the apex and think dropping back into 3rd, but then getting back into 2nd in a few turns. From then on Stephen kept up a fast pace and led from start to finish. With myself driving pretty well, making a few silly mistakes here and there. But eventually bringing it home in 2nd with Dan following closely behind. The rango tango, felt fantastic all day and making a few very minute setup changes to the car. I want to get used to it before making and larger setup changes and getting lost, felt my tyre choice was good. With Dave bottling it last minute and going back to Pink BB's ;)

Want to say a big thanks first of all to all the member's down titchfield, who have all done a fantastic job on the new track and surrounding area. It's changed for the better that is for sure, once another jump or 2 is added. I can see some very high turnout's coming! 

Big thanks to John C for letting me steal some pit space, Tony Rc for the banter and humour or destroying his servo saver! and Dave.. for using me as a test dummy!

I cant wait to get back there and to see you guys soon!

James Kerr

Thanks to my sponsors:

RC Sure-Start

Kifopaint

Pics Courtesy of John Clarke!

UKEM Endurance Master's Sure Start Team

(Apologies in advance for poor spelling/Grammar)

Well, UKEM started at 7am on the 16th-Saturday. I was picked up on route by One of my fellow Team Mate's Grant F which we then headed over to John B's house.. and then after over to Mark B's. Once we had collected all of the RC Sure-Start team, we headed off to Stoke for the start of a very exciting but long weekend. After numerous stops along the way, for fuel we arrived at the stoke track at around 1ish. Which we arrived to music blasting out of the PA system, we decided to promptly get our wristbands. And get onto the track for some testing and tweaking and to learn the track layout.
We all had a good 20 minutes on the TX with our chosen weapon of choice AE RC8-Urghh Against my religion but I have to say the car handles fantastically.. as much as it hurts me to say it!:D . Which Kindly Mark supplied, and with some help from Rob R- AE team driver, we seemed to have a very good setup from the get go. We then decided to stop at 4ish, then we chatted and all agreed to stick to the same setup and work out which tyres to run in the morning.

We gave the car a quick clean, and checked it over to be ready for the sunday mayhem, we then spent a good 30 minutes setting up the tent, which me and Marky B were going to be risking our lives sleeping in -1 conditions. After some laughs we eventually got it setup, and the gazebo done we hooked up rx packs and the likes to charge them ready.
 We later on decided to go out, to try find somewhere to eat and thankfully avoided the 80's club (Reflex) and found a great little Thai restaurant. Which we eat our own body weight in rice and food, and a few drinks later we headed to the shops to grab a few beers to have back at the track.
Which we then drank and then later on decided to hit the sack, and try to get a earlyish night ready for the big day. We all owoke at around 7ish to the noise of arriving cars. After checking finger's and toes for movement.. we got a cup of coffee and everything ready on the table for the 1st challenge-the Le Mans start and engine fitting. At 9:50 AM Myself and other teams lined up for the Le Mans start which I grabbed the engine and fuel, ran to grant who then sprinted off towards the gazebo-Launching his phone onto the floor=(Dead phone).. and threw the engine at Mark. Who was ready and waiting with the Clutch assembly and tools. All the teams had just 10 minutes to put on the clutch assembly and fit there engine before any engines were allowed to be started. We had it all ready 3 mins before, we plonked on our trusty Sure-Start and ran over to the pits ready to go. The buzzer sounded-ENGINE'S GO GO.. Our tight Hyper .21 Burst into life instantly.. whilst hearing other non Pre Heated engine's struggling for life. We leaned the engine up ontop a tad and got it on the track. We ran that same tune for the 1st hr or so keeping a slow but steady pace. Which kept us in 2nd for a good 40 mins. Until we had a few plugs go-Dont think they were very suited.. we then slowly leaned it up a tad and kept slowly upping the pace all day. We kept in a solid-7-9th all day. Our strategy was, mark racing 30 mins-grant swaps over-30 mins. Then grant comes in, we swap rx pack+ swith to wheel and then I would go out 30 mins then john then he comes in swap rx+ tx then mark ect.
We all drove a very good pace, and tried to keep small mistakes to a bar minimum which kept us chugging out solid laps and having only 1 or 2 small time delays..  The hours passed fast and we still had a fast but not a full race tune, which we decided to keep it the same till the end. As we knew, teams would lean up the top for more speed but in turn creating a higher chance of flame out's or issues. Then finally on the 5hr 30 mark, John B had the last 30 mins to bring the car back in 1 piece-Which thankfully he did just that. And we came away with a very respectable 8th position. Just behind, some very good teams-HPI-Hobao-Xray.. we were the 1st of the Non big sponsored teams.. which is a fantastic achievement.. for some non national club racer's.

Each one of us had a fantastic day, and will be talked about for many years to come. We all worked well together and it all seemed to go very smoothly. Im not sure we could have done much better, the engine ran a dream from the very 1st turn over thanks to the Sure-Start. And was great to see so many teams, using the Sure-Start's throughout the day! Racing finished at 4pm and presentation was at 4:20 to give teams a chance to clean up the car's for any pictures. And to hand out the winning prizes and raffles prizes too. We then said our thanks to the UKEM crew and headed back to our gazebo.. and had the horrible packing everything back up and the 4hrs+ drive back down to the south. For me, it has been one of if not the best event I have raced at so far.. it was fun, exciting, and most of all for a great cause!  I do hope we will be back next year, for a bigger and even better UK ENDURANCE MASTER'S!

A massive thanks to all of the UKEM Crew and CML and everyone else involved who made the event so special!

And to my fellow teamates:
John bennett, Mark Byrne, Grant Fribbens-Who made it such a great weekend.. and worked together flawlessly..  :clap:


James Kerr

Thanks to my sponsors:
RC Sure-Start
Kifopaint

Clanfield Round 1 Race Report

Clanfield Winter Series Round 1 Race report

Round 1 of the Clanfield RC Winter Series toke place on October 24th.
The morning, started off very brisk. There was a light frost which meant the track was slightly damper than usual. Which considering the rain, the track had seen the day/evening before. Is a testament on how fast the track dries up, and with the sun slowly coming over the brow of the hills. It was looking like it was going to be a great days racing. Everyone got signed in and then were able to have 30 minutes practice, from 9:30-10am then qualifying would commence.
Most people, atleast did a few laps on the track to work out what tyres could be the hot ticket. And to blow any old cobwebs out of the driving  :)
I used my Rc Sure-Start to preheat my O.S. Before practice to get it up to temp.. and save time and effort, I then went out on some used M2 Caliber's which were ok, and were not clogging up to badly so decided to run these for the time being. Qualifying started at 10am on the Dot. With few number's due to Clashing meeting's and weather, there was only enough for 2 heats. Which was fine, as it gave driver's a chance to get more stick time in. We did 5 rounds in total with 3 to count-If im not mistaken, 2 rounds then 10 minute break and so on.
Once all of the rounds had been finished, we decided to have 30 minutes break for lunch. And to change receiver batterie's and any other setup changes. There were x2 20 minute finals B, had 4 truggy driver's in with the B Buggy chaps. Then the A Final
I decided to go for Some lightly used M2 Caliber's left over from Proline, and did a small setup change to front shock's. I had left my setup from the last time I race at clanfield and was spot on.
The A final started, with a very clean start from the most part from the driver's.. and it was I think a very sensible race by all. And some very good driver Ettique, which is always good to see people let by the lapping car. And, some interesting fuel stops, with low number's marshalls had to become Pit men too-Resulted in some interesting pitting  :P
The final then finished 20 minutes later I drove a very solid race taking the win with a laps lead, and was slowly working my way through the field again. The final results are:

1.Myself-James Kerr
2.Les Taylor
3.Carlton Williams
4.James Tatlow
5.Chris Spencer-Smith
6.John Bennett
7.Stuart Parnell

It was great to see, alot of smiles throughout the day. And the track to be driving very well. Considering the bad press its been getting recently, Im very sure that everyone that turned up today. Had a great days racing and had over 55mins+ or actual racing. Which is a added bonus, specially for people travelling a fair distance. We all managed to chip in and get some small track work done taking back any on growing grass onto the track. Which with everyone helping takes very little time or effort. And we were all packed up and finished by 3:30 which meant everyone got on there way before the sunday night traffic started to hit. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves today. It was a very fun and relaxed meeting, and we hope to have the track in ever better condition and thing's smartened up.
We are arranging some work parties before the next meeting which is the 21st November. So please come down and lend a hand if you have a spare few hours!

Once again, a big thanks to Tony Bolwell for all his hardwork over the years! And to see him participate more on the racing side and having fun. And to John Bennett for helping run race control today. And everyone else that made today very very enjoyable.

Thanks again

James Kerr

Clanfield Winter Series Rnd 1 Race Report

Sunday the 21st November 2010

Clanfield Winter Series Round 1
Sponsored by:
RC Sure-Start

It was a cold November morning and the first round of the new Clanfield RC Winter Series, Clanfield has gone through some drastic changes with a new committee taking over the running of the club so I was keen to see what changes were instore for this first meeting. The racer's were greeted with a very warm welcome from the newly formed Committee. Going over a few points, and to take into account everything takes time to change. They have allready done a fantastic job tidying up the facilities and working on improving the track condition.

It was decided we were going to do 4 rounds of Quali with 3 to count. With 15 mins between the rounds and 30 mins finals! brilliant as I love a good long final!
We all then, got our engines pre heated and onto the track for a few mins practice. To get adjusted to the conditions, and work out any setup ideas to try or just to try to keep your fingers moving from the cold.
Q1 was a good run, people were still getting back into the groove and trying to get into that Rhythm we all need to find. We got quail 1 done and had a leisurely 15 mins break until the start of round 2.

We got through all of the 4 rounds of qualifying in good time, but keeping a relaxed feeling to the day. So after all of qualifying. The order was:

A Buggies
1. Jon Wolfe
2. Brennan Ralls
3. James Kerr
4. Grant Fribberns
5. Les Taylor
6. Tony Scott
7. John Bennett
8. Paul Langley
9. John Dear

A Truggies
1. Mark Byrne
2. James Tatlow
3. John Clarke
4. Adam Bailey
5. Andrew Chapman
6. Paul Berkinshaw
7. Richard Hobbs


Each of the two finals were going to be 30 minutes long, which I like the idea. As the more runtime we all get the better personally. The B final, was very (Interesting) to say the least with some good battles, between all the racers. But unfortunately the starting 8 were then weeded down to three they were dropping like flies! With James Tatlow, trying to set a new 2wd Truggy trend. Which thankfully didn't catch on.

After the carnage it eventually boiling down to last man standing and three remaining running, John Clarke gave a very consistent drive from 3rd to take the win after James Tatlow and Mark Byrne had issues, followed by Adam Bailey.

The A final was a corker with a slightly interesting start with the speaker's not being heard. It was a bit of a bun fight into turn 1 and 2 with me unfortunately getting a bit squirmy and then being clipped into the pipe setting me back to 2nd from last by the second corner. Brennan Ralls was then in P1 charging along  trying to avoid the nearby chasers with Jon Wolfe Hot on his tails and pushed hard. The 7 min mark came up and the pitstops started playing a big roll.

Throughout the race it was very close between Jon Wolf &  Bren Ralls and Myself which then at the 15 minute mark I think Bren Ralls not sure on the reason, but whilst in the mist of testing. Overlooked tyres, and unfortunately didn't help and put him a lap down- on myself and Jon W. For the entire last 15 minutes we must have been within 5 seconds of each other w ith us both fighting very hard it was neck and neck and the lead was swapping every other lap until the 2nd till last lap where I manage to slide pack an upside down Jon Wolf after the doubles and get a 5 second lead which saw me through to a win for the first round.

RESULTS!

A FINAL
1 James Kerr     45/30m 25.48 XRAY 808 O.S.
2 Jon Wolfe           45/30m 27.87 XRAY 808 Nova Rossi
3 Brennan Ralls   44/30m 33.96 XRAY 808 O.S.
4 Grant Fribbens   41/30m 3.21 Team Losi RB
5 Tony Scott           41/30m 34.59 Team Losi RB
6 Les Taylor           39/29m 16.38 Hobao O.S.
7 John Bennett   38/30m 6.39 Mugen O.S.
8 Paul Langley   37/30m 24.51 XRAY 808 RB
9 John Dear           6/ 6m 43.33 HPI HPI

B FINAL:
1 John Clarke        40/30m 3.93 RC8T         Alpha
2 Adam Bailey 40/30m 32.43 Hyper ST Alpha
4 James Tatlow 27/19m 29.13 8ightT O.S.
5 Paul Berkinshaw 22/19m 4.80 Associated   RB
6 Mark Byrne   7/ 7m 54.28 Associated Nova Rossi
7 Phil Bennett 4/ 7m 35.45 Mugen O.S.
8 Richard Hobbs DNS           8ightT Alpha

I would 1st like to thank all of the Clanfield RC Committee for all the work they have done so far on the track it has leaped forward already and once the whole track can be rolled again it will be fantastic! It was the smoothest I have seen it for a very long time things are looking very promising for the club.

A big thanks to Jon Wolfe for some incredibly close racing  and Brennen Ralls for a very good final  I cant wait to see more racers down here.

And a big thanks to John Bennett at RC Sure-Start for Sponsoring the Clanfield RC Winter Series!

Special Thanks to John Bennett for proof reading this!

James Kerr

Thanks to my Sponsors:
RC Sure-Start
Kifopaint