(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
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