Rounds three and four of the BRCA
Nationals took place at Eden Park Raceway in the southeast of England
and Oswestry on the Shropshire/Welsh borders. Eden Park is my home club
where I am the Chairman and so I was expecting to do well there. On the
other hand, Oswestry is all grass and the sole true neutral venue on the
calendar as the track is constructed in the week leading up to the
event.
The third round, like the two previously,
would take place on a mainly Astroturf track so lots of grip in the dry.
Eden Park is one of the older clubs on the calendar and this is
reflected by its design that arguably means the cars are a little too
fast for the track in certain places.
As you can imagine, being involved in
running a club is a big enough task and the duties ramp up as the
National date approaches. Long days during the week were put in by key
helpers as well as many hours at the weekend as the track was treated to
a couple coats of paint and the final track changes were completed.
I hadn’t driven well at the previous
National round at RHR, but I was confident with my car set-up for Eden
Park so left it with the same proven set-up that I start with at most
race venues. My car felt really good in the two practices and I elected
to run new tyres in each to bed them in for the qualifiers. The two to
three minute sessions are ideal for the tyres to scrub in and it also is
an opportunity to make sure that they are glued up correctly.
To
be honest, apart from swapping tyres and battery packs, I was happy to
leave the car and this would leave me with some time to help the club by
handing out bin bags, checking the car parking situation, making sure
the toilets were stocked up and more. I knew that if I drove to my best
ability, I could make the A final but as usual, I made hard work of it,
only scraped in to the top ten in the last round. Ninth in round one,
11th in round two, ninth again in round three then my best run so far in
round four as I was sixth and this saw me line up in ninth spot for the
A final. I was the only Associated B4 in the A final and along with Lee
Martin’s Tamiya, the only rear-motored cars. The A finals went well
although I think I could have finished a couple of places higher if not
for some bad luck. A sixth in leg one then two sevenths saw me take
eighth overall and my best result of the year.
After the high of EPR, it was off to
Oswestry and an all-grass track. Despite me racing very little on this
surface, I have had good results there in 2WD qualifying with a top ten
and pole in the B final. As you may have guessed, the set-up remained
the same and we made the 200-mile plus trip up the M25, M1, M6 and M54
and into the rural location of the Oswestry club.
Practice one saw the field clear the
racing line and into practice two, the car felt a lot more responsive as
the top surface wore away. And this was the case throughout qualifying
where the grass virtually wore out leaving a hard-packed base layer
underneath. I felt it best that with the track continuously changing to
leave the car alone and tune the grip by trimming or not trimming the
spikes. My best run in qualifying was round three with the 11th fastest
time and this was backed up with a 16th, 17th and 18th meaning I would
qualify eighth in the B final. I simply did not have the pace to be any
faster and this was confirmed in the final where although I finished
fifth, I had one of the slowest fastest laps of the ten drivers. It
seems that either I click with the track at Oswestry or not and despite
good results in the past, I am afraid this wasn’t the case n 2010.
Never mind though as its Southport next on the calendar and one of my
favourite venues to go to, despite the 500-mile plus round trip…
Once again, thanks to Jimmy at
oople.com for the photos.
Thanks to everyone who assists me with my
racing including:
* CML Distribution
* Horizon Hobby UK
* JConcepts
* LRP
* Much More UK
* RudeBits
* Schumacher
* Speed Passion
* Trishbits
* Upgrade