Last weekend saw the Coastal model car racing clubs annual christmas meeting. The racers where greeted with a damp track and overcast skies wouldnt allow the situation to improve before the practice and qualifying got under way.

Having not used the 22 2.0 in the damp i took a stab at a setup before practice. In the practice the car felt pretty good but i did raise the ride height a bit to get a bit more roll and hopefully some more grip. The change worked well so i left the car the same for round 1 of qualifying.

Round 1 of qualifying went ok but it was fairly evident that the silver minispikes that i had chosen were not giving as much grip as the ballistic buggy greens that round 1 tq man james wright was running. I still managed to take 2nd in round with a clean run but the car was hard work on corner exit as the tyres were just letting go as i got on the throttle.

For round 2 i stuck ballistic buggy greens on the rear and this made a profound difference, the rear of the car was absolutely planted. An issue with the brakes on the esc meant i couldn't push as hard as i would like but another clean run allowed me to just sneak the fastest time.

For the final round of qualifying james wright laid down a marker by setting ftq in the previous heat to mine, just missing out on a 12 lapper by a couple of tenths. So with the pressure on i pushed hard through the run and still managed to keep it clean as the 22 2.0 was so easy to drive when pushing hard. I was rewarded with a 12 lapper which gaurenteed me the pole for the 3 leg finals.

A final leg 1
A clean getaway for the whole field saw a train of cars winding there way around the undulations of the coastal circuit, with all of the a final drivers seemingly taking a sensible approach to leg 1, Except myself who, in trying toake and early break 3/4s of the way round the first lap, would just clip the track markings going through the fast chicane. The slight impact with the hose was just enough to flip the car onto its roof, and with the train of cars behind fell from 1st to last in a blink of an eye. I managed to pick a few cars off in the next lap or 2 but as i made my way up onto the infield it got much trickier to make a clean pass, which was allowing the leader to edge away at the front. I was at the tail of a five car battle for second place with all the drivers keeping it neat and tidy which made it very difficult to make a move stick. Keeping the pressure on the 5th place man, he eventually ran wide at the off camber 'corkscrew' allowing me the opportunity to pass as he got sucked down the slope. With only a minute to go and nothing between 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th i threw caution to the wind to try and get to the front of the pack. A daring move on the main straight that saw me use the power of the dps motor to blast around the outside of 4th place, all the way down the straight, brushing the infamous wall of champions, but getting away with it on this occasion. Carrying the speed into turn 1 and 2 i used the momentum and the cambers of the track to move into 3rd place, the 2 corners later i dived up the inside of another schumacher driver rob york into the corkscrew, making the move stick and forcing rob wide gave him no chance to fight back. After all the battling james wright and his schumacher kf had checked out and only a error would would see him lose the lead, which he didn't make on his way to take the 1st leg win.

Leg 2
During round 2 the heavans opened and soaked the track. The track at coastal in ipswich shaped up very well as there were no puddles which was amazing considering the amount of rain before the meeting and during the deluge. The covered rostrum also kept the drivers dry on the rostrum during the downpour.

Once again a very well behaved start saw the whole field get through the first few corners cleanly. Coming through the chicane it was james wrights turn to crash this time. This time it caused a huge pile up which collected most of the field and once the melee and been sorted by some frantic marshalling i had been gifted a good lead which i built upon steadily through the race allowing me to take my tlr 22 2.0 to a comfortable leg 2 win.

Leg 3
With one leg win a piece for george and james it would be a winner takes all dash to take the christmas crown. Another excellent start by all the drivers left no room for error in the first few corners. James and his kf lunged up the inside at the corkscrew, forcing a move upon my tlr 22 2.0 and hanging me out to dry on the massive off cambe. This allowed james' teamate rob york to get through and also william innocents tm2. A swift sharp move on william saw my 22 2.0 back up into third and soon on the rear of robs schumacher. Rob was doing an excellent job of being james' wingman by allowing james to creep away in the lead whilst i was stuck behind rob who was making his car very wide. With rob holding his line and his nerve i knew he was not going to crack so i knew i had to force the issue. I moved to the outside of rob around the first of the long infield turns which set me up to be on the inside into the second long corner. With a small touch between the cars i managed to squeeze through and set about bridging the gap to james. 5 laps of pushing on hard saw the gap disappear and then a bobble from james along the back straight saw him run wide through the bombhole allowing me through. James was soon back on it and onto my tail but the tlr 22 2.0 gave me the confidence to push real hard and gap enough to take the flag without james being able to make an attempt on the lead.

Thanks to Coastal model car racing club in ipswich for providing all of the racers with a great place to race. The indoor pits, covered rostrums and all weather tracks proving there worth in mid winter and another thanks to the club for providing all sorts of delicious goodies for the racers to nibble on through the day.