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Hey folks! This is just a placeholder for now. In 25 minutes I will be setting off for Round 1 of the Iconic Cup at my "local" circuit, Mendip RC Raceway, which is about 90 minutes drive away. This weekend I'll be doing both days - Saturday practice and Sunday racing - although for most of them I'll only be doing the Sunday. This year we've got rounds in South Hants, West London, Broxtowe, Halifax, and Carlisle. Provided I can get phone signal down at the track, I will be updating a few pics and reports as I go. Stay tuned for updates!

I had a late start to my Iconic Cup prep this year, as I'd been focussing on other things, having a non-RC weekend break and doing some crawler events. I ran a couple of CWICs rounds in the winter (see this thread) and performed woefully, achieving the bottom spot in the first 3 events, missing the next because my wife booked me a birthday meal, and deciding not to bother with the last one at all. In fact, it was the Weds before the race weekend when I dragged my battered old M03 out of the box and started putting on all the bits that I'd taken off to make the M05 run last year. This car originally came to me from another TC member over 10 years ago, stock apart from bearings and an Acto Pink motor. Originally it was a Suzuki Wagon RR, but that body (and the NIB one that came with it) have been sold on. For a long time I raced this in the local clubman M-chassis class, which only permitted bearings, oil shocks and tyres, so apart from a lovely set of alloy shocks (can't actually remember if they're TRF or 3Racing) and a Tamiya spring set, it's bone stock, and has always been so. Last year I added a set of toe-in rear hubs off my FF02, which are a big improvement on cooler outdoor tracks, and after speaking to a local M-chassis champeen I decided I would pack the diff with Blu-Tac to stiffen it right up ready for practice day on Saturday. Now, those who followed my Yaris thread will know I had an issue with running the wrong tyres. For a quick recap: When I raced at my local carpet club, I bought a set of Sweep tyres. As far as I recall, they were just Sweep tyres - nobody said anything about the temperature / compound. I raced them for years, but after a few Iconic Cup rounds on tarmac, the fronts wore right down to the foam. In 2019 (or possibly earlier, I forget) I bought a new set of Sweeps, and didn't bother to check the compound / temp. I knew they were 25s as that's what I wrote on the inside of them, but I don't think I knew why I bought 25s or why it mattered. I tried them on the car during some tarmac Iconic Cup rounds, but always went back to the old tyres, as the new ones just wouldn't work for me. I put the new ones on last winter to race at CWICs, and (after a whole day of uncontrollable spinning) I learned that I needed 33s front and 25s rear, so I fitted the old, worn set of 33s up front and went out to drive an acceptable race (albeit too late to qualify for any points). Next time out at CWICs I decided I wouldn't fit the worn, foam-showing 33s I had at the previous meet, instead I'd put the old rears on, which I had bought at the same time and must, therefore, also be 33s. I had a horrible time with carpet pickup, pretty much had a miserable, miserable day spinning around at the back of the field, and went home wishing I hadn't bothered in the first place. Fast-forward to last Weds, when I pulled the Yaris out of the box to take the tyres and shocks off. It was then that I spotted something: an old, faded, red felt tip marking inside the old tyres: 25. So, in actual fact, I had been running 33/25 all along. I have absolutely no recollection of having bought 2 sets of tyres (or even a mixed bag of 2 pairs), but obviously I must have done, otherwise they wouldn't have different numbers in them. It's possible that the club bought and split the bags to keep starting costs down (in those days Mini was the entry-level class, although most of us Mini competitors had been racing touring for a while and got fed up with it). I must even have known about it, otherwise it was blind luck what corner each tyre would end up on - but again, I have no recollection of this. So - this left me with only one pair of 33s which were long past their best. A quick order from Racecraft R/C with the message "for collection at Iconic Cup, Mendip" and I was assured of the right tyres for the big event. Or so I thought.