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Well, here it is at last, folks! The write-up for Revival 2023! This will be word-heavy and pic-light, as I can't be bothered to take lots of photos at the events and perhaps more importantly I can't be bothered to organise all the photos when I get back. Plus I don't have a camera with a long lens and cars on track generally come out like little coloured dots in the distance. Our story began months ago, when I started work preparing my cars to race - for further details see Hotshot Custom Chassis Build and SRB Superlight Vintage Restomod, but this particular chapter began on the morning of Friday 28th August, as I loaded the very last things into my van and set off on the 3+ hour trip through the middle of England to get to Bingham Model Raceway near Leicester. I was an hour into the journey, and in fine spirits, when a message arrived from my wife informing me that the new airbeam for my awning had arrived, and my pillow was still on the dining room table. I would survive without the airbeam, since in preparation I had cut a piece of wood to replace it, but I wouldn't survive two days sleeping on a rock-solid pull-out bed with no pillow. My back is bad enough as it is, and not even my prescription supply of industrial-grade codeine was going to get me through that. What followed was 90 minutes of back-and-forthing around Leicester trying to find somewhere that sold pillows. That's not as easy as it sounds, especially when one's smartphone is around 8 years old and rather slow and the data speed in the industrial backwaters is unreasonably poor. Eventually I found joy at a B&M, after several detours to "superstores" that turned out to be glorified mini-markets. A few pennies lighter (and foolishly resisting the urge to buy some cheap wrestler figures for scaler drivers from the toy section) I got back on the road and made the last hour to Bingham without any further mishaps. The weather was dry when I arrived, but it was a somewhat soggy July here in Britain and the ground was soft and damp. Perfect for putting up tents, but threatening bad if we got more rain. My van is low to the ground, and has road tyres and an automatic gearbox. Although I've never officially got it stuck (the live rear axle probably helps) it's probably only a matter of time. Despite my later-than-planned arrival, I was surprised to find our usual camping spot (right at the far end of the site, well away from that noisy raver lot) still empty, and none of my camping buddies around yet. So I pitched up alone and started carting my stuff over to the pits to get in some practice. View of the site, as seen from my pitch: Ornamental lake. The blue orb is either a manifestation of the Spirit of Bingham, or an aberration caused by the sunlight landing on the scratched coating on my camera lens:
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Here we are, over a fortnight since the Revival, and finally I'm getting around to doing my write-up. Don't expect loads of detail on the racing or a blow-by-blow account of my tweaks and changes during the day, this is more an overview of the atmosphere and friendliness of the event than it is a race review. I set off at 7:45am on Friday 30th July for the 150 mile journey along the Fosseway to Bingham, and arrived at 11:30 after a clear and easy run. The weather was dry and pleasantly balmy, if not as warm as one might expect for midsummer. I got my awning set up near an old friend who I first met at Revival 2018, and before I was finished another old friend arrived, so we parked our campers in a Circle of Love and made that corner of the campsite our own. This is the view from beside my camper, looking towards my two Revival buddies. Despite being a Revival attendee since 2015, I've never actually made it in time for Friday practice before, so as soon as the van was ready I unboxed my Blitzer Beetle and went out for a play. The track was slippy after the recent rain and I was lacking for turn-in, so I dialled out some of the camber I'd added at Robin Hood Raceway a month ago. I had Schumacher Vee-2 yellows on the rear, which were too hard for the damp track, and I was spinning out on every corner. Adie from Racecraft RC was testing his Sand Scorcher, mostly stock apart from a ball diff and modern tyres, and I must confess I had a real hard time keeping up with him with my inappropriate tyres, which was the cause for much mickey-taking for the rest of the weekend (he was still going on about it at the Iconic Cup two days ago ) Anyway, he was kind enough to sell me some Schumacher minispike silvers, foams and colour-coordinated Blitzer Beetle wheels - well, I say kind enough, he runs the pit shop (https://www.racecraftrc.co.uk/) so it's sort of his job to sell me tyres. A little while later the Blitzer slowed down and stopped. I'd had the same happen at RHR last time out, and before that when I was running it at the beach last. I knew I'd replaced the brushes so perhaps the Acto Pink was past its best after all. Fortunately I'd brought a spare Etronix Sport Tuned 17T with me, so I threw that in ready for Saturday's race.
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The Iconic Cup vintage tarmac racing series has been steadily gathering in strength over the last few years, and 2020 should have been an epic season. I started my prep in January, with a refresh and rebuild of an FF02 and an update to my FF01 racer from previous years. Unfortunately the pandemic came along and put a stop to racing for the first half of the year, but Iconic team didn't sit idle and they made sure we got at least one good tarmac event before the winter closed in and Covid started gathering its strength for a counter-attack. With two cars prepped for racing, I planned to be covered for every eventuality. I had the FF01 for technical tracks, where better weight distribution and nicer suspension would give the best results in the corners, and the FF02 for those longer straights, on tracks where having the tallest possible gearing makes up for any lack of corner pace. The Iconic race day took place on 30th August, and had a robust attendance - enough for some great racing, not enough to unduly increase risk in these trying times. The air was warm and breezy but no rain was forecast, so those wet tyres could stay in the box. Instead I went out for practice with the FF02 and the treaded Sweeps and I use for Frontie racing. The FF02 had been set up on the Hudy before arrival but had never been raced, and it was a pig to drive. Super-slick at the rear end when the Sweeps were cold, then super-snappy with nasty grip-roll once they warmed up. I figured the Sweeps might be all well and good on a modern super-lightweight racing chassis (where they are the BRCA control tyre anyway) but they don't work too well for the older FF cars. I was surprised by how soft the FF02 felt. I ran 3Racing shocks with M-chassis length springs, and it looked very much like a real car with realistic levels of mid-corner lean and loads of compliance over bumps. But, regardless of that, it was too twitchy to drive effectively, so I put it on the stand and got out the FF01 for the first heat. The FF01 lacks the outright pace of the 02, and is also using an older version of the control motor, but it's a much lovelier car to drive. The track was still cool, so I used additive and tyre warmers on my well-worn Sweep 24R slicks. That seemed to be about right for the start of the day, although as the track temp came up throughout the day I'd find myself turning down the tyre warmers and then abandoning warmers and additive altogether. The FF01 improved throughout the day, with only a few changes of spring to try to balance front-end slides with grip roll and oversteer. I don't really race that much and despite doing a few rounds of the TORC at Stafford with a TL01LA, I still felt badly out of practice and it took me all day to get my lines right and feel that I could hit the apexes and get the correct lines every lap. Even then, I was a good way off the front-running pace and it was clear from midday that I wasn't going to be challenging for a podium spot. Content to settle for "not last", I focussed on making the car driveable and staying away from the kerbs. I decided to give the FF02 another try for the first final. I fitted the scrubbed Sweep 24s without additive or heat, and stiffened up the front of the car as much as I could. I started 5th out of 7 and got a typically good start (it's the only bit of RC racing that I seem to be good at), struggled with low rear temps in the first lap, then found a rhythm with the car and was starting to get some good times. A few laps in the heat got into the front tyres and it started grip-rolling - uncontrollably. That seems to be the curse of the FF02 (as it is with the M03 it is based on) and once the final had started there was no going back. I finished the race with the feeling that in the right hands, the FF02 was the faster car - despite being more primitive in design, the suspension really seems to work and it's a real joy to drive, far nicer than I expected (until then it had literally had a few seconds on the patio and nothing else). If I'd stuck with the 02 all day I might have played with front camber, glued the outer edge of the front tyres, experimented with ride height or even some ballast, but as it was I had to settle for 6th, 3 laps off the lead, 1 lap off the closest car and ahead only of a driver who retired after 3 laps. For race 2 I went back to the trusted FF01. The speed difference at WLRC is marginal, and there was a mix of 01 and 02 in the top 3 places, so I figured I was better off with a car I could control than with one that would pass down the main straight. This time I fitted a set of newer Sweep 24Rs to the front, unscrubbed and slick. These were slower to heat up and offered less bite, helping to control the grip roll that was affecting even the FF01. For the first time all day I was able to properly push, really enjoying the driving and mostly avoiding the frustrations of grip roll. Towards the end of the race it started to bite again, but I was able to keep it on the black bit and put in some solid laps. For the first time all day I beat the 14 lap barrier, finished in 4th, 2 laps off the lead and 1 lap off 3rd. In fairness, 5th and down didn't actually finish (one didn't even start) but it was a little victory nonetheless, and one I'm proud of, considering how bad the cars had been at the start of the day. In summary - the racing was great but the atmosphere was better. VRC can only get you so close to the real thing. I'm not a hardcore racer, nor am I an extroverted socialite, but for me racing is about people and atmosphere, and the Iconic Cup had both. I had a chance to meet up with friends I haven't seen since last year (or the very least, since the start of lockdown), and to check out all the fresh Tamiya stock at the Racecraft R/C pit shop. Given the state of the world and the uncertainty that lies ahead of us, there are no solid plans for any Iconic races next year. We're all silently hopeful that things will look better once the next season comes around, but there's a lot of planning and organisation that must go into a full vintage season well in advance of the first race, so next year might have a truncated season or maybe one or two one-day events. We'll have to keep quiet and see what happens. A few pics of the racing in my showroom here: https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=136158&id=15729 Here's some pics of the FF cars I ran:
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I've been wondering this for a while. I didn't like to ask incase there'd been a fall out or something. But then I thought blow it, I will ask. I used to really enjoy their videos where they did a little talk about various cars and then run them around. For the last lot of years it's just footage of events. So where's all the to camera pieces gone? They were really good. Shame they've stopped, bring them back!