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A week ago today, I set out on a little road trip and racing weekend, beginning with a drive down to the Avalon Marshes in Somerset for a pleasant stroll in the summer sunshine, and then along to Porlock Weir for some fresh sea air, with a stop at a restaurant on the way for a light lunch. Then I made my way back up the coast to Weston-Super-Mare, where I stopped for an hour at Uphill Beach to kick along the sand, before getting back on the road again for the 10 minute drive to Mendip RC Raceway, where I would camp for the night. There's a really good curry house a short walk from the track, where I had a fantastic meal while I worked on the laptop. The real fun began the following morning. I was awake early, but the site was still empty so I had a lazy morning waiting for everyone else to arrive. Note to self: there's enough time to head out for a walk before racing starts at 10am! It was a mixed-media meeting, with a busy schedule of buggy and short course racing taking place on the tight little astro track, and 1:8 rallycross on the tarmac circuit. This actually works really well, because there's two different timing systems running, so one track's racing doesn't hold up the other. That means there's plenty of people on site, but not too much hanging around between heats. Rallycross formula uses 1:8 buggies with 3S power, wearing semi-scale touring bodies and non-grippy control tyres. I don't actually have one of these, but Mendip has a club car that can be hired for just £10 per day, so I figured this was a really good way of trying the formula to see how much I enjoy it before jumping in and buying a new or used car. It was gone 9am when the club car handler arrived and signed it over to me. It was already set up for Mendip's general conditions, so all I had to do was charge the battery and go drive. Fortunately I'd remembered to not be a complete noob and bring my charger, transponder and tools, although I had to borrow an adapter to connect charger to battery. With racing beginning at 10am, there wasn't enough time to get out for practice, but I took a moment to check the track layout. The tarmac circuit is big (it was originally made for 1:8 touring), but for rallycross racing several cut-throughs and astro sections are utilised, along with some ramps, to add to the excitement. Here's some pics of my weapon for the day. I think this might be a Ho Bao Hyper GT, or some earlier version thereof: