Iconic Cup 2022 - Race Report

[Mad Ax 11158]

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.

[Mad Ax 11158]

Anyway - the car was reassembled with a very stiff diff (turns out it has the lightweight carbon gear shafts installed, as well as black gears - are they the speed tuned gears?  I thought Mini gears were that off-white colour?), a steel 20-tooth pinion, alloy shocks and my trusty old Frog livery Civic.  All the electronics were taken back from their temporary loan to the M05 - an ORX receiver, Alturn servo and Probe WP ESC.  CWICs uses a hand-out motor with 3.5mm connectors, different to the connectors I use at home, so I'd had to rapidly solder on some new connectors at the CWICs meet.  I figured instead of switching the ESC back to the connectors I use (tbh they are a bit rubbish and cost me a finish in the finals of both classes at Carlisle last year), I would add some 3.5 connectors onto my Cup Racer control motor.  I had some Monkey King connectors that I'd ordered by mistake, and these were the right size, if a bit loose.  I remembered to pack the connectors in my race box, along with my soldering iron, just in case I had to swap to the spare motor while I was away.

After kitting the whole car out, I noticed the transmission was a bit noisy (aren't they all, though?) and didn't spin entirely free.  It couldn't be gear mesh since the pinion positions are fixed on the M03 (unless my gear set is non-standard and needs a different pinion - but I've been running it for years with pinions like this and surely I'd have noticed before..?)  - well, after opening it up a second time I couldn't find anything wrong with it, but I was out of time, and I had a spare FF02 chassis to cannibalise if it got serious, so I packed it up ready for the big day.

Saturday morning came around way quicker than expected (especially when my alarm went off at 6am), and I was off in the camper with everything I'd need for the track.

[Mad Ax 11158]

After setting up my camper awning and grabbing a space in the covered pits, I collected my tyres from Racecraft RC and glued the outer shoulders.  Mendip ran an open timed practice from around 9am all the way to 5pm, so I had all day to go on and off track as much as I wanted to get in some setup and experience.  The car was loose and twitchy to start but it settled down as I adjusted my endpoints and ride height, and the tyres bedded in to the rough tarmac.  I discovered the timer setting on my transmitter, so I figured I'd set it for 5 minutes and go for a full race distance.

Everything went well, banging in lap after lap, with no big mistakes.  It felt like I'd been driving for ages.  Having never used the timer on my transmitter, I was expecting a Casio wristwatch-style bleepie alarm when my time was up, but when I glanced down at the screen I spotted it was a 3:30 and going up.  So I'd actually been driving for over 8 minutes, and still not made a mistake.  Result!

I kept pushing on, wondering how long it would go before my talent ran out or my battery went flat, and at the 10 minute mark the car suddenly stopped turning in.  "I wonder if I've overheated the tyres with such a long stint?" I thought.

[Mad Ax 11158]

I took my utterly shredded tyres over to a couple of friendly helpers from my local club, who asked what tyres they were.  "Sweep 33s." I said.

Well, apparently, the right tyres for tarmac are EXP32s (front) and EXP24s (rear).  The 33s are an SWP compound, which is different.  Which explains why my tyres always look so terrible after a round of tarmac racing, and now that I'm working the car harder and driving faster than ever, the problem is getting worse, faster.  (A 10-minute stint probably didn't help either).

Since I'd just destroyed a pair of tyres that were new only a few hours before, I figured I'd be better off leaving the second pair of unscrubbed 33s in the packet for the next carpet meet and buying some new EXP32s instead.  Plus I might as well get the right tyres for the rear at the same time, and save ruining those after the weekend too.

Back in the pits, the long stint had blown the Blu-Tac out of the diff, so I split the transmission again to repack it.  One of my pit buddies gave me the top advice to only stick the ESC onto the "long" side of the chassis, so I don't have to peel off the tape every time I separate it.  Simple advice and obvious once you know it, a bit like having the right tyres, I suppose!

Anyway, I realised then that I'd forgotten to bring my Blu-Tac, but I did have a pair of mouldable silicon earplugs in my rucksack which I was able to break apart and use for packing.  Mixing with the Blu-Tac and left-over grease, it turned into a nice slushy paste that gave a lovely stiffness to the diffness.  I went out for a quick blast to scrub in the new tyres before adding a ring of glue around the outer edge of the fronts to combat that terrible Mini tendency to grip-roll.

I was still having trouble keeping the chassis in a straight line on the back straight, and every little knock or bump seemed to upset the steering trim.  My pit buddies kindly loaned me some alloy servo posts and a carbon servo brace, which stiffened the front end up nicely.  I was ready then for another stint, which went well, the added stiffness making the car a bit more direct in its response, so I added some expo to make it easier to control on the back straight, adjusted the endpoints again, and went out for a full race distance, knocking up a respectable lap count without a single off.  That's pretty good going for me, and I felt it was a good point to clean up the car and pack everything away into my awning ready for a curry and beer.

Back at the van, I opened up the gearbox again to add a bit more earplug to the diff, cleaned and sauced the tyres to pickle overnight, and had a general tidy-up while I waited for my lift to the nearby curry house.

 

[Mad Ax 11158]

I don't usually take a lot of photos on race day - my TG-3 is more suited to close-up work and is pretty useless at catching small cars on a big track, but here's a few shots to prove that it doesn't always rain in England.

[Mad Ax 11158]

I began to feel a little peculiar as I was waiting around for everyone to get prepared for the trip to the curry house.  It had been dry and bright, warm in the sun, but the breeze had a bitter chill to it, and it felt much cooler than it was.  I felt more tired than I'd expected and I wasn't looking forward to my curry.  In fact I was on the verge of dropping out and having an early night.  But it's only a 5 minute walk back to the track from the curry house, so I figured I could go along anyway, and if I still wasn't enjoying it, I could come back.

I felt a bit woozy on the way there, and when I sat down at the table, the room was spinning.

Then I realised.  in all the excitement of the day, I had drunk almost nothing.  One small cup of coffee and a few sips from my water bottle.  Outdoors all day in that strong wind, I must have been practically desiccated.

Of course there is only one solution to dehydration, and that is to imbibe plenty of fluids.  The curry house was of course happy to oblige, serving up a tall, frosty pint of Indian beer, which made me feel a hundred times better and gave rise to a warm evening of reminiscing, anecdotes and stories from tracks and events long consigned to the history books.

Curry and beers consumed, we made the 5 minute walk back to the track and rounded off the night with a Captain Morgan's and Coke with some fellow racers, before I went back to my van and huddled in my sleeping bag for warmth.

10 minutes later I put my beanie hat on to keep my head warm.  I briefly fell asleep, but woke up shivering, and had to rummage under the pots and pans to find my all-seasons mummy bag, which stays in the van for emergencies.  Inside my mummy bag inside my family sleeping bag, I was finally warm enough to fall asleep again.  I even managed to sleep through some works on the railway which runs beside the track, which everyone else was complaining about in the morning.

I woke to this:

[Mad Ax 11158]

After dragging myself out of my hole and scraping the ice off my eyelashes, I found myself a spot in the covered pits and got set up in time for the 9am drivers' briefing.  I opted not to go out for the open practice session, since I'd had a really good Saturday, I was sure the car was already as good as it was going to get, and in the cold morning temps I was only likely to break something and have to do a last-minute repair before heat 1.

Concourse judging:

[Mad Ax 11158]

My efforts on Saturday had qualified me as car 1 in heat 1, the B-group for M-chassis.  That meant I was first car off the line in the first heat of the day.  With no practice and no warm-up laps permitted, I was completely unprepared for how twitchy the car felt on the cold surface.  Again, this is down to me being an inexperienced racer in general and inexperienced on tarmac in particular, plus being too lazy or unsure of myself to go out for a few practice laps before the timed heats began.  Knowledge acquired.

I managed a couple of wobbly laps without too many major mistakes, before I caught up with one of the novice drivers and had a heavy shunt on the back straight, throwing my car off the track and into the grass.  My car was recovered but, the tyres were cold and damp, and when I turned into the sweeper it swapped ends and stalled at the corner entry.  I say stalled, because it felt like it didn't want to move.  The "car on the straight!" call had already gone out, but it was too late, and I got T-boned.  After that, there was no movement at all.  Maybe it had stopped working before I span (maybe that even caused it), but either way, I was out of the heat.

Back in the pits, I found the motor leads had been disconnected, either loosened in the first shunt and fallen off as I entered the corner, or knocked out in the T-bone.  I used a narrow screwdriver to splay out the male plugs so they were more secure, cleaned up the tyres and put on some additive, threw on the tyre warmers to bake it in, then went to pass the time until my next race.  The Iconic Cup is always a busy event, with lots of classes, and it can be over an hour between rounds.  Easy time enough to check the heat 1 quali results and see that my best lap was clearly the fasted in the heat, and my 2-lap average was fasted in heat, too.  Things were better than I'd thought.

For round 2, I added a bit more expo to tame the twitchiness, and turned down the EP a bit more.  Mendip is a flowing, open circuit and there's no need for loads of steering angle.  A high expo value can make the long, uneven back straight easier to handle (tiny M-chassis tyres want to weave all over the straight, even with a sensible degree of toe out), but arrive at a corner and it can suddenly swing to full lock.  Dialling down the EP helps to control the unpredictability of higher expo values.

An announcement went out as we climbed the steps, that there had been a timing problem for round 1, and all round 1 times would be scrapped.  Quali would be based on best 2 out of the remaining 3 rounds.  A good result for me, as I'd failed to set a time in round 1.

Car on the start line, the others set off before me.  I took it steady into corner 1, as I hadn't had time to drive with the new expo settings and the warmer track.  The car went well.  It felt good into corner 2, until it suddenly stopped.  And that was that.  The car had been absolutely faultless all Saturday, but so far hadn't even managed 3 laps on race day!

Back in the pits, the problem was obvious: a loose pinion.  So loose in fact that the grub had come right out, necessitating another gearbox teardown to recover it.  I repacked the diff while I was in there, and tried yet again to find the source of the binding, without success.  Loose pinions are an issue with some cars due to the control motor having a fairly short shaft.  It's not so bad on the M03, as the grub easily clamps on the shaft, but the FF01 has only a tiny clamped area due to the reverse-fit pinion design.

Tyres cleaned, sauced and baking, it was time to grab a drink, watch some racing and shoot the breeze with my pit buddies until round 3.

[Mad Ax 11158]

I've had some bad days over the years, where round 1 will start with a breakage that feeds into a whole day of breakages, crashes and missed races, and it was starting to feel like this was going to be one of those days.  So it was with some trepidation that I took the steps to the rostrum to hear the 5 minute call for the next race.  The problem with heat 1 is it's the first heat after the last round ends, so there may be some kind of arbitrary break or pause, depending on how many classes there are and how the organiser wants to run the event.  Sometimes there's even a 15-minute break between each round.  This is all well and good when you know in advance but in my experience, this often isn't called until the last minute, which plays havoc with one's tyre warming plans and is a bit annoying if one has deliberately decided not to start frying up one's sausage and egg rations because there's not enough time left before the next race, only to find that there actually would have been if one had just got on with it at the time.

Anyhoo, there were only 5 minutes to wait this time, which I used to limber up and ease the tension in my neck and back.  It's something of a running joke that I shake out my neck, shoulders, arms and legs on the podium, making some affirmative ooh, yah! noises at the same time, but it actually helps me relax.  Sometimes my eyes start watering 3 minutes into a race because I've forgotten to blink.  I'm especially tense when I'm either driving way beyond my normal abilities, or I'm expecting the car to break.

This race was one of the latter, but I needn't have worried.  Thanks to two DNFs I started at the back of the field, but I passed the slower cars and got into a really fun battle in the midfield.  After several attempts to pass a car I finally made it through cleanly and started putting in some distance.  Despite being slower on the back straight, I could make up quite a lot of time around the bends.  However it was in the tighter hairpin where it all went wrong, as the front dug in and the car grip-rolled, costing me that hard-earned place.  I managed to claw back the deficit, getting again into a nice close and clean battle, but the grip roll returned before the race was over and cost me the position.  Nonetheless I was thoroughly pleased with my performance, glad that my two crashes were caused by grip roll and not my own stupidity, and I came off the podium smiling, and shared a laugh with the driver I'd been battling all the way around.

Upon checking the timesheets, I was 3rd in the heat with the 2nd fasted best10 time and the fastest single laptime by half a second.  If only I could cure that grip roll, I might be able to bag that elusive 12th lap and maybe even get fastest time in heat.

[Mad Ax 11158]

Back in the pits, it was time to change the LiPo (at last, it had done a full race distance!) and re-glue the front tyres to stop the grip roll.  I didn't make any other changes as the car was running sweetly already.  I was looking at the time differences between heat 1 and the faster drivers in heat 2, and realised I was in with a shout at the A final.  There was no way I was going to win, or even get on the podium, but the Iconic Cup attracts some talent and it was both exciting and terrifying to think I could be driving in the same final.  I shared a joke with another driver that if I was pot-hunting, I could sandbag in quali 4 to make sure I stayed in the B final, so I could challenge for the win.  But I'm not a pot-hunter, trophies only take up space on the shelf, and I'd rather give it my best and be satisfied with my performance, wherever it got me.

Out again for round 4, starting 3rd off the line, I was closer to the top spot drivers and less held up by the slower cars, so I could get straight on with some fast laps, catching and then passing the lead car.  I had a clean race, although I had to remind myself to blink, and once I had some clear road ahead and behind, I backed off my pace just a bit to make sure I didn't throw it all away with a stupid mistake.  It seemed to take an age for the end-of-race siren to sound, and I was in the pits, physically shaking with the adrenaline rush of racing out front for 5 minutes without crashing.  That's something of an achievement for me.

With the quali results on the board, I had finished 10th out of 17 drivers, and although my best time was 7th overall, and only 2 seconds off 6th, my poorer performance in round 3 cost me a higher slot.  However, when the finals sheets went out, I was car 10 in the A final.  What's more, I knew I was capable of beating that position, so I had absolutely nothing to lose.  Result!

[Mad Ax 11158]

In the pits again, I decided to repack the diff.  The car was running well, but the diff had gone loose and I wanted it as good as it could be for the final.  I separated the gearbox, and found this inside.

Yep - that's a totally destroyed bearing.  Fortunately Racecraft RC had one in stock, so I could get the diff repacked and the gearbox reassembled, although the stiffness was still present.  Not the cause of the stiffness, as I'd hoped, perhaps the failed bearing was a symptom.  I probably need to completely strip, clean and rebuild the gearbox before the next round.  Perhaps something is stopping the bearings from seating properly, causing them to bind when the gearbox halves are tightened up.

Back on the rostrum again for the final, I uttered a quick apology to anyone in advance of destroying their race, engaged in a bit of banter, and tried to relax.  I'm really not that good at this racing malarkey, and sooner or later this good spell had to run out.  Before the end of the race, I'd be bouncing off the barriers, launching over kerbs and collecting the leaders on my way to the grass.  I just knew it.  But no time to think about that now, I'm lined up on the #10 spot and the start timer is ticking down.  Here we go...

If I do have a skill in RC racing, it's starts.  Most people are desperate to get away fast as soon as the buzzer sounds.  I take it slower.  It's a short run from the grid to turn 1, a tight and unforgiving hairpin.  It's a short run into the inevitable pile-up, in my experience,  so I arrive late and drive around the accident, but the A finalists are better than that, and it's clean.  Still, I make 4 places on the inside and I'm in 6th as we leave the chicane.  Everybody from 6th up is a 13-lapper, so I if I do any better than this unless I'm picking up scraps.  I don't really belong up here in 6th place, and I'm trading paint with the event's only other Civic, corner for corner, for 2 long laps.  An apology is already on my lips - sooner or later my talent will run out and I'll knock us both into the grass.  I'm out of my league.

Then it happens, coming into the same hairpin where I'd made up all those places - he's on the inside, I'm on the out, but we're so close we might as well be on the same spot.  We touch, only briefly, but enough to unsettle the cars.  He comes off better, I'm sent nose-first into the barrier.  I'm in last place.

At least it's a barrier, and not a grass trap.  I can get out of it, and follow the pack.  It doesn't matter.  10th in the A final is better than 1st in the B.  I got here on merit, I'm racing in the A.  I'm in the A final at the Iconic Cup!

But I'm faster at least than the two cars ahead of me.  I'm catching them.  I can pass them.  I pass them.  9th place, 8th.  8th!  Not last!

I take a breath when the buzzer goes, don't let it out until I cross the line.  My heart's racing.  I'm finished.  I'm 8th!  I made it into the A final at the Iconic Cup, I didn't wipe out the leaders, I didn't wipe out anybody, and I didn't come last!

Considering how terribly badly my M-chassis racing has gone over the winter, this is something of a big result.

[Mad Ax 11158]

And then that's it, we're done, event over.  I pack up my pits, take down the awning, load the van.  Say goodbye to friends new and old, promise to meet up in West London in a month's time.  It's a 90 minute drive home, but the sun is still shining, and it isn't too late for a walk along the beach.  One of my favourite beaches is less than 10 minutes away, so I head there in the van.  The beach is quiet, I get a spot on the sand.

The Audi Showoffs Club are there in force, so I get some photos.

Then a walk along the sand, up to the marina, and back down the road, and it's time to go.

West London race report to follow!

[ThunderDragonCy 8970]

Good job dude! 8th is awesome work in that company. Thanks for the write up

[87lc2 2854]

Great write-up as usual, I absolutely love reading these!  It's so funny, I get a lot of the same feelings that you do when in a race and I thought I was the only one.  I haven't raced on road or buggy in years but I can really relate.  When I was in a final and knew I was out of my league I would really tense up and just hope I didn't come last or ruin anybody else's race.  

These days I only race monsters and while its a lot more relaxed, it can get serious at times.  Since the races are so short you really can't make any mistakes, and when up against a good driver in a later round I can feel the nerves a bit.  All it takes is one mistake and race is over against a good driver.  I typically sabotage myself in finals trying to go "slow & smooth" and end up just being too slow in order to avoid a mistake.  

Again, thanks so much for posting these.  Really enjoy reading them and seeing the pictures.  

[Mad Ax 11158]

I ordered some carbon braces from Fibrelyte this week, as the carbon servo brace was borrowed from another racer at the last round and he'll want it back next weekend.  While I was ordering the servo brace, I figured I'd better get the front and rear braces too, as I don't really want to brake this chassis.

Fibrelyte offer good prices and fast delivery.  These parts are listed for the FF02, but they fit the M03 just fine.

Before fitting, I went around the edges with superglue and left them to dry.  I don't know if this is even still a thing, but the brace I borrowed had superglue on the edges.  Apparently this stops water getting into the layers during wet races and ruining the carbon.  I managed to do all this without gluing myself to anything, which is pretty good going, as I usually end up glued to the part, the desk, the tube of glue and anything else that dares to stray within grabbing distance, such as the neighbour's cat.

Next thing I needed was some servo posts.  I need long servo posts (TL-style) for the M03, but I wasn't able to find any.  Instead, I used some 10mm square aluminium bar.

Apologies for the lack of light in this photo.  Due to the ongoing war in Europe, there is a light shortage.

10mm is too big for a conventional servo post, so I had to file out some corners.

[Mad Ax 11158]

et, voila

The other post was easier, because the standard corners work just fine in the open air

[Mad Ax 11158]

Carbon goodness all fitted and ready to race

Next round of the Iconic Cup as at West London Racing Centre on 8th May.  There's a practice day on the 7th, but I'll be at a wedding, so no practice for me - I have to leave my cheap motorway hotel at around 6am to get to the track for gates opening at 7, first practice is ridunculously early so I won't even have time for breakfast.  So, Mars Bar and a black coffee, then.  Race report to follow.

[Mad Ax 11158]

And so it was, refreshed after a quiet and comfy night in a motorway Travelodge in Reading, that I arrived at West London Racing Centre just after 7am, in time to pack out by pit table and grab a lukewarm sausage and bacon wrap from the mobile coffee shop just as soon as the doors opened.  The air was cool with a chill breeze, but the forecast was dry, so I set up under the tailgate and hoped it didn't turn wet like last year.

The car was set up well enough for Mendip's fast, flowing track, and although West London is significantly tighter and mostly smooth, the general advice was "if it works at Mendip, it'll work at West London."  It's a tougher track to drive, requiring precision in the chicanes, accuracy on the brakes and a healthy respect for the kerbs, which are steep enough to put an M03 into orbit.

Practice went without mishap.  The tyres worked well, my pace was good and the car didn't do anything unexpected.  I kept pace with most of the other cars and was confident of a good day, once I got into a flow with the circuit.

Sadly, flow was something that wasn't going to come to me.  I couldn't really find a rhythm all day, I experimented with lots of lines and braking points, spent a lot of time studying the M-chassis top heat drivers, but most of my problems were simply down to not being precise enough in the bends.  I was bursting with confidence after my performance at Mendip, making a good qualifying spot in the A-final, but it became clear that at West London I was only ever going to be an also-ran.

I had seeded 1st place in the middle heat, but car 2 was significantly faster (he would ultimately qualify for the A final).  Instead I had some great close battles with other cars.  The middle heat felt like the best place to be - I wasn't having to pull over much for faster cars (generally just once per race for car 2), there were no full novices making passing tricky or being rolling roadblocks, and I had some great close battles with similarly-paced cars.

Round 1 started well, but an argument with a kerb mid-way through left me feeling like the front tyres had gone off.  I couldn't keep pace with the faster cars and had to settle for a lower position.  Back in the pits, I found a missing kingpin.

Which turned out to be caused by a cracked hub.

[Mad Ax 11158]

 Honestly, there are days when I wonder why I bother.  5 minutes writing a post, I managed to press something on the keyboard, although I have no idea what, Chrome said "processing request" and now it's all gone.

Still, there is another way.  Its called "write it all in Notepad++ then copy/paste, because Notepad++ has a nice way of warning me when I'm about to do something really clumsy and stupid.  BRB...

[Mad Ax 11158]

With over an hour between rounds, there's plenty of time to repair the car.  I had a spare hub, which was an easy fix (although I had to borrow a screwdriver to get the cheapo alloy hex off), and while the car was half-apart I re-glued the front tyre shoulders and re-packed the diff.  Rising temps put a lot of wear on the front tyres, manifesting mostly in the shoulder glue coming off half-way through a race and making the car want to tip over.

Steering had felt a little sluggish earlier in the day, so I'd turned up the DR, but with the diff re-packed for Round 2, it suddenly got very twitchy and hard to drive.  Turning the DR down helped me stay in control, but the damage was done and I was too far behind to make up lost places.  My DX3C might be old tech today, but the thumb-operated DR adjuster is a really neat feature - I can adjust it on the road without having to take my eyes off the car, very useful when I've changed something between rounds and the car suddenly gets all twitchy like that.

Rounds 3 and 4 were much the same as the earlier ones.  I was very close on pace to the nearest car - he would qualify ahead of me, so would get out in front, but I'd be faster in the opening laps and usually get ahead.  Unfortunately, I could never pull out a lead.  The pattern was the same every time - I'd get in front, then make a silly mistake and lose the place.  In theory I should have been fast enough to take it back again, but after losing the place I could never find the pace again.  And then, right at the end of the race, when it looked like I'd have to settle, I'd begin to close in.  With another minute I might even be able to pass, but I was never quite close enough.

It's interesting to consider what might be going on there.  Perhaps my tyre warmers and general tyre treatment regime meant my car was switched on better at the start of the race, when the other car took longer to get its tyres up to temp.  Once the tyres were up, maybe that car was faster than mine, but maybe in the later stages it was working its tyres too hard, so I was able to come back at it.  Or maybe the other driver was generally faster than me, but wasn't very confident defending - so at the start, when I was right behind, he was losing too much time defending, allowing me to get ahead.  But, once I got ahead and had some clear track in which to make a mistake, he was able to pass and get enough of a lead that he didn't have to defend, and could put in fast laps.  Maybe after making a mistake, I lost my confidence and slowed down, and didn't get it back again until later.

I could probably answer these questions by checking the timesheets on rc-results.com but I can't be bothered, it was three days ago and I'm tired.

[Mad Ax 11158]

With some drivers missing from the original booking, the race director decided to run just two groups in the M-chassis final.  I'd qualified 13th overall, good enough for a 3rd place start in the B final.  Not a bad place to start, and from a pot-hunter's perspective it's a great place to be (especially when 1st and 2nd are close on the timesheet and 4th is a little way back), but it's also a place where there's something to lose.  My favourite quali spot is either 4th, or last.

Still, I was pretty much guaranteed a trophy at this point, so I got the car ready to go, went to the track and got into my grid position.

The timer counted down.  Bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep...  There's always a delay between the last bleep and the starting siren...  during which the race director decided to start his commentary.

Despite that momentary distraction, I got a good start and held 3rd into the first corner.  It's a big wide sweeper, tightening into a hairpin.  And there was my first crash - getting too close to the kerb, riding up it and being flung wide, losing all those places.

Still, I had enough pace to get back at the podium, and soon enough I was challenging for the lead.  It was going to be a really, really close race.

Then another little mistake.  Not much, but the car didn't feel right.  It didn't want to straighten out after bends, like the servo saver had come loose.  Did I check it?  Had I tightened it up?  Had my home-made servo post pulled its thread?  Nothing for it now, just keep going, drive around it.  The main straight was a bit trickier but the rest of the track is corners anyway, it doesn't matter, as long as it holds together.

But it put me off-line for another bend, and I hit the outside kerb, launched in the air and came down hard.  The car landed on its wheels, I'd lost a bit of time but I was still in the running.

Onto the main straight, turn into the oversteer, and...  woah!  The car veered across the track and glanced off the barrier.  OK, that was odd, never mind, just...  Woah!  It veered the other way.  I steered it back into line, but something was way out, it was like the servo saver had 90 degrees of free play.  I could steer, but I couldn't un-steer.  For half the straight I thought I could drive through it and hold 3rd to the finish line, but it was no good - I was going to wreck someone else's race, maybe even their car.  I pulled off at the end of the straight and let out a breath.

That was that, then.  1st and 2nd had a fantastic battle, one I could have been part of and was so sorry to have missed.  A car failure is always disappointing, but in a final, after running so hard all day to get that quali position, it's especially distressing.  Then there's the knowledge that, if only I'd known it was going to break, I could have gone home over an hour ago and had some time in the workshop or sat down with my family.

Still, that's racing, wrecks and breakdowns are all part of the game, you can't win every time.

Back in the pits, I found the problem wasn't the steering at all, it was the rear lower shock eye had popped off the ball.  This is frustrating, as there's not much can be done about it (besides not crashing, obviously).  I may have some rod ends that can be screwed on, and a washer would stop them coming off completely, but I'm not sure if they'll fit the TRF shock eyes.  I'll have to check that out, as it would be an easy solution to something that's ended my race before and will probably happen again sometime.

[Mad Ax 11158]

Still, despite all that, it was another brilliant day.  Great organisation by Iconic RC and the team at West London, great close, fun, clean racing by the other racers in my heat, a real friendly atmosphere, lots of interest from members of the public passing through (the track is in a public park and the pits are spread across a footpath, so non-racers can walk between pits and track as they go about their business), and lots of moral support from the staff at the RaceCraft RC pit shop.

Special thanks to Adie for convincing me I was probably going to die after being bitten by a horsefly as I descended the steps after round 2.  I wasn't sure what it was at first, it happened as my arm was resting on an aging metal bannister, and I thought I'd got a rusty splinter in my forearm.  By the time I was back in the pits my entire arm was sore, and within 5 minutes the right sight of my chest was aching.  The bite site swelled within an hour, the pain in my chest went off after 20 minutes (it really was quite distracting) but the ache in my arm remained for the whole entire day.  The 2 hour drive home was one of the most unpleasant drives I've done, as there seemed to be no position I could put my arm in where it wasn't hurting.

Still, in the end I didn't actually die, and although it's been an irritating little bite all week (it's right where I rest my arm on the desk when typing), it has finally started to get better and isn't really sore any more.  However I can blame the soreness in my right arm for my lack of steering finesse all afternoon and my general inability to put in a good clean race.

Next round is Broxtowe in just under a fortnight, however my wife is away that weekend so I'll be curled up on the sofa with my child watching Disney films.  Unless I decide to take her to RaceCraft RC on the Saturday and buy her a kit that we can sit and build together on the Sunday.

I won't be racing again until the Carlisle round, at the start of June, when I'm also taking a little break in the Lake District.  Watch this space!

There's a few action pics here:

http://tcphotos.net/album/bfiR

[Scottrc 233]

Great write up! The iconic cup sounds like so much fun. Maybe after I’ve got some more race experience with my TT02 I will give it a go 👍🏻

[dlruk 32]

TT02 not eligible unfortunately as too new.

Great write up, sorry to hear about the bite, I had one when younger, still got a mark....

Bit of a disaster for me, won Stock champ last year, this was my first outing in Super Stock but I didn't get round to doing a new shell so was running a heavy high up Impreza one still. Managed to drag it round to 3rd on the A grid despite losing Q4 to a pinion retention issue (.....)

Few changes for the final and it was better, first couple of minutes great, got into the lead, small gap then hit a kerb letting 2nd place close back in and then a few laps later he closed in further to 0mm and hit me sigh. Got going again, think I was running 4th near the end when on the last lap the motor went up in smoke and I didn't make the finish

5.5 hour drive home after was "fun"....

Broxtowe this weekend, hopefully go better

[dlruk 32]

Mad Ax - I presume that's one of the HPI EK9 shells, did you just have it laying around or have you found somewhere which actually has some? I've been looking for another for years as my M05 one is well mangled now! It looked great when newer especially with the included light buckets fitted and racing under the floodlights outdoors. I noticed someone else had one as well, a light brown one