UK Scale Nationals 2023 - Pics and Review

[Mad Ax]

Well, here it is, folks!  Finally, the update from the UK Scale Nationals on 28th and 29th October, at Brackenrocks, Derbyshire.  IMO, the best scale crawler event in the UK, with the best terrain I've seen, and a fantastic way to round off the season.

I loaded the up van on Thursday evening and worked until early afternoon on Friday, and then set off on a cross-country route that took me on some of my favourite roads across the Cotswolds and into the midlands, towards a Premier Inn at Mansfield that has come to feel like a second home, as it is so well situated for a lot of good venues in that area.  I arrived a little too late to go for a walk somewhere, but I had an hour to unpack, unwind, and get refreshed before grabbing a hearty meal and some much-needed sleep.

Saturday began damp, but not damp enough to lower the spirits of the intrepid adventurers who had turned out for the event.  I arrived as early as I dared - around 8:30 - to ensure a parking space.  Fortunately my good friend Bob had a space next to his van, so I was able to park up, sliding door to sliding door, so we had a convenient dry-ish space to take shelter in if the weather turned.

Booking in and the drivers' briefing took a while - it always does when there's a lot of people arriving and getting set up.  As usual, we all put a selection of our favourite rigs in front of HQ for a photo op.  These would only be a small number of the total rigs at the event, as at this point a lot of people hadn't unloaded yet.  Still, it was nice to see a big variety of rigs on show - even a mega truck came along for the adventure!

[Mad Ax]

After that it was back to the van to load up our rucksacks with tools, batteries and trail snacks.

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We realised our parking space had an awesome view of part of one of the trails, so I stopped to take a few pics while Bob was getting himself sorted out.

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I decided the first rig on the trails should be Big 6, as it hasn't really had much chance to shine.  It got very hot with the 20T 5-pole motor at the Southern Scale Trail in September, and the motor actually stopped working towards the end of the event, and my motor lathe is broken (needs a new drive belt) so I haven't had a chance to rebuild it yet.  So, I'd fitted an older Novak Fifty-Five motor to it, which had a lower wheel speed but felt more torquey.

Since I was running my 6x6, Bob decided to run his 6x6 too - in his case, it was a near-stock G6-01 (non-portal edition) with some scale tyres and a truck body.

Out on the trails, I caught up with one of my fellow Dell's Racing Products team drivers, and his friend, with their Land Rover and FJ.

Big 6 performed faultlessly on the trails.  Loads of traction from the cheap tyres (although I expect it would be even better with expensive Proline rubber), plenty of torque, and nice low-down weight.

The G6-01 was fab, too!  We couldn't believe how well it performed.

[Mad Ax]

We found a mushroom

Making progress through the trails

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[Mad Ax]

One of my favourite things about the venue is how compact it is.  The trails are very well laid out, with lots of turns and switchbacks, so even if you're waiting for the crowd ahead of you to clear a gate, there's plenty of other stuff going on to spectate.

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Spotting the finish sign at the end of the first trail feels like an achievement.  It's the first success of the day, the first of many.

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We did it!

After that, we went back to the van to refresh and swap rigs.  I'd brought a plethora of trucks along for the adventure, but I decided it was time to try out the little Toyota.  It was so much fun to drive at SST, and performed so well despite its little wheels and limited clearance, I thought I'd see how it handled the wet and the mud at the Scale Nationals.

Seeing me getting my small-wheel rig ready, Bob decided to take his CC01 out.  Still running the stock gearbox (no reduction) he had a lot of wheelspeed to contend with, but otherwise it did very well on the trails.

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This is something I love to see.  People taking it seriously!  The Hilux had suffered a rare transmission failure, so the classic FJ was having to tow it out of the obstacle and back to the pitting area.

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Saw some other cool rigs on the trails too

This obstacle was crazy.  A near-vertical drop with a big root at the bottom.  Although, when I came back to it next day the gate markers had moved, so I'm not sure if maybe they were in the wrong place.

[Mad Ax]

[Mad Ax]

Bob decided to go down it backwards!

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[Mad Ax]

These professionals decided to lower the truck down on a tow rope - why didn't I think of that..?

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[Mad Ax]

We were having so much fun with the small-wheel rigs, we decided to stay out and do a few more trails.

This is what the Scale Nationals is all about

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[Mad Ax]

If this was a real place, it would be called Stonebridge.

Trail 4?  Completed it, mate!

This is one of the competition courses.  This was for those who wanted to be scored by the judges and be in with a chance of winning a plaque.  Or placque.  Or plack.  This is the truck pull - the Tonka had a big heavy stone in the back, and the challenge was to get through as many gates as possible on a very steep and slippery hill.

[Mad Ax]

This TRX4 wanted a try.

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After that, we went back to the pits to grab some lunch.  There was a different caterer on site this year, a much smaller wagon with a much smaller larder.  I had his very last burger, which was just as well since I hadn't brought any proper food (just trailsnacks), it was a 10-minute drive to the nearest civilisation, and my van was boxed in by several rows of other trail adventurers, and I tend to get hangry when I haven't had any lunch.

Lunch devoured, we got back out on the trails again.  This little corner of the venue is often wet and boggy during wet weather, and the organisers had been busy channelling the runoff into a 1:10 scale stream for us to climb

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Bob brought his crazy comp rig out to play.  I think this is a TRX-4.

I really love how the rocks are arranged at this location

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Even the tree roots make good obstacles

Finished!

[Mad Ax]

After that, it was back to the hotel for a much-needed shower and some dry clothes, and a good hot meal, ready for an early start on Sunday.

This year, the Nationals landed on the same weekend as the clocks change back to GMT.  Which meant I got an extra hour at the hotel - a good excuse for a lazy breakfast before packing all my things away and loading the van for one final day of trail fun to end the season.

Having spent all of Saturday in the company of my trail buddies, I decided to get out alone for a while and tackled Trail 1 with the BOM.  After my changes to the front shocks last week, it performed way better - fully floppy suspension is not necessarily the perfect setting for crawling!

[Mad Ax]

I met one of the organizers out on the trails, who took the opportunity to get some close-up vids of the BOM while there weren't too many 10:1 scale feet in the background.  Link in final post.