Joining the party today was Lee Martin the joint current 4wd British Champion as well as local hero John Spencer multi National A finalist.

Both top drivers and of course potentially will be affecting the main A final

With less drivers for the 4wd event to the 2wd the day before, the club decided to do 4 minute practice sessions.
This was good and we would also see how the drivers with their 4wd cars would cope with the ‘THING’

Well round one started and there were some suprises in who was going to be quick through the day.  Young gun, Jack Embling looked real good in both practice sessions and was extremely consistent over the THING jump.  Many were surprised when Jack put his Tamiya buggy right up into 2nd place in round.  It was yesterdays winner Tom Cockrill topping the round 1 charts, with his new K1.

 

 

 

 

A big pause in the racing after round 1 and in my opinion a mistake by the club.
They decided to change the THING jump.  Why on earth would you change it now at this stage, I just couldn’t and still do not understand.
We had 14 heats the day before and everyone suffered with it all day from practice through 4 rounds of qualification and all the finals.
Today we already managed 2 longer practice runs and already 1 round of qualification.  At this stage I actually got a little annoyed and I expressed my view to Matt Owen.  This was purely at frustration as the organisers already ask my views on numerous occasions and didn’t execute any of them.   Helllllooooo!!!!!
I was probably a little out of order so I apologise for that but on the same token in my eyes the only reason the THING jump was changed, was because a couple of the superstars drivers just couldn’t get on with it.  That is my view and although Kev Lee was trying through the day to change my opinion and or to see it a different way, at this late hour it still remains. Since this report I was told some cars broke but my opinion still remains!

Anyway, the person that in my opinion it was penalizing the most, was young Jack as he was copping with the jump THING really well and for sure young Jack raised some eye brows when he TQed round 2 after pro Tom Cockerill pulled out with a problem.  Jack had now semi secured top 3 on the grid and was looking good.  Nathan Ralls took 2nd and Mark Penny came in the picture with a 3rd in round.  Ben Cosgrove driving his Durango in at number 4 with Matt Owen himself taking 5th in the round now that he could cope with the adjusted THING

Round 3 came round very quick.

Tom Cockerill took the round and put his Schumacher car on pole with only young Jack having an opportunity in the 4th round to take it away.

Mark Penny had a great run to take 2nd in round and Kev Lee coming in 3rd in round after some set up changes to his Kyosho

All looking very interesting for round 4 but surprisingly Lee Martin was not yet showing his pace with a 3-66-5 in the 3 rounds completed

 

 

On to round 4 and at this stage I worked out there were many drivers sitting the the B final that could make the main with a good run.  Myself included.

Tom puts in another blistering run and TQed the 4th round and took pole for the meeting.
Mark Penny has another 2nd in round to put himself 3rd on the grid.
Chris Crainger from the touring car world and former worlds A finalist puts his K1 5th on the grid with a 3rd in round.
4th in round was young Jack but he already secure 2nd on the grid.
5th in round from James Helliwell from Robin Hood Raceway and that secured him 7th on the grid.
6th in the final round was Ben Cosgrove and that along with his 4th puts him 8th on the grid.
7th was Matt Owen and that gave him the last spot in the main A final.
8th in the round was Nathan Ralls but he already secured 4th on the grid.
9th was Mark Fletcher but he was to compete in the B final.
10th was Paul Penny but that only secured the BQ spot.  Good effort though Paul even with all the transmitter problems causing a share with brother Mark.
Lee Martin had no improvements and was to line up 6th on the grid. Maybe too many mince pies for our national  champion!

John was hoping to be make the main A final with his K1 after beating Elliott Boots (Elliott broke!!) the week before at the Herts club but missed out and ended up 4th on the grid for the B.

 

This is the top 3 finals and how they lined up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well it has to be said that Tom was the class of the field this weekend.  He took the 2wd win yesterday after a battle with Kev Lee and today was on such a high he was near unbeatable.  A massive well done to Tom.  Mark Penny drove his heart out in a couple of the legs to take 2nd place at the metting and the only man to beat Tom in the finals with his last leg win.
Kev Lee made double podium just like Tom so a solid show for the Kyosho man

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Silverstone club moved the venue from the big warehouse where the original event was held to their Tuesday night venue at Moulton College.  I personally feel this lost some impact to this now once a year event .  No one can fault the efforts of the club or the massive work load to build such a complex track but in my opinion it was just a bit too much.  OK I know you are thinking that may sound a bit harsh but after many years of racing and a club organiser in the past, I have learned that the best tracks are the tracks that the majority can drive and enjoy.  Like I’ve said many times, the fast guys will always be fast so never penalise the lesser driver.  I repeat though, the passion for racing and the effort by the Silverstone club is second to none but please lads, no more THING jumps 🙂

The practice commenced at 7.15 am and to be honest i was still in nod land.
Kev Lee has his shop, Inside Line Racing, at trackside and all the racers were getting their goodies and tyres

The 3 minute practice sessions went very smoothly with the main talking point being the corner table top, step down, into down slope, jump over another section THING.  Only a hand full of drivers could do it and this was certainly a talking point.
The rest of the track is very very nice.
Kev Lee and Tom Cockerill were the 2 top guys with some impressive single lap times.
No doubt the consistency over 5 mins was going to be the key at this event

Well round 1 was an interesting round for sure.  I personally started Ok and was 2nd in my heat (one from top) and actually circulating in a reasonable manner, till……the mad evil demon something or another attacked my nervous system and had error after error.  Must do better is what was in my head – LOL
Kev Lee showed his class with a great controlled drive to take TQ for the round but the track is so demanding, even he had errors.  Lloyd driving his Schumacher also had a good run and got 2nd in the round with Richard Barton and Paul Penny also having good runs

 

 

Round 2 has just been concluded and Kev Lee once more has shown that the Kyosho based DB1 is just amazine on the high grip astro.
Kev looked like he was in cruise mode for round 2 and now has 2 zeros.  Tom Cockerill got close and Lloyd Storey rounding off the top 3.
I finally got my act together and without a silly error would of had 4th in round but instead ended up with 7th.  Getting there as they say 🙂

 

 

 

 

The track was bitting everyone.  Kev Lee included so Tom Cockerill took round 3 to leave the TQ spot all open for a dramatic round 4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well there were many that could make the A and all of us needed that magical run.  The cars in the top heats were really going for it.  Many racers really committed to the cause including myself.
For sure the track got faster as the went on and it was Tom Cockerill that pulled out the only 14 lap run of the day to take TQ over Kev Lee on the same points.  Lloyd secured 3rd on the grid.  A great last run by Chris Delves to secure the last spot in the main A

Bring on the finals

 

 

The first leg main was a good final to watch with Tom and Kev switching positions some 9-10 times before Tom took it.  The second leg was really a walk in the park for Tom which takes the meeting and makes him Area 51 2wd champion.  Another good last leg that saw Tom pull over with some sort of problem with his winning SV2.
This left Lloyd in the winning position for the last leg and that ultimately took 2nd at the meeting.  Kev came in 3rd

[media url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0HyDyhyLoE ” width=”500″ height=”333″]

 

[media url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdU0JSVH2ko” width=”500″ height=”333″]

 

[media url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1RwM4iMawQ” width=”500″ height=”333″]

Kev Lee driving his RB6 Kyosho took round 1 running a prototype tray accommodating shorty Lipos so i suppose watch this space for the future.  John Spencer last winter series winner at Stotfold, came in 2nd and then a close affair by everyone else.  I came in 5th and was sort of happy with that especially as I have been testing various set ups too.

 

 

 

 

 

The track getting washed off on the racing line i thought the grip was higher in round 2.
John Spencer steps up and takes round 2 from David Poulter that had a clean run.
Kev Lee came in 3rd with David Orbell in 4th.  I tried hard but my changes were not good and i came in 7th in round.

 

 

 

 

 

Well trying things over the winter certainly gives the right set ups for when the right time comes.
Nationals, regionals and of course all the other major events.  I went back to my original testing set up with some minor changes.
I have to say that more or less all the drivers at the sharp end made errors and this is why I was extremely annoyed with myself.  Knowing that i had a strong possibility to TQ the round i was just driving neat and tidy until i turn it into the pipe.  Something that i did not do all day and the 6 sec error certainly cost me the TQ and down to 5th in round – I couldn’t find a punch bag anywhere!  er!!! 🙁
Kev Lee took the round from David Poulter 2nd in round again…….

OK round 4 is here and we need a result….lol
I must say I thought the track actually got a little slippery in this round but the car certainly felt good.
Kev Lee put the hammer down in the round and was pushing on very strong.  David Poulter was again on for 2nd in the round and i knew I was there or there abouts as i was having a clean run.
I decided with a couple of laps to go not to bin it and bring it in for what it was and ended up 3rd in round behind Kev and David.  Kyosho 1st 2nd and 3rd was sort of OK to me 🙂
Ended level on points with Kit Jones but Kit took forth with a faster run of less than a second.
Kev TQed from John and David

 

 

On the same day there was some very quick driving in the 4wd event with Ellis Stafford being the class of the field.  Trish Neil driving his K1 was also driving well and was 2nd on the grid
I must say the 4wd cars certainly looked a lot easier to drive in the slippery conditions

As you can see here, Kev was testing the shorty Orion Lipo with a prototype shorty holder allowing weight and ballast movement around the car.  This is something the Kyosho Team are currently testing

 

The track was certainly now greasy.  None of the front runners run new tyres and therefore the conditions were lets just say, tricky.  Off we went and I really thought my changes to my RB6 and the last minute switch to small bore shocks were generating real good grip.
As many know now we have been testing bid bores to small bores often and the often change is giving us valuable information in what works best at what time.
I quickly overtook Kit that just got his car out of shape when trying to lay the power down.  I got up to David and as he was also fighting for traction I blasted by and had mad visions is setting off after John and Kev.  I could see Kev had a good lead and John really wasn’t too many corners ahead.  I really didn’t have the speed to go that much quicker so I had to sort of settle and hope for mistakes from the 2 lads ahead.  The mistake came and of course not knowing who or what in front I just knew I had to keep it on its wheels for the possibility.  Kev and John went over the line together and looking at the final results sheet, John took it from Kev by 0.22 of a sec with myself 5.5 sec behind.

Finishing positions

1. John Spencer
2. Kev Lee
3. Tony Evdoka
4. David Poulter
5. Niger Buck
6. David Orbell
7. Kit Jones
8. Alex Carter
9. Jonathan Brown
10. Simon Watson

As a final conclusion, the crew at Stotfold simply did an amazing job and we thank them for all their hard work in difficult conditions.

Round 1 concluded and certainly some very quick boys here today.
The internet is very weak and therefore picture will be uploaded later on

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Internet is actually very weak here to the degree I cannot upload any pics as yet – I will keep trying though.

The top ten haven’t much moved but we did see good lap times from Tom Cockrill, Simon Moss as well as Scott Faulkner.  Yes Scott has been driving very well
Others of note – Steve Brown very fast lap times but binned it
Myself the same.
Karl Jackson was quick as was David Poulter
All very close at the moment and remember the 2nd listing is with only one round counting

 

 

Round 3 came very quickly and what was obvious is that Tom Cockrill was driving very well indeed.  Lloyd said to me prior to the round that he will be at the top and I just smiled.  Nothing like a driver with confidence for sure.  I was pitting with Scot and Simon Moss from Schumacher.  He actually advised some changed to my RB6 which made sense but on the same tone it is difficult to listen to an idea from a person outside the team.  I listen to everyone and evaluate for myself 🙂

 

 

 

Well some more changes made to my car and to David Poulters Orion RB6 and off we went.  I figured i needed a 4th in round to put the car in the main

.
I managed a 6th in round with a car that felt much much safer so a thank you to Si Moss for his input.
David managed to get his in the A so well done to him.
We even managed to get Roger Mills to change from his own wonderful set up too….now we all know that takes some doing 🙂

Looking forward to the final now

 

 

 

 

Simon Moss rocking his new K1

 

 

 

 

 

Lloyd did seem very confident and ended up putting his car 2nd on the grid

 

 

 

 

 I have to say there was a bunch of drivers cheering on our lads over in Argentina

For the life of me i cannot understand the rule of the TQ man not being locked in to the main final….I mean heelllllooooo!!!!
With Elliott having a servo failure we were all gutted for him and then everyone was cheering for Lee to get it done and put it in the main – he did just that and we were all so happy for him

 

 

I don’t have many pics of the finals because as you can imagine many of us were keen to get away to get home and watch the 1/8th main.
In the B final it was a great race between the Kyosho lads with Steve Brown taking the win from myself and Scott Faulkner – good driving too!

The main A final was an exciting affair with the 3 Schumacher drivers setting a fast pace with Tom Yardy (Associated) and David Poulter (Kyosho/Orion) in very close attendance…..I was on the microphone trying not to be getting too excited – LOL

Half way through the race and everyone sort of made some silly errors.  The track was demanding when driven fast.
The time was winding down and Lloyd had an error that saw him drop to 5th.
Simon also with an error too dropped him off to 3rd and now Tom Yardy was on the chase to try and catch Tom Cockrill out in front.  David moved to 4th and was to remain there.
Like I said i was on the microphone and made the following comment ‘just one corner to go for Tom Cockrill and he will take the win’ when disaster struck his Cougar!  He spun it into the pipe with only 2 feet to get to the loop….yes only 2 feet.  Not sure who was more embarrassed at that moment with the crowd in shock!
Me for saying he is going to take the win?  Tom Yardy for driving round him to win?  or Tom Cockrill for touching the pipe and loosing the final only 2 feet away from the loop?

Certainly exciting stuff.

Thanks to the Silverstone crew for another good meeting – catch up soon

[media url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfI_qSOgzm8″ width=”500″ height=”333″ jwplayer=”controlbar=bottom”]

As you can see the new layout was working all OK but age must be setting in.  Just too many errors – LOL. Looking forward to the rest of the evening….competition is certainly hot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well round 2 came and really i wanted to run the car the same again to make sure it was doing what i wanted.  No problems, the car performing, the fingers not though 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 3 starts off and Tom Cockerill is on for TQ.
Paul Upton announces that i was less than a second behind.  Now that would be good i thought!
We continue in the same vain and probably 2 minutes in till the thumbs didn’t do what the brain was telling them.
I suppose telling them to go round corners at some sort of flash speed was just too much.  Error after error but very easily done indoors on a high grip track.
We will have to settle in just making main A and go from there

 

 

Here is Paul, doing his usual booking in tasks for Silverstone Buggy Club.
Paul has also recently started doing some nice shell painting.
Check it out when you get a chance – Puppy Paint 🙂

 

The A final was actually a bit of a shambles for me – not sure what was going on at the sharper end of it all but I didn’t have a great time.
One thing that was very noticeable though was David Burton lap times.
Check out the top ten on the image
Dave pulls out 3 super laps so no doubt his drive home was very satisfying 🙂

 

 

 

 

Just in case there was any doubters out there – LOL

 

 

 

 

Round 1 and its very very cold.
A close call to who TQed round 1 as it was extremely slippery and that is being plite to the track conditions.
Getting traction was like winning the lottery and since I’ve never won the lottery i also don’t know what traction actually is.
Kev Lee had a wonder last lap to take TQ for round one.  A consistent drive with very little error saw Glen Westwood take 2nd with David Poulter and myself 3rd and 4th – very close though and it is actually very similar to dancing on ice!!

The ICE was trying to defrost and as this was happening the track would actually get worse for grip.  The top surface would be slick and greasy and really whatever was done to the car would not benefit that much
Kev Lee once more took the round by a very small margin.
David Poulter driving the Kyosho RB6 for the first time and equipped with full Orion power was really getting the hang of it….hot on Kevs heels, David went second in round.  Chris Brooke driving his Losi 22 went third in round

Well in round 3 we saw David Poulter really get the grips with everything to do with Kyosho and the RB6.
With his 7,5 Orion pushing him along, David took round 3 TQ with a convincing run.  Kev Lee took second from Glen and myself.
This of course leaves overall TQ open between Kev and David – what was certain at this stage is a Kyosho wa on pole

I would normally say that the cars would be dialed in and everyone is ready but this would not be the case.
One practice lap of the top heat and everyone saying how they have no grip.
Kev Lee shows his class by taking the final round and the overall TQ.
David Poulter has a poor run in comparison to his other efforts and young Chris Brooke takes 2nd in round to put himself 3rd on the grid.

The Kyosho Team was working to find the right set up all day.
Kev, David, Tony, Simon, Matt as many others were trying different things through the day.  Very constructive in these very low grip conditions.
The Vega Team were also evident and no doubt they were working hard to get Glens Tamiya working at its best.

Off we went on the buzzer and boy oh boy it was like driving on ICE…..Kev, David and Chris got away as i tussled with Glen for 4th.
I could see the leaders just a corner or two away so i had to make my move on Glen early….as i thought about this, Glen makes an error so I moved into 4th.
Setting my eyes on 3rd i started to hunt down Chris.
Chris to be fair to him, was driving within himself.  I was driving the socks off mt car but really in these greasy conditions it probably wasn’t the right thing to be doing.
Inch by inch I reeled in Chris only to finish just behind him in 4th.
Kev Lee won the final from David Poulter making it 4 Kyosho cars in the top 5.  Well done Simon Overall for bringing it in in 5th
Thanks EPR for your brave efforts in such cold conditions 🙂

I thought I would let you have the last look of the ‘Mario’ mustache (now gone) and today’s winner Kev Lee

Well certainly it has been a wet evening and the track is very moist to say the least.
I have made some major changes to the Kyosho RB6 and I was more than keen to get on the track to try all the ideas out.
Today I am running the WTS Orion stick packs in the RB6.
These Lipos weight distribution as needed

I was very annoyed with myself in round one as in practice it was very obvious the RB was one of the top 2 cars.
I started off nice and easy and just got the jump section all wrong which cost be the qualifying round at the end…..some very quick lads in the heat and certainly in the heat prior too so really had to tidy things up a little…..

After some really silly errors in round 1, and showing lap times that were promising, I wanted to keep on trying the different set ups I had planned for the day.  The usual suspects were there or there abouts …..

As many of you know i am doing the Movember mustache growing and we have all had some laughs with the supr Mario theme and all that…..Darren Parker though has gone to an all new level as you can see here…..good on you fella…..

With the winter months ahead, many of us race indoor events where shorts and t-shirts are required with temps up to 25-30 deg and then some outdoor events where we need layers of clothing, cloves and so on, with temps many times below freezing

The oils in the shocks become very important and this must be a considaration when setting up your buggy

In my experience the cold certainly affects the oils more than the heat……bare this in mind when setting up your buggies…….always consider the weather temperature……

HOTTER = thicker oil
COLDER = thinner oil

Well round 1 was a very slippery affair.  John Spencer was driving very well and took TQ from Kev Lee.  I was wondering how they could be that quick but i managed 4th so i knew i had some work to do
 

Round 2 was better after a couple of changes.  Took all tiings off the R10 speedo and no turbo either.  Smoothed the car right out and managed to get 27s lap times which was on the pace.  John Spencer was still flying though
 

In this round i thought I would push on and stop driving like Miss Daisy …. wrong move…got some fast lap times but too many errors….back to Miss Daisy for round 4.  John Spencer repeated the first 2 rounds to take overall TQ although Kev binned it and gifted it to John

Some more set up changes to the RB6 and slowing dialling her in.  Probably too much power in the car and should of switched to a 8.5 Orion but just didn’t have time.

Now this bloke has a bunch of stuff to answer to….not only I got back to my laptop to find Super Mario ALL over as a screen saver but when i go into the FaceBook page …..well it was everywhere….God save you Tom – LOL 🙂

Well off we went and straight away everyone was making comments of lack of grip….to be fair my RB6 felt fine, yes it was a little more slippery but nothing like the beginning of the day before the sun came up.
i stayed with the leading pack for some laps after getting in to fourth.
John was stretching away and was driving very very well.  Kev Lee was 2nd and Kit Jones sitting just in front of me.
No matter what I did i just couldn’t close the gap.
That was the finishing order.

John Spencer was on fire at the weekend.
He drove well in quali and in the final……deserved win for the big man. Well done pal 🙂