The 2010 BRCA 1/10th off-road National series is one of the most exciting and skilled series around with many great drivers battling it out for the honours.  The 2010 series sees a re-run of the 2009 circuits, with the same 6 tracks featured albeit in a different order.  Talywain in Wales is a rare but welcome chance for this 'British' series to venture out of England and kicks off the 2010 series in the heart of the beautiful Welsh countryside.  The track is laid out on a golf driving range and whilst the astroturf and jumps are permenant, the drivers stand and track markings are removed so people can hit little balls around.

Saturday 17th April 2010
The 2009 national here at Talywain caused a little controversy with the bumpy straight - there's those that'll argue it's off road, it should be bumpy. But with the bumps impossible to see it was a bit of a lottery - nail it at the end of the straight and you could either make an amazing pass or end up in several parts.  Still - it made for some really exciting finals with Danny McGee passing eventual winner Yokomo's Tom Yardy at the end of the straight like Tom was standing still. 
For 2010 the guys have hammered the surface like crazy and it's now a much more predictable surface - though the large double jump laid out for 2WD was the bane of many drivers.

Drivers line up for the briefing XFactory boys causing havok

The track layout is very much the same as last years, however the dedicated track team have worked hard since the previous national, having removed all the astroturf to smooooooth the track surface and re-profile the jumps. The same astroturf has been re-laid, but the lads have done a pro job and it all looks pretty cool. The rostrum is the same structure, however it has had an extension erected to allow for more elbow space when racing.

Practice started on schedule at 8am sharp, as normal run in heat order. The F5 drivers kicked practice off in heat one, running through to the F1 drivers in heat 12. The same order will be used for all the nationals this year rather than using the rotation system used in previous years. This way drivers who are competing throughout the full season will find themselves in similar heats throughout the year, so will know when they need to be out of their smelly trump infested beds. UK nationals are run with military precision by the team, like in 'It Aint Half Hot Mum', all the drivers know exactly where to be and when.

Round one of qualifying - Adam Skelding from Team Durango was test-piloting the new Schumacher Cougar SV and mentioned their own 2WD the DEX210 is still a fair way off production - so we guess he'll be running it most of the year. Adam took an early lead in the round which was swiftly taken off him by young Ben Jemison driving the Associated B4. In heat 10 (of 12) Lee Martin was piloting the new Tamiya TRF201X buggy but couldn't quite match the pace of Schumachers Tom Cockerill who took the TQ position back for the Cougar SV. Simon Moss had a stormer in heat 11 to reinforce a Schumacher 1-2 at the top of the pile but in the final heat of round one multiple-reigning 2WD national champion Ellis Stafford with the Xfactory X6 took the fastest time and with it the round.

Tom Cockerill

Simon Moss

Round one winner Ellis Stafford

Round 1 Qualifying

8 drivers made it through for 12 laps in round two though the best time, again by Ellis Stafford, was slower by almost 2 seconds. Ellis had shut out the new 2WD Cougar in round one and did the same to the new Tamiya buggy driven by Lee Martin in round two - just edging him out for the round win by a fraction of a second.

Danny McGee came in third with the Losi Atomic Carbon XXXCR2.

Round 2 Qualifying

Mick Bolger and William White came over from Ireland for this race - the guys have booked into all rounds of the series but being from overseas the guys don't have BRCA driver grades above the default 'F5' lowest grade.

Mick and William. The guys drove over in their Citroen rally-inspired wagon with a crazy assortment of 'just in case' tools such as an angle grinder and several hundred feet of rope. They readily demonstrated how they'd recover their car from a ditch and cut out body panels if required - nothing was going to stop these hardcore leprechaun riders from racing.

How far have you travelled to attend this event? How many metres is that?
Driving or including ferries? Everything... We set off at 8am, it took us 10 hours to get here. It's about 280 thousand, three hundred and something meters.

Did the large cloud of volcanic ash affect your plans for travelling to this race meeting?
Mick wouldn't stop giggling for about an hour, that was probably due to the ash.

Do you have McDonalds in Ireland? How does the food over here in Wales compare to what you usually eat? - Is it true that Irish people live on a diet made up exclusively of potatoes and Guiness?
There are plenty of Mcdonalds people, we also have the burger chain restraunt, we also have traffic lights. We hear they also have Mcdonalds in America. Welsh McDonalds is way better than Irish though, we can have beef and coke over here, in Ireland we can only get potato burgers and Guiness.

William proudly polishes his Irish number plate

People in England make jokes about Welsh people having intimate encounters with sheep, and joke about the intellectual ability of Irish folk, what do you guys find funny about the English?
Will-The bit I find funny is how you don't like Germans, but you're so similar to the Germans.

What is a Blarney stone?
It's a big stone. It's a key stone on a window, it holds everything together, usually built into a castle wall. You can kiss a blarney stone and make a wish.

What's the difference between a British and an Irish National race?
110 entries. - we have the same amount of entries proportionate to the population. If anyone wants to come over to Ireland and do a pub crawl then race they are more than welcome. Pub crawl = after drivers briefing. We tend to race FTQ rather than round by round. We've come to race over here to raise our racing standard.

How many tracks do you race at in Ireland?
We used to have 6 off road tracks but most of these have now converted to on-road tracks and no longer race electric off-road. We currently only have 1 track that we still race at, called Griffeen valley, not far from Dublin, about half an hour from the city centre. We race every weekend throughout the summer on the outdoor track, and all winter indoors. Every race meeting we run counts as a national.
There will be some more tracks, we would like to aim to have a national series which has 6 rounds on different tracks.

Which is your all time favourite track, and the best race event you have ever attended?
Will – I went ice racing in Vienna about 16 years ago, an r/c car race held on an ice rink, that was brilliant.
Mick- The uniqueness of Japan and all the hassle involved. We lost our baggage on the way, all the race gear turned up minutes before we were due to start racing, the clothes have still not appeared.

Who is your RC Idol?
Will – I'm too old to have an idol, think of someone really old... Rory Cole. He was was a top racer in this country from 89-92.
Mick – I'd say Drescher after what happened in Sweden one year.

If you could have any super power, what would it be?
Mick – Green Lanterns Powering. We'll leave it at that.
Will – I'd like to be a genie so I can grant everyones wishses.

How many other international race events have you booked into this year?
We're on the reserve list for all the all the nationals, I'm (Mick) going to the Euros again this year, I may be coming to the oOple Invernational race as well.

Do you like having your own solo race team at the Euros, or would you prefer to be part of the UK team, a bit like in Rugby when British / Irish tour as the Lions.
The British and Irish lions only tour in the southern hemisphere so it's not really the same thing. If it was a race where Europe raced against America, the British would be more than welcome to join the Irish team.

Some sort of naughty business went off in round 3 and the results were under severe scrutiny, though we never found out why. Ellis Stafford took the win againto confirm overall TQ - and as it to prove a point it was a new fastest time to boot. Danny McGee came in second with the Losi XXX CR2 and Lee Martin third.

Round 4 was the final round of qualifying and last years 2wd championship contender Phil Sleigh piloted his Associated B4 (a change from 2009 whenhe raced the XFactory car) to the win ahead of Lee Martin - enough to drag him intothe A final at the last minute. Lee's consistent pace was enough for 2nd overall on the grid wth Danny McGee's Losi on third.

Overall Qualifying.

Schumacher Cougar SV S1
One of the most exciting new cars at Talywain was the Schumacher Cougar SV 2wd buggy. The buggy was due to be released a week after this event but volcanos had delayed things somewhat apparently.

The Schumacher team were out in force with the Cougar SV

The Cougar SV was out in force with a wrath of team drivers putting the car through its paces - but hidden away in the boot of Phil Booths car was the new budget version of the SV, the SV 'S1'. The S1 carries over most of the unique and exciting features from the full competition SV but replaces the 'big bore' dampers with more standard items first seen on on the CAT way back in 1993!

The other main change is the swap to the 'S1' fibreglass material in place of the carbon fibre used on the Cougar SV.

The design and specs are not final but we're told the car will come with all the alloy parts seen on this car - so it's still a very high spec racing buggy. The purple titanium turnbuckles won't be on the production car however and were installed for testing purposes on this example.

Alloy dampers work well we're told

The same reverse-direction gearbox and alloy parts feature on the Cougar SV S1

Leg 1 A-final 2wd.

Ellis Stafford sits on pole for the A final

Ellis led the way from the start line pretty quickly, and he looked to be pulling a lead, but Lee Martin was soon close up behind him, with Danny McGee nearby in 3rd place. The top 5 cars were running smoothly in start order.
Ellis and Lee raced closely and started moving away from the chasing Danny McGee in third place, the distance remained similar for the following few laps, until an error coming over the double jump at the back of the track saw Lee Martin tumble and Danny McGee sneak through into 2nd place.
At the same moment, marshall Ben Jemison made an error which saw him slip to the floor and expose his pants to all who weren't watching the fast cars.

Ellis comes round the first corner	Big-E gets a little out of shape mid-air

Lap 2 and Lee is still hot on the tail of Ellis	...Lee comes up short and gets punished.

Ben Jemison marshalls Lee quick - but McGee is past	...And Ben suffers some dramatically torn pants

Danny Mcgee held onto 2nd place all the way down the straight, where he mounted a track marker as he turned the corner and Lee Martin saw the opportunity to re-gain 2nd place. Ellis was taking advantage now and was pulling a healthy lead on 2nd, 3rd and 4th place – Martin, McGee and Williams.
Three minutes into the race and Ellis was holding a two second lead from Lee Martin, with Danny McGee a further two seconds back.

McGee didn't hold onto second for long	Lee leads the charge on Ellis

The next minute of the race was relatively uneventful, however the lads decided to pull their thumbs out and provide some last minute entertainment, Lee pulled in close to Ellis ready to perform a backside attack, but despite Ellis clipping a track marking, Lee didn't get through. The race was on for third place, as Danny McGee and Grant Williams chased each other around, with 30 seconds to go Danny made an error coming through the centre section of the track, Grant was right through into 3rd place with Danny pushing hard to catch up, his efforts were in vain however as he made another error and dropped back sufficient to ease the pressure on Grant as he sailed down the straight to take 3rd place, moments behind 2nd place Lee Martin and leg1 winner Ellis Stafford.

Grant Williams goes sky high	Lee caught up to Ellis late into the race

Tom Cockerill and Phil Sleigh tangle	Lee dumps the Tamiya on its roof again

A Final Leg 1

Leg 2 A-final 2wd.
Ellis lead them away again and the drivers remained in qualifying order as they all headed toward the large double at top of the track. Ellis got all twisted up in the air and landed badly - rolling and allowing Lee Martin to close right up. Ellis turned the next corner and piled straight into the track marking which allowed Lee through and caused a pile-up behind.

Ellis gets badly out of shape	and loses it on landing - but ends up on his wheels

....Ellis turns too quick into the next corner and Lee goes past.	...but the madness left behind is a bit messy.

Lee now lead Ellis as the pair pulled away slightly from Grant Williams in third followed closely by Phil Sleigh. Ellis tried a move on Lee after another time through the big double- but Lee closed the door and the pair clashed wheels forcing Ellis back. ooF!

Ellis following Lee closely	The pair clash wheels as Ellis tries to take the inside.

Ellis wasn't going to give up and held onto the rear of Lee's car. Another occurence of 'turning in too early' in an attempt to gain ground on Lee saw Ellis spin round - Grant Williams had closed enough to make his move for second and Ellis was back down to third.

Ellis spins out and Grant is past for 2nd.	Lee built up a healthy lead in leg 2

Grant held his position well but pressure from Ellis saw Lee pull away as Grant tried to defend his line. Ellis pulled the same move on the inside of Grant he'd tried a few laps previously without success on Lee - but this time he pushed his way through to re-take second. A few laps went by with nothing much changing at the front - Lee continuing to extend his lead.

Ellis made another error over the large double as the race closed toward 1 minute to go - Grant and McGee went past for 2nd and 3rd respectively. Ellis made yet another error and looked to dropped back from Grant and McGee. Danny McGee was piling all sorts of pressure onto Grant and his patience was lacking as he clipped the rear of Grants car after the main straight - the pair getting tangled up and allowed Ellis to catch and tuck in behind McGee for third.

McGee chasing Grant through the big double	McGee clipped the rear of Grants car

Lee drove smooth and consistent to take leg 2

Ellis and McGee battled to the line - changing places a couple of times before Ellis eventually took second with McGee third and Grant fourth - Grant later being promoted to third when McGee was penalised for the move earlier in the race that didn't quite work out.

A Final Leg 2

Leg 3 A-final 2wd.
This race would be the decider, with only Ellis or Lee able to take the national win. The pair raced closely from the start line, remaining in start order for the first minute of the race. Ellis was holding 1st position well, but Lee was fully aware that he needed this leg to take the win, so was soon applying pressure to Ellis' tailgate.

Ellis comes over the big double for the first time

Ellis kept his cool, and slammed his backdoor shut to the chasing Lee but an error through the centre section of the track nearly saw Ellis lose his top position. Danny McGee was now in on the challenge and was hot on Lees tail, however a griproll from Danny saw Ellis and Lee dance off down the straight together, whilst Phil Sleigh moved up into 3rd place.
The dance continued for the following couple of laps, with Lee applying more and more pressure to Ellis, desperate to find a way through. His fan club were cheering him on, and when Ellis took a bad landing coming off the double jump, Lee slipped straight through into the top spot, like a warm knife into butter.

Lee put on some harass	McGee closes in on the action but only for a second

McGee left behind Lee looks to pass Ellis	Lee passed but dumped it and Ellis went back through

As all eyes were watching the the leaders, further back the field the battle was on for third place. Tom Cockerill made his way into third, but by now the leaders were out of sight. Grant Williams was in 4th place, with Danny McGee down to 5th.
With one minute to go Lee Martin flipped at the same point where he had taken the lead just a few laps prior, and Ellis was right back in there. An error from Tom had seen Grant Williams take 3rd place and Danny into 4th, however Grant performed a rather impressive cartwheel over the double jump, allowing Danny through into 3rd place, but landing on his wheels so keeping close behind.

Ellis goes wide after the small double and Lee squeezes past on the inside to take the lead for the final time.

Something else happened to Danny which saw Grant promoted to 3rd and Tom Cockerill in 4th place.

With 40 seconds to race the focus was now on Ellis and Lee who were both fighting for the all important win, Ellis landed off the jump in the centre section and took the corner wide, allowing Lee to come on the inside, Lee was back into the top spot, and Ellis performed a bacon roll over the small double jump, but kept close to Lees rear end.

Pushing hard to catch up with Lee, Ellis started to make silly errors, and Lee pulled off further when Ellis came onto a track marker at the end of the straight. Ellis pushed hard to catch up but it was Lee who crossed the finish line first, taking the leg win and with it the first national of the season.

A Final Leg 3

Overall results - A Final

Lee Martins winning car is the new not-yet-released Tamiya TRF 201X - a traditional rear motor buggy in this age of mid-motor domination of the UK national scene.

Initial impressions of the TRF201X are that this is clearly 'inspired' by the Associated B4 - of that there's surely no doubt. Tamiya based their original TRF 501X 4wd buggy around the B4 / BJ4 suspension so there's history here. Of course, everything is done to the usual high standard that Tamiya are known for - with parts effortlessly interlocking and slotting together.

Some of the parts we found in Lee's big box!

Hastily thrown together parts to get an idea for how the 201X goes together

With Lee off racing and a big tray of spare parts - enough to build another car - sitting there, we cheekily decided to take a closer look. The car appears to go together in a very similar manner to the Associated B4 but of course nothing is 'the same' - the car is definitely 100% Tamiya, and this shows in the quality and attention to detail.

Lee had three different chassis' to try out on his 201X, all the same design but moulded in differing stiffness of material - with more or less 'glass'. The two we tried out seemed to be at the extremes with lee running the medium flex - we assume only one chassis will be available and the ones that were'nt used being mere test chassis's

It remains to be seen whether the TRF 201X will even be officially sold in the UK & Europe, the other TRF car's aren't supported by the distributors so it will be a great shame if the 201X goes the same way.

	Gearbox details - tradtional 3-gear layout

Front end details

Front axle is steel - nice and strong.	Gold body dampers & alloy hubs - we guess an option part.

Lee uses Speed Passion to power his TRF201X to glory.

Lee working on his car	Lots of trick blue parts on Lee's car - we guess some option parts here.

Ellis Stafford, TQ and 2nd - Lee Martin, 1st - Grant Williams, 3rd.

Sunday 18th April 2010
Sunday saw the start of the 4WD event. The main focus of 'incidents' - the big double - had been re-profiled so it could be run in reverse direction but it was found early on in the practice round that the jump was just causing carnage and something needed to be done. The run-up was tightened before 2nd practice so cars couldn't easily make the double and had to single-single - but some drivers were just taking a wide run up and launching for all they were worth anyway, sometimes into the crowd.

The word in the pits prior to drivers briefing was that there was going to be a ban on 'balls out big air' over the big double - and drivers would be forced to take it steady through that section. It didn't happen, but much controversy and a huge massdebate took place, in which we were informed that Tom Cockerill IS god.

Above, 6 action shots of drivers briefing.

The reason for the controversy and antics was that things were going to remain the same - but with a review of the situation later in the day. Some drivers were very unhappy that there could be a situation when fast-times allowed early in the day might give those drivers an advantage over others that can't do it later on (because the track is either changed or there's an enforced limit on how far you can jump). Drivers on equal points in qualifying are seperated by their fastest times in their best round score.

This track is non-rhymetical - Paul Timberlake

Early in round one there wasn't really anyone attempting to double the big one at the back that had caused upset during drivers briefing - Ellis Stafford charged things up by starting out doubling the jump but soon changed to single-single and nailing it onto the corner table top. Lee Martin had an error at the start of his run which cost him 3-4 seconds but was super smooth around the rest of the race - taking the big double in one jump with incredible ease. Lee had this part of the track dialled and as a result he went fastest in round despite his error. Almost a full 14 second gap between the top 10 drivers showed how much the track was seperating the men from the boys.

Trish Neal	Steve Peirce

Danny McGee looked good for around top five in round one but de-soldered on the final lap to end up in the C final range. The heat was starting to play a part.

Ben Jemison proudly confirms pants intact

Lee Martin down ramps the big one with ease.

Round 1 Qualifying

Lee Martin recently joined Tamiya as their only off-road driver in the UK for many a year. Lee took the win at the 2WD event the day previous running the not-yet-released TRF201X 2WD buggy. In 4wd, Lee's weapon is the TRF511 which dominated the European Championships in 2009 in the hands of Marc Rheinard.

Lee's car is fairly similar to the winning car and whilst it's not far from standard spec there are a few hop-ups to note. Lee's car has the gold coloured damper bodies (which have a different coating, apparently). A carbon fibre lipo tray and a rather nifty rear gearbox cover which looks to do a good job at preventing dust and debris from entering this normally fairly open area - both are by Fredrik Emilsson from Sweden.

5.5 turn speedpassion V3.0	Grey team-issue ball cups

Rear diff cover by Fredrik Emilsson (oOple member profile)

The winning chassis of Lee Martin

In round 2 of qualifying Ellis was all on target to put in a 14 lap time, but an error over the double at the back of the track cost him valuable seconds, he still put in a good enough time to take the second round of qualifying. Lee Martin wasn't far behind, less than a second in fact - with Simon Moss third driving the Schumacher CAT SX.
The top 6 cars were all different chassis: XFactory, Tamiya, Schumacher, Yokomo, Xtreme, Losi.

Long time JConcepts warrior Richard Lowe is sticking with the BJ4 Worlds Edition (thats the 2005 Worlds by the way) for 2010. Richard has a new modification for this year which was created by his friend Trish Neal from Trishbits. The new rear braces move the pivot point outwards and enable the use of XFactory X6 rear arms and Losi hubs. The reasoning behind it according to Mr.Lowe is to lessen the movement of the driveshafts inside the outdrives during suspension movement - which should see the car ride the bumps better under-power. Whatever - Richard said he loves the new setup, and that's enough for us.

Wide rear brace - looks factory

Arms are spaced further outwards - using short X6 arms

Lee Martin pumped out the first 14 lapper of the day in round 3 - a series of small errors weren't enough to slow down the Tamiya-infactuated badboy.

Round 3 Qualifying

Round 4 saw a total of three drivers make it through for 14 laps - Lee Martin lead the charge to secure the overall TQ position. Last years winner here at Talywain, Tom Yardy, came in a second further back with Ellis Stafford close behind for third.

Round 4 Qualifying

Overall Qualifying

XFactory 4WD prototype
Ellis Stafford wasn't doing this well in 4WD last year and with the widely publicised discontinuation of the XFactory X5 4wd buggy - what exactly was Ellis using?

The Xfactory guys were given free reign to run any 4wd chassis over winter to pick up ideas and help develop the next generation of XFactory 4wd - something that clearly seems to have worked since the guys had two new prototype test-mule chassis at Talywain to get some feel for their design concepts.

It has to be said, the guys were very reluctant to allow photographs but we arrogantly snapped away anyway whilst agreeing to mention just how early these prototype cars are - and if the concept doesn't work (which, it does to be honest) the final cars might well share no design elements with these early test cars.

Ellis on his way to a respectable 3rd overall.

Ellis examines the car

Ellis tightens up a belt roller whilst we snap away from afar.

From the outside, these new XFactory development cars are just an X5 - and even looking from beneath you'd be mislead by what appears to be an X5 chassis. The chassis is in fact hand-lengthened by 10mm over the old car which itself was shorter than most. The drivetrain itself is entirely new and uses two equal length belts to take power from the centre to either end. The centre itself is one of the most complex setups we've seen and a real contrast to the previous cars simple single-belt drivetrain design - doing away with all the hype about single-belt efficiency and moving toward the current situation where efficiency takes a back seat to overall balance, performance and usability.

First impressions are that the car has fallen into a bag of gears and some stuck - but joking aside, it's hard to see exactly what's going on. The motor is bang in the centre of the car and I saw several shafts, gears and pullies transferring drive to front and rear via belts as can be seen. Yes, I'm being deliberately vague, by request ;).

It was naughty to take these pics - if XFactory want, we'll take them down. But let's remember - these cars (2 here at Talywain and 1 in the USA) are just test cars with a lot of hand-machined parts bolted onto cobbled together chassis - any final car would look a whole lot different to these. Qualifying 2nd overall shows the potential of the layout however. We'll follow the progress of the cars during the year and report any developments on these early protos.

4wd A final leg 1

Lee lead the pack away from the grid with a clean start for all except one car. The top three cars raced in order around the first lap, with Ellis manning over the double, but landing badly and relieving Lee of some pressure build up. Tom Yardy was nudging closer to Ellis as the pair completed the first lap, and didn't have to wait long for a look-in when Ellis rolled as he approached the small double, an error which would cost him valuable places. Yardy sailed through into second place, and despite Ellis landing clean on his wheels, Simon Moss and Kev Lee were already flying past the troubled Xfactory prototype. Ellis was down to 5th place now and rapidly hammered down on Kev Lee, dancing side by side through the centre section towards the big double, Ellis went full pelt to clear the double, only to sniff too closely to Kev Lees rear end mid-air, bringing the pair tumbling down into the dust, collecting Tom Cockerill in the mayhem.

1st corner lap 1	1st corner lap 2 - Lee already pulling a nice gap

Ellis lays upside down on forme team-mate Cockerill	...another angle on the mayhem

A rare error from Lee didn't even lose him the lead..	...But Tom Yardy managed to close right up

The top three cars escaped clean away from this chaos, with Lee Martin maintaining the lead, Tom Yardy in 2nd place, and Simon Moss in 3rd. Paul Bradby had also managed to wrestle his way through the madness, now in 4th place from his starting point in 10th place.
The top 4 raced a safe distance apart for the ensuing laps, with no pressure from 5th place TomCock and 6th place Danny McGee.
Lee had now pulled a 3 second lead ahead of Tom Yardy, and 3rd place man Simon Moss was pushing slightly too hard to catch up, and landed upsidedown coming off the small jumps, promoting Bradders into 3rd place. The final minute of the race remained a similar order, with Danny McGee dropping out because he got bored of chasing. Lee took the first leg win, with last years national winner Tom Yardy in 2nd place, and Paul Bradby in 3rd.

More madness as Ellis and Kev Lee tangle AGAIN!	Eventually Ellis retires to save his sanity.

A Final Leg 1

4wd A final leg 2
Lee did his usual clean away from the start trick, whilst 2nd place Ellis performed a wheelie off the start line, allowing Yardy very close to his rear end to apply some pressure. Coming over the big double Ellis took a bad landing, seeing his car detour into a track marker. Yardy, cautious over the doubles taking each jump individually, clipped a track marker and ended up way off line, an error which cost him all his places, demoting him to the back of the field.
Ellis meanwhile slipped straight back in behind moss for third place.

First corner and again Ellis and Yardy are close.	2 Corners into the race and Lee's already out front
The crowd of young race fans were lacking big foam hands but made up for it with lungs of steel.

The top three cars kept closely for the next few laps, with Moss edging ever closer to Lee Martin, challenging him for the lead, but with Lee taking the double jump in one, and Simon single-single jumping, Lee could hold on tight to his lead and extend out a little. Ellis meanwhile was keen to reclaim his second place, and sniffed a little too closely to Moss as they travelled through the centre section, nudging Moss into a jam-roly-poly and subsequently needing marshalling. Ellis however showed true sportsmanship and waited for Moss to re-join the race. Lee was way way ahead, pulling a 4 second lead, and the 2nd place battle was soon to be joined by Kev Lee with the Predator X11 and Tom Cockerills Schumacher CAT SX. With Lee dancing off in the distance, the main contest was between Simon Moss in 2nd place, Ellis Stafford in 3rd place, and Kevin Lee in 4th place, the cars all racing very tightly around the technical track. Ellis was piling the pressure on Mossy, nearly passing him on the double jump on two consequetive laps, however as the pair slipped onto the straight, Ellis tripped over a bumble bee and exited the track temporarily, leaving Mossys rear end somewhat relieved. The order was now Lee Martin, Simon Moss, Tom Cockerill, Kev Lee, Paul Bradby,and Ellis Stafford. Not sure what everyone else was up to at this point.

Moss crept up on Lee - closing the gap over the big one

Lee had met his match - Moss looks for the inside	Moss couldn't make the pass but went BIG all the same
Moss out front of the pack in 2nd - Ellis gets crossed up and Kev Lee is ready to pounce on his mistake.

As the cars raced their final lap, Lee Martin crossed the finish line to take first place, winning his second race meeting of the weekend, followed after a short gap by a hard-charging Simon Moss in second and Tom Cockerill in 3rd place. Ellis was pushing to make up for his errors, and was hot on the tail of Kevin Lee, however Kevin slammed his backdoor shut and held on to 4th place, with Ellis finishing in 5th, the rear end pressure was too much for Kevin though and his car rammed into the track marker down the straight, seeing wheels and debris spray in all directions like an exploding melon.

Paul Bradby pushing extra hard	Ellis Stafford looks over at Lee - Lee smiles knowingly.

A Final Leg 2

4wd A final leg 3
The final leg of the a final started really really well for the first corner, but it was coming around the second corner over the small double that the chaos began. First off mossy turned in too tight and headed for a track marker, followed by a whole lotta crashes, carnage and mayhem. The top 3 cars were through though and they were loving it. Already established-winner Lee was of course up ahead, with his usual crew of ellis and yardy close behind. It was mcgee who won the wrestle in the mid section and was soon hammering down hard to catch up with the leaders.
Lee did an unusual dance over the big double, and let ellis through for a moment in the spotlight.

Lee leads Ellis and Yardy - the rest in the background	Lee comes up short on the big double

Ellis waves as he comes past a floundering Lee	Lee worked hard to close the gap

Mossy had some badness happening and had to pull off onto the side of the sgtraight.
Lee meanwhile was all over ellis' rear end like a bad rash, ellis held the lead for a few laps but the itchy pressure was soon too much and an erfror saw lee first in his side, then back into the lead.
The pair had a three second lead on 3rd place yardy, however another mistake from ellis approaching the big double saw yardy promoted to 2nd place. This was short lived however as yardy lost his pants in the centre section and ellis came roughly through.

Tom Cockerill - Schumacher CAT SX

Craig Collinson - Team Durango DEX410

The next minute was really quite boring and uneventful, as the cars were all spaced out. Yardy made a mistake which allowed braddedrs thru to third. Danny 'wrong transponder' mcgee was all over yardy and took a flying leap over the big double, landing a step ahead of last years hero. Mcgee made an error coming up to the double, seeing a proud yardy jump past, and someone else too? Then Lee won the whole weekend.

Lee and Ellis battle HARD	Impressive performances get what they deserve

A Final Leg 3

Overall results - A Final

Lee Martin with his winning Tamiya cars.

Lee completed an impressive weekend and gave Tamiya their first BRCA off road national wins in - well, a long time, since the days of Jamie Booth we suspect. A well deserved pair of victorys.

Ellis Stafford looked quick-as-usual in 2WD by taking the TQ and finishing second - but it was his 4WD performance which surprised the most - the new working prototype XFactory car certainly is an improvement.

Report and Photos by Vicky Storey, Stu Evans, Jimmy Storey - Video by Vicky Storey, Jimmy Storey and James Helliwell.