The 2012 AREA 51 race is the first running of this 'replacement' for the cancelled PetitRC race which was meant to be at the now-no-more Silverstone Moto-Arena - R.I.P.

The Silverstone club stood up and took charge of the MESS - creating the AREA 51 race, which looking at the turn out to this first running, will be a regular feature on the calendar.

It was a cold-cold drive in the early morning sun.

The AREA 51 race kicked off with one round of controlled practice at around 7:30am - this is what I hear anyway since I was still in bed. The drive down seemed extraordinerally 'off the beaten track - with lots of single lane roads covered in ice. I was just about to throw my satnav out of the window when the much-not-talked-about secret venue lured up ahead, surrounded by high fencing and a gate manned by neon-clad guards.

Right - access to the venue is down horrific single-lane country roads, covered in frost and a bit slippy too.

The venue is a XXXXXX XXXXX for XXX XXXXXXXXXXX XX and can be considered XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX for the general public. But suffice to say, it's top secret and I'm not even allowed to run round outside taking photos of the place.

The race was setup inside a huge empty warehouse with plenty of 'grow lamps' for the usual bumper crop which resides within. The track was laid out at one end of the warehouse and only took up around 1/5th of the indoor space with the rest set aside for pitting and cafe.

A drivers briefing got underway after practice and with the quality of drivers at the meeting - it didn't go into too much racing etiquete - rather sticking to the basic rules of the secure site. BRCA licences - which provide insurance for the drivers in case they damage someone - was mentioned at length and drivers without valid licenses were told in no uncertain terms that they'd need to join the BRCA at the meeting or prove they hold a valid license. Danny McGee didn't have one - naughty.

Qualifying would be round-by-round format, with three leg A-Final.

The track as heat-one got ready for their first run. Lots of big features to challenge the drivers.

Racing was split between 2WD on the first day and 4WD on day two, with one heat of Short Course tagged onto the end of 2WD.

Racing itself got underway a little after 9:40, just behind schedule with the first heat of 2WD.

Ellis concentrates

Round one saw Darren Bloomfield take control with his Losi 22 - checking out in his heat after an early lead from Elliott Boots quickly vanished. Elliott still managed to hang onto 9th in round however with his new Kyosho RB5 / VEGA buggy.

Tony Evdoka-ka-ka-kaaaaa - Kyosho / VEGA	Lee Martin - Tamiya / VEGA

Yardy leads Lee Martin round on the track but Lee was in front on time. Big corner table - drop off.

Tom Yardy and Lee Martin went up against each other in the final heat of round one and Tom was looking quick as the pair improved their early pace to look good for breaking through for 13 laps. Tom lead but an error saw Lee take up the lead - but he couldn't quite match the awesome time set by Bloomfield - finishing some 6 seconds behind. Tom Yardy settled for third with a healty gap over 4th place Tom Cockerill.

Bloomfield with his TLR 22 in mid-motor format, lots of TLR option goodies on there.

	2WD Qualifying Round 1 - Top 10
	position name result 1 Darren Bloomfield 13/ 316.95 2 Lee Martin 13/ 322.78 3 Tom Yardy 12/ 302.32 4 Tom Cockerill 12/ 304.36 5 Matt Benfield 12/ 308.34 6 Tony Truman 12/ 309.85 7 Lloyd Storey 12/ 310.76 8 Ellis Stafford 12/ 311.53 9 Elliot Boots 12/ 312.00 10 Paul Penney 12/ 312.26

REPORT-OFF update:
A quick phone call to the competing team at the PetitRC race revealed 80 drivers attending vs the 152 here at AREA 51.

	MATT OWEN interview - Event organiser
	What's your job here alongside your racing - what have you had to do with the organisation on the day? General dogsbody, maintaining the track, clearing up & cleaning the toilets. Making sure the rest of the team are looked after. Little bit of commentating but my only real goal is to make sure people go away happy. When Petit pulled out - what were your first thoughts and how did you end up in this venue? We'd planned on this venue already to replace the Moto Arena if it went. We were in conctact with Silverstone directly, as to whether we could rent the Moto Arena facility, but due to certain circumstances we couldn't. We found out 5 hours after PetitRC pulled out and moved to Ardent that we had this new venue. We actually learnt about the move of venue for the Petit race by an email to the drivers - not directly to us, which hurt. What are your plans for the future with this event? If people want it then we'll do another. There's a lot involved in the planning and we want it to be bigger and better. We don't want to have to ask people to come, we want them to come if they enjoy it. What is this venue exactly and what are the 'RULES'? It used to be an Army facility - there's a runway. There's all sorts of things here but we can't discuss what exactly goes on here. If you go outside and start taking photos the security WILL throw you off the site and every person coming here today has to have their name verified at the gate. You have to keep to the building here, though you can walk around the perimeter of the building - anywhere else and you'll be caught and get a warning / be thrown off the site - it's that serious!

Daddy-Boots (Nothing to do with dBoots) takes a good sniff at his sons Vega - Old Spice?	Tamiya lads harass this young TLR boy

Round two saw Lee Martin take it up and set a new fastest time on 13 laps 315.31. Bloomfield had a poor start to his run but was quickly back on the pace - taking the fastest lap of the round once more, on his way to second in round, three seconds back from Lee. Tom Yardy and Tom Cockerill went through for 13 laps for the first time in 3rd and 4th respectively with Kev Lee a couple of seconds off the 13 lapper in 5th.

Elliott Boots - Kyosho / VEGA	Grant Williams with his Schumacher Cougar SV

Darren Bloomfield and Lee Martin were the only drivers able to lap sub-24 seconds - Bloomfield being just a shade faster round here with his TLR than the Tamiya-VEGA man, Lee.

	2WD Qualifying Round 2 - Top 10
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 13 / 315.31 2 Darren Bloomfield 13 / 319.04 3 Tom Yardy 13 / 320.09 4 Tom Cockerill 13 / 321.13 5 Kev Lee 13 / 323.27 6 Danny McGee 12 / 302.63 7 Tony Truman 12 / 303.28 8 Glenn Westwood 12 / 307.56 9 Ellis Stafford 12 / 307.70 10 Grant Williams 12 / 307.91

	Darren Bloomfield's TLR 22
	Darren Bloomfield has commited to racing the 10th off road national series in 2012 - now the series doesn't clash with the 8th off road nationals where Darren has been concentrating his efforts in recent years - taking the past two national titles in that class with DOMINANT form. Darren took both 10th off road classes at the MKGP race late last year, running the TLR 22 and XXX4G+ - so many tipped him to be well on the pace this weeekend and he's not disappointed. Changes up to round two were 5wt lighter up front and moving from the black spring to a blue, for more steering with the Schumacher staggers. Darrens TLR 22 set the early pace The camera was blinded by the bling on Daz's car The TLR 22 can never have neat wiring, sadly. LRP 8.5 octawind motor.   METAL!!! More alloy! Shock caps from the RTR - without bladders.

Darren Bloomfield set a new fastest time in his heat - two seconds up on Lee Martins previous time. Lee fought back in the last heat of round three - taking the lead mid-race over Bloomfields time by just 7/1000ths of a second. A small mistake from Lee put on the pressure and he pushed his Tamiya-VEGA harder than ever but it wasn't to be as he hit a marshall's foot and lost valuble seconds and ended four seconds behind for second in round.

Lee was ON IT - but it wasn't enough.	Lee throws in some style.

Concentration

Tom Cockerill put in his best result and was the third and final racer to make it through for the magic 13 laps in this round. Elliott Boots kept his cool all the way to the line for 4th in round just missing out on 13 laps - with both Danny McGee and Kev Lee less than a second behind for 5th and 6th in round. Tony Evdoka made it through to the top 10 for the first time - not bad for the crazy GEEZER.

Some crossing-it-up action from Si Reeves	Evdoka was almost in tears after his top-10 result

Racing is SERIOUS here at AREA 51 - Ross Williams loses again.

	2WD Qualifying Round 3 - Top 10
	position name result 1 Darren Bloomfield 13 / 313.98 2 Lee Martin 13 / 317.71 3 Tom Cockerill 13 / 320.41 4 Elliott Boots 12 / 301.07 5 Danny McGee 12 / 301.50 6 Kev Lee 12 / 301.59 7 Matt Benfield 12 / 303.92 8 Grant Williams 12 / 305.11 9 Richard Barton 12 / 305.51 10 Tony Evdoka-ka-kaaa 12 / 305.94

REPORT-OFF update:
Talking to the team over at the PETIT race - it was COLD beyond belief. AREA 51 is shorts and tshirt all the way.

	Rudebits shock parts
	Tony Evdoka from 'Rudebits' showed us some prototype parts he's testing here on his own / some secret top-level drivers cars. First up are these machined sleeves which sit inside various big bore dampers to reduce their diameter back down to small-bores. Why? Well some drivers swap between big and small bore dampers already and this is a cheaper option than purchasing an extra set of dampers. We're told these will be available for all the big brands - Kyosho (shown here), Schumacher and Team Durango. Tony also had some spring platforms for the Kyosho small-bore dampers which allow the fitting of large bore springs. Shock bore reducers   Large spring platforms for the Kyosho shocks Tony's car with standard-bore dampers but BBore springs

Lots of spectators for the top heats	Lloyd Storey

The final round of qualifying saw Darren Bloomfield again taking the win - around 1.5 seconds ahead of Lee Martin with Tom Cockerill now well on the pace and up to third. Lee actually got the quickest lap of the day in this round and was much happier with his VEGA car after changing bodies to one of the older designs - which he felt had more steering.

	2WD Qualifying Round 4 - Top 10
	position name result 1 Darren Bloomfield 13 / 312.93 2 Lee Martin 13 / 314.33 3 Tom Cockerill 13 / 316.12 4 Lloyd Storey 13 / 323.37 5 Ellis Stafford 13 / 324.97 6 Danny McGee 12 / 299.23 7 Kev Lee 12 / 301.14 8 Matt Benfield 12 / 301.41 9 Karl Jackson 12 / 301.68 10 Tom Yardy 12 / 302.02

	OVERALL Top 10 - After 4 rounds of qualifying.
	position name result 1 Darren Bloomfield 13 / 312.93 2 Lee Martin 13 / 314.33 3 Tom Cockerill 13 / 316.12 4 Lloyd Storey 13 / 323.37 5 Ellis Stafford 13 / 324.97 6 Danny McGee 12 / 299.23 7 Kev Lee 12 / 301.14 8 Matt Benfield 12 / 301.41 9 Karl Jackson 12 / 301.68 10 Tom Yardy 12 / 302.02

Darren Bloomfield lead them away and it quickly turned into a triple-breakaway, with Lee Martin and Tom Cockerill staying in qualifying order behind. These three pulled away for a few laps before Tom started dropping back - eventually getting out of shape and allowing Lloyd Storey through for third.

Darren leads them round the first corner	Darren and Lee

Darren lead out front but now Lee Martin started to push hard, closing the gap and making Darren work hard for it. Darren went wide in the middle of the track and Lee saw his chance, putting his Tamiya-VEGA through for the lead. It didn't last long however as Lee lost his composure coming off the right hand corner drop-off - getting his car sideways and allowing Darren back through for the lead.

Lloyd was closing up a little but Lee wasn't done. Pushing ever harder - Lee closed back up on Darren and the pair want nose-to-tail for the next few laps until a roll from Darren cost him all chances in the race - his car getting hit by cars coming through to pass as the marshall scrambled to get him back underway. Darren dropped to 4th as Lee who now had a very compfy lead cruised to the win.

	A FINAL Leg 1
	position qual name result 1 2 Lee Martin 13/ 321.84 2 5 Lloyd Storey 12/ 300.59 3 1 Darren Bloomfield 12/ 304.48 4 7 Danny Mcgee 12/ 305.00 5 6 Kev Lee 12/ 307.69 6 10 Ellis Stafford 12/ 312.90 7 9 Elliot Boots 12/ 314.41 8 4 Tom Yardy 12/ 319.55 9 3 Tom Cockerill 12/ 320.90 10 8 Matt Benfield 11/ 306.59

	Lee Martin's Tamiya VEGA mid
	Tamiya TRF team driver Lee Martin recently received permission from Tamiya to run the VEGA mid-motor conversion for the Tamiya TRF201X buggy. Left: Lewis Dickinson and Lee Martin with the new version of the Tamiya 201X VEGA conversion. Lee is quick indoors with his rear-motor car but there's no doubt that the mid-motor craze is fully embedded in the UK psyche. So whether he'd be quicker today with either car we'll not find out - as Lee was LOVING his new VEGA ride. Lewis Dickinson from VEGA was on hand to help get Lee up to speed and work on Lee's car when needed - including some hastily revised changes to the chassis (Dremel) that will feature on the production version of the new 201 conversion. Lee mentioned that Tamiya would be working on a mid-motor car at some point - but when that will happen no one knows. The chassis is the same construction as the other VEGA cars - with a beautifully machined alloy tub chassis and gearbox. This really is a work of art and the finish needs to be seen to be believed.   Lee was running standard stagger ribs - cut by hand   Lee was running his new wing and wing-sticker sheet LMR carbon fibre fan guard.

Temperatures in the hall all day were 'OK' - with a bit of fluctuation as the heating came on and off. Up in the lofty heights of the drivers stand however it was tropical. Compared to the reports back from the PetitRC race - the AREA 51 certainly took the warm-awards.

Leg two saw Darren losing the lead on the first lap after an error - dropping down just one position and allowing Lee through for the lead. Lee got caught up on a pipe and despite some quick marshalling by Tony Truman - Darren caught and went back through for the lead.

Lee had lost a little ground in the mishap but kept pretting and reeled in the Losi of Bloomfield. The pair lapped like a train until Bloomfield under-jumped the big table right in front of the rostrum - getting his Losi car sideways and losing speed. Lee saw the error and went for it - trying to make the pass and avoid the mayhem - but crashed and went cartwheeling across the track.

Darren now had a big lead over Lee and it looked all over. Lee wasn't phased however and kept pushing. Another error from Lee however sealed the deal and Bloomfield stretched his lead out to the line.

	A FINAL Leg 2
	position qual name result 1 1 Darren Bloomfield 13/ 319.96 2 2 Lee Martin 13/ 324.71 3 5 Lloyd Storey 12/ 303.21 4 6 Kev Lee 12/ 305.04 5 4 Tom Yardy 12/ 306.91 6 9 Elliot Boots 12/ 309.16 7 10 Ellis Stafford 12/ 315.54 8 3 Tom Cockerill 12/ 317.58 9 7 Danny Mcgee 12/ 322.79 10 8 Matt Benfield

	Richard Cree - Team Durango DEX210
	Irish race hero Richard Cree has been racing 8th scale off road for a while and made a rare appearance with his new sponsors - Team Durango - here at the AREA 51 race. Richard was running the new Team Durango DEX210 2WD and Richard said he'd be trying to run more 10th off road - possibly some 10th BRCA nationals if he can get into them. For the most part however Richard will still be concentrating on 8th off road with the DNX408 where he's hoping to aide in the development and progress of the chassis.

The third and final leg and with a win each, both Lee and Darren could take the overall win - but Lloyd Storey who'd had a 2nd and 3rd place finish was also in with just as much chance if he could take the final leg in a faster time than Darren took his 1st place.

Race control tells the A Finalists not to crash near Tony Evdoka - he loves the banter does Tony.	Schumacher driver Lloyd Storey - no relation - was in with a chance for the overall win

Darren lead them off for the final time and looked quick as ever. An error through the chicace and over the loop to start another lap saw Lee sneak on the inside line as Darren was forced wide - keeping second place but only just as Tom Cockerill looked to hit his rear end in an attempted pass. Lee had a small lead now over Darren who was getting pursued by the ever-charging Tom Cockerill, with the Schumacher Cougar SV.

Mid pack action - Kev Lee, Lloyd Storey, Elliott Boots.

Darren gets up on a pipe and goes wide - lee through	Lee gets stuck - Darren back through for the lead

Coming over the loop to start another lap - this time it was Lee making an unforced error and getting hung up on a pipe. Bloomfield made it back through as Lee was marshalled and it was all action here at AREA 51.

Darren held his nerve as Lee closed-in and looked for any way past. It was world-level driving from the pair as they railed round the track together. As the time counted down and with only a couple of laps to go Lee made a small error over the table top which dropped him off Darren's tail. Lee charged all the way to the finish but Darren held on for the win and overall victory.

	Darren Bloomfield took the win.

	A FINAL Leg 3
	position qual name result 1 1 Darren Bloomfield 13/ 320.03 2 2 Lee Martin 13/ 320.61 3 4 Tom Yardy 13/ 324.75 4 6 Kev Lee 12/ 302.04 5 5 Lloyd Storey 12/ 307.08 6 10 Ellis Stafford 12/ 313.33 7 8 Matt Benfield 12/ 313.97 8 9 Elliot Boots 12/ 315.66 9 7 Danny Mcgee 9/ 244.81c 10 3 Tom Cockerill 3/ 81.37

	A Final overall results after 3 legs.
	pos name result chassis 1 Darren Bloomfield 2 [ 3 1 1 - 13/ 319.96 ] TLR 22 2 Lee Martin 3 [ 1 2 2 - 13/ 321.84 ] Tamiya TRF201 VEGA MID 3 Lloyd Storey 5 [ 2 3 5 - 12/ 300.59 ] Schumacher Cougar SV 4 Tom Yardy 8 [ 8 5 3 - 13/ 324.75 ] Associated Centro C4.1 5 Kev Lee 8 [ 5 4 4 - 12/ 302.04 ] Kyosho RB5 VEGA MID 6 Ellis Stafford 12 [ 6 7 6 - 12/ 312.90 ] XFactory X6sq 7 Danny Mcgee 13 [ 4 9 9 - 12/ 305.00 ] Ansmann X2C 8 Elliot Boots 13 [ 7 6 8 - 12/ 309.16 ] Kyosho RB5 VEGA MID 9 Matt Benfield 17 [ 10 10 7 - 12/ 313.97 ] Associated Centro C4.1 10 Tom Cockerill 17 [ 9 8 10 - 12/ 317.58 ] Schumacher Cougar SV

Sunday 15th January 2012 - Day 2, 4WD

The second day of the AREA 51 race was cold - much, much colder. The heating had packed in due to an 'airlock' or something, and it wasn't heating much up at all.

Practice was in the same format as the previous day - one round of controlled 4 minute practice for all the drivers before a drivers briefing to appologise for the bitter cold.

4WD Qualifying
Ellis Stafford driving the X7 prototype 4WD buggy from XFactory took the provisional TQ in round one of qualifying - blitzing the field. His only problem was an off-track moment by Tom Cockerill who parked his car in front of a charging Ellis which cost him a brief moment of panic and a split second of real-world time.

Ashley Caunt was driving his Kyosho FS2 for the first time	Chris Bowater

XXX4G+ vintage discontinued race machine of Darren Bloomfield - it's like 2003 all over again.

Lee Martin was driving the Tamiya TRF511 all last year and obviously found it too easy - that of his team bosses want to sell more shafts as he was piloting the TRF502X shaft driven buggy here at AREA 51. Indeed, Lee hadn't even brought his TRF511 - perhaps because he'd be tempted to use it?
Either way, Lee wasn't being held back by the inferior car - proving it has a lot of worth with a couple of mods. Using the standard steering but running some nifty new camber link pickups on his 502X, Lee went seven seconds quicker than Ellis's time to take a new unbeatable TQ and the opening round of qualifying.

Yesterdays winner Darren Bloomfield wasn't holding back in 4WD. Early in his run the predicted time wasn't a match for Lee's - but he wound up the belt on his XXX4G+ and gradually pulled it back. Just when it appeared Darren was on pace to take the round he had an error of the corner tabletop on the right of the track and lost a couple of valuable seconds.

	4WD Qualifying Round 1 - Top 10
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 13/ 302.24 2 Darren Bloomfield 13/ 304.16 3 Tom Yardy 13/ 309.22 4 Ellis Stafford 13/ 309.71 5 Danny McGee 13/ 314.83 6 Lloyd Storey 13/ 315.06 7 Keith Robertson 13/ 318.19 8 Karl Jackson 13/ 319.05 9 Tom Cockerill 13/ 319.81 10 Grant Williams 13/ 323.12

	Ellis Stafford - XFactory X7 prototype
	No photos! No photos! - that was the scream from bigE, Ellis Stafford, as I went over to photograph his innocent looking ride. Ellis is running the new X7 prototype from XFactory which we're told will be released sometime in the distant future. The version we see here is the '5.1' - with the next version being '6' - which will apparently be quite different - not that you'd know since we can't take shots of the inside. The car has been doing the rounds for a few months in various guises - and at the moment only two cars exist in the world with the other being run by XFactory designer Paul Sinclair in the USA. The car is running Associated shocks and is propelled by orion goodies inside - with a 6.5 wind motor. Ellis has to work on his car upside down

Round two saw the first 14 lap runs of the meeting so far with Lee Martin once again coming out on top with a wickedly fast time - almost half a second a lap average faster than 3rd place man Ellis who just missed out on the 14th lap.

Bloomfield again had to settle for second but was looking quick. He said he had no more in the tank afterwards and went away to revise his 'quite hard' setup - his Losi XXX4G+ looking rather twichy compared to the much softer and more drivable setup on Lee's Tamiya.

Danny McGee put his Ansmann into 4th spot just under 1.5 seconds off the 14th lap - with Tom Yardy's Associated B44.1 just behind.

Fastest lap of the round went to Bloomfield, with Lee, Ellis, McGee and Yardy progressively slower but all breaking into the 22 second laps.

	4WD Qualifying Round 2 - Top 10
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 14/ 317.47 2 Darren Bloomfield 14/ 320.26 3 Ellis Stafford 13/ 300.95 4 Danny McGee 13/ 301.47 5 Tom Yardy 13/ 301.76 6 Lloyd Storey 13/ 305.46 7 Chris Bowater 13/ 309.21 8 Tony Truman 13/ 309.82 9 Keith Robertson 13/ 310.48 10 Tom Cockerill 13/ 311.73c

	Danny McGee - Ansmann
	Danny McGee is the top Ansmann driver here at the AREA 51 race. Danny is a regular national A finalist - and possibly even better known for his BQ tally. Danny is running the X2C in 2WD and the X4TE - or something like that. It's basically lots of numbers and letters randomly arranged. I took a look at Danny's 4WD and it's mostly standard apart from the rear shock position which has been swapped from the rear to the front of the suspension. Danny's car has a strengthening plate to help attach the cut-down rear shock tower.   Alloy brace to help secure cut down rear tower The cut down rear tower only attaches with 2 screws Danny runs the Speedpassion gear in his Ansmann Rudebits brass cell holders (From the CAT)

Lee Martin sealed the overall TQ - taking the his third round win in succession with a new fastest time, three seconds ahead of Darren Bloomfield.

This photo will buy me favour with Lee.

Bloomfield was happier with his car - two seconds ahead of his previous best showed that. The only changed were going from 2mm of limiters in his front damers to just 1mm, for more droop and more roll in the corners to make things a little more forgiving. He also went down from 50wt LOSI oil to 45.
For the next round he was doing the same again - taking out the remaining droop limiting spacer and going down 5wt to 40wt oil up front.

Steve Pierce helped lots - taking all the A Final videos!	XXX4G+ Vintage racing action

Tom Cockerill and Tom Yardy were seperated by just 1/100th of a second in their battle for third - just missing out on the extra lap.

	4WD Qualifying Round 3 - Top 10
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 14/ 315.49 2 Darren Bloomfield 14/ 318.47 3 Tom Cockerill 13/ 300.45 4 Tom Yardy 13/ 300.46 5 Danny McGee 13/ 302.39 6 Keith Robertson 13/ 306.66 7 Lloyd Storey 13/ 307.59 8 Kev Lee 13/ 307.82 9 Chris Bowater 13/ 308.07 10 Tony Truman 13/ 308.17

	Darren Bloomfield - XXX4G+
	Darren Bloomfield is racing the Losi XXX4G+, the single belt 4WD buggy that appeared in around 2003. The buggy got a slight makeover last year at the IFMAR worlds - when the TLR team chose to use it for the 4WD event. The TLR guys main modification was to machine up some alloy shock towers and chassis/tower braces just for the team drivers. Darren didn't manage to make it to the worlds due to some politics so had to sit on the sidelines and got un-anodised towers as a result. The car is running optional steering mods to change the ackermann setting. Darren has chosen to use universals on the rear driveshafts and CVD's up front. Darren was using a KO propo stick transmitter but with Spektrum insides including the large LCD screen from the DX3R. 5IVE-T of Bloomfield!   No belt or drivetrain covers on Darrens car - he's open about it. Universals on the rear - better than CVD's Open top The rear   The rear KO Universe Spektrum mashup transmitter

Jonathan Clarke from Atomic Carbon has been seen loitering near his car boot with the Schumacher boys. Some new Schumacher parts, chassis, conversion..... on the way? Rear motor 2WD for the Euros later this year? At least thats the rumour.

Bloomfield-Love
Some foreign chaps who were part of the Portugese 'Bloomfield Appreciation Portugal Society' - BAPS - turned up to pour love upon all things Bloomfield. The guys hung around his table for over 2 hours - poking, prodding and admiring the spirit of racing that is captured in every granule of Bloomfields gear. Some people love racing - some just love racers.

is......... is a beautiful

God it's amazing	Look when I poke it	Tickle here- look he laughs

Darren Bloomfield finally dethroned Lee Martin from the top spot as he took the top spot on a slightly slower time than previously. Tom Cockerill made it through for the extra lap with his Schumacher CAT SX3, with Lee Martin on brand new tyres less than half a second behind for third in round.

Ellis Stafford put in his quickest time of the day to also get through for 14 laps in 4th. Elliott Boots put in his best result to take 5th in round with the Kyosho Lazer.

	4WD Qualifying Round 4 - Top 10
	position name result 1 Darren Bloomfield 14/ 318.89 2 Tom Cockerill 14/ 320.38 3 Lee Martin 14/ 320.81 4 Ellis Stafford 14/ 321.85 5 Elliott Boots 13/ 303.63 6 Chris Bowater 13/ 305.51 7 Keith Robertson 13/ 305.76 8 Edd Kerry 13/ 306.00 9 Kev Lee 13/ 306.52 10 Lloyd Storey 13/ 307.44

	Lee Martin - Tamiya TRF502X
	Lee Martin is racing the TRF502X here at AREA 51 as previously mentioned. Lee's been running the car almost exclusively since the Euros where he TQ'd with it. The practice is obviously paying off. Lee's car has some nifty camber link mods to turn the link upside down - basically so it can be lowered from standard. Tony Rudebits Evdoka made the parts and we got news that they will in fact be available for all those eager 502X drivers out there to buy soon - in a revised and more finished design. Lee is running the machined Tamiya pistons (1.4 rear, 1.3 front) in his dampers and MR33 oil - with the oil weights in CST designated by the small LMR decals on the shock towers. Lee is using X-gear springs all round   New camberlink mod - on the rear end 12 degree caster hubs Rear details on Lee's car - coming SOON from Rudebits (see oOple advertisers section for details)

A Final Leg One

The first leg saw Lee lead them off and for the first couple of laps it seemed like he and Bloomfield in second were going to break away. Eventually they did but with Tom Cockerill in tow to make it a 3-way up front.

Lee leads off leg one

Lee - Darren - Tom Cockerill hanging on	Bloomfield was close - his fans watch on.

Joe Cockill sends messages to Yardys car	Yardy reponds

Bloomfield looked closely matched to Lee but an error gave Lee some room to breath. Elliott Boots meanwhile had punched his way from 10th on the grid all the way up to 4th - railing round the outside of two pileups, and was looking to break away from the pack and chase down the leaders.

Elliott looked fast - very fast - but an error dropped him down a couple of places and now it was Ellis Stafford with the X7 on the hunt for the leaders.

Tom Cockerill put on a charge to catch Bloomfield and pressure him

As Lee extended his lead out front, the battle was all about second place. Tom Cockerill looked for some optimistic inside lines on Bloomfield but they didn't pay off - one too many dances with danger saw Tom hung up on a track marker and needing marshalling. The top three of Lee Martin, Darren Bloomfield and Tom Cockerill were now well spread out and thats how it ended - with Lee the only one to get through for an extra lap of his own.

	A FINAL Leg 1
	position qual name result 1 1 Lee Martin 14/ 321.65 2 2 Darren Bloomfield 13/ 304.63 3 3 Tom Cockerill 13/ 307.80 4 4 Ellis Stafford 13/ 311.02 5 10 Elliot Boots 13/ 313.43 6 6 Danny Mcgee 13/ 315.79 7 7 Lloyd Storey 13/ 316.82 8 8 Chris Bowater 13/ 317.75 9 9 Keith Robertson 13/ 321.22 10 5 Tom Yardy 12/ 303.30

I'm not even joking - the BAPS portugese Bloomfield fanclub were back in action checking out his cars right after the final.

	Ian Peckett - Dez Chand Tribute
	Ian Peckett from Racer magazine used to work alongside Dez Chand - writing for RRCI magazine. Dez passed away recently and along with many other tributes to the well known and respected racer / photographer and R/C nut, Ian had his bodyshell painted as a homage to the great man. Featuring a Coca-Cola swoosh and Hawaiian theme - both things Dez was famous (infamous?) for - Ian raced with the spirit of Dez living on, as do many in the hobby. RIP Dez Chand. Ian with his B44 Coca-Cola in Hawaii! Iam soars high with the Dez Chand bodyshell.

A Final Leg Two
The second leg started with utter mayhem - Lee got tagged from behind by Bloomfield as they set up for the first drop off. Bloomfield waited as you'd expect but the rest of the field were behind - then on top and upside down, etc. It was a mess.

Lee Martin leads them round	oops - Lee gets shoved

CHAOS	Ellis Stafford emerged on top

Ellis Stafford was the lucky one who made it through the chaos, and by the time all the cars were sorted out Lee was down to 9th and Bloomfield 10th. Not the best of starts - unless you're Ellis.

So Ellis lead, followed by Ansmann's Danny McGee and Schumacher's Lloyd Storey. McGee was close for a lap and a half - but a roll saw the #2 spot gifted to Lloyd - who traction rolled half a lap later to give it back to McGee as he dropped to 4th and Tom Yardy sat right behind McGee now in 3rd. Lee Martin was already picking the field apart and was up to 6th.

Lloyd, Keith Robertson and Lee mid pack	Lee up to third - chases Lloyd

Ellis built up a big lead whilst the chasing pack bunched up - Lee Martin was just too accurate with his lines and couldn't be stopped as he moved up to 3rd now behind Lloyd Storey. Lloyd looked worried - his car gave that much away with his desperate lines to keep the Tamiya behind - Lee touched him but the order didn't change as the drivers turned into the first corner after the straight. Lloyd managed to hold on for a couple more laps but came in too tight at the end of the straight - result was a quick roll and Lee up to 2nd.

Lee has a feel of Lloyds car	Lee through but with not enough time to catch Ellis

Lee was never goint to catch Ellis Stafford and Ellis took the win with a healthy lead - Lee finished second which was a great result after being 9th so early on. Lloyd took a well deserved 3rd.

Ellis was pleased	Bloomfield appologises for the mishap

	A FINAL Leg 2
	position qual name result 1 4 Ellis Stafford 13/ 307.55 2 1 Lee Martin 13/ 314.24 3 7 Lloyd Storey 13/ 316.60 4 5 Tom Yardy 13/ 319.06 5 10 Elliot Boots 13/ 319.06 6 9 Keith Robertson 13/ 320.65 7 2 Darren Bloomfield 12/ 300.91 8 8 Chris Bowater 12/ 302.94 9 3 Tom Cockerill 11/ 288.00 10 6 Danny Mcgee 5/ 139.47

A Final Leg Three

	A FINAL Leg 3
	position qual name result 1 10 Elliot Boots 13/ 305.57 2 2 Darren Bloomfield 13/ 307.27 3 1 Lee Martin 13/ 308.24 4 4 Ellis Stafford 13/ 309.36 5 5 Tom Yardy 13/ 312.27 6 9 Keith Robertson 13/ 314.01 7 7 Lloyd Storey 13/ 316.74 8 3 Tom Cockerill 13/ 322.92 9 8 Chris Bowater 12/ 304.83 10 6 Danny Mcgee 12/ 314.27

	A Final overall results after 3 legs.
	pos name result chassis 1 Lee Martin 3 [ 1 2 3 - 14/ 321.65 ] Tamiya TRF502X 2 Darren Bloomfield 4 [ 2 7 2 - 13/ 304.63 ] Losi XXX4G+ 3 Elliot Boots 5 [ 5 4 1 - 13/ 305.57 ] Kyosho Lazer ZX5 FS2 SP 4 Ellis Stafford 5 [ 4 1 4 - 13/ 307.55 ] XFactory X7 Prototype 5 Tom Yardy 9 [ 10 4 5 - 13/ 319.06 ] Associated B44.1 6 Lloyd Storey 10 [ 7 3 7 - 13/ 316.60 ] Schumacher CAT SX3 7 Tom Cockerill 11 [ 3 9 8 - 13/ 307.80 ] Schumacher CAT SX3 8 Keith Robertson 12 [ 9 6 6 - 13/ 314.01 ] Associated B44.1 9 Danny Mcgee 16 [ 6 10 10 - 13/ 315.79 ] Ansmann X4TE 10 Chris Bowater 16 [ 8 8 9 - 13/ 317.75 ] Team Durango DEX410