The Belgian GP is an annual 10th off road buggy race held in Kampenhout, Belgium - famous for good relaxed racing and lots of beer. The entry list is usually sold out within minutes of opening on a first-come first-served basis. This year the organisers changed things up and made the event an invitational one - in the same style as the oOple race, where drivers register their interest and are then offered places. Thankfully this meant we could get our way in and thanks to Schumacher and Rossmods we saved up the pennies to come down for our first go at the famous Belgian race.

Girls v boys, planes v cars - which is faster? It's a question sometimes asked I'm sure and for this years Belgian GP we wanted to throw in this very topgearesque variable to mix things up and keep our readers happy.
The girls would be flying with high class jet airline 'fly Be' from Manchester UK to Brussels international airport hub terminal.
The lads meanwhile would be driving the infamous 'dogmilk' wagon piloted by Stu that was first seen in the 2009 european championship report. The 1.9 litre diesel monster is capable of post-legal speeds but for the first leg of the journey at least these wouldn't need to be unleashed.

Lets Go!
Stu had been working nights prior to setting off but managed a quick nap before dashing across the northern hills to Huddersfield where he picked up the oOple gear. Stu finally made it to Jimmys place of work by 5:30pm and the lads were on their way by 6 for the 5:55am ferry to Calais in 12 hours time.

Essential preparations - Stu works on the details	With the car packed and stickered up, the boys were ready to GO!

Confident of their lead, the pair of bewheeled ground-huggers took the long route through central London to see some sights before finally ending up in Dover at a little before midnight - confident of blagging entry onto the early ferry. Sadly the chap running things didn't see the funny side of us turning up a whole 6 hours early and after we declined paying more than one and a half times the original ticket price to go early we were ejected from the complex to get a few hours sleep somewhere. 
Scouring the nearby area we happened upon the sleepy cove of 'St Margaret at cliff' and bedded down to the roar of the English channel waves. 

The peace was broken by Stu being awakened to find a pigeon landing on his exposed bonce - the almighty scream had done it, and at 4:20am with the sun rising it was time to strike and go for the ferry to maintain the healthy lead. The ferry bloke folded this time, possibly due to the wild pigeon induced look in Stu's eyes and let us onto an earlier 5am ferry - the lead was extending!

A dog crashed!	Stu sleeping soundly with France in the background

Hopes were soon dashed however as the slow moving ferry saw us take nearly 2 hours before we were back on the road - at which point we realised the time difference in europe was going to make things very close indeed - time to put the hammer down and open up that diesel power.

The ferry was indeed slow and despite the early start the ferry we were supposed to catch an hour later was already in France by the time we landed in Calais!
The last leg of the boys journey would be the dash to brussels...

Early satellite navigation estimates were incredible - only a little too so, as we quickly realised these French cats ride a different time zone. The girls were landing at 9:45am and the satnav was estimating we'd arrive at the track by 10am.

By 9:18am local time the Estimated arrival time was 9:58 - but at 9:19 the bus hit heavy traffic on the outskirts of brussels and the lads were eating their words of confidence from mere moments before.

On the water! - The ferry seems to be going walking speed exclaimed jimmy as the duo stretched their legs on board. Stu rebuffed this with the measure that it was more like jogging speed. Some european types came and sat next to Stu even though there was plenty of room for personal space to be respected - this made Jimmy laugh.

Bruxelles is Brussels but in foreign.	The lads land at 10:17am - WIN!

The Girls' Trip.
Mrs Stu followed her husbands earlier journey a full three hours later in the day, bravely navigating the harsh penine hills into the shire of Huddersfield (Odresfeld) and landing at 7pm. Already peckish, the oOplettes opted to further their appetite by walking to their chosen eatery - the Mumbai spice. Contrary to what the name suggests, this restraunt is actually located a very convenient quarter of a mile down the road. Eagerly anticipating the delectable cuisine ahead, neither remembered to bring a camera so sadly the experience went unrecorded. To compensate for this however we'll rip some photos off the t'interweb.

Kitchen ceiling descent is measured and found to be a further 1cm dilated than at the start of the week.	Tree swing fun.

A spot of garden decorating.	Partaking in the classy british pastime of 'Beers on't doorstep'

The disgust expressed by the travelling lads upon discovering that no photos had been taken of this adventure resulted in a moderate amount of randomness being created for your visual enjoyment. We considered ourselves TOLD.

With daylight rapidly withdrawing, and an early start looming (alarms set for 3.30am - what?!) the early night option was plugged in, and we settled down almost too excited to sleep.

This excitement was moderately dampened by the sounding of alarms at their allocated time, and bleary eyed we wriggled out of our respective sacs.

Once freshened up and ham-bags packed we were on the road by a respectable 4.30am and were soon heading back across the penines to the mighty Manchester Airport.

Early risers.	Crazy early mist.

Super-organised Carrington Bear had arranged airport parking at the very close by JetParks3, which had an awesome view of ascending and descending jet-planes. A shuttle bus kindly delivered us to the Terminal where we could battle through security to the obscenely overpriced breakfast arena.

Chaos occurred during the security checks as it transpired that Mrs oOple had attempted to SMUGGLE an aluminium can of Sainsburys own brand Cloudy Lemonade onto the airplane. With a beefy security guard holding hand-cuffs at the ready and preparing to commence an in depth internal examination and interrogation, it was Carrie who stepped in to save the day and proclaimed 'Wait! I'm her carer, she didn't mean no harm Missus!" and fortunately all was forgiven - although the fizzy POP was sadly confiscated.

This was our microplane.	Landing in Bell-Jam

Dehydrated and too Yorkshire to pay £1.75 for a replacement pop, the pink one sulked until arrival in Belgium where free tap water could be sourced.

Our chosen method of transport - the Aeroplane, was not as high-tech as we had anticipated, and appeared to be the smallest passenger plane in the world and was powered by propellers. Still, the pilot sensed our anxiety that the boys were already sea-bound, and chose to depart 10 minutes ahead of schedule. The clear skies and low altitude allowed us fantastic views of the green hills of Engerland, and the white cliffs of Dover. The air leg of our journey was uneventful, and a short time later we were arriving in the land of Sprouts, in Brussels, Belgium.

Local Heroes Jeroen and Wouter were visable from a good 6 meters away, waving their oOple banners, waffles and chocolate as they welcomed us into their sprouty land. We all made a mad dash to the car and Wouter floored it, driving rally style down the multi-storey ramps and through festival traffic towards the race venue, but alas as we screeched to a halt in the dusty gravel it was already apparent that we'd been THRASHED, as the dogmilk mobile was visible through the settling dust.

	Girls V Boys - The Timeline
	Time Lads Girls 14:30 Stuart departs from home. Jimmy dosses about at work. Carrie sits at her desk arguing with awkward sorts. Vicky bandages some bottoms. 15:30 Stuart arrives in Huddersfield to collect some gear. Jimmy's still making a mess of his desk. Carrie removes last years Christmas cards from her desk. Vicky learns some new shiz. 17:30 Stuart lands at Jimmys workplace and informs the top dogs that if his desk was such a mess, he'd get 'The Sac'. Carrie arrives home from work to pack for leg one of her journey, Vicky falls asleep on the sofa. 18:00 The lads are on the road already! But promptly had to return to collect Jimmys forgotten charger. Without this he powers down after about 6 hours and reporting becomes impossible. Carrie sets off over the pretty hills dividing Burnley from Huddersfield, and doesn't forget anything so is already ahead of the lads. Vicky still zoned out totally so slightly behind in journey times. 19:00 The boys make steady progress down the M1 - connecting the North with the South. The boys become bored. Carrie lands in the Hud' and an appropriate eating establishment is selected for teatime goodness. 21.30 The boys decide that a pleasant drive through the city centre of London will provide optimal reportage material so proceed to battle through the traffic for your visual enjoyment. The girls arrive back from their meal out and are contemplating an early night, when they discover that photographic documentation is required of their journey, which has apparently already started. 22.00 The boys have been stuck on a roundabout for an hour and a half by now. The girls sleepily think up some random photo evidence. 23.30 Dover is in sight! But early boarding of the ferry is declined by port staff. Asleep! 03.30 Asleep! Alarms sound, the official journey begins (after a cup of Tea / Lemsip) 04.20 Stu is awoken by a pigeon, Jimmy is awoken by Stu's fearful scream. On the road, and enjoying the sunrise. 05.00 Boarding the ferry. Arriving at Manchester Airport. 06:30 (07:30 CET) Ferry lands in Calais Waiting for the gate to open. 06:55 (07.55 CET) On the road - albeit the wrong side of the road. Plane boards, Pilot seeks clearance to depart early in an attempt to catch up with the already-continental lads. 08:15 (09:15 CET) The dog-milk mobile rapidly approaches the track location. Plane lands and the girls are greeted by Jeroen and Wouter. 09:17 (10:17 CET) The lads land at the track. Wouter battles through the festival traffic, taking out anyone who gets in his way. 09:25 (10:25CET) The boys dick about a bit. The girls land at the track.

And then we went to brussels and bought sprouts and saw beggars and upskirt photos of statues and then it rained and then we came back to our tent and had chods.

Where's that mannequin gone?	Escaped!

Obsession	Hunger

It was much like being in Huddersfield really...	C-Cup Charlie.

It was Ace in Brussels - but lets get back to the racing now. (or not)

Upon arrival at our campsite the lads decided to explore the facilities for which we'd opted to pay extra. Initially quite shocked at the 22Euro per-night charge, we were keen to discover just what was included for this extortionate price. Imagine our amazement when we later found out that in fact an additional 4 Euros per person per night was payable for 'additional persons' (the girls, obviously) AND a one Euro token had to be purchased for each use of showering facilities.

Anyway, upon exploration of the site it was obvious that the facilities provided more than made up for all the extra charges, with availability of a fishing pond, swimming pool, tennis court, tractor rides, and friendly pervert. I've just found out that we've also paid a supplement for having electric hook up as well, which we woud manage to make use of for all of about 5 minutes in between our long race days.

THE CAMPSITE - (wish we'd stayed at the track)

You can't give booze to t'baby!	Satellite dish provided - telly not included!

Schumacher maxi-pins	Awesome truck - sadly not included in the cost of our stay.

Gas sniffing - Don't try this at home.	You never promised me a rose garden...

	Hanging out with dudes in dodgy raincoats - not recommended!

Neil the monkey seeks out some lady-action	And finds a fluffy pussy to play with.

Jimmy tennis action.	Anyone for some lane swimming?

Race-day-one- PRACTICE
The Belgian GP event officiallyopened on Friday July 1st with a full day of free practice for 2WD and 4WD - practice until your eyes fall out when it gets dark.

Simon Reeves, who was unable to attend this years event due to bilateral lower limb oedema, currently holds the record for most time spent on the rostrum to this day.

The Kingdom of Belgium (Pronounced BELLJAM) hosts the EU and NATO headquarters and is mostly filled with people who speak Dutch (Flemish sort) or French (Walloons - ?!). A small group of people speak German, although we're not sure who these people are.

The track is found in the locality of Kampenhout which is something called a municipality and comprises four towns. The local population is around 11,000 and the inhabitants share a land area of 33.49km squared. This means that each resident is entitled to around 3sqm each. (not sure on that calculation Vick - Jimmy) (Who's checking?!)

Whilst the boys were practicing out on the track with their toy cars, THEwives decided to sample some of the local delicacy - a particular favourite being the Belgian SPROUT WAFFLE. Strangely enough many locals hadn't heard of this invention, possibly because it has only just been created. Their reaction however wasn't quite as expected, a combination of suprise, disgust and upmost nausea.

The Belgian Sprout-Waffle is born!

Yumyum...	Chunder

Willie was impressed but not enough to eat one...	Jeroen wouldn't go near the sprout waffle

TonyParr declined the green goodness, but sampled some creamy local chocolate instead.	The spout mobile was lovin' it.

Wouter eagerly awaited his sproutwaffle...	Jesus

Initially appearing to be apprehensive...	Living the dream...

	Yumy says Woutmeister

	Cest Magnifique

Quick coke to wash down the goodness	Oh blimey

Bon Appetit! -These lads were well up for it	The vommed-up sprout of coke-boy.

Wouter Wynenennnennen at work on his rides

Camping among the trees!

Some guys took outdoor showers together

Do it like this, yeah!

Practice can be serious

BenJen helps TomCock and Lee break in some tyres

Day 2 - 2wd Qualifying and Finals.

Qualifying got underway early on Saturday after a bit more informal uncontrolled practice. Lee Martin did what they said was never possible and TQ'd with the rear-motor TRF201X. Ok - no one ever said any such thing but it was interesting to see there's so little between rear and mid cars on this track.

Denmarks Jonas Kaerup took second in round just off Lee's pace with the new C4.1 mid-motor conversion for the Associated B4. Super rally-style chauffeur Wouter Wynen took third with the normal rear-motor B4 whilst Schumacher's new in-house man Tom Cockerill took fourth in round with his Schumacher Cougar SV. There was then quite a gap down to Stefan Mesker from Holland (X6) and Jorn Neumann from Germany (Team Durango DEX210 Proto).

Adam 'Showtime' Lewis made it to the bottom of the list managing just two laps in 1:31.909, this was very funny.

	Round 1 Qualifying Times.
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 12/5:06.708 2 Jonas Kaerup 12/5:07.475 3 Wouter Wynen 12/5:08.370 4 Tom Cockerill 12/5:12.839 5 Stefan Mesker 12/5:19.384 6 Jorn Neumann 12/5:19.822 7 Tom Van Echelpoel 12/5:22.231 8 Kim Nielsen 12/5:22.366 9 Nik Weyers 12/5:23.168 10 Lasse Nielsen 12/5:24.710
	TQ Rostrum time: Simon Reeves, 360hours.

	Thaisa Van Den Bossche
	Thaisa wasn't impressed by our British version of her second favourite salty snack. You are a girl, do you race also? Yes! Of course - I have been racing for 4 years, but 2 years in competition. My dad races so that’s how I got into it. I have made lots of friends at racing. How many toes do you have on your feet? I have 10. What does it say on your pants? Pieces, AND team medium. (Yes - two pairs of pants) (Thaisa proceeds to drop her jeans to show us) What is your job? I’m at school! Making pretty faces (training to be a beautician) What’s the best place you’ve visited? Kampenhout, of course! What weight oil would you run in your shock absorbers around this track? 35 in the front, and 30 in the rear Is this your first time in Belgium? No, I live here, I have been to Holland many times though. ...But was loving her home-land-brand. Belgian or UK monster munch - which one wins? Belgian! Belgium is made from chocolate and sprouts - what do you think England is made from? Pink ladies and buggy drivers - you have loads of them. (fish and chips was the obvious answer - with vinegar) Do you like pie? Not really, no. Do you have many other hobbies besides racing? Modelling, dancing and fitness. I do some running. I have a hidden six pack.

Qualifying Round 2.
Lee Martin took round two in a slightly slower time whilst Wouter went a little slower than his previous time but bumped up a position to go second in round. Tom Cockerill put his Cougar SV into third - less than a second off Wouter. Northern monkey Ben Jemison thrashed through into the top 10 improving on his round 1 time by 12 seconds. Dogmilk driver Stu Evans also imroved on his round 1 score however didn't quite chuck it into the top 10.

	Round 2 Qualifying Times.
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 12/5:06.845 2 Wouter Wynen 12/5:08.899 3 Tom Cockerill 12/5:09.718 4 Stefan Mesker 12/5:11.515 5 Jonas Kaerup 12/5:13.106 6 Ben Jemison 12/5:13.674 7 Tom Van Echelpoel 12/5:15.102 8 Wesley Van Helmond 12/5:19.223 9 Nicolas Risser 12/5:19.687 10 Bjoern Pruemper 12/5:20.638
	TQ Rostrum time: Simon Reeves, 360hours.

Following the previous days Sprout antics, the sac of frozen vitamin treats had become somewhat worse for wear overnight. Kind hearted and weak-stomached Stu Evans took on the task of emtying the plastic bag onto the nearby compost heap.

Deep breath of air....	Go for it!	Bravely emptying the sac contents...

Stu is disgusted by this task and comes up for air	Starting to heave...	Stuart Vomms into his mouth

Instantly swallows it back down	Quick wipe clean	And all is OK again.

Thanks Stu! :) *Thumbsup.gif

Qualifying Round 3.

Lee Martin took TQ in round number 3 but with a slower time again - it would appear that the track was cooling off somewhat but the racing times were close. Stefan Mesker had improved his times round on round and put in a competitive second in round two seconds behind Lee Martins Tamiya. Wouter Wynen made 3rd in round 2.5 seconds slower than his 2nd place in round 2.

	Round 3 Qualifying Times.
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 12/5:09.054 2 Stefan Mesker 12/5:11.321 3 Wouter Wynen 12/5:11.356 4 Jonas Kaerup 12/5:12.357 5 Kim Nielsen 12/5:13.219 6 Tom Cockerill 12/5:13.534 7 Willem-Jan Keyaerts 12/5:14.197 8 Ben Jemison 12/5:15.895 9 Nicolai Sorensen 12/5:18.203 10 Wesley Van Helmond 12/5:18.367
	TQ Rostrum time: Simon Reeves, 360hours.

This cheeky couple were seen emerging from their stealthily parked car early in the day.	BenJem models his micro-size tent - his head has to stay outside..

Joern looks quite upset to find out that he's running Jimmys last seasons tyres on his car.	Party tent!

Thanks to RossMod.co.uk - Rossendale Models, for sponsoring Jimmy & Stu some Schumacher tyres to use at the event!

Check out the Ross Mod website - www.rossmod.co.uk

Qualifying round 4.
Lee Martins time slipped slightly in round 4, perhaps he was saving his juices for the finals having certainly secured TQ already. Jonas Kaerup bounded past into the top spot improving dramatically on his round 2 and 3 times.

	Round 4 Qualifying Times.
	position name result 1 Jonas Kaerup 12/5:08.865 2 Lee Martin 12/5:09.450 3 Tom Cockerill 12/5:11.570 4 Joern Neumann 12/5:14.308 5 Nicolai Sorensen 12/5:14.591 6 Wouter Wynen 12/5:14.667 7 Kim Nielsen 12/5:15.013 8 Stefan Mesker 12/5:15.166 9 Willem-Jan Keyaerts 12/5:16.197 10 Simon Bettens 12/5:19.412
	TQ Rostrum time: Simon Reeves, 360hours.

During a Belgisque shopping trip a local version of our well known snacking food 'Monster Munch' was discovered, and having coincidentally shipped over a packet of the British Monster Munch, this presented an ideal opportunity for live reviews, so we sought out many willing individuals. The products were rated and it turned out that indeed the British edition were favourite, with their salty Belgium counterpart not quite cutting the mustard for many questioned.

Jeroen - mad for the monster.	Lee was just hungry

Simon Bettens liked the British monster munch so much that he wanted to eat the entire packet.	Adam Lewis wasn't sure about these - but still went back for more.

'Like'	'Dislike'

TQ man Lee liked the British Monster Munch.	This true Belgian local preferred the aquired taste of the Belgian variants.

The Danish guys were out in force at the Belgian GP with nearly 120 of the finest drivers in all of Dane-land turning up to compete and drink many beers. When quizzed with the 'Monster Munch' question there really was only one solution, and that was to make them INTO a solution. (lol, see what I did there). This man Dane drank both munch-variants mixed with lemonade and the flavoursome British snacks came out on top.

	Chugging back the goodness

Hmmmmm	Nil points for the Belgian Monster Munch

Mixed in with a mighty bowl of pasta.

The belgian Monster Munch were no good	Matthias liked the Beefy Brit version on his pasta

	Jonas Kaerup - CML C4.1, Mid Motor Associated B4
	Jonas Kaerup was running quick all day with the new C4.1 that has been dominating the sharp-end of the UK's BRCA 10th off road national series this year. The new car is based on the Atomic Carbon S2 - a conversion for the Associated B4 which was reasonably popular - but with the Associated distributors now taking on the development and working with Atomic Carbon to bring the car to a wider audiance the car finally has the top drivers it needs to show it off. Jonas got hold of one of the pre-production cars since he is 'mates' with fat-Gary Barlow look-a-like, Craig Drescher. Craig managed to sort Jonas a car out a few weeks prior to the Belgian GP and he managed to get in a couple of practice races with it before coming to Belgium - and it showed as he was bang on the pace. Jonas also raced the regular Associated B4 prior to getting the new C4.1 and commented that for most tracks with this surface the mid-motor car was simply faster. Jonas rocks the Masami paint scheme - LIKE   Ghea brass goodness GM ESC motivates Jonas's ride What do you usually race? I took a break from off-road for 10 years to race touring cars but now I am back in off-road. I’m racing for associated so run the c4.1 in 2wd - it’s brilliant on the astro, and we usually run astro tracks at home. In 4wd I’m running the B44.1. Running standard set ups. GM electrics speedos and motors. Is this your first time racing in Belgium? I haven’t raced here for 12 years, the competition is tough with all the good local racers, it’s always a good friendly event though. I like the track, it’s like a family traditional track, it’s awesome the way they care about the racers. It’s good to race against the british drivers too, they are always stiff competition. Where is your home track?  And how often do you usually race? Odense, In the run up to a big event I usually race up to 3 times a week, but I also go to other races such as the gas 1/8th scale - I drive the RC8. What is your preferred choice of drink? JD and coke. And how many did you have last night? I had a lot, maybe 20! But that was a rough night, I was trying to get cockerill and Lee drunk, and I succeeded ;) Who TQ’d the dancing? I would say Cockerill did, he was awesome, Lee was a close second though. Other than danish pastries, what do you like to eat? I like pasta, Itialian food, it’s awesome. What race result are you the most proud of? 2nd place yesterday was very good. Eurpean championship win in touring cars at the 2004 Euros in Sweden. What happened in round 1 this morning? I wanted to sleep in! but they wouldn’t let me ;) Which is your favourite ever track? This venue is the best, the track layout is cool. What are  your future racing ambitions? I’d like to do well in a European off-road series if they run one, I don’t have plans to run worlds and euros just yet though, I’d like to spend time with my wife and young son. And maybe make more ;) He’s great, he is called Markus and he has already done one race. He was distracted by a tractor though.

	Serious about checking times

The Danish guys come every year and rumour has it they get free entry to the on-site disco place due to their legendary beer-fueled antics. The guys had some big patriotic flags on the go around their pitting area in the trees and looked to be making the most of the fun aspect of the meeting. We salute you Danish warriors.

Arjan from the Netherlands loves his beetle sheels. The body is apparently a crawler body from KAMTEC but fits the X6 without much modification - and looks AWESOME!

Ben Jemison cuts his own Schumacher Staggers	Lee Martin was also seen cutting his own for more traction

Despite strange rumours of FTD qualifying being used, the qualifying was actually round-by-round with the traditional best two round scores from 4 to count. Lee Martin took the TQ with relative ease whilst surprise fast-man Jonas Kaerup sat second overall after qualifying. Local hero Wouter Wynen would sit third overall.

	Overall Qualifying (round by round)
	position name   1 Lee Martin 2 Jonas Kaerup 3 Wouter Wynen 4 Stefan Mesker 5 Tom Cockerill 6 Joern Neumann 7 Kim Nielsen 8 Nicolai Sorensen 9 Ben 'Bollywood' Jemison 10 Tom Van Echelpoel

Big lengths of MEAT

Willie checks some stuff out

Adam Showtime Lewis - loves to SMASH STUFF

Dane-land

2wd  A final leg 1.
The first leg of the A final started nice and clean, and Lee looked to be holding firmly onto his lead for the first few seconds, when a misjudged corner saw Jonas move into the lead with Wouter in 2nd place followed by 3rd place Stefan Mesker.

Lee leads them off the line, Jonas in sight.	Lee comes to a stop facing the wrong way - Jonas is through

Lee was in hot pursuit of 2nd and 3rd place, and looked all over the place to make a move. Jonas looked to pull a lead on the fighting trio. Lee saw a potential opportunity to pass and went large over a jump, but got all out of shape and rolled over, dropping down into 5th place. Cockerill was through into 4th place.

Rasey was commentating - and accidentally (!) used the word penis!	Lee went off his trolley after his early mistake

Jonas was out on his own

Jonas Kaerup took leg 1

A couple of laps later Cockerill went wide on a corner and Lee moved up into 4th place. This was close racing though and plenty of changes could yet be seen with 3 minutes left to race.
Lee Martin was pressuring Mesker hard for 3rd place, but perhaps pushed too hard as an error coming over the jumps towards the banked corner once again saw Lee drop down and Cockerill back through into 4th place. However Mesker made his own error over the next jumps and landed on his lid, Cockerill and Lee were through into 3rd and 4th.
A schooboy error from Jonas saw Wouter draw him in, however their positions remained the same. Lee Martin had been keeping close to Tom Cockerill, but flipped out coming over the banked corner and required assistance. Tom was well off into the  distance.

Lee made an error which saw Cockerill through	Wouter Wynen chases Jonas hard

A mistake from Jonas and Wouter is looking for the pass....	Excitement too much and Wouter rolls

All attention was on the front two cars, Jonas continued his lead but got all out of shape and Wouter looked hot to make a pass, but it all went wrong and Wouter was off the track. Schumacher-powered Tom Cockerill was through to the 2nd place, to the excitement of his screaming fans, but Wouter was hot on his tail.
Wouter pushed hard to make a pass and the pair battled it out side by side, Tom held onto 2nd place until the end of the straight on his final lap, when he slipped off the racing line and ended up meeting the track marker. Wouter was back into 2nd place.
Jonas maintained his lead to take the win in leg one, followed by Wouter, Cockerill and Lee Martin.

	2WD A Final Leg 1
	position name result 1 Jonas Kaerup 12/5:12.041 2 Wouter Wynen 12/5:15.249 3 Tom Cockerill 12/5:15.757 4 Lee Martin 12/5:19.956 5 Stefan Mesker 12/5:20.840 6 Ben 'Bollywood' Jemison 12/5:24.968 7 Kim Nielsen 12/5:28.663 8 Tom Van Echelpoel 11/5:03.177 9 Joern Neumann 11/5:04.589 10 Nicolai Sorensen 11/5:09.426

PUMP it yeah!!!!!! - The Danish boys know how to party even whilst racing their finals.

A final leg 2.
Jonas rolled on the first lap to allow Wouter into 2nd place. Lee maintained his lead and already appeared to be pulling a gap. One minute in and It was all happening behind Lee, an error saw something of a pileup between 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place. Wouter held onto 2nd, Followed by Jonas and Cockerill. Mesker dropped down into 5th place.

Lee didn't mess up the start this time	Wouter through to second - Jonas 3rd with Mesker 4th

Wouter held second but was being pushed hard	Jonas piling on the pressure to Wouter's rear end

A flip-out from Wouter saw Jonas back into 2nd place. Wouter chased hard but a further flip a couple of laps later saw his drop well down the order and Cockerill was through into 3rd place.

Lee had now pulled a lead of 2.5seconds, ahead of Jonas, Cockerill, Mesker and Nicolai.

Cockerill - Mesker - Nicolai	Nicolai and Mesker tangle in their battle for 4th

Mesker was hassling Cockerill hard from behind but Tom kept his door well and truly shut, Mesker couldn’t quite make it through and soon had his own pressure from Nicolai, allowing Tom to pull off ahead. Lee took the leg win, followed by Jonas, Cockerill, Mesker and Nicolai.

	2WD A Final Leg 2
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 12/5:09.084 2 Jonas Kaerup 12/5:12.887 3 Tom Cockerill 12/5:16.976 4 Stefan Mesker 12/5:20.750 5 Nicolai Sorensen 12/5:22.093 6 Tom Van Echelpoel 12/5:25.120 7 Wouter Wynen 12/5:25.638 8 Joern Neumann 11/5:00.826 9 Ben 'Bollywood' Jemison 11/5:02.606 10 Kim Nielsen 11/5:02.611

Lee was straight off and left chaos behind him as many cars collided on the 3rd corner. Mesker had landed badly off the small jump, unintentionally nudging Jonas and resulting in something of a pile up. Jonas dropped way down the order into 6th place. Wouter had moved up into 2nd place, but an encounter with the track marking saw him demoted to 3rd place.
Nikolai was through to 2nd place, Wouter in 3rd, and Cockerill in 4th. It really was utter chaos for the first lap.

CHAOS! - Lee Martin and Wouter already away.	More madness

Lee Martin was still in 1st place and had pulled a decent gap ahead of the pack.
2nd, 3rd and 4th place were all racing closely together; Wouter landed badley coming off the small jumps in the approach to the wall of death, and Cockerill was straight through into 3rd place and was hot on the tail of 2nd place Nikolai.

Tom Cockerill chases Nicolai for 2nd	The pair come onto the main straight for the finish - THIS IS THE RACE

Cockerill couldn't quite make it despite his best efforts - Nicolai drove like a viking warrior.

Cockerill chased hard for the last couple of laps, piling the pressure on 2nd place man, a slight coming together on the wall of death could have seen Cockerill move into 2nd place, but racing etiquette prevailed and he waited for Nikolai to straighten up back onto the racing line. Cockerill continued to push hard but Nikolai put up a good fight and held on tight to the 2nd place in leg 3. Lee Martin cruised around to take the leg win, and overall 2wd win at the 2011 Belgian GP.

	2WD A Final Leg 3
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 12/5:08.336 2 Nicolai Sorensen 12/5:14.036 3 Tom Cockerill 12/5:14.217 4 Joern Neumann 12/5:17.052 5 Wouter Wynen 12/5:17.997 6 Stefan Mesker 12/5:23.330 7 Jonas Kaerup 12/5:23.589 8 Kim Nielsen 11/5:02.147 9 Tom Van Echelpoel 11/5:09.018 10 Ben 'Bollywood' Jemison 01/0:37.896

	Overall A Final Results.
	pos name   chassis 1 Lee Martin 201   Tamiya TRF201X 2 Jonas Kaerup c4.1   Associated CML C4.1 3 Tom Cockerill   Schumacher Cougar SV 4 Nicolai Sorensen 22   TLR '22' 5 Wouter Wynen b4   Associated B4 6 Stefan Mesker x6   XFactory X6 7 Joern Neumann 210   TD DEX210 Prototype 8 Tom Van Echelpoel b4   Associated B4 9 Ben 'Bollywood' Jemison   Associated CML C4.1 10 Kim Nielsen 22   TLR '22'

The trophy ceremony saw all the final winners get some recognition along with all the A-finalists. The traditional 'water soaking' went a bit wrong however and one in particular was immensely funny. As everyone concentrated on the top 3 photos one crafty prankster came berzerker style down the main straight carrying a large bucket of water - but somehow fell and landed pretty much inside his own bucket! LOL

Showtime points and laughs	Close up of the shame!

Rob Rasey took the mic for some stellar commentating	Caught!

Day 3 - 4wd Qualifying.

Track History:
The club has always been run by Willie Hermanns with assistance from his wife and club members.

In the late 1980's the club migrated from another park to a small track within the current venue but this track was built at the other side of the workshed which stands at the end of the track today. Gradually over time it was extended to the track as we know it today.

When the owners of the venue noticed Willies lengthy extensions, they eventually (after about 5 years of extending) suggested that the track was big enough. The track was originially grass but eventually this became badgered, so a meshing was used to protect the grass roots - however this was not as effective as desired. Patches of astroturf were then used to cover the very worn areas, and over the years this has become a 95% astroturf track , 5% cobbles.

Practice was underway early	Chris Doughty was NOT on his usual form

The Belgian GP was first run in 1989 and has done so every year since, developing in european stature over the years, growing with the club and track.

Until this years event entry to the meeting has been a mad dash for racers to get entries in, however the pace has slowed for the 2011 event with a more relaxed invitational style event. The meeting has been filled with those drivers who have been regulars at the meeting, and special warriors invited by the club. The atmosphere is very relaxed, but still retains a competetive edge.

Qualifying round 1.
Jorn Neumann went for TQ in round 1 with the only 13 lap score, however after a local power cut resulted in Lee Martins alarm clock not sounding and therefore missing out on un-essential practice, Lee was only just warming up in round one and placed a cool 7th in round.
Ben Jemison was in fact the highest placed britboy, taking 5th in round with his Kyosho Javelin.

Stu Evans made 28th in round and Jimmy oOple placed 40th, however this was only practice to him and he planned to return with avengence in future rounds.

Adam Lewis DIDN'T finish last in round, in fact he was beaten to his favourite spot by three other drivers: Chambrant Keyaerts, Tommy Thunderdome, and Nicholas Child.

	Round 1 Qualifying Times.
	position name result 1 Jorn Neumann 13/5:22.798 2 Kim Nielsen 12/5:01.470 3 Wouter Wynen 12/5:09.509 4 Simon Bettens 12/5:09.565 5 Ben Jemison 12/5:12.491 6 Stefan Mesker 12/5:13.190 7 Lee Martin 12/5:13.411 8 Tom Cockerill 12/5:14.760 9 Erik Michiels 12/5:14.837 10 Lasse Nielsen 12/5:16.450

Qualifying Round 2.
Lee Martin came back to remind everyone what he's really made of to take TQ in round 2, although his time didn't quite match Jorns round 1 TQ. Tom Cockerill was leading it after after early-leader Jorn Neumann had lead for most of the race but Tom rolled it on the very last lap.

	Round 2 Qualifying Times.
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 12/5:01.278 2 Tom Cockerill 12/5:02.359 3 Jorn Neumann 12/5:03.254 4 Wouter Wynen 12/5:03.622 5 Kim Nielsen 12/5:05.990 6 Stefan Mesker 12/5:06.942 7 Simon Bettens 12/5:09.943 8 Lasse Nielsen 12/5:10.508 9 Olivier De Montfumat 12/5:16.228 10 Ben Jemison 12/5:18.542

	Derek McCloskey -Ireland's best ever Schumacher driver, EVER!
	Derek sampling the monster munch variety Top of the morning at yeeee. Hows your racing been so far at this years BGP? ‘Ave iiiiit…. Average to poor. Track’s very good, but it’s difficult to be fast on the track - the racing etiquette is different here. Is this your first time at the event / any overseas event or are you normally confined to the island known as Ireland? It’s my first time at the GP although not my first time at an overseas event, I have raced at Euros and Worlds before in different classes. What cars are you racing this weekend and do you have any special modifications / hop ups on them? Schumacher Cougar SV in 2wd, and Schumacher Cat SX3 in 4wd. Running them completely standard. I am running the LMR fan protector on the 2wd though. And my new bodyshell painted by RCpaint in Ireland. What has been the best part of your trip over so far? The tour of Brussels city last night! How long have you been racing? 17 years. What’s your best result from any race, ever? Best touring car result was at Ashby-de-la-zouche touring car Euros in 1999 - made the B final. Do you race any other class than 10th off road? 1/10th scale touring car, and 1/8th scale rally cross. Belgian or British - which monster munch is superior? British!

Qualifying round 3.
Lee Martin was back in style and took another round win, 5 seconds ahead of fellow-hangoveree Tom Cockerill in 2nd place. Jorn was 3rd in round.

After waking up a bit late and a bit hungover - Danish supergod Jonas Kaerup finally got his stuff together and after a brief run around the track to wake himself up stuck his B44.1 into the top 10 in round 3, going 4th.

Simon Bettens	At least he had fun!

	Round 3 Qualifying Times.
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 12/5:02.099 2 Tom Cockerill 12/5:07.385 3 Jorn Neumann 12/5:08.292 4 Jonas Kaerup 12/5:09.213 5 Lasse Nielsen 12/5:14.233 6 Ben Jemison 12/5:14.601 7 Chambrant Keyaerts 12/5:15.346 8 Wouter Wynen 12/5:16.140 9 Stefan Mesker 12/5:17.353 10 Christer Rasmussen 12/5:21.450

Qualifying Round 4.
Lee Martin took TQ with his first 13 lap race of the day. Joern wasn't far behind in 2nd place - just missing out on the extra lap whilst Tom Cockerill piloted his AWESOME SCHUMACHER CAT SX3 to third in round. JOnas Kaerup was fully awake by now and put in another solid run in 4th as he nursed his sore head.

Lee Martin looked pretty near dominant by the end of qualifying - but things were still all to play for

	Round 4 Qualifying Times.
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 13/5:22.526 2 Jorn Neumann 12/5:00.396 3 Tom Cockerill 12/5:04.058 4 Jonas Kaerup 12/5:10.400 5 Christer Rasmussen 12/5:11.254 6 Kim Nielsen 12/5:12.256 7 Stefan Mesker 12/5:12.829 8 Wouter Wynen 12/5:12.986 9 Simon Bettens 12/5:14.115 10 Lasse Nielsen 12/5:15.023

	Overall Qualifying (round by round)
	position name rd1 rd2 rd3 rd4 Pts. 1 Lee Martin 7 0 0 0 0 2 Joern Neumann 0 3 3 2 2 3 Tom Cockerill 8 2 2 3 4 4 Kim Nielsen 2 5 15 6 7 5 Wouter Wynen 3 4 8 8 7 6 Jonas Kaerup 121 12 4 4 8 7 Simon Bettens 4 7 44 9 11 8 Ben Jemison 5 10 6 12 11 9 Stefan Mesker 6 6 9 7 12 10 Lasse Nielsen 10 8 5 10 13

Matthias Westhoff from Germany was racing his home-modified TLR 22 buggy with a cell layout similar to that seen on the successful Atomic Carbon S2 / CML C4.1 - with the cells turned around to move the weight further backwards.

Mattias couldn't run the standard cell mounting method so used some posts from Kyosho to enable him to use an associated B4 carbon strap to secure things.

Matthias with his TLR 22 - which he raced in 2WD and 4WD

Matthias eats a cherry...

Matthias' car wasn't really the most interesting thing about him - he told us about his quest to get a track built in his home town of Aachen, and he was getting photos of top drivers (and Jimmy!??!) to pose with a sign to try get some recognition that he could take to the council in his town to get planning permission and funding. This was the cause of us talking to Matthias which allowed us to discover the TRUE genius of this man

Matthias is on a mission to win the World Championships - and whilst the 10th buggy event is just a couple of weekends away from the Belgian GP - the championship that Mattias is looking to win is something different - something VERY different. You see, Matthias is a cherry stone spitting master and gave us the lowdown with great enthusiasm on the techniques and psychology involved in the sport of cherry stone spitting.

We asked Matthias for an 'spitting pose' so we could get a photo and mention his elite skill in the report but Matthias doesn't do things by halves and refused to simply 'pose' and wanted to show the sport that's so true to his heart with honesty and a simple beauty that only a sack full of Germanys finest cherrys and a gob full of spittle could portray.

Matthias draws a line in the dirt - his spitting point, he can lean over but not cross!

Matthias FIRES out the cherry stone like a fricken BULLET - he's like a man-gun!

4wd A Final Leg 1.
Lee Martin held onto his lead for the majority of the race, with Jorn Neuman in hot pursuit. Tom Cockerill was looking good in 4th place but some belt gremlins meddled with his equipment a few laps in and he was unable to complete the job on this occasion.

Lee was looking good	An error allowed Jorn to catch up

Lee and Jorn come onto the main straight together	Jorn piled on some pressure

Lee and Jorn pulled off ahead of the rest of the drivers, and Lee was looking to be holding on strong to his lead, when an error over the banked corner saw an exchange in positions - Jorn was into the lead although Lee was hammering down hard behind him. Lee went for a move straight away on the inside of the next corner but it didn't pay off and he caught the inside which made him flip over - hitting Jorn but not swaying him from his path. The racing was close and exhilirating, although despite every best effort Lee was unable to reclaim his leading position and had to settle for second place as Jorn came through to take the win.

Jorn and Lee go over the quad - Jorn was simple better and made up the distance for the pass on the inside.	Lee hadn't given up and dove for the inside on the next corner

Lee caught the inside and flipped onto Jorn	Mid-pack action

	4WD A Final Leg 1
	position name result 1 Joern Neumann 13/5:23.273 2 Lee Martin 13/5:23.559 3 Wouter Wynen 12/5:13.290 4 Jonas Kaerup 12/5:14.175 5 Ben Jemison 12/5:14.938 6 Simon Bettens 12/5:20.837 7 Stefan Mesker 12/5:29.176 8 Lasse Nielsen 11/5:06.758 9 Kim Nielsen 08/3:33.492 10 Tom Cockerill 06/2:49.498

4wd A Final Leg 1.
After the drama in leg 1 (it was dramatic, believe me...) Lee pulled off to a good start, but Jorn was quick off the mark behind him.
Some commotion further back saw some swapping and changing, but the two guys at the front were off and away. Lee as always looked fast, but Jorn was bearing down on him and looking to continue where he left off in leg 1.
Jorn was all over the gearbox of Lee Martins tamiya frog, and quite a gap further back, Tom Cockerill in 3rd place was fighting off Nielsen, the racing was close and Cockerill kept his back door tightly shut, a blip from Nielsen eventually relieved Toms rear-end pressure.

Jorn looked supreme - even Lee couldn't shake him	Jorn comes up to his best section - the quad in the centre

Three minutes into the race and Lee Martin had been keeping his cool whilst Jorn hammered hard from behind, but the UK-National-Champion warrior landed slightly skewed coming off the small jumps and as a result went wide over the wall of death; This was all that the chasing Jorn needed and he was through into the lead.

Just like leg one - Jorn makes his move over the quad jump and up the wall - turning inside Lee.

Lee Martin kept close and was pushing hard, looking to make a pass, he nearly slipped through as the pair approached the wall of death on the following lap, but Jorn put up his defences and Lees efforts were to no avail.
One lap further on and Lee was still close, but shit out coming over the small jumps again and skid-marked up the wall of death on his lid, nearly requiring the assistance of a nearby marshal but just landing on his wheels. Valuable time had already been lost though and with just one minute left to race Lee really had his work cut out for him.

Lee and Jorn swap paint	Jorn hits the inside - goes wide

Jorn just manages to hold off Lee over the quad	Despite driving like a beast, Lee couldn't match Jorn

A further wall-of-death error from Lee saw Tom Cockerill home in and rather than putting up a fight for 1st place he was now defending 2nd.
Jorn was off on his own now, and the only driver to make it through for 13 laps, as Lee Martin came through to finish the leg in 2nd place, followed by Tom Cockerill in 3rd.

	4WD A Final Leg 2
	position name result 1 Joern Neumann 13/5:23.161 2 Lee Martin 13/5:02.047 3 Tom Cockerill 12/5:02.383 4 Jonas Kaerup 12/5:10.775 5 Wouter Wynen 12/5:11.379 6 Stefan Mesker 12/5:18.369 7 Simon Bettens 12/5:25.446 8 Ben Jemison 12/5:25.646 9 Lasse Nielsen 11/5:05.435 10 Kim Nielsen 08/3:25.755

4wd A Final Leg 2.
Jorn had already won the 4wd event and opted to watch the final leg of the 4wd A final. Lee was out on his own in 1st place, followed by Tom Cockerill a short gap back in 2nd, and Wouter in 3rd place. Ben Jemison had worked his way through up to 4th place and was bearing down on Wouter.

Jorn sits it out and watches the show	This girl was sad for Lee - but Lee could still take 2nd!

Wouter and Jemison raced around putting on an awfully good show for the next few laps, Jemison was hassling every way to make a pass but couldn’t quite follow through. Wouter came pretty close to a track marker over a corner and Jemmo nearly had his opportunity to pass, but a flip saw him ease back slightly and demoted into 5th place as Mesker came through into the 4th spot.

BenJem chases Wouter	Mesker

Kim Nielsen

4 Minutes in and some gremlins meddled with Tom Cockerills car, resulting in a premature withdrawal from the final leg.
Wouter was then promoted to 2nd place with one minute to go. Mesker in 3rd. Lee Martin way off ahead and won the 3rd leg of 4wd a final, but this wasn’t enough to blag him the 4wd win. First time we’ve seen Lee not win a 4wd race for about 19 meetings. Or something.

	4WD A Final Leg 3
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 13/5:24.315 2 Wouter Wynen 12/5:10.315 3 Stefan Mesker 12/5:10.481 4 Kim Nielsen 12/5:12.587 5 Ben Jemison 12/5:14.764 6 Jonas Kaerup 12/5:17.365 7 Lasse Nielsen 12/5:22.546 8 Tom Cockerill 09/3:45.897 9 Simon Bettens 09/4:07.595 10 Joern Neumann DNS - He'd already won it!

Warriors gather	Bit of English-Irish banter as William White goes for his D final win trophy.

Jorn took the win with some awesome driving	Jorn's DEX410

Lee Martin 2nd - Jorn Neumann 1st - Wouter Wynen 3rd

	Overall A Final Results.
	pos name   chassis 1 Joern Neumann   Team Durango DEX410 2 Lee Martin   Tamiya TRF511 3 Wouter Wynen   Yokomo BMAX 4 Jonas Kaerup   Team Associated B44.1 5 Stefan Mesker   Team Associated B44.1 6 Ben Jemison   Team Associated B44.1 7 Tom Cockerill   Schumacher CAT SX3 8 Kim Nielsen   Tamiya TRF511 9 Simon Bettens   Losi XX4 10 Lasse Nielsen   Tamiya TRF511

Wouter Wynen had a quick change of clothes after getting an impromptu bath at the trophy ceremony and showed us his 3rd place Yokomo Bmax. Wouter was running a bit of an off combination of Schumacher mini pin rear tyres and 2WD minispike schumachers on the front. Wouter was running a fibreglass ackermann link he'd made himself which he claimed made a big difference to his performance - certainly seems to work ok! Congratulations Wouter!

During the trophy giving ceremony, Willie called forward the oOples Jimmy and Vicky for a special gift for our contribution to the hobby which is the nicest thing anyones ever done or said about oOple. We're not a commercial site in the way some others are and we do this only as a hobby for fun - it's great to have Schumacher help with the costs to attend but we'd have gone anyway.

The Belgian GP is, quite frankly, one of the best R/C races we've attended. The combination of serious racing - not so serious racing and general relaxed atmosphere is a thing of beauty. The organisers have this meeting pretty much dialled and did a great job of making everything run smoothly and keep the awesome friendly atmosphere. We'll be there next time if we can get in!