The schedule for day 5 was to be two rounds of timed practice in the morning, followed by three rounds of qualifying in the afternoon. Once again transmitters were to be impounded before 9am, meaning an early start even for those drivers who weren't practicing until nearly 11am. The day started off with the usual overcast skies, forming a shadow of doubt over the previous days predictions that temperatures would rise to 37degrees celcius today. Towards the end of the first round of practice however, the sun was shining with clear blue skies.

Following his poor run of luck in yesterdays practice, Ellis Stafford dominated the first practice round of the day with his vintage discontinued X5, being the only driver to put in sub-25 second lap times (best lap 24.520) , and the fastest two consecutive laps with 2/49.804.

It was Jorn Neumann who put in the best overall practice time in round 1, with 12 laps in 306.662. Only practice round two times count for the start order but these times give a clue to who's fast.

Best 2 consecutive laps combined - Practice 1

Tom Yardy

Kevin Lee

One of the best spots to watch during practice is the end of the quad as various drivers try to work out a way of clearing this mammoth beast of a jump. Some land on top of the last jump or into the face of it - resulting in madness, which we like.

On the rebound - nice shaft of light tho.

oooof

ungh

ooh la la

Some drivers are talking about changes to the track over night which have made it a little worse - the small jump after the straight no longer has a slight transition so is flicking the rear of the car up.

Yum!

Someone stuck a load of broken parts to our table which needed to be chisled off!

New super strong belts on the XFactory X5 - a new 20t centre pulley also strengthens the drivetrain.

New plastic suspension mounts on Simon Moss's spare car - maybe hint at a new version of the CAT SX?

Lee Martin picked up a nice stone whilst racing.

Ben Jemison dropped one of his dampers into his dirty oil bottle - someone then poured mayonaise in there also to add to the hilarity.

Viktor Wilck - Tamiya touring car superstar shocked everyone with a hugely quick 24.566 lap in the second round of practice - a whole 0.4 seconds ahead of his nearest rival and Tamiya team mate Hupo Honigl. Victors combined 2-lap time wasn't quite as quick as Ellis Staffords time in the first timed practice however.

Tom Cockerill broke a driveshaft. Ellis Stafford popped a turnbuckle off. Andrew Jones broke on the opening lap.

Best 2 consecutive laps combined - Practice 2

So, maybe the predictions of insane heat weren't far wrong - by 2:30pm the temperatures in the shade had reached a rather sticky 35.8 degrees, and strangely the temperature outside (measured by Brain Preddys big car) was reading at 30 degrees - nah. Dave Churches Muchmore thermometer rose to 47degrees in direct sunlight, baking!

4WD Qualifying Round 1
Round one of qualifying saw more problems for Ellis Stafford with the X5 - turnbuckles popping off - Ellis has required two ball transplants already since the start of 4wd, and is experiencing most problems coming off the quad jump. Elsewhere in the XFactory family Phil Sleigh had problems with a spontaneously combusting rear differential, and Tom Cockerill didn't manage to TQ the round due to bumps and the wall of death.
There was a great battle between Marc Rheinard and Viktor Wilck on the track, but due to a roll at the start Viktor was already 3 seconds behind on time - still, it was a good battle. Hupo had some errors but managed 4th.

Jorn Neumann got a time that would have put him 9th in round but missed his marshalling duties and had the time stripped before he even went out to race! Harsh. Lee Martin was almost on for TQ coming off the wall of death, but an unfortunate landing saw his wishbone broken and Lee out of the race after 3 laps.
TEAM mate Ben Jemison put in an 'OK' time but was disqualified for being 1 gram underweight - NAUGHTY!

Marc Rheinad and Viktor Wilck battle it out

Neil Cragg flying high

Some relaxed marshalling

Press Conferemce Round 1
For the first press conference of the 4wd event, Neil Cragg was present centre stage having TQ'd the round with an impressive 12/310.515, Marc Rheinard was close behind in second place, followed by newcomer to the event, Viktor Wilck. We're not sure where 2wd press-conference frequenter Ellis Stafford was - having only completeed 3 laps in the first round of qualifying.

Viktor spoke first stating that he was happy with his good start to the event,and that he's running the same set-up as Marc and Hupo. This is Viktors first time racing on Astro-turf as well, good skillz man. Marc felt he'd had a pretty good run and is finding the 4wd car better to handle on the track than 2wd, with better acceleration. Marc finds racing on astroturf similar to his usual method of carpet racing, I doubt the touring cars would handle the jumps quite as well though.

TQ boss Neil Cragg stated that for 4wd he has changed his style of racing, he's finding the quad jump much more tolerable now, being able to jump the four in one go with the 4wd B44. Neil doesn't think he'll need to make any changes to his car in preparation for the next round of qualifying, other than maybe a shock oil change. After struggling on some of the dirt sections throughout 2wd,

Neil found that the 4wd handles these sections much better and that they feel much less bumpy. Some minor changes have been made to the track in preparation for the 4wd event, such as smoothing out the dirt areas and reprofiling the jump at the end of the straight, Neil felt that this change had not improved the jump and that many drivers are finding it difficult to navigate.

Round 1 Qualifying

HOT!

4WD Qualifying Round 2
Neil Cragg laid some more smackdown in round two to secure his place on the front row at least - maybe someone can still steal TQ tomorrow but for now Cragg sits high and mights in the number one position.

Jorn Neumann put his big-shocker Yokomo BMax4 in second, just a second behing Cragg - a relief for the young German who lost his round one time.

Marc Rheinard another second back in third looked better than ever with his Tamiya 511 and will surely be securely planted in the A final.

Round 2 press conference
The press conference round 2 was held after the top heats had run, despite the round reaching completion on heat 3, so potentially Tq could still have been taken, but the race commentator was fairly confident that the top 3 spots were secured. Once again we joined Neil Cragg in 1st place, with Marc Rheinard now in chair 3 and Jorn Neumann appearing in chair 2.

Marc was pleased with his run, having made no major mistakes, he felt that two safe runs would secure him the place he desired in the A final so now plans to push his car that bit harder to try for the TQ chair. Marc hasn't made any changes but will probably run new tyres in the next round.
Jorn unfortunately forgot to marshall for his first qualifier, meaning that despite having put in two good runs already, he would need to put in at least one more good time to secure himself a place in the A Main. Overall though Jorn said his car felt very good and doesn't think any changes are required.
Neil Cragg doesn't think any changes will be required for qualifying other than new tyres, but plans to have his dad and super-mechanic Mick rebuild the car before the finals. Neil struggled in practice but since qualifying began has TQ'd twice and needless to say is happy with this and of course pleased to be in the A final with two good runs.

Round 2 Qualifying

4WD Qualifying Round 3
Marc Rheinard stormed round in Q3 to take the win - three qualifiers and never out of the top three, not bad going. Marcs Tamiya team mate and part-time mechanic Hupo came in second. And to make it a German-speaking 1-2-3 Team Durangos Martin Kreil took third in round with his DEX410.

Press Conference - Round 3
For the third and final press conference of the day we were joined by Martin Kreil with a 3rd in round, Hupo with 2nd in round, and Marc Rheinard having seated already in 3rd and 2nd, now taking centre stage with the round-TQ score.

When asked if he spoke English, Martin replied 'Ja', then proceeded to answer the interview questions in English. Martin felt confident that he could put in another good run tomorrow to meet for another press conference. Didn't feel to have any problems with traffic on the track, and is really happy with his Durango, feels that it is a good car and very good to drivee with immense power, and good stability with the weight being held in the front of the car.
Hupo made a press conference appearance for the first time in the 4wd class, and stated that his car had felt pretty good since the first practice, but he had probably been driving it too safely in the first two rounds of qualifying. Having met with Hupo numerous times throughout 2wd qualifying the race commentator was bored already and quickly moved onto Marc Rheinard, in TQ position for the first time at this event. Marc stated he'd had a pretty good run, making only two mistakes and was clearly pleased to be in the top spot. When asked if he thought a 13 lap run was possible, Marc didn't think it would be, the lap times are already fast enough.

Hupos TRF511 is pre-production (old!) but also has some new development bits (see day 4).

Marc Rheinads 511 is fairly standard kit - new ball cups are really the main new change.

Martins car had some interesting prototype bits

Mr.Durango was very pleased to see his car in the top three

Round 3 Qualifying