This years event is the 5th running of the 'PetitRC race' - the self-branded race from the popular French R/C website, PetitRC.com. France - oui! But actually, non! because this race much like the previous two is being run in the UK. In 2009 and 2010 the Maritime Raceway in Gillingham was the venue but 2011 sees a change to the Ardent Raceway in Nottingham / Derbyshire, UK.

It's a lot further for the European drivers who might be crossing the channel but a more central location for the UK drivers that'll be the main constituent of the entry.

Thursday and Friday saw some open practice at the venue for any early-bird drivers to come and practice on the surface and get their cars set up - but the actual layout and jumps wouldn't be used so there weren't too many unfair advantages. The club at Ardent have invested in some brand new carpet (dark blue; like a new pair of Levi 501s back in the 80's - Lotussmart, 2011) in time for this event, and reports from practice are that the new carpet is very smooth to drive on and that 'standard' carpet setups have had to be adjusted to compliment the new surface. Early during the first day of qualifying, Ellis described the carpet as being 'blue' and 'weird'.

The track

Richard Lowe has so far found the carpet to be inconsistent, and has suggested this may be due to the pile of the carpet being a different direction in each corner; however Dan Greenwood feels that this new surface is much more consistent than the carpet previously used at this venue.

Jon Dell and Rob Rasey are the same person	Fun and excitement for these northerners	Rob Nelson from BBK doing the timing

Another talking point is the huge 'mad' tabletop jump in front of the drivers rostrum, the sharp lip on the up-ramp is such that the cars aren't leaving the ramp at an ideal angle to land the downramp, and drivers are mostly opting for landing on top and taking the jump slowly. Predictions from fellow Northerners are that upon the arrival of 'little' Ben (Jemison) tomorrow, some big air is to be expected, along with perhaps some ceiling-crashes.

Timed practice opened at 7am on Saturday, with a scheduled two rounds - the first round being 4 minute practice, and the second round being just 3 minutes. Although some drivers have already lived here for two days to get in some pre-race practice, the official Petit track was only set up yesterday afternoon; so there will be minimal advantage for those who have put in the extra hours. Though a driver that can't be named who practiced friday claimed the track was virtually the same as for actual racing. Day 1, Saturday, is 2wd buggy and trucks, with 4wd buggy being raced on Sunday.

The racing venue is a permenant feature in this massive warehouse!	Hot Bodies!

The order of practice had been allocated according to drivers 'claimed' ability during the registration process, however their practice times were used to determine the order for qualifying, with some re-seeding taking place; poor old Dave Church had been battling it out in practice with Elliott Boots and Marc Rheinard but happily moved to the lowly depths of heat 8 with the rest of the *'normys'.
*Normys = normal people who don't qualify as superstars

	Top 10 in Practice Round 1.
	position name result 1 Jorn Neumann 3/1'1.46 2 Danny Mcgee 3/1'2.09 3 Dan Greenwood 3/1'2.17 4 Tom Cockerill 3/1'2.28 5 Cyril Baldini 3/1'2.88 6 David Burton 3/1'3.09 7 Marc Rheinard 3/1'3.24 8 Ketil Pettersen 3/1'3.62 9 Andy Griffiths 3/1'3.72 10 Ellis Stafford 3/1'3.93

After the first round of practice, previous years' winner Jorn Neumann was sitting on top, putting in the fastest three consequetive laps, however a number of top drivers didn't register times in the first round of practice, such as Lee Martin, Hupo Honigl, Viktor Wilck, and Manolis; so there are surely plenty of changes yet to be seen.
NB: Sad news in the pits is that Manolis has been unable to attend this event due to a family bereavement; our thoughts are with you and your family Manolis.

Dan Greenwood scared himself by going third quickest in the first round, blowing raspberries all over Tom Cockerills 4th place, however he fully expected to be nowhere by the end of the day.

	ORCA Brushless system and Lipos
	Pete from ANSWER RC is now distributing the ORCA range of electrics and brought a few bits along for us to look at. A brushless controller, motor and lipo packs are just the start of the range we're told and the quality appears very high indeed. The ORCA Vritra brushless speed controller is described as TC Pro-Spec MKII ESC, and we're told it's been used extensively in the far east in the Touring class. The ESC comes with a neat little LCD-display programming unit - and even that's made from aluminium, nice. ORRRRRR CA CA CAAAAAAAAA! - Nothing to do with killer wales we're told. ORCA lipo packs Vritra ESC looks nice!

Despite residing within the United Kingdom, JQproducts driver Adam Lewis is driving as a representative of Norway. In previous years Norway has had little representation, however this year Adam is racing alongside 5 fellow Norweigans. Adam is rumoured to have achieved his Honorary Norweigan status due to his Viking-like tendancies however this does have its downsides, as Adams long-boat commute to race meetings takes approximately 3 days longer then drivers who travel in modern-day motor cars.

	Top 10 in Practice Round 2.
	position name result 1 Jorn Neumann 3/58.76 2 Marc Rheinard 3/1'0.07 3 Kevin Lee 3/1'0.38 4 Lee Martin 3/1'0.68 5 Tom Cockerill 3/1'0.72 6 Danny Mcgee 3/1'0.76 7 Hupo Honigl 3/1'0.78 8 Neil Cragg 3/1'1.15 9 Victor Wilck 3/1'1.41 10 Lloyd Storey 3/1'1.49

Once again Jorn finished top of the pile in round two of practice, being the only driver to complete his fastest three laps in under one minute, other predictable drivers were seen entering the top 10 times, and as expected Dan Greenwood quietly slipped out of sight. As the top ten had all improved on fastest times in this round, it was these drivers who would go on to kick off qualifying in heat 1.

	Truck - Overall best times from practice.
	position name result 1 Richard Lowe R:2(L:3) 3/1'4.15 2 Dan Greenwood R:2(L:4) 3/1'5.06 3 James Helliwell R:2(L:8) 3/1'5.87 4 Christian Hahlen R:1(L:6) 3/1'8.77 5 James Instone R:2(L:2) 3/1'11.83 6 Jens Becker R:2(L:8) 3/1'11.88 7 Alex Mortimer R:2(L:1) 3/1'12.22 8 Stephen Adams R:1(L:3) 3/1'15.60 9 Markus Metsch R:2(L:6) 3/1'16.72 10 Michael O'Donnell R:1(L:1) 3/1'27.90 11 Oliver BigO Prüßmann R:2(L:5) 3/1'28.17

Round one of qualifying kicked off with the top drivers in heat one. Setting off first Jorn Neumann lapped smooth and precise to take the heat with the only 16-lapper of the heat, which was good enough for the round win. Jorns Team Durango team-mate Hupo Honigl took second in round just 1.90 seconds off 16 laps with double Euro-champ Lee Martin 1.5 seconds further back in third.
Ellis Stafford looked quick in heat three and with only a minute left to go was headed for 2nd overall but an error lost him precious time to drop him down several places in the overall standings.

Jorn Neumann rails round on the sticky carpet	Kev Lee's VEGA RB5 conversion

Lloyd Storey with the Schumacher Cougar SV

Hupo with the latest Durango proto	Rheinard chases Hupo

	Round 1 Qualifying Times.
	position name result 1 Jorn Neumann 16/5'18.63 2 Hupo Honigl 15/5'1.90 3 Lee Martin 15/5'3.22 4 Victor Wilck 15/5'6.81 5 Ellis Stafford 15/5'8.15 6 Neil Cragg 15/5'8.71 7 Nathan Waters 15/5'9.01 8 David Burton 15/5'10.31 9 Paul Bradby 15/5'10.87 10 James Helliwell 15/5'11.67

	Truck results - Qualifying Round 1.
	position name result 1 James Helliwell 14/5'5.53 2 Christian Hahlen 14/5'17.87 3 Markus Metsch 14/5'20.96 4 Richard Lowe 13/5'0.38 5 Dan Greenwood 13/5'1.34 6 Jens Becker 13/5'1.56 7 Oliver BigO Prüßmann 13/5'2.19 8 Alex Mortimer 13/5'13.63 9 Stephen Adams 12/5'15.33 10 Michael O'Donnell 12/5'30.26 11 James Instone 11/5'5.89

	Schumacher COUGAR SV Product Update.
	Schumacher team drivers have been trialling some new enhanced length chassis' on their cars, a modification which Danny McGee has found to be very successful so far, winning three out of three events in which he has competed with his new-length Cougar. The longer chassis is meant to aid stability as the Cougar is relatively short compared to some of its competitors. The original bodyshell can be used with the longer car by drilling the front body hole a little further forward and trimming the front bulkhead slightly to clear the body. The new carbon 8mm-longer chassis and top deck is now available to purchase from Schumacher. New main chassis and upper plate - 8mm longer Compared to the standard car - ok, it's hard to see but its longer. ok! A fully built up 8mm-longer car Other updates include the new steel side gears, which have been produced in response to problems which have been known to occur with the plastic side gears, and a 'bling' alloy gearbox housing has also been manufactured. New steel side gears for mega-strength Alloy gearbox for the Cougar SV

Jorn had problems in round two after a good start and ended 21st in round - with team-mate Hupo right behind. Lee Martin driving the standard Tamiya 201X with a rear-motor layout took the round but couldn't eclipse Jorns TQ time from round one, taking second overall in front of Hupo Honigl.
Paul Bradby dominated heat two to go second in round, with Danny McGee's Schumacher placing third.

Round 2 Qualifying Times.

Lee Martin taking round two of qualifying

Viktor Wilck lands the big silly jump - but chaos behind.

Ellis Stafford had some last minute errors

Truck results - Qualifying Round 2.

Interview with John 'Lotussmart' Dawson.

John Dawson, or as he's commonly known on the oOple forum 'Lotussmart'is the brains behind the inception of Ardent Raceway, the venue of Petit-RC 2011 race. He kindly agreed to answer some questions about the venue and its influences.

What influenced you to set up this indoor track, and who was involved?
I had mainly been involved in racing touring cars, and felt that it was silly to spend every Friday evening setting up a track, only to have to dismantle it once the race was over. I'd also been over to Vegas in 200 and seen the venue that Scotty Earnst runs, I was inspired by this and a permanent indoor venue seemed to be the way forwards.There are 7 local r/c fanatics who have been involved in setting the venue up and running the meetings here.

So what was the main idea, and has it worked out as planned?
The main idea was to have a fixed indoor permenant venue, which we have achieved, and to be able to open regularly throughout the week so drivers can have more practice time in addition to race meetings. Thanks to the continued involvement of our volunteers, the venue opens most days, with just Mondays and Wednesdays being 'days off'. We use these days to make any necessary improvements to the track, without getting in the way of drivers who have turned up to practice. We regularly have drivers attending to practice, however the race series are necessary to generate sufficient income to sustain the venue.

How did you locate this venue?
Well initially I realised that due to the recession there were a lot of empty industrial units, so started looking at availability, however they were very expensive with high rent and business rates. As I was starting out from scratch with minimal capital to invest, I then started looking at agricultural units, and found this venue. We're very lucky to have an understanding landlord who agreed to charge the rent incrementally so we could start at an affordable rate and build up to our current rate, as interest in the facility and subsequent revenue increased. We'll have had this venue one year in February 2011.

What sort of financial investment was needed to get the venue ready to race?
I didn't have any money to invest and didn't want to take out a large loan, so part of my business plan was to set up Ardentraceway.com, selling products online in order to generate sufficient revenue to invest in the track build.
Once we had secured the venue the first job was to clear the floor which was thick with dust, and to paint all the floor and walls. Due to the floor surface we have build the track on a wooden base, which cost about £8,000 to build, and we needed to purchase around £2,500 worth of carpet for the track surface.

What led to the Petit-RC race 2011 being held here?
Once the venue was up and running we organised a successful indoor winter touring car series, which has been the biggest in the country with 155 competitors in the series, this has been sponsored by Kick energy drink, Schumacher, RC Disco, Muchmore, and Moorespeed. I started experimenting with off-road buggies and secured support from Team Durango who are local to here, to help set up an indoor winter off-road series, which has also been successful.
Ben Cosgrove from HPI Racing comes here frequenty. He knows Nicolas Petit, who wanted to hold another Petit-RC race in England this year but was having difficulty securing their usual venue at Maritime Raceway, so Ben suggested Ardent Raceway hosting the event.
We wanted to do our best we possibly could for the event, so have invested in new carpets for this race, and new track markers.

Who has been most involved in setting up this venue and helping to organise the event, and who else would you like to thank?
The volunteers have been fantastic all along, and I'm really pleased that they're all still involved. There's: Moony, Simon, Graham, Ian, Chris, Me, Gavin and Andy Moore. I'd also like to thank my Dad who helped a lot with setting up the electrics and creating the website, Nicholas Petit, Ben Cosgrove, Schumacher, RCDisco, Muchmore, Durango, who have all been big supporters from the start. oOple has been really helpful in promoting the events here, especially off-road.

What's the most exciting thing about organising an international event like this?
It's exciting watching the finals, seeing the crowd cheering and enjoying themselves. I enjoy the time after racing when the track is empty and it's just the volunteers here, we have time to reflect on how things have gone. And it's nice to be able to pay the landlord his rent each month. It's been overwhelming and has exceeded my expectations.

What sort of aspirations do you have for the future, any planned changes?
There are a number of improvements that we'd like to make, it would be nice to upgrade the toilets and have them integrated within the building, however that will require some investment and it's money that we don't have at the moment. There are also some plans to look at building an outdoor buggy track, we have the space to build a track, but again need the money to invest in it. At the moment the main focus is on continuing the success of the indoor venue.

Team Durango had a couple of the new prototype 2WD buggies at the PetitRC race - all hand-made by the master himself, Gerd Strenge.

The new prototypes are still a way off production but they look more progressed than the ones we saw at the 2010 European Championships. The cars were running in mid-motor layout whereas they ran rear-motor on the dirt at the Euros.

The cars have a very narrow alloy plate chassis with substantial machined plastic side pods - we guess these pods would eventually be moulded plastic rather than the alloy on the DEX410 buggy.

Round three saw Schumacher driver Danny McGee get it together to put his car top of the pile ahead of Paul Bradby and Neil Cragg.

	Round 3 Qualifying Times.
	position name result 1 Danny Mcgee 15/5'2.46 2 Paul Bradby 15/5'5.76 3 Neil Cragg 15/5'6.57 4 Lee Martin 15/5'9.01 5 Nathan Waters 15/5'9.85 6 Marc Rheinard 15/5'9.92 7 Hupo Honigl 15/5'11.23 8 Tom Cockerill 15/5'11.55 9 Craig Collinson 15/5'11.72 10 Shin Adachi 15/5'12.14

In the Trucks James Helliwell was dominating - not even 2 time defending truck champeen Richard Lowe could get anywhere near.

	Truck results - Qualifying Round 3.
	position name result 1 James Helliwell 14/5'9.04 2 Richard Lowe 14/5'15.44 3 Christian Hahlen 14/5'15.52 4 Oliver BigO Prüßmann 14/5'20.47 5 Alex Mortimer 13/5'2.21 6 Jens Becker 13/5'4.69 7 Markus Metsch 13/5'15.71 8 Michael O'Donnell 11/5'4.63 9 James Instone 11/5'7.88   Dan Greenwood DNSe   Stephen Adams DNSe

HotBodies development seemed to ease off after the 2007 World Championships - the new D2 2WD buggy got all the way to production but was cancelled at the last minute and with no 2WD car to accompany the 4WD things seemed to drop into obscurity a little.

Thankfully HB are looking more lively and the guys are testing a couple of prototypes at this weekends PetitRC race. The new 2WD and 4WD and provisionally known as the D2X and D4X respectively.

The D2X is the successor to the car that never was - the D2. And whilst that car was a rear-motor only design, this new prototype allows the user to switch between rear & mid configurations.

It's all pretty early stages we're told and the cars are cobbled together using various parts that the company make for other vehicles along with some custom made alloy and carbon parts.

The prototype uses the original un-released body from the D2 buggy.	Lots of custom alloy bits

D4 dampers	HPI Blitz steering parts and D4 arms

The side pods are about the only part carried over from the lovely unreleased D2 buggy

Grip levels were manicly high with drivers trying all sorts to tame the cars and prevent grip roll. The eventual 'popular' choice was Schumacher mini pins up front but with several rows cut off or completely sanded smooth to vastly reduce steering.

Some drivers even went as far as to cover the outside edge of the tyres with CA glue to reduce grip even further.

Right: Paul Bradby attacks his front tyres

Lee Martin pulled out the run of the meeting with his last run of qualifying to take overall TQ from Jorn Neumann. Jorn got through for 16 laps but qas 1.5 seconds down on Lee. Hupo made it a Team Durango 2-3 missing out on 16 laps by 2 seconds.

Round 4 Qualifying Times.

Truck results - Qualifying Round 4.

Local warrior Steven Bond turned up to spectate some of the 4wd racing, it's been very apparent over the past year that Steven has undergone some serious downsizing, however this hasn't been without some intense effort. Steven kindly agreed to answer some of our rather frank questions during this emotional and moving interview; he's quite an inspiration I'm sure you'll agree.

One image that stands out in my mind is that of a young lad peering past your belly whilst standing on the rostrum at worksop, this leads to my first question - what was your turning point - when did you realise the weight had to come off?
It was January 2010. I had indulged over Christmas 2009, the usual chocolate etc, which caused some issues due to me already having diabetes. Basically I went to see the doctors, who mentioned as I left the appointment that we'd perhaps have to consider surgery. It was then that it clicked and I realised that I had to do something. It was also affecting my racing and my legs were struggling to stand on the rostrum for 20 minute finals, and marshalling was becoming a problem.
I didn't want to entertain surgery as an option, there comes an element of risk with surgery and in addition to this you have to lose weight before having surgery anyway. So I started researching on the internet to see how other people had undergone weight loss, woke up the next morning and thought, right - lets do it.

How much did you weigh at your heaviest, what is your progress to date and what is your overall target?
In January 2010 I weighed 31 stone (197KG) - 64 inch waist, 70 inch chest.
Current progress is I weigh 21 stone (134KG), 46 inch waist, 51 inch chest.  I'm now fitting into XXL rather than 7XL clothing, so don't have to buy special big boy clothing from the internet.
Overall target is 18stone, so just the 3 stone left to lose.

It must have required some extreme effort to achieve what you have done so far, what program have you followed and what is the key to your success?
To begin with I was too large to be able to exercise or get on my bike, so I started by cutting out all the rubbish from my diet - rather than recducing the amount I was eating. So I stopped the sweets, chocolate, burgers, pop, all the unhealthy stuff.  I continued eating large amounts in order to control the hunger pains, but started eating healthy food rather than the unhealthy options.
Initially I started walking around my village every night after work, about 2 miles. In the first month I lost 1 stone, and continued to lose a stone per month for 7 months.
Once I was down to 28 stone I started cycling as well - I already owned a mountain bike. I was still walking as well, I'd walk a few times around the village and then cycle a few laps.
Eventually I started cycling to work every day as well, and going on longer cycle rides at the weekend.
Despite still eating large amounts, I still felt hungry due to cutting out the unhealthy food, however once this started to settle down I started to reduce the amount I was eating. It's still important to eat decent amounts due to the amount of exercise; I now see food as fuel to do what I need to do, rather than just eating out of boredom.

It can't have been an easy journey, what sort of hurdles have you met along the way?
Racing related - all the burger vans! I was very lucky that Liz at Deerdales burger van started bringing in some healthier options like tuna and chicken. It's really important to plan ahead and know what you need to take where you go. It can be difficult resisting the temptation, and I do allow myself a treat every two or three weeks, but manage to keep control and not treat myself too much.

Who or what have you found to be the greatest support?
All my friends - the forum comments have helped to spur me on. You definitely need support to be able to succeed with something like that. My work colleagues have been great as well. Positive comments have definitely helped pushing me along. It's a psychological battle of wills - if you really really want it, you can make it happen.

What advice do you have for people out there who would like to lose weight, be it a few extra pounds or a greater challenge such as your own?
Most people eat out of genuine hunger, or boredom. Eating the right stuff and the right amount should deal with the hunger. Snacking can be healthy, instead of having crisps or biscuits choosing some fruit or a yoghurt. And like the doctors say, try to exercise more.

Do you have any closing comments that you'd like to add?
However much someone who's overweight says they are happy, usually deep down they aren't.
It's important to keep the mind busy to take the focus away from food, that way you can overcome the hunger pains.
I see the practice nurse every 3 months who is really pleased with my progress; I have stopped needing to take tablets for high blood pressure and my diabetes is much better controlled. I feel a lot more relaxed at racing and my performance improves because of this. I'm also much better at marshalling. I don't get out of breath now when I'm exercising and feel much more inclined to push my limits.
I'm starting to live now rather than exist.

Thanks Bondy and keep up the good work!
For anyone who has been inspired by Bondys success, check out the new oOple health promo forum, encouraging the r/c community to make healthy choices together :)

Truck results - FTD

VEGA have their new 'VEGA Elite' mid-motor conversions here racing. The first conversion from VEGA is for the Kyosho RB5, but they also had a Losi XXXCR conversion on hand to show us and are planning to release a conversion for the Tamiya 201X and Associated B4.

The cars will all feature similar design principles with a CNC machined alloy tub chassis being the centre piece, along with alloy 4-gear gearbox and lightweight motor mount / heatsink.

The conversion looks really high quality with first class machining and clear-anodising to protect the finish. The motor mount is really light weight and the gearbox halves key together to keep them square.

Kev Lee was on fire during practice	Lewis Dickinson and Kev Lee

Losi XXXCR conversion	Kev Lee's RB5 conversion

Kevin Lee was going well in practice - being third overall fastest. Limited time with the car along with changing conditions and a few errors were enough to push Kev out of the A Main however - but the car showed its pace

Vega is owned by Team Xtreme - makers of the Predator line of cars.

	Rb5 rear--end

RB5 gearbox	RB5 Conversion

2WD A Final Leg One
Lee lead the guys away from the grid, and all was clean for the first two corners, until Hupo turned in too early and wedged his nose on a track marker; Danny Mcgee was through into third place, whilst up ahead Lee and Jorn were pulling off.

Jorn appeared to clip Lee as the pair mounted the mad jump, and Jorn came off worst - landing on his lid on the table top like a stranded man-tortoise, whilst Danny landed the jump in second place. Lee was off on his own by now though. One lap in and the race order was Lee, Danny, Hupo, Jorn, and Bradders, with 5 more guys chasing behind.
Hupo and Jorn started the second lap side by side, however coming off the small jump and around the first corner, Hupo became upside down and Jorn was through into third with Bradders close behind - possibly close enough to be responsible for Hupos roof incident, but never mind that.
An altercation coming through the middle section after the mad jump saw McGee losing second place to Jorn, and then third, fourth and fifth place...

Jorn jumps high looking for a way past.	OOOOF, Jorn loses it after accidently clipping Lee

Shin performs some HEROIC marshalling - nearly being decapitated in the process.

Just a minute into the race and Lee Martin had already pulled a 2.4 second lead, whilst the order was seemingly continually changing behind him.
Jorn was pushing hard to catch up however - and looked incredibly quick, with a short gap back to Bradders in third place.
For the second half of the race most cars had spread out across the track, with not a great deal of close racing to watch, but in the excitement of the final minute Jorn was almost on fire in his quest to win yet another Petit event. As Lee came around to lap the backmarkers, chaos ensued on the banked corner, and Lee became entangled in a three-buggy-pile-up. Jorn looked good to take the lead, however Lee wasn’t about to lose out at this stage, and kept going smooth and fast to keep in front. On the next lap it was Jorn who became entangled with the rear-enders, but held onto second place - 3.5 seconds behind winner Lee Martin.

Lee kept his cool out front	Der junge springt unter flugzoid

Jorn tangles with the marshall in the chaos.	Nathan Waters and Craig Collinson go sidebyside

2WD A final - leg 1

A final truck - leg 1

Interview with new Schumacher driver, Danny McGee.

This is your first season with Schumacher and as we understand it, the first time you've driven a non-Losi in a long time. What influenced you to change team, and what have been the highlights of the season so far?
Yesterday in 2wd, I qualified in 4th. Racing against the European A-finalists who I haven't raced against for a while so I'm quite pleased.
Seeing the success of Tom with the cars, and having spoken to Schumacher and realising the possibilities that there were within the team. It's awesome that I can help in the development of the cars. We all work well together as a team.

What are you able to tell us about the products that you are running this weekend at Ardent Raceway?
I've been running the longer chassis on the 2wd which I have helped to develop, I feel that it has helped with the overall balance of the car, and this has helped me to drive more consistently. I've won Worksop and Ardent raceway events using the longer chassis, so have a lot of confidence in it.
I've run the cat SX2 to 'out of the box' set up, I would have liked to have done better today although having been only the second time I've driven the car B final is satisfactory.

What product developments are you the most excited about in the coming season?
Even though the Cougar was the 2WD national champion car last year, I'm excited about trying all the new optional parts for the Cougar which should hopefully make it an even faster car.

Which major events will you be competing in this year?
Probably all the nationals, possibly the Euros. No doubt will be competing at the oOple invernational as well. (good man)

Many of your racing buddies of the past have migrated over to 'the dark side', choosing nitro off-road over electric, do you have any plans to race nitro or will your focus remain on the electric offroad scene?
It'll remain on the 1/10th electric scene; I might try some fun 1/8th scale meetings but nothing serious - maybe if Schumacher organise a large event I'd participate.

Do you still make aeroplanes? How many do you have to build before you get to own one?
Yes, I do - although only in bits. I'd probably have to make millions of parts before I get my own (I've got one on order ;))

What do you think is the key to success?
Practice, practice, practice, as everyone always says. And racing in the uk, we're always racing against some of the best drivers in Europe.

Where do you think you'll be in 5 years time?
I'd like to think I'll still be racing because I've got loads of good friends who I have known for 15+ years, I know these guys better than I know my best friends.

Who paints your bodyshells and what inspired your colour scheme? What's wrong with an all white paint job with marker pen for stickers?
Kifo paints. All I asked him to do was use the blue and white, and let him do whatever else he wanted to. I think he's done a pretty cool job.

2WD A final Leg Two
The first lap was less eventful for leg 2 of the 2wd A final, however Lee and Jorn pulled a gap, and Jorn was really piling the pressure onto Lees rear end. As the pair came around on lap 2 over the mad jump though, Jorn misjudged his proximity to Lee, which resulted in the cars bouncing in opposite directions down the jump, with Lee ending up on the better side and Jorn dropping all the way back to 9th! - no chance at all for the German lad now.....? surely?

Lee leads them round lap one, corner one.

Jorn was almost inside Lees car	Jorn falls back down the jump - Lee rolls forward

The race order was now Lee, Danny, Hupo, and Bradders in fourth place, although a roly poly around the banked corner saw Bradders lose a place and Schumachers National Champion Tom Cockerill promoted to 4th.
At nearly two minutes into the race after holding a strong lead, Lee misjudged the banked corner and came off badly, losing out to Danny McGee who swiftly slipped his lengthy Schumacher Cougar into the first position.
Danny drove the next few laps under some great pressure from Jorn Neumann, who kept very close behind, whilst the pair pulled away from the other drivers.
Danny was fast down the straight, however a slight wheelie-stunt mid-straight cost him valuable mili-seconds resulting in Jorn taking over the top spot.

Jorn on a goddam mission - from 2nd to 9th to 2nd!	McGee hoons it into the side of the track- Jorn thru

Jorn was OFF and never looked back, Danny drove hard and fast but couldn’t quite get close to the German junge who took the second leg win.

2WD A final - leg 2

A final truck - leg 2

There was some chaos and debauchery coming around the first corner, however Lee and Jorn were well clear of this, with one leg win each behind them - the battle was on between the elite pair. Neil Cragg came out best from the initial mix up, holding third place for the next few laps, with Paul Bradby a short distance further back in 4th place.

Hupo gets marshalled - rest of the field tangled. Lee and Jorn escape.	Jorn in full attack mode and looking very quick

Jorn was hassling Lee hard, almost penetrating his gearbox, but keeping it clean for the best part. Lee throttled hard and looked to pull away from Jorn, but in a nail-biting moment half-way into the race, Lee came face-to-face with a track marker, and Jorn ended up nose-to-tail with no-where to go. The pair waited patiently to be marshalled, and in that instant Neil Cragg was promoted to second place as Lee and then Jorn were rescued. Lee, Neil and Jorn came over the mad-jump together and Jorn was quick to take the inside line on Neil, the wheel-clashing saw Neil take a flying-roll into the audience. Jorn was back in second, Bradders up to third, and Hupo in 4th place. Jorn landed badly coming off the jump after the loop, and Bradders moved into the second position.

Jorn accidently tickles lees arse.	Lee turns in too tight under pressure - collects Jorn

Lee, Cragg, Jorn -	Jorn on his roof - the dream is over.

Jorn drove like a manimal to catch up, and was soon alongside... the pair mounted the mad-jump side-by-side, and rounded the next corner together, but another wheel clash saw Bradders spin off into the audience this time, at just the same spot where his team-mate had experienced the same action just a few laps before.
It was now Lee in first place, a comfortable distance ahead of 2nd place Jorn, whilst Bradders and Cragg battled it out  for third. Cragg interfered with a track marker which allowed Bradders some breathing room and promoted Hupo into 4th place.
Jorn mis-mounted the mad jump as he navigated his final lap, and Bradders swiftly moved through into 2nd place. Lee was a few miles ahead and already crossing the line to take the win and with it the PetitRC 2WD 2011 title.

2WD A final - leg 3

A final truck - leg 3

2WD Buggy: Jorn Neumann 2nd - Lee Martin 1st - Paul Bradby 3rd

A Final 2wd Overall

TRUCK: Christian Hahlen 3rd -James Helliwell 1st - Dan Greenwood 2nd

A final truck - Overall

Lee poses like a pro

Tony E-vodka took the Veterans prize!

Day 2 - 4WD & UFO.
Another painfully early start saw the first heat of practice on at a bonkers 6:30am! - CRAZY. We were still in bed and happily missed it. Only one practice round for the 4WD buggies to allow an earlier finish to the day - earlier than the 9:30pm things ended the previous day anyway.

	Top 10 in Practice- 4wd
	position name result 1 Lee Martin 3/57.10 2 Jorn Neumann 3/57.20 3 Ellis Stafford 3/57.58 4 Hupo Honigl 3/57.65 5 Neil Cragg 3/57.83 6 Danny Mcgee 3/58.14 7 Tom Cockerill 3/58.19 8 Marc Rheinard 3/58.23 9 Simon Moss 3/58.55 10 James Ambrose ! 3/58.77

Jimmy* was racing in the 4WD class so had the first chance to actually experience the track. The new carpet which had been laid down for this event has so much grip it's insane. Drivers were going to extremes to try and tame their cars - with liberal use of dremels / knives / glue and snips to remove pins.

Most of the durango team drivers were running front anti-roll bars and limiting the front shocks with 4mm spacers inside as well as running reduced droop on the rear. Other than the jumps, this really was a touring car track, and the hard plastic track markings were unforgiving and made the track less flowing than those laid out with hose/rope.

Jump wise, there wasn't really much of a challenge on the track, but that's not to say it was easy - all of the jumps were fairly low but nicely made and were laid out on their own, one at a time, and often right before a corner, so there wasn't as much of a challenge as their could have been. Then we come to what I'd describe as the 'silly jump' - something straight out of the X-games I think would be a fair assesment. This jump would be the scene of many-many an accident and indeed game-changer in the finals as cars could virtually stop in the air and be hit by the next car up.
It was a much more interesting jump to race on than I'd actually imagined from looking at it, but a more straight forward jump would have been better for the racing. The 4WD cars were far-and-away better over this jump than the 2WD cars had been and most people were landing the down-slope which is the opposite from the previous day.
*I say 'Jimmy' in the 3rd person like I'm some sort of mysterious writer - it's actually me. All opinions are mine and should be disregarded since I've not raced for a year.

4wd Qualifying
The practice round aided in the re-seeding of the heats which took a while - so the top drivers had a long wait up on the rostrum before things finally got underway. Jorn Neumann didn't last long going off in heat one - a rear wheel flying off put him out of the hunt. Jorns team-mate Hupo Honigl took up the challenge and won the opening heat by quite a margain over 2WD champ Lee Martin. Things were far from settled however and Vicktor Wilck racing in heat 2 leap-frogged Hupo's effort by a second to take the round.

Doh!	Shin seemed on the edge a lot!

Craig Collinson went 6th	Danny McGee

	Round 1
	position name result 1 Victor Wilck 16/5'9.92 2 Hupo Honigl 16/5'10.34 3 Paul Bradby 16/5'11.26 4 Nathan Waters 16/5'13.12 5 Neil Cragg 16/5'14.16 6 Craig Collinson 16/5'15.32 7 Lee Martin 16/5'16.12 8 Shin Adachi 16/5'17.10 9 Marc Rheinard 16/5'17.88 10 Danny Mcgee 16/5'18.22

Shin Adachi - Kyosho, Japan. What racing stuff are you using this weekend? Kyosho lazer ZX5FS2, Orion brushless 6.5, Orion lipo, LRP speedo, schumacher yellow minipins, white wheels. Fuelled by Pepsi. What are your thoughts about the track here at Ardent raceway, is it similar to the facilities you race on at home? Last year was my first time on a carpet track, this time there is so much more traction. It's very different here, so I've needed to use a different car set up. I struggled to find a good set up in 2wd, but today it's been better than yesterday. How long did it take you to travel to this event, and how long will you stay in England for? I'm staying for 4 days, arrived Friday night, go back Monday night. It is a 12 hour flight. What do you like best about racing off-road? I like everything. Do you feel you drive differently to UK drivers? I don't think so, but it is different driving on carpet, in Japan everything is on dirt. Which track would you like to see the next petit race held at? It would be nice to come back to this track

Ricardo Cardoso - Team Portugal. What racing stuff are you using this weekend? Schumacher  cat both days, with LRP electrics. Normally yellow wheels, schumacher minipin yellow.  Fuelled by Coca Cola. What are your thoughts about the track here at Ardent raceway, is it similar to the facilities you race on at home? The track is soft, it isn't too technical and the jumps aren't too big. It's smoother than the tracks we race back home. How long did it take you to travel to this event, and how long will you stay in England for? 2.5 hours on the plane, then a 2 hour drive. We're going home on Monday. What do you like best about racing off-road? I love everything about racing, I like off-road and electric. In my country the 1/8th scale isn't too popular, so we race electric.It's only been two years ago that electric off-road came to portugal, but it is growing in popularity. Do you feel you drive differently to UK drivers? Yes, the top drivers here are very fast! Which track would you like to see the next petit race held at? I don't know many tracks, but something more technical with bigger jumps would be nice.

Hupo was back in round two - improving on the previous fastest time of Vicktor by a couple of seconds to take the round just in front of a renewed Ellis Stafford who was racing the Kyosho ZX5 FS2 and looked damn quick. Ellis had modified the steering linkage to alter the ackerman settings and it seemed to work for him.

	Round 2
	position name result 1 Hupo Honigl 16/5'7.69 2 Ellis Stafford 16/5'7.99 3 Paul Bradby 16/5'8.54 4 Craig Collinson 16/5'9.41 5 Nathan Waters 16/5'10.08 6 Jorn Neumann 16/5'10.90 7 Lee Martin 16/5'11.80 8 Elliott Boots 16/5'13.29 9 Cyril Baldini 16/5'14.81 10 Adam Skelding 16/5'17.95

Hupo took a new fastest time to go top of the pile in heat one of round three, but the next heat on the line saw Paul Bradby and Viktor Wilck battle it out to take the fastest time off Hupo, Bradders was on top form though and to cheers from the onlookers set a new fastest time of the day. Meanwhile, Lee Martin was sitting down in 10th position after 3 rounds of qualifying, after putting on a spectacular performance in 2WD yesterday and setting the fastest time in 4wd practice.

Jorn Neumann didn't quite get off the line in round three - proving mistakes can happen to the best of us; Gerd Strenge, designer of the Durango himself, put Jorns gearbox in upside-down and the car was literally tearing itself apart. oops.

	Round 3
	position name result 1 Paul Bradby 16/5'6.69 2 Hupo Honigl 16/5'6.93 3 Victor Wilck 16/5'7.21 4 Marc Rheinard 16/5'8.98 5 Neil Cragg 16/5'9.75 6 Ellis Stafford 16/5'10.49 7 Tom Cockerill 16/5'11.95 8 Simon Moss 16/5'12.58 9 Craig Collinson 16/5'13.48 10 Cyril Baldini 16/5'14.41

Ellis Stafford is running the Kyosho ZX5 FS2 in 4WD during 2011 and the PetitRC racce is Ellis's third time out racing the Kyosho. Ellis's car is standard even down to the normal-bore dampers.

Ellis is racing a near-standard ZX5 FS2

Ellis found the steering wasn't 'right' on the car and in his usual manner it wasn't long before the dremel came out and he'd modified the Ackerman link to create a more even angle between the wheels as they're turning. The regular car apparently turns the outside wheel very little.

Ellis caught by surprise	Carbon fibre 'ackerman' bridge extenders

oOple invernational 4WD champion, Nathan Waters proved his oOple success wasn't a fluke by beating the best in Europe and taking the final round of qualifying ahead of Neil Cragg and Jorn Neumann. Former touring-car world champion, Andy Moore threw down an acceptable time to go 7th in round just ahead of overall TQ man Paul Bradby.

Round 4

Team Durango had a couple of new developments on the 410 buggy, a new alloy rear gearbox locator loop was being tested by the team. Under extreme landings the gearbox could sometimes 'jump' out of the plastic loop and this new alloy part should stop that happening. And it's anodised orange - a bonus!

Some of the team were also testing the new 'Big Bore' dampers that aren't yet available to buy but should be out within a few weeks. The new dampers are standard equipment on the new Short Course truck.

The new rear gearbox locator on Hupos car	Adam Skeldings car with the new BIG BORES

Rheinard was using a BLING white Sanwa M11X

Graham Smith felt tired.

After looking over the 2WD prototype on the previous day, during 4WD we got a chance to see Ben Cosgrove's 4WD buggy - the D4X prototype. The buggy is of course heavily based on the D4 but some of the many changes are all-new carbon parts. The main chassis plate no longer has slots for nimh cells and both top decks run the full length under the shock tower mounts and are the same height.

The front and rear gearboxes and shock tower mounts are the same front and rear - and on this prototype are machined from alloy. The gearboxes themselves are designed to accomodate the oil-filled differentials that Ben was running, which is all prototype at the moment.

Ben Cosgrove poses with his D4X prototype	alloy gearbox and tower mount

New 'Flux Pro' brushless system	Metal sleeves do away with CVD grub screws

Front end	Crotch shot

Ben managed a very respectable 27th overall in qualifying with the car and hopes there's a chance for the changes to make it into production in the future.

4WD A Final Leg 1

Bradders car looks like it's been punched in the face - HARD, Proline style. But it obviously works well enough.

In the first couple of laps, Bradders,  Hupo and Wilck pulled a small gap on the rest of the field. Nathan Waters moved up into 5th place.

Bradders leads them - Hupo gives a friendly nudge	Bradders jumps low - Hupo SKYS IT!

Hupo pushed hard for a way past	The pair jump together

Bradders was too good really, and although Hupo kept close behind and pushed hard at times, he just wasn’t up to the challenge on this occasion. Good skillz to Bradders for owning leg1 which received a huge cheer in the hall.

Bradders had to take the tight line!	A popular winner - Bradders gets crowd love.

4WD A Final Leg 1

Dave Belsten from NUCLEAR-RC had some of his new products on show at the PetitRC meeting - some nice low-viscosity CA glue and fast-cure spray for perfect tyre adhesion. There were also Tamiya TRF501/511 adhesive vinyl diff covers.

Last but not least, some seriously generous (in RC terms) lube pots - Thrust bearing grease, Silicone diff grease and some thick 'Anti-Wear' grease which is the sort of thing you'd use on CVD's if you're that way inclined!

Dave Belsten is crazy - but his products aren't!	Some of the Nuclear-RC range

The Belsten Twins - Big Air and Little Air.

Roger Mills sees how it's done with Ellis' ZX5 FS2.

4WD A Final Leg 2
The first minute of 4wd a final leg 2 was really smooth, and not a great deal was happening. Bradby had been leading from the start, however took the decision to spice things up a little as he came over the mad jump, and landed off the track - he'd been jumping far to the left all day, this time a little too far. Hupo snatched the lead, and Wilck was through into second place and was hot on Hupos tail.

Bradders - Hupo behind	Bradders goes too wide on the landing - off the side

An error from Hupo coming off the banked corner (and off the track) saw Wilck grab hold of the top position. Hupo was close behind though, and less than one lap further into the race, Viktor came too close to a track marker in his excitement, and error which required a U-turn to correct. Hupo was back into the lead, and Bradders was in second place. Ellis Stafford was in the battle too, and hot on Bradders’ tail. With some position-swapping occuring on the in-field, Hupo and Bradders danced off ahead, whilst Viktor was into third and trying to shake off a chasing Rheinard.

Hupo leading from Wilck	Wilck back to fourth after an error - Bradder 2nd with an Ellis in the middle

Bradby chases hupo	Hupo overshoots the corner and Bradby is through

With a minute left to race Bradders was driving hard and pushing to take the lead,  Hupo and Bradders navigated the corners and jumps side-by-side and Bradders looked hot to pass, however the excitement was too much and he flipped out. Bradders put in an awesome effort on the last lap to try and take the win, but Hupo had it and wasn’t letting him past. Meanwhile whilst the crowd were going wild for the leaders, Rheinard madde a successful pass at Wilck and finished the race in third place.

A battle ensues - Hupo comes out on top	Hupo holds it to the line as Bradby gives it one last mad thrust.

4WD A Final Leg 2

4WD A Final Leg 3
well, he was winning it for the first minute, then clipped a track marker and lost a place to Hupo. Hupo held onto the lead for approximately two corners, then did exactly what Bradby had done in the race before - landing off the side of the infamous mad-jump and lots plenty of time as Bradby took off for a near-certain victory.

Bradby leads Hupo - for the win	Bradders goes too tight and Hupo rails past for the lead

Hupo fell off the side of the ramp	Bradby took a well deserved victory

Bradders was now chased by Wilck, Rheinard and Jorn. Wilck played another nose-in game with the track markers and lost a few places, but by now Bradders had plenty of breathing space from the chasing Rheinard and  Jorn.
Bradders won it by miles.

4WD A Final Leg 3

If you see this man, lock up your mothers.

If you see this man, just lock him up.

A Final 4wd Overall Result

Marc Rheinard 3rd - Paul Bradby 1st - Hupo Honigl 2nd

After the racing was over - the PetitRC organisers held the 'UFO' race before trophies and raffles were held. The UFO race in previous years has consisted of the top three in 2WD/4WD/Truck - but this year it was invite only - with each country present taking a spot on the podium with any car they could be bothered to smash up.

The track was run the opposite way to racing with some modifications to the big jump. Basically though it turned from a race to chaos in the blink of an eye and was more akin to MAD MAX or DEATH RACE 2000 than any sort of organised race. Gerd Strenge from Team Durango almost stopped designing winning cars when he decided to marshall after the mad-jump - not quite realising the reign of terror that was approaching from the other side as several cars peppered his body like buckshot. (Actually he didnt get hit, but it's 3am and I'm trying to stay awake)



The highlight of the madness was Hupo Honigl - with chants of 'HUPO HUPO HUPO' - taking a big run up at the mad-jump and launching way-way-way into the air, almost hitting the beams high above before coming back down at terminal velocity - the force of which immediately broke front and rear bulkheads but thankfully didn't kill anyone.

Roll on the next PetitRC race.