Tamworth was the venue for the fourth round of the inaugural BRCA UK Micro National series.  This was our second time at Tamworth, having been here for the last 'UK Micro Challenge' in early 2007 – same club but the venue had moved to a different school.  It was also our second Micro National, having attended the previous round (3) back in November. 

The Micro Nationals might appear to be just a bit of fun, but the top drivers take it as seriously as their other racing commitments - with drivers coming from 10th off road, 8th off road and electric touring backgrounds - to name a but a few.

Unlike previous Micro meetings, the UK Micro National series has only two categories - as long as your vehicle meets the dimension requirements, then you can race.  The 'Pro Stock' class is the largest class with the most intense competition.  'Stock' really doesn't describe these cars well - since almost anything goes as long as traditional brushed motors and NiMh cells are used.
The 'Modified' class is generally full of the same type vehicles, but with the added power of brushless motors being allowed.  Neither class was allowed to run LiPo cells.

Pro Stock - Round 1:

Craig Harris took the lead in Round 1 of pro stock, with his LRP Shark (Blaze) truck/buggy hybrid. Keith Robertson was hot on his heels with his Associated RC18B, only 1 second behind.

oOple- results.Jimmy - 12th. John - 28th Vicky - 42nd.

Modified - Round 1:

Four wheel drive cars dominate, as you'd expect.  Very few 2WD chassis even exist, and the inherent disadvantage of racing alongside the 4WD cars means they are unpopular on the racing scene.  Still, a few brave souls still run the original 'Micro' - the Losi Mini-T, and Tamiya's increasingly varied TamTech range is slowly gaining popularity.
The ubiquitous FTX Blaze is one car that could be said to dominate.  The 'Blaze' is actually only one of the many names these buggies go by - with some drivers choosing the Duratrax or LRP versions, or varying between the truck or buggy versions, among others. 

The track that greeted the racers was a narrow and challenging layout, with staggered jumps, a table-top cross over, a huge table-top corner, staggered mats and plenty more. The practice round in the morning showed just how tricky things really were - with cars tumbling and getting stuck all over the place. A few track changes were made to make the layout easier to navigate, but it was still far from flowing, with plenty of hair pins and sharp corners and tricky obstacles.

Fastest Time qualifying was in use, so the fastest time / most laps gave the overall qualifying position. This meant it was all or nothing - no steady runs here. The challenging track didn't make this easy as pushing the car meant more mistakes for most drivers.

I was using the 2WD Tamiya TamTech-gear buggy champ (GB02) again. The car was good around the very challenging track, but perhaps my driving let me down in the end. The track was easy enough to negotiate, but pushing harder with the 2WD Tamiya saw me make mistakes - never improving on my round 1 time.

Pro Stock - Round 2:

In round two, Craig Harris stretched his lead in pro-stock even further, being the only one on 12 laps. Keith didn't improve but Stu Harlow (racing in both classes) was closing in on keith.

Tables and power were provided in the warm pits	Craig Harris shows John Price a physics demonstration

4th round - over all qualifying, Pro Stock.

The top three stayed as they had from round two, not improving in rounds three or four - and with no one able to close the gap it was Craig Harris in pole, Keith 2nd and Stu Harlow 3rd on the grid.

4th round - over all qualifying, Modified.

Stu Harlow had a good lead over Cris Oxley - who closed the gap in rounds three and four, just missing out on 11 laps. So it was Stuart Harlow in pole, Cris Oxley 2nd and Allan Davies some 18 seconds further back in third on the grid.

Final Results.
Pro Stock A final:

Craig Harris was pushed hard by Keith Robertson - eventually winning by just 4 seconds from Keith, with Stephen Davis third.

Cris Oxley took the win, and with it the championship title, from Stuart Harlow, who'd been dominating qualifying all day.

Well done to the organisers on a well run meeting. The track was ultimately a 'bit' hard work for those of us who aren't super stars - but it was still a fun day out. Roll on elsemere, where I'll be reviewing the new XRAY M18T Pro, all being well.