Sunday 22nd February 2009

Doors opened at 7am with first practice on the line at 7:30 am! - with 15 heats and 160 drivers, 96 4WD & 64 2WD, it needed to be an early start. To accomodate the extra drivers some heats had as many as 12 drivers!

Nathan Ralls of Team Xtreme was driving the Kyosho RB5 with worlds rear end - and on only his third meeting with the car put it into the top spot to take round one, with 14 laps in 316 seconds. The only other car through for the magic 14 laps was local hero James Helliwell driving the X6 - James finishing just 2 tenths of a second behind Nathan. Paul Bradby came in third with the Associated B4 on 13 laps in 301.78 seconds.

2WD - Round 1

In the 4WD class, indoor specialist Richard Lowe, took his JConcepts BJ4 Worlds car to an easy round win with a massive 15 lapper - 15 laps in 315.50 - James Helliwell driving the Schumacher SX came in second just like he'd done in 2WD, with 14 laps in 304seconds. Danny McGee nudged the ageing Losi XX4 into third.

4WD - Round 1

Round Two
Nathan Ralls was looking supremely confident in 2WD, with another stellar drive in round two to wrap up an early TQ. Danny McGee came in second less than half a second behind - 2WD National Champion Ellis Stafford came third with the X6 squared.

Richard Lowe took another round - again, wrapping up an early TQ - 7 seconds ahead of second place man Danny McGee, with Associated driver Paul Bradby a couple of seconds further back for third in round.

As if to prove that I'd set the colours wrong on my camera - Bondy burns out the lens with his red tshirt	The guys check out their lap times whilst Leon stands back a little trying to remember exactly how to READ!

Round Three Nathans good run in 2WD came to an end in round three with an error on lap 9 losing him around 7 seconds - Phil Sleigh stepping up to the mark with his XFactory X6squared to take the win on a new fastest time of 14 laps in 310.83. Matt Dodd second and Paul Bradby third. Richard Lowe didn't make the same mistake as Nathan and took this third sucessive round win just ahead of Paul Bradbys B44. Nathan Waters edged out James Helliwell for third with his CAT SX.

The exit from the large table top.	Tyres aren't too important at Worksop - as this driver proves. Even worn-slick tyres work surprisingly well.

The new SPEED PASSION 1/8th scale brushless speed controller - the so-called 'Silver Arrow' (yeah baby) was being used extensively at the meeting (not really - this is entirely made up) and was seen in several cars. Unfortunately the new ESC doesn't allow room for traditional cells, or indeed any cells what so ever, or body shells for that matter.

I seem to have stumbled into pc world.	This CAT driver wasn't running ANY cells! HARDCORE

Looking more akin to a slightly small PC Power supply - this new bruiser of an ESC is literally built like a tank, with full metal 'brick' styling to give it that hardcore edge. The SilverArrow can handle 14.8v, has a nifty USB update feature and despite the 'open' looks is actually water resistant! ---- And no, it doesn't fit in 1/10th cars but should fit fine in the cars it's actually designed for.

Team Xtreme once again had their massive trade show style banner around their pit area - showing off or what! Still - since I just joined the ranks and will be running a Predator X11 this season I got a chance to see some of the latest developments on the team cars.

The first new part is of course the new solid rocker pivots - long overdue but finally here, the new rocker pins are (as the name would suggest) solid instead of the lighter hollow originals and should handle all the abuse you can throw at them.

The new solid rocker pins left - original hollow pin on the right.	One recent development is the steeper angle on the front pushrods - moved inward by about 10mm here on Nathans car.

The team were trying a new rear end mod which should see production in some guise soon. The modification sees the suspension arms shortened and the hub pivot moved inward by several mm's - the idea being to aid in rear mechanical grip and help the car square up under power.

The CNC machined hub extensions are prototype parts and should be part of the hub itself if/when the parts make it to final production.

Round Four
Paul Bradby put in a new fastest time in 2WD to win the final round - but he'd have to settle for second on the grid for the final. Danny McGee finished second and Phil Sleigh third.

Bradby was obviously 'on fire' and took the final round of 4WD as well - again placing second on the grid for the final. James Helliwell just missed out on 15 laps but was happy to settle for second with Nathan Ralls less than a second further back in third, driving the Predator X11.

2wd overall qualifying - best 2 from 4

Carl Latham got some solder in his eye! (not really, this is called acting)	TRF 501X

Tom Cockerill	Coming up short on the table top.

Above: Nathan Ralls took TQ with the Kyosho RB5.

4wd overall qualifying - best 2 from 4

Interview with Superstar Chris Stewart.

Do you know why Northy wears ladies spectacles?
I think it is because they were on special offer, buy one get one free.

On the menu for Chinese take-away, what is your favourite number? Kev Kitchens is number 44.
My favourite is number 22, two little ducks, I won bingo once and those were my winning numbers.

What is your favourite time of day? Stu likes tea-time best.
Ohh I'll have to think about that one, bed time probably.

How many Chickens can you fit in a greenhouse?
Is it a standard size greenhouse? That would be 78 chickens.

When was the last time you awoke in the morning and had no idea where you were?
This morning.

Rendezvous - do you like what that word suggests, on a subliminal level?
Probably!

What time did you set off to come to Worksop today?
5.30 last night!

What big car do you drive, and is it fast?
I drive a Freelander2, it isn't at all fast, and I have never taken it off road.

What car are you racing here today, and have you won yet?
I'm racing the Cat SX, and I'm not winning yet, I am however well ahead of Cragg.

How long have you been racing R/C cars for?
6 years in total.

What is your favourite race venue?
Worksop.

2WD A Final
After a great days qualifying poor Nathan Ralls stint at the front of the grid didn't last long. An error on the first hair pin after the main straight saw nathan riding along the track marking, wheels either side - simply taking the corner too tight to defend his line. Paul Bradby was straight through for the lead.

Phil Sleigh was up to second with the XFactory car but took a corner too tight himself and ended up on his roof and down to fourth , allowing Ellis Stafford through into second from 7th on the grid at the end of lap one. With the chaos behind, Bradby had a nice little lead over Ellis, who himself had a small lead over Phil Sleigh who was back upto third after passing James Helliwell.

Bradby	Phil Sleigh

Ellis was closing in quickly on Bradby - eventually forcing the error as bradby took a corner too tightly, going up on two wheels. Bradby managed to recover but Ellis was now right on him. The pair did half a lap nise-to-tail but coming over the series of jumps mid-track Ellis came up short and rolled out of the picture - and again two corners later!

Nathan Ralls gets a friendly tap from McGee	Bradby leads Ellis around

Bradby got some free space and didn't look back for the remainder of the race - going on to take the win ahead of Ellis and Heilliwell.

4WD A Final
Lowe lead from Bradby and Helliwell - they came round to the double-double in the middle of the track and Bradby looked for an early pass but misjudged and came off the side of the double. After a lap it was all about Richard Lowe out front and Paul Bradby chasing.

Lowe lead for most of the race but Bradby started to close the gap - putting on the pressure which eventually told o as Richard rolled. Richard was quickly back on his wheels but 2 corners later it was tPaul Bradbys turn to roll as he simply went in too hard and grip rolled - allowing Lowe a quick return to the front. Richard remained error free for the rest of the race and Bradby couldn't close the gap in time.