Another weekend, another trip to the races. Electric 10th again this time, but a the Might Ansmann was taking a back seat as Sunday 27th marked the first outing of my Durango DEX410R. Simon Crabb of RC Lazy , now official Tresrey stockists, had sorted me with a new Gainabull bodyshell, so with fresh paint and room for the electrics at last it was off to the races!
The morning dawned bright, dry, and rather nippy. Still a good crowd had turned out including the massed 'Rango runners from Clanfield in the shape of Chris Spencer-Smith, Tony RC, Jamie Kerr and myself. We pitted together in the shade of the RC Lazy love bus, Simon Crabb and Mark Townsend running the usual track side shop as well as racing Rango and Tamiya respectively. They were joined by the ever understated Rob 'Holywood' Raisey for the morning, arriving a little later than most. Some swine changed the clocks and forgot to mention it to him by all accounts.
The circuit had been quite substantially changed again since my last visit a couple of weeks earlier, now featuring an excellent table top, a roller/kicker arrangement and a small high speed ramp arrangement. The surface had also been smoothed out, and the pipe-work re-laid to create a superb layout offering both high speed and technical sections, and an excellent chicane onto the back straight, which proved tricky to get right but rewarded when you did.
Out for practice and the car was feeling pretty good, the blue compound Schumacher mini-spikes hooked up well, although I was glad to be running 2wd fronts, I think anything else would have been monumentally pointy!
Much hillarity was had at the extreme amount of negative camber Chris was running, some where in the region of -10 degress. It may have worked for him, but it did look some what odd it has to be said!
Four rounds of qualifying saw me going through a good progression of results, starting with 9 in 5:22 in round one and ending with 10 in 5:22 by round four. I was getting dialed in to the car, and some minor set up tweaks were also helping. Still there's a lot more to come, especially once I get more used to how quick these four wheel drive missiles are!
Chris was running very well on his first outing with his DEX410, running consistantly and gradually removing the camber from the back of his car. Tony RC seemed to be having something of a 'mare, only running just ahead of me. Star of the day though was definitely Jamie, he was looking fast and smooth, actually beating out local hot shoe Steve Brown in round 2. Simon Crabb must have been having a bad day, ending qualifying behind me... hope it was nothing to do with the shell I'd sprayed up for him!
Simon, Tony, and I had qualified down in the B final (oh the shame of it). At the warble we all shot off for a couple of laps of close racing before Tony broke, Simon finally got it together and shot off into the distance and I started driving like a cock.
Chris had qualified into the A main (much to his surprise) along with Cameron running his Losi. A mass brawl at the first corner reduced the field some what, Mikey Scott's Durango and Cammers being knocked out on the spot. Jamie ran a strong second, splitting the Tamiyas of Steve B and Rob for the first 8 laps, until a bad lap dropped Jamie down to third and promoting Rob to second at the line. The A final was fast and furious, the bone dry astro allowing the four wheel drive cars to lay down all the power they had.
We stayed on afterward for some practice and testing (or dicking about, which ever you prefer), and to enjoy the afternoon sunshine. Track man Martin along with Mark made some extra tweaks to the layout, which we all tried out and agreed improved the track even further.
I seem to say this at the end of every report, but the TORCH club and circuit just keep on getting better. Big thanks to all involved, it great to see your efforts paying off.
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