Much-More UK Rug Racers Round Three
Reporter Mark Young
We were back at Wodson Leisure Centre for round three of the Much-More UK Rug Racers Championship in early December. This month we were in for a treat as the modified drivers were back. They were running at the new 1350g weight with LiPo’s, which produced some very fast racing. Some of the countries best drivers were in attendance, including the 2009 BRCA Champion Chris Grainger.
The track was again laid the previous night by many of the H.R.C.C. crew and friends from other clubs that could make it. This time it was decided to tape the carpet joins after last times incident with the double sided tape, which meant several rolls of gaffer tape as usual. The track layout was decided by a short poll on RC Race Chat and it had a similar layout to the one used to great success at the E.M.C.C. meeting a few weeks earlier. But it was altered slightly so it was not exactly the same, so there was no real advantage to drivers who had been to that meeting.
In the Pits.
There were a few car changes and updates for round three. The biggest news was that Elliott Harper had a new ride, changing over from Xray to a Tamiya chassis. Brian Eldridge had also made a switch to the ever growing T.O.P. team with a Photon chassis. Chris Grainger was using the updated MI4 LP, which is primarily the same car that he used to great success in the 2009 B.R.C.A. National series, but with a LiPo chassis which has no cell cut outs and a few other tweaks.
Many drivers were using the new updated version of the Sweep control tyres. These have the same insert and tyre but with a revised wheel which does not flex like the V1 wheels did on some cars. But speaking to quite a few drivers in the pits they were still using the V1’s as they had no problems with them. With most using a washer on the outside of the wheel before putting the wheel nut on. This seems to hold the wheel against the hex and stops it from moving and then spinning. The new wheel seems to give slightly less grip, which on H.R.C.C’s carpet is probably a good thing as there carpet is extremely grippy.
TC3 Qualifying
Round 1 saw Philip Randall put in a very clean run to produce a 30/ 310.81 followed a lap down by Dean Osbon on 29/ 309.68. Malcolm Hall was just under a lap behind Dean on 28/ 302.41. Philip went two seconds quicker in the second round to post a 30/ 308.29 with another super smooth and trouble free run. Mark Buonaiuto was the next quickest driver to try and catch Philip on a 29/ 307.71 with Matthew Worton taking third spot on 28/ 306.13. Philip again showed just how consistant he can be putting in yet another 30 lap score on 30/ 309.02 in the final qualifying run. Matthew Worton improved on his best time with a 29/ 302.43 as did Mark Buonaiuto on 29/ 303.90.
TC2 Qualifying
Things were a lot closer in the 10.5 class and it was multi-tasker (check out the mod results) Christopher Delves who was top of the tree after Round one with a 30/ 303.52 with Ricky Copsey just over a second behind on 30/ 304.70 and Richard King driving his Photon into third on 30/ 306.05 a few seconds behind. Round two saw Ricky put in another cool run and was rewarded this time with a 31/ 309.71 pinching FTQ from Christopher who also improved with a 31/ 309.76! How close was that! Richard just missed the 31 lap club in this round but showed with a very fast 30/ 303.62. Ricky went two seconds quicker in the final round on a 31/ 307.64 with Christopher hot on his heels with 31/ 310.04. Richard stayed third with 30/ 304.78.
TC1 Qualifying
From the start Chris Grainger showed us how he does it on a 32/ 308.96 followed by Olly Jefferies on a 31/ 305.54 and Matthew White on 31/ 306.88. Round two and Chris G put in another flying run but was a few seconds off of his FTQ on a 32/ 310.28. Olly improved by a few seconds on 31/ 302.87 and Chris Kerswell got to grips with his MI4 posting a 31/ 303.24. Round three and Elliott Harper sorted his new Tamiya ride which I’m sure put his mind at rest after the change of chassis and just pipped Chris for the FTQ by nearly two seconds with a 32/ 307.04. Chris G replied with a 32/ 308.30 which was a slight improvement for him while Chris Kerswell put in another consistent run with 31/ 305.61.
TC3 A Finals.
Philip Randall couldn’t manage another 30 lapper in leg one but still managed to hold on to the end for the first leg win of the day on a 29/ 302.92 from a hard charging Steve Henry who put in an excellent run with his new T.O.P. car on 29/ 308.40 with Dean Osbon keeping him honest in third on 29/ 310.21.
Philip took leg to and the overall A final win in leg two with his favourite number of the day with another 30 lapper on 30/ 308.06. Malcolm Hall pushed through to take second at the flag with a 29/ 301.59 just missing Philip’s 30 lap club. Dean rounded out the top three with a 29/ 307.05 with an excellent drive from the back of the grid after a shunt on turn one.
Leg three and Philip did a bit of show-boating by taking his third win of the day to make it six from six on a 29/ 302.53 I’m sure he and his Dad went home with big smiles on their faces, well done. Malcolm just edged across the finish line in front of Dean on 29/ 307.08. Dean finished on 29/ 307.21 an excellent drive after some more bad luck at turn one.
TC2 A Finals
Leg one saw Richard King show the true pace of his Photon taking a very popular win on 30/ 304.35. Two other drivers to show where Ashley Wiffen in second on 30/ 310.07 and Paul Pinkney on 29/ 300.28, So where were the days other two fastest drivers? Read on…
After a first lap retirement in leg one for Ricky Copsey he was back on form in the second and took the win on a 30/ 301.95 closely followed by Ashley Wiffen on 30/ 305.11. Christopher Delves followed home in third on 30/ 309.48. This meant it was anyone’s final to win in leg three which made things very interesting.
Leg three and Christopher managed a 30/ 302.67 and with it the leg win. Ricky came home second on a 30/ 303.65 which was enough to secure him the overall A final win, with Richard practically repeating his round one time in third on a 30/ 304.04.
TC1 A Finals
Chris Grainger must have been happy to take the leg one win after being robbed of F.T.Q. by Elliott onein the last round, he also recorded the fastest time for mod in leg 1 on a 32/ 303.94 but Olly Jefferies chased him all the way for the five minutes as the two crossed the finish line practically together with Olly on a 32/ 304.22. Matthew White finished a fine third on 31/ 301.91.
Leg two and Olly was the man to watch this time with another quick time of 32/ 307.61 which gave him a leg win. Matthew came in second this time on 31/ 304.21 whilst Elliott Harper was third on 30/ 302.91. This left us again with a few different drivers that could take the overall win, but who would it be?
Elliott rose to the challenge and was back at the top and took the leg three win on 32/ 304.91 from Olly on 32/ 308.45 and Matthew taking the last third place of the day on 31/ 303.90. Chris had a few problems during leg’s two and three, not of his own making so the overall result and winner of the A final went to Olly Jefferies – a well deserved win for some awesomely consistent driving, well done.
Meeting Summary
Well it was great to see the mod drivers back again, there’s nothing like the cool breeze of the tail wind from several cars whizzing past you while you are marshalling.
Yet another successful days racing completed. Now we are at the halfway point things are hotting up at the top, with Philip edging out a nice lead over the rest of the 13.5 drivers and Ricky doing the same in 10.5. It’s all still to play for at this point and I’m sure Philip is getting a touch of the Jensons. Ricky has been there and has the T-shirt to prove it, so I’m sure he is keeping a cool head about his Championship prospects.
There was a bit of controversy after the meeting on that well know RC forum. This was with regards to how drivers are seeded at the beginning of the day. As anyone knows who runs a club or a series/championship it is very hard to keep everyone happy. There were a few drivers who attended round three that would normally be in higher heats. But as this was R3 and most drivers had attended the previous two rounds this is how the seeding works, on your previous results. At the end of the day things seemed to work themselves out. Most were happy with their results so it was not to much of a problem and now everyone knows how it works and are OK with the rules, which are in place to help people doing the whole championship.
Well until next time, see you trackside…
