Carpet Wars Round 4
Welcome to round 4 of the Maritime Racing run Carpet Wars Championship of 2009/10.
Hello to all of the guys at the BRCA 12th scale meeting in Plymouth if your watching.
So as we have not been stuck on the M25 for a few hours like the last round we should be able to get a flavor of the track and the times being set today, theres around 30 people here today getting a feel of things.
Track Guide
Turn 1: Hairpin. At the end of the main straight we have a right hand hairpin this round, you'd think quite heavy braking is needed but talking to the drivers there saying if you nail the line theres no braking needed, so only braking when theres a mistake lifting off here.
Turn 2: Hairpin. Left hairpin this time, after the right hairpin off the straight. On the exit theres a kink on the right hand side to watch out for. Also this is where the stop go box is.
Turn 3: Hairpin. Right hairpin again, key here is to not get the line wrong. Time to be lost here because there's a short straight on exit, running wide will make you very easy to pass on exit into the next turn.
Turn 4: Right hand. Small lift should be all thats needed here. Stay right on exit to get best entry for next turn.
Turn 5: Double Apex left. Keep car off the track marker on the right mid corner and nail the exit for best speed.
Turn 6: Double Apex right. Under the drivers stand, Don't let car run passed mid track and square off the exit ready for the next one.
Turn 7: Hairpin left. Easy again the over shoot if to keen with the left thumb.
Turn 8: Hairpin right. Stay tight full attack on exit for sweeper on to straight.
Neat lines over outright speed will reward a good lap time in my view over this weekend.
Practice Updates. 3.PM
10.5 Class, Brian Eldridge is very happy with his Top Photon so far today, saying that running his diffs in the lower position has helped the Photon keep flatter between corners helping his lap times. Chris Grainger is here testing more set up changes than the average bear on his Mi4LP, his lap times are coming down though. The fastest driver I've timed so far with a 10.5 motor is David Bowen, getting Tamiya down to a 13.02 lap time.
13.5 Class, Mark Marshall is on top with the 13.5 motors, putting his Schumacher Mi4 though it's paces, earlier in the day he was having trouble with push at the end of the straight, a body shell change helped him not just there but round the other fast parts of the track, saying he's looking forward to tomorrow now the cars good.
12th Scale, It's all about Mark Green today with his Serpent car.
Mark Green deep in thought.
Practice Updates. 4.PM
No big changes here really to be honest, but Chris Grainger has tested putting his springs on wrong, having one front spring on the back, and one back on the front. His findings were that it was not as good.
Ed Clark's tested out standing on the track, he liked it, but people trying to drive were less than keen.
Been having a chat with Mark Green about teaming up with LRP for this coming seasons racing and which of there products he will be using. The one that will be seen the most is there starter box, but the other very interesting products are the range of Lipo battery's he's going to be using though out his other equipment. First is the one in the starter box. He will also use LRP Lipo's in both his 10th and 8th cars radio boxes receiver packs. The other place is his Sanwa Super Exzes plus 2.4Ghz transmitter, the 1700mAh Lipo he says will last 5 hours, and the weight savings the Lipo gives him makes the transmitter much much lighter, which in an hour long final is going to take the weight off his arms, which can only help at the end of those long gas finals. MaxRC wishes Mark and LRP the best of luck for the upcoming year.
Race Day Has Started.
Good Morning,
Again, hello to any of the 12th scale guys at Plymouth today.
We are working our way though the practice heats now, track looks in better shape already this morning, some of the drivers were saying that the grip was abut funny yesterday due to the carpet needing to come back in. Because of the off road meeting that the Maritime club staged last weekend, in doing there amazing jumps and ramps, the grip seems to take a few days to get back to its best.
Spotted in the Pits.
For some of you, this will be a very big surprise. I spotted a very rare Gavin Clinch, sightings have been reported in the last few months but nothing concrete, but MaxRC can confirm that he's not been living under an airbrush, and has not been killed by his 12 volt blowing up again.
Another surprised racer was fellow ginger Rich, but we are not sure really why the surprised look? Maybe it's at having his photo taken, which to be honest is a new thing for him, or is it that, looking at his breakfast he's not the size of a house. Richpaint is available to paint shells, and a very good job he's does too.
Brian Eldridge is still very happy with his Top car, but did say he was running a new set of tires in, so the first few laps were a little odd. He's looking forward to round 1, starting 5th off.
Round 1
Round 1 is 5 minutes away for starting now, with the 12th scale cars up first.
12th scale heats have finished. Serpents Mark Green taking the win from Glenn Doman retro racer and Chris Delves.
Mark Green: 39 laps, Fastest lap 12.10
Glenn Doman: 39 + 6.71, Fastest lap 12.20
Chris Delves: 36, Fastest lap 12.49
13.5 class round one was a win and FTD for Schumacher's Robert Sawell, Mark Marshall ended up 2nd with fastest lap, after a first lap crash as well. The Xray of Nicholas Hill coming home 3rd.
Robert Sawell: 22 Laps, 306.01, Fastest lap 13.64
Mark Marshall: 21 Laps, 301.03, Fastest lap 13.55
Nicholas Hill: 21 Laps, 302.75, Fastest lap 14.11
10.5 class has run, David Bowen set FTD, his Tamiya looking very good. 35 from Southampton is not so happy ( no change there then :-) ), saying the car has good balance but very little real grip. Tony Broad is going great guns with his year old Xray, he Say's the car is very unpredictable though due to the super glue repaired chassis and after a spin is just over a second off 2nd place.
David Bowen: 23 Laps, 302.73, Fastest lap 12.74
Chris Grainger: 23 Laps, 305.81, Fastest lap 12.85
Tony Broad: 23 Laps, 306.95, Fastest lap 12.87
Round 2
12th Scale Round 2, Waiting for the results to come though.
OK the times are in. Another improvement for Mark Green, moving onto 40 laps this round. Glenn Doman didn't run any faster but keeps his place in the overall listings. Tom Reynolds is the big mover this round, coming up to 3rd with a very good run, 4th is Christopher Simons who bumped Chris delves down to 5th after pulling off.
Mark Green: 40 Laps, 492.42, Fastest lap, 12.03
Glenn Doman: 39 Laps, 492.87, Fastest lap, 12.25
Tom Reynolds: 38 Laps, 489.83, Fastest lap, 12.37
13.5 after round 2 is still being headed up by Robert Sawell's Mi4LP, a small drop off in pace mid race dropped him back to 2nd on the clock but a very good last 2 minutes saw him retake the lead on time the hood on to TQ. On his 15th birthday Jordan Mckulsky is having a great day all round with his TOP car, putting in a great run to place him 2nd, just 4 seconds off FTD. Another improver is Timmy Langdell, the Schumacher driver showing what can be done, when you dying for the loo when racing!
10.5 Class round 2, New FTD, David Bowen flag to flag that run, the Tamiya looking very smooth and the driver not making any real mistakes. 35 from Southampton not being able to hold on to Bowen's 416, 35/M/Southampton saying he's in need of some more steering. Tony Broad pulled out of that run, but keeps his 3rd overall. Matthew Winyard moving up to 4th with a very good run.
David Bowen: 24 Laps, 312.43 Fastest lap, 12.79
Chris Grainger: 23 Laps, 300.42 Fastest Lap, 12.76
Matthew Winyard: 23 Laps, 308.65 Fastest lap, 13.09
Sorry for delay, i was setting a speedo up.
Round 3
Round 3 12th scale. Shock News, Mark Green didn't improve, but don't worry it's not all bad for Mark, he keeps FTD and set a new fastest lap of 11.98, Retro Doman on the other hand did improve his time, moving closer to Mark, and Tom Reynolds 3rd.
13.5, Before the top heat hits the track theres a new FTD from the birthday boy, Jordan Mckulsky with his TOP. Top heat going on now.
Mid race, Robert is leading the heat, on FTD pace.
1 minute to go, still on TQ pace.
Robert Sawell improved, but no FTD.
13.5 New FTD man, Jordan Mckulsky who not in the top heat, which can make it harder sometimes did a great job to take FTD .05 of a second from Robert Sawell who also drove a very good race. Mark Marshall improved his time as well, ending the round 3rd, and the lesser spotted Gavin Clinch up to 4th.
Jordan Mckulsky: 22 Laps 303.97, Fastest lap, 13.42
Robert Sawall: 22 Laps 304.02, Fastest lap, 13.39
Mark Marshall: 22 Laps 308.57, Fastest lap, 13.57
Gavin Clinch : 22 Laps 308.94, Fastest lap, 13.69
Round 3 10.5 cars have just finished there runs, No change at the top, David is having a trouble free day with his Tamiya, pushing FTD a little bit further every run. Chris Grainger is in no mans land today, he does not like being caught for 2nd but can't mount a challenge for FTD, saying that his car feels like it's on ice, it just won't dig into the turn, so i can't push.
Matthew Winyard improved his time again, banking 3rd that run.
David Bowen: 24 Laps, 312.31, Fastest lap 12.80
Chris Grainger: 23 Laps, 302.25, Fastest lap, 12.83
Matthew Winyard: 23 Laps, 305.99, Fastest lap, 13.07
Round 4
12th Scale final round. Mark Green improved again this round, the Serpent never being headed all day so far. Glenn failed to improve this round but stayed 2nd overall. Other improver's at the Sharpe end were Tom Reynolds and Chris Delves.
So the top 3 for the final with there times are:
Mark Green: 40 Laps in 490.86
Glenn Doman: 39 Laps in 482.11
Tom Reynolds: 39 Laps in 486.95
Mark Greens FTD Serpent
13.5 FTD goes to Jordan Mckulsky's TOP Photon on his birthday, he improved too in the last round, moving away from 2nd by nearly 3 seconds. Robert didn't improve for the first time today so has to be pleased to keep 2nd place on the final grid. Mover of the round is Gavin Clinch, up to 3rd for the rare one.
As the 10.5 heats start to run, the man with the hardest job this round must be Tony Broad, after running his older Xray all day, his already broken chassis this morning has now broke, so he's changing to his 100% brand new never tried T3 Xray car, we'll see how he does in a few minutes.
10.5 ended without an improved FTD, so David Bowen kept his very well deserved FTD, never headed all day with the UK Champion on his heels to whole way, well done David. Chris Grainger ( 35 from Southampton ) tried a few things in the final run that didn't help with the handling of his Mi4LP, so theres a different Mi4LP being readied for the final. The Xray of Matthew Winyard again didn't go faster, but didn't need to in the end for his 3rd place on the grid. The only improver in the top 5 is Brian Eldridge, moving to 4th overall. The Top chassis going very well at this track in both the touring car classes.
Top tens
12th scale Top Ten.
Mark Green
Glenn Doman
Tom Reynolds
Chris Delves
Ed Clark
Christopher Simons
Frank Chung
Tim Webb
Duncan Lethan
Scott Nettleton
13.5 Touring Car Top Ten.
Jordan Mckulsky
Robert Sawall
Gavin Clinch
Mark Marshall
Tim Langdell
Durren Tickner
Azman Sulaiman
Iain Bone
Nicholas Hill
Dominic Shore
10.5 Touring Car Top Ten.
David Bowen
Chris Grainger
Matthew Winyard
Brian Eldridge
Tony Broad
Luke Thompson
John Pape
Nathan Morgan
Paul Pinkney
Ashley Wiffen
Finals
Finals have just started, they run all the A finals at the end at Carpet Wars, so there will be a small wait till we know who's won.
Sorry for the small wait being not so small, my web host went down, then I've traveled home so I'm now a few hours after the event, but i will finish the report.
12th Scale A Final.
The final when to form, Serpents Mark Green won from Glenn Doman, Glenn had a good start and looked to be able to keep pace with the TQ man, but due to a crash in the early laps there were a few cars being lapped very early on, it's always hard keeping clean when the speed difference is so high, and Glenn came off worst getting though the traffic, leaving mark to have the rest of the race all his own way, was really good to see Glenn taking it to Mark. Behind the fight for 3rd and 4th was not quiet so straight forward, and Chris Delves won't mind me saying that it was a little like the tortoise and the hare racing here, Tom Reynolds was faster than Chris, Chris kept his head though after a long battle with the bright pink car of Tom to come home 3rd and Tom 4th.
13.5 Touring car A Final.
Jordan Mckulsky, first TQ, on his birthday, leads flag to flag and wins by 0.07 of a second. Sound like a Hollywood fairytale doesn't it, well this race was one of those races everyone loves to see, fast, fair and clean, well it was until the two cars crashed going into the corner at the end of the straight way to fast trying to get the win. Robert tried all he knows to get pass the now 15 year old cleanly, and well done for not taking the easier option, but the Tekin powered TOP Photon crossed the line first, just, for Jordan's first win, well done. Mark Marshall was very happy with his 3rd place finish, saying he learnt a lot over the weekend and is looking forward to the next round in two weeks time.
10.5 Touring car A Final
The 10.5 final saw a win for the TQ man again, 3 from 3 A finals today all won from pole. David didn't have it all his own way though, never really pressured for the lead, but did not have the best of luck when lapping cars, and at one point looked in danger of losing the lead when faced nose into the track marker after being hit by a back marker, when the wheel's were turning though he was very fast and never headed today. Brian Eldridge brought his TOP car home 2nd and John Pape 3rd after a very clean run, Chris Grainger didn't find what he was looking for with his other Mi4LP, but the car did look good come the end of the race.
Man of the Meeting.
Only one man really, birthday boy, TQ, Win, Cake, Jordan Mckulsky. Well Done.
Thank you for watching, the next Live meeting is again a Carpet Wars meeting in 2 weeks time, hope to see you either there or here online.
If anyone would like full size photo's from any MaxRC event please contact me here, or track side.
