108 RC

Prep for 1st round of the summer championship at Mendip RC Raceway tomorrow. Running 4wd only.

Weather forecast remains uncertain, but likely wet for some of the day. Trying something a little different tomorrow, see if you can spot what it is.

Last round of the Winter Series at Mendip RC Raceway on Sunday.

In my infinite wisdom, and amplified by the wise words from the Emperor of Everything, I decided to be the "Double Class Donut" - mostly in prep for Regionals. However, with only 4 races (which meant marshall > race > marshall > race > 10/15 min break) meant the day was busy with little time to reflect, make changes, take photos / videos as I'd promised myself I would do.

So 4wd - not much to say. other than TQ every round and won each final. Not quite enough to overall Chris Cooke in the Championship standings, so well done Chris on your win. Really enjoyed the close racing and banter through the last three months and long may it continue. That said, my times aren't that impressive, so there is more work to be done refining setups and in the driver....

2wd - first outing for the LD3D. Late to the party as I do little racing from October to Christmas and been focussed on refining the 4wd in the wet, but about time I got back in to 2wd. Setup felt good in the early damp and greasy conditions, with some help from the Emperor in changing a couple of things. However, track tried for R4 and was like velcro, so with no dedicated dry car (yet. now rectified....), I struggled a little to adapt to the changing conditions. That said, the car really did feel good, even with a sub-optimal setup, in the dry to prove it's got great potential. The result doesn't matter but the learning experience does.

Short break for some family time over Easter then back at it to prep for Regionals

Finally ready for her first outing at Mendip RC Raceway tomorrow

Schumacher LD3D
Absima Revenge CTS v3.1 ESC
Absima Revenge CTM 7.5T motor
Absima LP20DFT Servo
Absima competition 4000mAh uLCG Lipo
Screwz4RC screws
1up Racing bling (turnbuckles not yet fitted)
Penguin Slayer body shell with kit Aerox Wing painted by Gareth Lucas-Coleman

Thanks to all who help out

Sneak peak.....

More to come

Quick write up as I'm tired, cold and have a stinking headache.

First, car was so much better than the previous meeting. That helped.

Ran through the day quickly, so not much time for setup changes. Rained for R4 and with the weather set for the day, we called it after a single final.

I'll take a TQ and win. TBF Chris struggled until the final and kept me honest for the best part of 4 mins.

Thanks to the kids for behaving, the wife for letting me out and this lot ⬇️⬇️

A bit late, but incredibly busy with work.

I was negligent in filing a race report for the previous weekend at Mendip as I was a little frustrated with the result and needed some reflection time. Hopefully with a bit of help, we should be back on track this weekend 👍

Took the short trip over to COBRA for their club day on Sunday. Long day as the guys had to set up the whole track in the morning, so mucked in and helped out.

Thanks to my mate Kevin Greenway as he loaned me his LD3M for the day. Kev did a lot of work making the car work well for him and so had a known and safe setup for him.

As the day went on, I just felt I needed a little more reactiveness in the car, so some small tweaks to steering blocks, adjusting the drag brake and ultimately gluing down the Cactus Fusions on the front gave the desired effect.

Happy with Q5, and that was done taking it easy and not pushing the car. My limitations probably prevented a better result as the car was 👌👌

Final was a quiet and lonely affair. The carnage happened behind me, and after about a minute and a half after a couple of niggly errors, I lost touch with those ahead and settled for 5th.

Great day. Thanks to Kev for the loan of the car for the day and to Steve and the COBRA crew for another smoothly run meeting.

Thanks to all that help out

Decent day at Mendip for the first outdoor meeting of 2024 with the Schumacher L1R.

I deliberately left car setup alone today as I wanted to learn more about the ESC settings. Got it sussed by R3 and managed to pip "Mr Smooth and doesn't crash" Knight to a Round TQ in R4. Finals didn't go to plan, need to work on the setup for greasy track conditions.

Lovely to be back racing outside, even if the tropical forecast didn't really materialise

Thanks to all those who help and support me, even the Mrs 🤪

Ready for some frantic Caldicot action. First race in over 3 months, so slightly apprehensive but sure all will be fine.

Back to early season testing in the beautiful sunshine. Testing out new Absima electrics in the L1R, very impressed thus far.

Thanks as always to all that support me, looking forward to the 2024 season.

Delighted to now confirm that I'll be running Absima GmbH competition electronics in my Schumacher cars for the 2024 season. Excellent value for money and really good quality.

This lot all ready to go in my L1R this week ready for some testing whenever I can get to Mendip.

Thanks to the team at Absima for the opportunity.

A bit quiet recently as not much opportunity to race due to helping out the good lady with craft fairs on the run up to 🧑‍🎄🧑‍🎄

But plans for 2024 well in motion and news coming soon.

Took the short hop over to Caldicot last night for a club meeting.

Fully booked with 42 entries is pretty darned impressive and these guys are definitely doing something right. Busy night and not much time in between heats.

First time indoors for 18 months and never run the LD2 on carpet before. Set up was decent having done a fair bit of research and prep and the pace was fast and frantic all night.

Due to not plugging my transponder in properly (did I mention prep?) until R4, only managed the C Final, so not the result I wanted. But a really enjoyable night and I'll be back soon, maybe next week.....

Great to catch up with folks I've not seen for a while and a huge shout out to the Caldicot club for running a great night.

A very rare Sunday off, and certainly not planned - poor weather meant we binned off the Somerset County Show and stayed home - good job too, very heavy rain since around 1200

I don't do much in the way of carpet racing during the winter. With craft fairs filling weekends running up to Christmas (check out my wife's page Pebble and Felt for ideas), most Sunday's get spent under a gazebo or in a hall -much like RC but less exciting if you're me!!

So decided to do some rug munching at Caldicot where I can, starting this coming Friday. Maintenance and setup changes WIP.....

Race Report

Final round of the South West Regionals today at Mendip.

A shocking start to the day, recovered with the assistance of the Emperor Owen.

Did my usual, qualified 10th - I really must stop making that a habit, but I'll take it.

Weather was wet from R3 onwards, so really pleased with how the car with minimal changes drove in the horrible conditions. The L1R was a beast in the dry, so slightly annoyed the weather intervened again.

Happy with 7th today and finished 10th overall in the series.

I've not been entirely happy with my performance this year, so lots to reflect and work on over the winter. But for now, I'm going to crack open a beer and chill.

Thanks to R C Octane for all the support this year 👍👍

Race report, limited pictures.

South West Regional R4 at Tiverton today. Running 4wd with the Schumacher L1R.

The weather played total havoc today, with a number of showers impacting at least two rounds of qualifying. Less impact on 4wd, but the 2wd results were "interesting" to say the least.

I'll be open and honest, I struggled in qualifying. The track was wet for all 4 rounds, but I managed to squeeze in to the back of the A again (sorry to my buddy Simon Mills who just missed out).

Dry for the finals - Yay. 7th in Leg 1 and 6th in Leg 2 gave me 7th overall. After a challenging day, I'll take that.

Last round at Mendip in 4 weeks 👍

Race Report from 2nd July

South West Regional at West Cornwall

I always enjoy this event, primarily as it's on old school grass. Track was well laid out, challenging and already a bit blown out due to hot weather and lack of rainfall leading up to the weekend.

Decided to run 4wd only as I've invested a bit of effort in to the L1R recently. A competitive field in 4wd where a dozen of us could make the A. Luckily for me, counting scores of 7 and 8 were enough for A10.

The car absolutely came alive in the finals. I've got to thank the Scottish Grass Master Allan O'Brien for the setup information, it was totally awesome and worked a treat. Only some errors on my part and an unfortunate failure in A3 made the result slightly less than perfect, but really happy with the day overall.

Next round at Tiverton on 23rd July and prep under way

What better way to spend Father's Day than with human and fur babies at Mendip for a club meeting.

Running the L1R again and finally making progress. Made a ton of changes today, all of which improved the performance of the car and had the effects I was after. Really pleased with the setup I finished with, which is now a solid medium/high grip setup for Mendip. A couple more tweaks to make and it should be there - want to try different diff oils and stiffer roll bars.

Just now to work on speed and consistency now.

Next meeting will be SW Regional on cow food in Cornwall. Ooohh arrrrrrr....

Been a bit quiet recently, so by means of an update, here goes

Been focused on getting more run time with the L1R recently, mainly as I managed to sneak a spot in the Mendip National. Had a fab day, great atmosphere, didn't finish last, so objective achieved - I actually finished 5th in the I Final, so 85th overall.

Sadly I've been poorly since. Think the general stress building up to the National took it's toll both physically and mentally, not helped by a couple of other triggers. Been down with a virus and suffering with bad hay fever, so fiddling with RC cars has been low on the agenda.

Finally got out today down to Tiverton for the first time this year, mainly for a bit of pre Regional preparation. After figuring out a problem with a lack of drive and breaking a rear camber link (weak point on the L1R) I managed to dominate the rest of the day 👌👌. However I should point out there were only 2 of us.....but the car got better all day as did my driving, so overall pleased with the days efforts. Certainly Tivvy offers a different challenge with the lower grip astro. Plenty to work on though.

I'll try and keep updates a bit more regular from here on.

Mendip next weekend. Can't wait now.

It’s now been over a week since the first South West Regional of 2023 at the Swindon venue. I’ve been struggling with how to write this, not helped by frantic levels of work, general family life and preparing for a little break away. I’ve decided this needs to be a marker in the sand and a memo to self to look back on. Lets called it “lessons learned” eh?

The weather leading up the event was wet. Very wet. So confident I had the tools to compete in 2wd, I pretty much just freshened up the Wet and Dry LD2’s and left it there. With the L1R, I was less confident. First time out with it at Mendip the Sunday before wasn’t a raging success in the damp conditions, so advice was sought and a full wet setup applied in anticipation of at least a damp track early on.

Sunday arrived, a nice 0500 alarm call and off we go. Pits were already busy, but it was at least not raining. Practice went well, at least in 2wd. P10 in Practice 1 and P9 in Practice 2 was a solid start and I was feeling good. Not so with 4wd. Broke the front shock on the 2nd lap of Practice 1, so immediately on the back foot.

I’m not going through round by round. But lets focus on 4wd first. Even the setup changes applied didn’t leave me feeling too comfortable with the car, and I really struggled. Being in the top heat, and with a certain Lee Martin cruising around, I spent 4 rounds of qualifying trying to stay out of the way while battling a struggling car. Quite how I ended up qualifying 13th was a miracle in itself, so there is something in that. If I can get this car sorted out, and get confident with it, there is massive scope to be competitive. So, 4wd lessons.

Lesson 1 – The L1 platform is new to me. I genuinely didn’t know what to do with it as the grip came up and I didn’t ask for help. So, if you’re struggling, go and ask someone like Lee or one of the other L1R drivers how to resolve your struggles. They are all happy to help.

Lesson 2 – the difficulty of running two classes is challenges in one class have a tendency to impact the other. Easy to say, but harder to implement, but I need to develop a means of mental toughness not to let this happen again

On to 2wd. A decent first run. Let the Emperor past and latch on to his tail. Worked perfectly until the final lap when I made an error on the tabletop. Cost 5 seconds, 3 places in the heat and probably 6 or 7 overall. Second run, OK but not brilliant. So two low 20 scores in round were not what I was hoping for. Grip was up in R3, so changed to dry car and I’ll be honest I drove it like a beginner. By this time, I really was on the back foot, and to be honest, I was exhausted, pi**ed off and just wanted the day to finish. I have to thank Alistair who had a “word in my ear” which was very much needed. Sadly it didn't have the desired impact as R4 was another mess. But I can assure you it was appreciated.

On to finals at the end of a long day, and frankly just wanted them over and done with. 4wd was another mess, car certainly wasn’t working as it should and I pulled it off - a total and utter clusterf**k. 2wd was interesting. I discovered while scrutineering the car that the left rear shock wasn’t working as it should, and with no time to resolve it, just had to go with it. Started 7th, was running 3rd and 4th for a while, but I was having to defend lines for my life with a poor handling car. Managed it until the last lap, and once again that tabletop caught me out and I dropped to 8th.

Lesson 3: Check your car after EVERY run for loose screws, parts that might be binding, shocks that might not be working properly!!!

I got to a point about 3pm where I was totally fed up and wanted to go home. Even to the point that I phoned the Mrs and said “I’m done with this s**t” which she thankfully talked me out of. Given the meeting finished at 7pm, that was a long drawn out sulk. I’ve got home, and apart from putting Lipos in to storage mode, I’ve not even looked at the cars (hard when they’re in my home office and I spend 9 or 10 hours a day in there!)

So, in summary, a great event with a fantastic vibe. The club did an amazing job on the track and ran the event well, despite it being a long day. The majority enjoyed it, and I did to a point, but I’ve come away massively disappointed with myself and my performance. Some positives to take, which is good, but many lessons to learn from and not repeat. 7P’s principle now applied.

I’ve written this as a marker to re-read before EVERY RC meeting I attend.

Credit to for the action shots

Race Report incoming.

It's going to be brutal......

The L1R lives and breathes

All ready to break out the astro car for Mendip tomorrow.

Weather looks good, get booked in

Now off to do more DIY. See y'all tomorrow 👍

Decent day preparing for Regionals at Swindon.

TQ's don't happen very often in my world.

Lots learned again, but much to improve on

All ready for Winter Series at Mendip tomorrow.

New paint. Sticking with this colour combo now