Shiny new shell takes debut win - 20 / 11 / 06

After the huge entry of drivers last time out we had rather less present this week for round 3 of the TRAK Indoor Championship. Robin Hammet and Jon Parsons had gone back to their 1/12ths and we were missing Mike Doody, Adrian, and the Paul’s. Huge congrats to Mike Doody and Paul Rose though, both making the ‘A’ Final in 27T stock at Round 3 of the Carpet Nationals at Chippenham, taking 6th and 10th places respectively, nice one! :-)

I love it! :-)

The other big news for this meeting (well from my point of view anyway) was that only 1 year after initially masking my new shell I had finally gotten around to finishing it up and getting it on the car. Although it took me far too long to put all the chequers and bits on (cut out of a sheet of white vinyl….frustrating job number 1) I think it was well worth it and I’m pretty pleased with it. The only question remained was…’would it actually work?’

With a new track to contend with this week we couldn’t compare the laptimes of the new shell to last meetings times so I had to just go on feel and I’ve got to say, first impressions were that the car was an absolute bullet! Looked cool too! :-)

Out for race 1 then and with only 9 drivers booked into stock this week (let’s hope we get 20 again next meeting like we have been getting) we had just four drivers in the top heat. Myself, Jason, Wayne and Sean who lead away the opening qualifier. I couldn’t really go a whole lot faster than Sean in race 1 who was clearly having his best meeting yet with that new Tamiya of his. Still, I managed to get through to the lead after a few laps before Jason moved up into second and began catching me. I’m sure Jason would have gone quickest in this one but a few brushes with the barrier dropped him back and let me take the provisional pole. But where had the ballistic speed of practice got to? I put it down to the cells and tried again in heat 2.

Heat 2 then and it was a little better this time although still not quite right, that didn’t stop me and Jason having a great time though as we swapped for the lead a few times before he went on to knock me off pole on a 21:315 as I missed out and had to settle for a 20:300

For the 3rd qualifier we decided to skim the motor and trim the rear wing down a little as I was having some problems with push at high speed. The changes certainly helped and I was sticking with Jason fairly comfortably at the start of the heat before his Cyclone ground to a halt with what I believe was a broken diff bearing. That left me a clear track for the remainder of the race although I had to keep pushing to beat Jason’s round 2 time which I managed to do by 3 seconds to go 21 laps in 312 seconds.

Dad focuses on the important things ;-)

Slightly irritatingly for me we had a 4th qualifier this week but I kept pole, improving slightly to 21:310. Jason would have lined up second for the finals but was still having some sort of problem with his Cyclone so decided to leave it for today and get it sorted for next meeting. So, without Jason racing Wayne moved upto second on the grid, pretty brisk qualifying time too, certainly keeping up his run of good results. Sean and Jamie completed a somewhat small ‘A’ Final grid with the rest in the ‘B’s

Into the final then and I found myself being a little wary of the barriers in the first lap although I soon realised I’d have to get on with it as Wayne clearly had the bit between his teeth and was closing in until he brushed a barrier which wedged his bodyshell onto the tyres and sent him spinning to the back. That drama meant I had a big gap up front and could just cruise to the win, making sure not to scratch that new bodyshell on the way! ;-) Jamie was a very good 2nd place after moving past Sean early on who himself took 3rd with Wayne not finishing after a final of woes despite some very quick pace.

Adam lines up on pole for the 1/12th 'A' Final ahead of eventual winner Robin Hammet

That’s it for another week then, next meeting is on 3rd December and with no other clashing meetings we’ll have another good entry, a good enough entry to stop me making it four straight wins I’m sure! ;-)

C ya then

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