Today, alias, aka the 12th of February 2017 marked the day I managed to return to racing after a brief hiatus doing real life shizzle, and suffering several race meets being cancelled a the last minute, however, I digress.
South Coast RC, in Three Legged Cross, were holding the *penultimate* round of their winter jamboree. That's not it's proper name but it sounds better than plain ol' winter series I think you'll agree. I decide on racing the Sworkz s350T US edition (to give it it's full designation) and I brave the wintery conditions where the temperature actually reached the heady heights of Fucking Cold.
Straight out of the box after nearly 3 months of no RC and I come 2nd in the 1st round of qualifying, beaten by Mr Stephen Brunsden (I'm in heat 2 btw, there were 3 heats for today). There were enough truggies today to have held a full heat of their own but the powers that be decided instead tooooo......RallyX purists look away now........ mix truggies and buggies in the same heat (gasp)
Q2 time and I came in with a 10 lapper and a win so I was pleased with that, with Mr Brunsden in 2nd (his name will shorten throughout this blog). Q3 was much the same, with another 10 lapper and in Q4, the bottom end on my engine had somehow leaned itself off and robbed me of any low down go I might have had which meant trying to keep the speed up but also get round the corners, it wasn't easy and did wonder if I'd actually finish the round, which I did but the Brunds beat me to 10 laps.
So then, that puts me 2nd on the grid for the B Final, Which isn't shabby. I make a getaway and have a good opening third of the final with Steve Hamilton, each of us making passes and cock ups in equal measure. He suffers a breakdown on his Mugen and I clear off, at some point after I had a brief skirmish with a *truggy*, who it would appear was in 1st place, I say was, because that's where I ended up. I came in for fuel in the lead but lost it while Rob Woodrow was kind enough to chuck some Racing Experience 25% at my fuel tank in a less haphazard way than that actually insinuates. Back out and after a fashion and a few passes, I was back in the lead. However, several laps from the end, The *truggy* from earlier is catching me back up and I could hear words of encouragement coming in my direction so knew this other guy was on the move, *this other guy guy being Bernard btw*. The buzzer sounds and I finish the race with a B Final win. Top banana (I don't actually like bananas, they make me wanna puke)
Ye gods, I won the B, you know what that means don't you! I get the bump up spot (I now qualify for the A Final) albeit in last place. *Simon Asquith* set me off from the line while Steve Hamilton did the pitting honours. I made a clean getaway and after negotiating the obligatory 1st corner pile up, I found myself in 4th, then further along I found myself a place or two higher. It wasn't to be though, after knocking into Andy Tanners upside down Kyosho truggy, and a bit of a marshalling balls up which lead to everyone going past me before I was wheel side down, I end up dead last and that is unfortunately where I finished.
Anyway, hats off to the SCRC crew for a good day, Rob Woodrow and Steve Hamilton for pitting for me, Simon Asquith and the other bloke whose name I still don't know for seeing me off the line, and Tony RC Scott for driving into me on purpose in the air after I accidentally drove over you, all part of the banter. Thanks also to Pete and Karl at Answer RC, without whom I'd still probably be kicking about with a Hyper ST.
See you all soon.
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