Monday 30th July Nights Racing 12th scale race report

Well finally we have the 12th scale nights report. What a night it was as well. In pre meeting practice the V-Design factory driver Danny Holmes set some club benchmarks with his modified powered V-Design. 

Danny Holmes 

V-Design 

This is one very sexy looking shell if I do say so myself. Danny went on to race in the touring car class that night as he is saving his 12th scale so that it is in perfect condition for big upcoming 12th scale meeting this weekend. 

The driver's taking part in the 12th scale class this particular meeting were as follow's, 

Dean (The diff building demon)

CRC

Richard (Looking rather surprised)

Xray

Me, Niall 

CRC 

We started off the night with a rather fast paced round one and two with all three cars running at different pace's due to different motor and running mode options. Here is a short video of all three cars running on track. I have a orange/black shell, richard white/blue and dean white/pink. 

                                    

This is an other short video of the same heat but from a drivers perspective. (You will have the excuse me as I try having a conversation with Danny mid heat) 

                                  

My car seemed to be going rather well as I had it on the set up board all morning and afternoon and it had clearly paid off for me. Plus with some helpful tips with set up and more general stuff from Danny the car seemed to be in perfect condition. The new Thunder Power motor really providing a great feel and plenty of power. 

The times were rather close considering we were running different motors and timing options, see for yourself. 

The final was Richard on pole as his lipo was the only one to last a whole qualifying heat, with me in second and dean in third. We started and all was level half a 12th between us all. Then Dean pulls of the track as his lipo died, this leaving me and richard to battle it out. My CRC was much quicker down the straight and more consistent in the corners. I set up the move and then leading down to the main straight I used my extra power down the straight and powered round the outside. (This was a move Danny informed me of and how the execute it).

Well in the next meeting report I should have HD videos and more refined images. 

Monday 30th July Nights Racing Touring Report

The touring car's were getting more and more competitive by each meeting and this one was no exception. With the TC6 driver Arran (aka the drain) stepping up his game the other week the pressure was really mounting on certain drivers to try and grab that all important final A final grid position. 


In pre meeting testing some drivers were feeling the pressure more than others.

Some of the younger drivers beginning to feel what it is really like to compete against some more experienced competitors.  

Richard Whur featured above was trying to get to grips with running 12th scale and 10th scale at the same meeting and for people who have tried this before its not the easiest of jobs. 

In other area's of the pits the usual front runners of the touring car class had there cars already prepared and looking very professional. 

Danny Holmes Xray T3 with Thunder Power and Tekin

Andy Murray Xray T3 with LRP X12 and GM 

With the Thunder Power motor really taking off at our club I think they could definitely very promising in the future and also looking into more of there products they definitely have a competitive range of products. 

Dean Johnsons HotBodies TCX with Thunder Power and Hobbywing

Back to the racing it was ever so apparent that the battle for A final pole was super close as usual between Danny and Andy. The battle though for third was blow wide open as Arran was out the claim third for himself, but not if Dean had anything to say about it. The times say it all. 

Aiden one of the Xray drivers who suffered with some breakages in the last meeting had the same dark omen this meeting. With a rather nasty smash on the main straight it looked like his night was over. 

The damage look's terminal. 

But once again Aiden's mechanical skills have proven vital and he had this rather nasty break turned around in no time. 

Nicely done Aiden. 

Moving on, the night drivers fought it out round after round for the bragging rights to the A final pole. We even saw motor's smoking and hot temperatures after all the commotion the A final lined up as followed. 

Danny Holmes 

Xray T3

Andy Murray 

Xray T3

Dean Johnson 

HotBodies TCX

Arran Turner 

Associated TC6

Aiden Ripley

Xray T3

Richard Whur 

Xray T3

(He got a little lost lining up on the grid)

The finishing order to my knowledge was as follows, 

Danny Holmes 

Andy Murray 

Arran Turner 

Dean Johnson 

Aiden Ripley 

Richard Whur (DNF)

Well raced by all and close battles though out the final between all drivers. Next meeting is going to be very close!

Monday 30th July Nights Racing Mardave Report

Well monday nights worth of Mardave racing saw many new drivers young and old who were very competitive though out the night. We also saw a few drivers featuring the new schumacher supastox cars which looked quite impressive but only time would tell if they could make the all important A final. 

On of the new schmacker supastox cars. (looks like a small 10th scale) 

Anyway the first round of heats got underway and you could definitely tell that the new bloods wanted to prove the worthiness as the racing standards were rather high. Here is a short clip of one of the Mardave's qualifying rounds. 

                                     

Here are some of the more newer competitors with what I must say rather nice shells. 

So all qualifying heats over and the guys had done all they could to try and secure there positions in the A final and B final near the front of the grid. This is how the B final looked like. 

So it was Tom in the schumacher supastox making pole position in the B final. 

Lining up second on the grid was the young Dylan who was showing a lot of promise for the future. 

In the third slot of the grid was Daz who had driver very well considering he had not been driving very long at all. I unfortunately didn't get to catch the final results of this race because I had to prep my car for my race but in future posts I will have full HD video coverage of each final. 

In the A final the grid formed up as follows. 

The talented Phillip (William) took the Mardave A final pole. He has been linked with a move to 12th scale racing and V-Design but he is not commented on anything yet. 

Second on the A final grid was one of the rising new comers Peter who I must say had a rather well hooked up Mardave. 

Dan put in a very good and competitive performance to line up third on the grid. All that practicing is really paying of for Dan and it is showing in his race results. 

Taking the all important final spot in the A final grid was Charles who with his day glow yellow shell almost blinded me when my flash from my camera hit his shell and then my eyes. Never the less a brilliant performance from the Thornton veteran. 

I believe that this final was very close between Phillip and Peter as both drivers were putting in some very respectable lap times. In the end I am not 100% sure as I was sorting out my car but I think it was Phillip who snatched the win from Peter. Great drive from all racers!    

Friday Nights Racing

Well friday nights racing was eventful as usual with all the regulars give or take a few people. I started off the night soldering in my new thunder power 10.5 motor. 

The motor was easy to solder in and felt rather quick on track with plenty of torque to power my CRC out of the fast sweeping corners at our track. I didn't add any timing what so ever for the first nights usage as I didn't want to over cook the motor (run it in gently) but i also wanted to see how quick it was out of the box. Round one I was quite pleased with as I know a very good mod round this track did a fastest lap of 7.33. 

I went on to improve this fastest lap time to a 8.25 and a average of 8.86 so was happy with the new purchase. 

Else where in the pit area there were multiple breakages in the touring car division with the brunt of them being with Xray drivers. See there pain for yourself. 

One very upset Xray driver. (Thomas) 

And a more focused Xray driver but he wasn't willing to show his true emotion to the camera. (Aiden)

In the end these two drivers ended up in a battle royal for top honours in the B final. I managed to capture some of there final in a short video. 

                                    

Further up in the A final the usual heavy weight battle for the win was to be decided between Andy and Danny as they lined up 1st and 2nd on the grid. When I say they are close in times this picture says it all. 

 Then my fellow CRC team mate dean using his new HotBodies car, and to round up the A final arron (aka the drain) who in all fairness drove rather well in my opinion that night with his Team Associated TC6. Here is a short clip of him qualifying in one of his heats. 

                                     

Personally I think his newly stickered shell had a lot to do with his success the other night but I think he will say very differently.

All in all a very interesting nights racing will the usual friendly banter, plus I would just like to say thank you to Tom again for the jam donuts that made the night :P

Some Pictures Of The Finished Product

 The finished CRC a little fluffy after its first few meetings but all in all looking good. 

My racing colour, yes you guessed it GREEN! Not to happy with the sticker job but I had to work with what I had left in my sticker collection. 

CRC GEN XI (carpet knife) build report

Well my first real post will be a review of what I think personally to be a brilliant 12th scale, the CRC.


The first think with this car was the overall appearance of the box. Having owned many 10th scale cars and seeing the quality of the manuals and box's I was rather disappointed with the very bland white box with just a label on the top. Anyway this aside the instructions were rather clear and easy to follow (even for someone like me who really does not like reading at all).


 The allen keys supplied with the kit are of rather poor quality as well. I was warned about this by my fellow club night CRC team mate and therefore I did my best with what I had and really tried to not round of any screws but at the same time make sure there was a tight lock so they wouldn't all just fall out like certain cars I have owned in the past (TC6).


The only part of the car I must say I struggled with was a pair of plastic caps that are part of the front end assembly. It was very tricky to get them to sit right, as you had to make sure they went in tight to hold the front end together but at the same time make sure they were free so that the steering would not bind up and then cause your servo all kinds of troubles. Eventually I settled on having them more to the tighter end of the scale than loose as I thought this was the better option at the time. 


One other thing I was a little miffed at was the way in which the body post stoppers where attached to the posts. A small grub screw is screwed though the stopper and into the post. Now this is a very stable way to attach the stopper but at the same time not very helpful as when you need to make that last minute body shell adjustment due to tyre wear etc or whatever its such a inconvenience having to undo four grub screws just to alter the shell ever so slightly. Surly it would of made more sense just to supply each kit with four body shell pins (like xray do) and then it would make adjustments at more quicker and easier.


All the moan's aside I must say I have never driven 12th before so I cant really gauge the performance of this car to any other experience but this particular car is just so much fun to drive no matter what condition and part you have fitted to it! I did a eight minute run the other night and it just felt amazing. To my surprise though I had completed the run with the and screw missing from the pivot point of the car (a rather key part) and my tyres looked like they had just been painted black due to the severe lack of foam left mounted on the rims. 


All in all I think a brilliant purchase and cant wait to put some more time and money into this car to see how good it can really get going.    

Well here it is guys my first and only ever blog! Be prepared for many reviews of meetings, cars, tracks etc and other cool stuff that I think should make the grade to appear on the blog :)