Wet astro . . . Summer, when was that then?

The weather man had, unconvincingly, predicted a nice day for Sunday.

It was indeed a nice morning so I packed up my gear, including my shiny new SX3 and set off for TORCH.

The only problem was that Saturday night hadn't been so good, in fact it had been chucking it down!

As a consequence the track at TORCH was a little soggy.

Oh well, I guess I've got to learn it all so I paid my money and got myself prepared.

Some of the earlier arrivals got busy with some industrial sized squeegies in an effort to clear the surface of standing water. This was a bit of a thankless task given the that the track sits in a bit of a dip.

A good effort nonetheless, well done chaps.

From my experience running touring cars I can tell you that, for me, there isn't much fun to be had on a wet day. Slipping and sliding all over the place all the while worrying about frying those expensive electrics. Not so with the buggies, it's a blast. The cars have well fitting bodies so the electrics are safe and given the right tyres it's still possible to get round at a reasonable pace.

My only problem was that I didn't have the correct tyres for the job! I went along with my faithfull Mini Spike/Stagger Rib combo which turned out to be as good as useless; steering, whats that? Needless to say I struggled to be competitve. The smart choice was a super soft Mini Spike front and rear by Ballistic or Schumacher.

I will know for next time, where's my wallet?

It was good to see more familiar faces from the TC world. Mark Sadler and Marcus Askell amongst others revisiting their buggy racing roots.  Darren Johnson has even come out of retirement, perhaps to renew his old 1/10ic rivalry with Steve Brown?

This was my first effort running a buggy in the wet so another day of lesson learning for me. I am surprised to report that I had a really good time and wont let the rain discourage me in future.

The down side is that there is a fair bit of cleaning to be done post race, including an inspection of all the exposed bearings, but then not as much as there would be after a day at a dirt track.

The SX3 stayed in the box, but you knew that! If you are waiting for feedback I am sorry to disappoint, but stay tuned.

Another Sunday well spent.