An evening session at Adur RC

I made a return to touring car racing yesterday.

Adur RC Club have been running an evening series over the summer so I popped along. The series comprises 10 rounds held on Tuesday nights.

I prepped a car at the beginning of the season with a view to contesting this series but alas the awful weather put paid to that idea so last night was the first time I made it along.

I was glad I did, it was a lovely balmy evening which prompted a decent turnout of around 30 drivers across the classes.

For the very reasonable entry fee of £6 we all enjoyed 4 heats of qualifying and a final.

I know what you are thinking.

How did they manage to fit all that in before it got dark?

They didn't!

The first part of the evening was conventional enough, in fact the track was nice and grippy following the BRCA clubmans meeting at the weekend, but when dusk crept in the floodlights were fired up.

This meant that the final round of qualifying and the final were held in the dark under lights.

How cool is that?

The resourceful Adur committee have procured enough floodlights to illuminate the entire track . . . Almost.

For a Mr Magoo like me this presented a new challenge. A little adjustment was required to the racing lines, especially at the dimmer ends of the track but this just made it even more fun.

Turns out I can still get round as I ended up TQing and winning a close fought final. . . Yay for me! 

I decided to run in sportsman stock, basically this is 17.5t blinky speedo class. This is a little slower than the boosted 13.5 superstock class but gives me a chance to keep track of the car in the fading light.

I set up the trusty Mi4LP with a cheap Bullistorm esc with HW blinky software, wired to a cheap and cheerful Bullistorm motor. I think the combo cost me around £45 on eBay.

Power is provided by a Turnigy Nanotech stubby lipo purchased for around £25.

That, dear reader, is cheap racing!

Unfortunately there are only 3 rounds left of this fun series but if the weather holds I will certainly be attending.

If you are close enough make the effort to get involved, you won't be disappointed.

Heed these words of wisdom:

1) Use a bright shell.

2) Bring a pit light.  

Get eating those carrots and I'll see you there.