Spoilt for choice at SHRCCC

I have entered the MKGP which is being held at the home of  the Newbury RC club on 18/19th November.

This is to be an indoor 1/10 off-road event running mainly on carpet, more specifically the actual carpet from SHRCCC.

With this in mind last Thursday I made the trip to Farnham to have a run with some (all) of my cars in an effort to to establish some kind of battle plan with the aim of minimizing potential embarrassment come race day.

Dudders set up a great little track with a variety of obstacles including a cross over, a couple of table tops, one being on a corner and some slippy stuff. It was all crammed into a fairly small space but more than enough to test any car. 

Get a grip Pip!

I think I may have got a little carried away with my buggy fetish.

I am hoping this admission in front of my peers is the first step on the road to recovery.

It all started back in the Summer when I met, what seemed like, a nice guy. His name was Neil 'Dudders' Dudman and he was about to set up a new off road club SHRCCC.

I trusted him when he assured me what he was offering was just harmless fun and that I would meet, and enjoy the company of, other people just like me.

Little did I know then that it would lead to this.

Lady Luck's done a runner!

Well readers my luck has deserted me.

Over the last few weeks I've had the kind of run that makes an RC racer wonder why.

Why do I get up at 6.00am on a Sunday?

Why do I drive 50 or 60 miles to stand in a cold wet car park in the middle of nowhere?

Why do I spend hundreds, nay thousands, of pounds in the vigorous pursuit of fractions of a second?

Why do I participate in a hobby after which I return home happy only around 50 per cent of the time?

Because I, like you, am addicted.

Addicted to what?

Those days when I beat my personal best.

Those days when I nail the 'A'.

Those days when I return home triumphant with a 2 bob trophy that's cost me a hundred quid to win.

Those days when the postman brings me an RC package.

 And those balmy summer days chillin' with my buds.

That's why I put up with weekends like the last 3!

Week 1: 10 minutes use with the brand new SX3, the rear belt self desructed and destroyed the rear diff pulley.

Super!

Credit to Schumacher who were excellent, the car is now sporting a new set of belts including the new uprated 'Bando' belts for the front and centre, all free of charge.

Thanks guys.

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.

Schumacher Cat SX3 . . . The Build (Part 2)

So onto the suspension.

Most of these parts come straight from the SX2, thats a good thing. The drive shafts look like they are from a Scania truck, well up to the rigours of off road racing and no pesky drive pins and grub screws to keep on top of.

Schumacher Cat SX3 . . . The Build (Part 1)

(Click on any pic for a full size version.)

Ok then, time to get out the tools and get to work on my new Cat SX3.

I was looking forward to this build. It isn't very long since I built my SX2 and that was a really nice kit so I was keen to see how the SX3 compared.

Upon opening the box I was greeted by a familiar sight. All the parts are well packaged in clearly marked bags. The clear and well written manual gives specific instructions as to which of these bags are needed and when.

Simple as peas! 

TORCH Summer Series - Round 5

I had a trip to TORCH at the weekend to compete in round 5 of their summer series.

This is a well run, competitive, series that continues to gain popularity and this weekend attracted 60 drivers across 8 heats. Part of the reason for this popularity must be due to the fact that for a £10 entry fee every driver gets around half an hour of open practice followed by 4 qualifiers and 3 finals . . . Now that's value!



Dudders and the RC Lazy crew



Shootout Showdown at SHRCCC

On Tuesday, after a hard fought summer of qualifying, the top 10 protagonists in 2 & 4wd faced off at SHRCCC to duke it out for a share of the generous £380 prize fund up for grabs at the Shootout finale.

As I have previously mentioned the track has become testing to say the least, whoever made off with the spoils would be deserving recipients. Yours truly had managed to qualify 3rd in 4wd drive behind James Rumble and Rob Elmes, both of whom have shown consistently good form here with Rob unbeaten since taking delivery of his SX3.

This is what we were after.

TORCH - Buggy racing on Astro.

Ok it's official, I am now hooked on 1/10 electric buggies.

In order to satisfy this fetish I am busy visiting local tracks.

Over the last few weeks I have made several trips to TORCH, a club run by ex IC circuit racer Steve Brown.

Titchfield Off Road Club Hants is located in deepest Hampshire between, and a little North of, Portsmouth and Southampton. It's a nice country location set in the corner a farm, a pleasant place to enjoy a days racing. 

The surface is astro which means there is bags of grip and as a bonus the buggy stays nice and clean (ish!).

Schumacher SX2 'Body Off' Pics

Hey there RC dudes and dudettes.

I went racing with my SX2 today at TORCH. I really enjoyed the day and will write a report later in the week.

In the meantime I promised to post a few 'body off' pics, so here they are!

Click on any pic for full size version.

My new baby ... Schumacher SX2 S1 Buggy

Hey all. I have not posted for couple of weeks as I have been moving home. It's all done now, thank goodness, so I can get back to embarrasing myself via this blog.

All of a sudden this 1/10 off road lark seems to be all the rage.

Now I'm not one to get left behind, well maybe I am on the track but it's not for a lack of equipment!

So I smashed the piggy bank, counted up all my pennies and guess what? I had enough to buy myself a Schumacher SX2 S1.

This model has now been superseded by the SX3 but it seems the main change is in the chassis layout (now utilising a mid mounted motor) whilst retaining front and rear bulkheads and the parts mounted thereon. 

Because of this I managed to get what I felt was an irresistible deal.