My Racing History & 2008 Blogg by CuttingEdge

Well my New car is here ready to go Sunday in the Tri-Club Pro Stock class which I am in second place at the moment with one round to go and this is on my home track so all to play for , although it could be hard as it will be the first outing of my new car . Having said that I have got a lot of confidence in my new Ride it is the most free car I have ever seen with little to no slop in the steering ( This was a problem on my old Tamiya ) only slight problem is I will have to run Kit setup as I don't have the nessasary components to change the setup at this time :cry: .

And I have no shock oil to rebuild the shocks either I will have to run it with what ever is in them which again I presume is Kit Standard ( I thought I had shock oil in the Garage but it all turns out to be light weight BUGGY oil :cry: ) & I am to busy to get to a model shop today .....

The New Ride was Built by Nick Adams @ Demon so it should be good although I have had to shimm out the play in the front Spool to take out the only real slop in the car :D

I have had to adapt an old body shell to fit so it don't look as good as some of my other cars from the outside I have orded a new shell but it has not arrived yet , hoping it will arrive in the post today then I will look cool going round tomorow for sure . But when the shell comes off she looks well nice shall we say as the advert for this car says "The Most Pimped Out Car In The Pits" & I think they are right :lol: you can't realy get any more shiny bits on this car although I am sure if the Captain had one he could find somthing else to turn shiny :lol:

Oh well off to :-

Clean Patio
Take Wife Shopping
Clean Filter out on Pond
Play with Jack
Visit my Mum & Dad who live 25miles away ( not far but with my busy day it seems a long way )
Get home in time to get to the post office if my shell comes
check the car over once again
have BBQ
Watch Britains Got Talent
Bed then its race day cant wait :D :D

To Be contiued........

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Numb Nuts Tri Club 2007 /2008 Pro Stock Champion

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Well it was the Last round of the Tri Club NUMB NUTS Winter series & I had home track advantage as well as full confidence in my new car , I thought I had a chance of winning the series when Matt Row did not turn up to race BUT when I spoke to the organiser Jon he said he had calculated that I could not win & with Matt not competing all Big Dave had to do was finish higher than 4th place to Win the title so I thought I had a 3rd place in the Bag which I would have been very happy with .......

So onto the Racing as It was a new car & I felt I could not win I was quite relaxed about it all and kept telling myself to have FUN which I did , I only had a 13.5 motor avalable as the sensor wire was broken in my 10.5 so I had a power disadvantage :smt009 But the new car was so Nice and Easy to drive I did not seem to matter , I could not hold on to Leon in the first Quali But he was not that far ahead and the Man I had to beat was Big Dave :smt006 Not Leon !!!!!

After all 4 rounds of Quali I was in second place with Leon on Pole and Dave right behind me I was feeling confident and very happy with my new car , i knew it was the right thing to do ( Change car ) even if I have been given quite a bit of Stick for doing it , Well at the end of the Day I made an error with my last make of car & I have held my hands up to that Error FUNNY though another driver of the same make as my old car has Now Bought a Cyclone :smt002

Oh I forgot to mention If I had been running in the Stock class I would have been easly on POLE beating the Stock Pole sitter by some 6 seconds I belive :smt003

Onto the final and its a simple story here realy off we went and Leon made an error in the second corner letting me though up the inside and there I was to stay with what can only be discribed as the drive of my life with Dave finishing Second , one of my fellow racers said afterwards that it had been like watching Ben Raymond going round for the last 5 mins To which i told him to "shut up and don't be so stupid " and he replyed you looked that good don't change a damm thing on that car it looked fantastic ........

Oh Yes Jon had done his maths wrong with my Win today it made me overall CHAMPION

After the meeting a few people tryed my new car and yes they liked it I know one of them has since bought a Cyclone and another is thinking about it :smt003

So onto Brooklands next Sunday on a high from this weekend

To Be Contiued..............

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Sponsored By Demon Products & My Pocket

Numb Nuts Tri Club 2007 /2008 Pro Stock Champion

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So it was here the Brooklands weekend with the new car working well at Coastal on its first outing I was very confedent going to Brooklands , With everything packed and ready I picked Ian up at 5.15 and set off with Jim following close behind , there was to be some early morning overtaking as we did all the Colchester boys one by one on the M25 with Ian waving to them one by one from the passenger window of my 1.3 Deisel Van ( Vince had got the wrong GEAR RATIO on his 206 for sure ) :smt003 :smt003 .....

We arrived at Brooklands to find one of the BEST tracks we had ever seen WOW was all that could realy been said the track was long and fast with plenty of overtaking places I was looking forword to getting the Cyclone on the track :smt002 & one of the best things was the Cafe which was only a 30sec walk from the pits with waiter service :smt003

On to the important stuff Qualifying ill keep it short After the first 2 rounds of Quali I was in 8th Place in the A final the Top Coastal Stock Driver which I was very happy about , Then onto round 3 I needed a good one here But iut all went wrong on the opening lap I was beached on the grass and lost half a lap it was all over so trying very hard to make up the time I had lost oin the grass my driving went to bits see below a few good pics from Cam of my Car

So It was not to be and with everyone going faster I was knocked out the A and into pole in the B , I was 1.45 seconds off of the 10th place driver in the A final which was a gutter as i had all to loose in the finals and nothing to gain ( Except racing experiance of this great track ) But I was still the highest placed Coastal Stock driver which with Ben having won the stock class at Eastbourne and Mark Woods being a Multiple Club Champian I was still very pleased with my performance .....

B final leg 1 I was in the lead holding Alex at a comfortabe pace when a blip of interference took my car onto the grass only briefly but enough to let Alex though , Never mind I thought I have the speed ill take him on the straight which should have been easy BUT when I made my move about 3 laps later I had so much speed 3/4 of the way down the sraight that when I was going for it I was commited to my line and unfortunatly Alex blocked me at the very last second It was to late I could not stop and hit him sending me off onto the grass and down to the back of the pack :smt013

B final leg 2 was a similar senario I was away until i made a slight error and let Alex though , this time I tought i would have him on the infield agian I wa comited at speed when Alex Blocked me and I was off again I was catching him back up again with in 4 or 5 laps then my Steering came a part on my car & I was out .............

B final leg 3 Again I was away pulling out a good lead until I made a driving error my fault I was off and again at the back of the pack , then came my best overtaking move of the day over my old racing mate the GreyFox down the main straight Flat out I came past him like he was standing still Fantastic at 3/4 of the way down the straight my car had like a turbo cut in could have been somthing to do with my 3.8 gear ratio I was running on my Novak 13.5 motor ....

So to sum it all up a good day out close racing Finished up 7th in B which should have been 1st but hey ho , a loose screw and a couple of errors on my part was to blame ,, Back to it and some proper motor testing to be done this weekend at Coastal with 3 different motors to try to find the best for West London in 2 weeks time .................

To Be Contiued ......

_________________
Sponsored By Demon Products & My Pocket

Numb Nuts Tri Club 2007 /2008 Pro Stock Champion

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Well after a good days testing at Snetterton I am looking forward to West London as its one of my most liked tracks we go to :smt003

First News is my E4 is SOLD and I can move on and forget the past and truly belive I am just driving a Purple Tamiya as to be honest thats what its like to me even though when 2 other Tamyia Drivers have had a go with thew Cyclone they have said it Under steers .............

Took delivery today of my Wet car so currently rebuilding it ready for the weekend even though it says it will be good weather I want to be prepaired :smt002

Well when I opened the box of this Ebay purchase I was mortified as to what I had got :smt013

It was advertised as Moore Speed Cyclone used 6 times indoors , Great I thought with a BUY ME NOW price of £110 it was to good to be true but I bought it ..................

My First impression was soon to become slightly cloudy in my mind for the following reasons

Yes it had the following parts missing Shot to bits
Ali shock spring retainers
Ali Heatsink mount thing which holds the layshaft in place
The Rear diff had been replaced with a Purple 3Racing one
Carbon Spur Gear Holder Missing
Wheel nuts been replaced
The steering servo saver is shot to bits and binding
Bearings Shot to bits
Rear Diff had been built with the Black Thrust bearing grease :smt017
Rear diff plates Shot
Rear diff screw was silver
Springs of an unknown make
Shocks internals of an unknown make
And various other problems along with a chassie that had done a full season on Tarmac YES he had said 6 meetings on Carpet but this is what he had done but the former owner had done the damage

On the upside there was a Full Titamiun Screw set & Ceramic diff balls &
a good set of tyres on it along with a servo which I could use to fix Jacks Buggy

All in all after 3 hours of work and probably £25 worth of spares fitted it is Fantastic and a race winner in its self Just got to instal the electrics tomorow and test it ready for Sunday

OH and there was a BIG Bonus as well my old Tamiya Rain under over cover fits like a glove so ill fit that as well incase of realy bad weather ..............

Ill report back after the West London round of the STCC

To Be Contiued .................

_________________
Sponsored By Demon Products & My Pocket

Numb Nuts Tri Club 2007 /2008 Pro Stock Champion

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Well with Hi expectations it was off to West London Raceway one of my most loved tracks & with the weather of late being WET WET WET I was glad that Sunday morning came with a Dry line showing on the road outside mt house , Great I thought a good day was to be had here . Ian picked me up at 5.35 and we was off to West London when we got there the track was not open for practice yet so we were on time GREAT I thought and I was second out there doing some good laps after 5 mins of practice and a Bacon Roll I was ready for the serious stuff to come ...........

Along came round 1 of Quali and I was in heat 2 due to the fact I had ran in the pro stock class in round 2 I was to be running lower down than I should have been , But this was fine after 2 laps I was in the lead running very quick great i thought this is what I need a banker in the Bag so to speak , running very well on lap 14 the car STOPPED don't know why as we could find nothing wrong when i got the car back in the pits , Damm I thought as its well known at West London that your first Run is the fastest ....................

On the second Run I had to take it easy not having a good banker in I needed to just get a time in and keep off the kerbs which I di but being conservative on my run it was slow a slow 16 lap which was C final ......

There was nothing for it but to go for it in Quali 3 I did drove like DEMON and did a 16 lap in 302 DAMM just missed out on a slow 17 lap time this was going to be my best of the day putting me in 5th in the B which when you see the standard of drivers wasnt that bad and my old friend the Grey Fox was 2.4 seconds behind me sitting 7th in B I was Happy in a strainge sort of was .....................

So to make it short as the beer needs to Flow to celebrate my Victory in short

B final Leg 1 finished 2nd
B Final Leg 2 finished 2nd
B Final Leg 3 finished 1st

Although I felt I had Won the first Leg also But the computer said NO

Overall i was 1st Place in the B Final which Is not that Bad and and I am very happy with this result

Although Young Ben should have beaten me I have to say and probably deserved to But he hit the curbs & did NOT Just keep it smooth Ben you got the Talent just keep your COOOOOOOLLLLLLLL ...............

& one last mention Thanks Leigh for collecting my car from scroutenering ( cant spell it for toffee ) Sorry the motor Burnt your arm , It was HOT , But it severs you right for cheering Ben on But Not Me LOL

Bring on the Enduro next weekend the Coastal 240

To Be Contiued..............

_________________
Sponsored By Demon Products & My Pocket

Numb Nuts Tri Club 2007 /2008 Pro Stock Champion

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Well its nearly here the Coastal 240 tomorrow and I can't wait , Having been up the track earlier today for a Quick Test of my New car it was very very good it has to be said q19

The racing tomorrow is going to be close and anything can happen and probably will , With close attention to the PIT LANE ENTRY this afternoon I feel a lot of time will be GAINED or LOST if people don't get the pit lane entry right as if you stuff it up and have to wait for a marshal you could loose Half a lap or more stuffed in the Hose q11

Its still uncertain if I will have my own team or my team be split up and placed in other teams , There is some thing inside of me thats saying we can win this given we have one more driver in my team BUT the other part of me is saying If I was put into maybe the GreyFox's Team I am sure to win q15

Not that its all about winning its about having FUN & maybe we will but I think it could be more stressful than FUN & be more fun for the people watching ...............

I feel if its run as is with the teams as is on the Coastal website that the Colchester Boys have it on paper but anything can happen and probably will , A car broken on the track waiting for a marshall and no other team member ready to start could cost q15

a team I reckon 4 maybe even 5 laps round Coastal ...............

If my team is split and I am put into the GreyFox's Team I truly belive we have won it if the GreyFox keeps his head and does not try to race everything on the track ( What am I saying Imposable he won't be able to help himself if there is a Colchester Mod driver behind him on the straight he won't let them past )

If my team stays as is and gets another driver added I reckon with Grahams planning we could win it if Jim's Lipo can recharge between runs which for what its worth I don't think he will be able to q23

Anyway I am rambling off to sink a couple to get the taste of Gloss Paint out my mouth q38

I am Just hpoing the GreyFox is having a couple of q37

Tonight

To Be Contiued ................

_________________
Sponsored By Demon Products & My Pocket

Numb Nuts Tri Club 2007 /2008 Pro Stock Champion

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Yes you read it right the first line of the above entry NEW CAR

its not as smooth as the Hot Bodies Cyclone as it has the Novak GTB in it which is not as smooth as the Nosram which is in the HotBodies Cyclone But its still very good and will hopfuly be the only car I drive tomorrow to get it set up just right ...............

I took so much stick for changing from Magic to Hot Bodies I thought well if I get a NEW car so soon I wont get so much stick as I am still getting stick from the last change q22

To Be Continued ................

_________________
Sponsored By Demon Products & My Pocket

Numb Nuts Tri Club 2007 /2008 Pro Stock Champion

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Well the Coastal 240 turned out to be my most costly race meet ever ££££££££££

Ill start by saying what a great day well organised and a realy friendly crowd of drivers had entered , My team the Cutting Edge Crew was a great team and probably the most organised of all with 2 way radio comunication from Pit to Marshall keeping an eye on everything , With Grahams Spread sheet telling us where we were all ment to be at all times we felt confident and with Jims recent form and rebuilt Serpent we should do well ........

At this point it all went wrong I was out first and we had decided to do 10 minute runs each after 9 minutes my car started to slow and we as a team were not ready being first change and coming 4 laps early we were in a panic q11

My Motor had Expired that was a £30 Ebay LRP X11 gone q11

We lost about 3 or 4 Laps because of my motor alone and this was to be the way it went all day I lost 3 motors in all , Each one Expiring about the 9 minute mark which lost us time on those 3 runs

LRP 13.5 £30 Ebay BURNT OUT
Speed Passion 13.5 £ 30 Ebay BURNT OUT
Novak 10.5 £ 75 BURNT OUT

after the problems with these 3 motors I put my best motor in the one I did not want to use in case it got to HOT and it ran as cool as cool for the full 10 minutes for my last 3 runs ........... Conclusion Don't Buy Second Hand Brushless Motors !!!

At the End of the Day we were 4th overall beating the Colchester B team and the Bury Buggy Club team who was renamed 50/50 as they had 2 coastal drivers in there team also ........... It was a great day and we are looking forward to the next one ...

So with a weekend off from racing coming up then a home club meet at Coastal the following week it will give me some time to rebuild the Cyclone and sort out a New motor Ready for the BTCC and STCC coming up in the next month .

To Be Contiued .............

_________________
Sponsored By Demon Products & My Pocket

Numb Nuts Tri Club 2007 /2008 Pro Stock Champion

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Well here we go again another RACE Weekend is here & after a good run out last weekend at a home club meet finishing up 3rd the confidence is high

With an early start its going to be another long day Picking the GreyFox up at 6.15 thats another Sunday morning the Wife will sort of moan at me

Going to a track I know very well tomorrow Snetterton for a round of the BTCC it should be fun as my days testing there a few weeks ago will pay off as I have the perfect gear ratio for the 13.5 motor I will be using , The Race car is ready to go set up with my best motor the orion 2008 BRCA Leagle motor ........ But now with the Demon Power Products 50mm FAN as well it should be even better being that little bit cooler also ....

My Spare car has now been turned into a WET car as the weather looks like it will rain at some point tomorrow , Lucky the old Tamiya undertray fitted the Cyclone like a glove my only worry is the Novak GTB getting to Hot and cutting out inside the under / over tray , The only good thing is it has the Novak 13.5 ss pro in there as well so if the motor gets to hot the GTB will not hurt it .....................

And with the New shell on the Race car its looking good having given it a quick run in practice last weekend to check it out it seemed to handle just like the Mazda 6 shell does , It just looks different ...

My Main Goal tomorrow is to beat the GreyFox as I am ahead over this season and Just want to stay that little bit ahead until the end of the year When I may be giving up the racing q60

or taking time out for a while , have to see how things progress though the year .............

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Sponsored By Demon Products & My Pocket

Numb Nuts Tri Club 2007 /2008 Pro Stock Champion

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Well I feel I should update my Blog , I have now got over my Bad day out at Snetterton at the BTCC meeting Funny realy as I drove my BEST EVER 5 min qualifying session ever and I still came away with very mixed emotions !!!!!!!!!

Because the meeting was being run with ROUND BY ROUND qualifying and I had 2 Bad rounds I ended up 6th in the A final ,,,, NOW 6th Is good BUT if it had been done on FTQ I would have been 2nd in A

On to the Finals and from 6th on the grid I kept my place and finished 6th in the first final ,,,,, On to the second Which was WET and I had spent a whole day during the week prepairing my spare car and transforming it into a WET car it was Bullet proof ( soI thought ) But on the way to the line for the 2nd Final I dropped my Car and a motor wire came off ( My Bad Soldering to blame ) At this point I was ready to Give Up for Good & I was very Upset with myself as I could not blame anyone else q11

But I did win a raffle prize and it was Purple

So in my mine I had had enough BUT I thought about it and its not all about winning its about having a good day out and I had , Seeing Leigh driving the best I have ever seen him drive winning the B Final and getting a Pot for his trouble & seeing George WIN the A final and I must say Ian looked very happy he had beaten me for the first time in a while and in a Funny sort of way I was Very Pleased for him , I realy was he deserved it ( Won't be that easy when it comes to the STCC though for the GreyFox

Got the Buggy ready for an outing next weekend so we will have to see if my old brushed motor & running old cells will be any sort of a match for the others most of them now running Brushless and Lipo !!!!!!!!!!!!

_________________
Sponsored By Demon Products & My Pocket

Numb Nuts Tri Club 2007 /2008 Pro Stock Champion

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