ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL BUGGY MEETING AT HINCKLEY

[Eddystone]

Nice write up Dean. Have to agree the day went well and was good fun despite the weather. Amazing turn out in the rain - are we all mad??!! Really enjoyed the track layout. The hairpin before the table top was handy in reducing the speed of cars over the jump and therefore low flying UFOs past marshalls ears! Grip was a bit drifty after the rain - tyres were key, the road treaded fronts on my Traxxas Bandit weren't a lot of use for corners! Must remember to bring the ribs next time out in the wet. I hope you don't mind but I've borrowed your photos of the Retro racing and added them to Tamiyaclub to hopefully promote the class a bit more - as summer progresses I think we could get quite a retro turn out as the racing is fun and the cars seemingly quite evenly matched despite their varying ages and technical sophistication.

Can't make it next week so if you can get some photos of the new ramps etc it would be good to see what obstacles await at my next race.

Richard

[warr2]

Richard

Ribs are pretty poor in the dry on grass and useless in the wet.

You need spikes!

If memory serves the traxxas bandit was released late 90's so should have 2.2" wheels so any of the modern buggy tyres should fit.

You want Schumacher minispikes all round in the dry and a more aggressive spike for the rear if it rains. (ballistic buggy are the only option if you're doing BRCA although there are much better alternatives.)

[Eddystone]

Hi David,

Thanks for the tyre advice. I've just looked up the details on the Traxxas website and the Bandit was first released in 1995 - your memory is serving you pretty well! Just measured the wheels and they are 2.2s as you predicted, for some reason I thought they were an odd size and I was restricted to Traxxas only tyres - now I know better. The standard Traxxas rears look like a pretty good mini-spike so I'll stick with them for now. They worked quite well in the wet this weekend. I'll definately be getting some spikes for the front sorted though.

Thanks again for the advice.

Richard

[Wacker1]

Hi all,

It was Round 3 of our Clubs own Summer Buggy Championships yesterday(Saturday 23rd May), with another Excellent turnout of Racers. I noticed that there were some new Faces(& old) that turned up.........probably for some last minute Testing, ready for Hinckleys 2WD Regional Meeting on the following day.
The 'Retro' Class & 'Competition' Buggy Class were the same as usual(good to see the Clubs Mardave Cobra Buggy make its first appearance though), but other than that, this Meeting was quite different from the norm, due to building a very Tight, Technical Track on the lefthand side of the Rostrum(so the main Grass area was kept mint for the Regional).......not only that, it was the first run of the Clubs additional NEW Track Features.
The NEW Main Ramp was pretty much identical to one of the Ramps we had made towards the end of last Season, so Racers were 'clued' up on how to take it.
It was a different story for the NEW Table Top & Rumble strip Features though, as the NEW Table Top was abit Wider & nearly 4Feet longer than the previous one, making good 'Throttle' control the key......once mastered, many Drivers were finding it easier to land on the Downramp than the steeper old one. The NEW Rumble Strip was probably the most intresting feature, as it was completely different to anywhere else, making it unique to our Venue. If you came into it wide, the Rumbles made your Car push even wider, costing time, & if you went in too tight(with Speed), it practically sucked your Car into the Hose, requiring the use of a Marshall! The KEY was to go into it Tight, but just roll the Car round.......most found this to be the fastest & easiest route!

All in all, it was a GREAT Club Meeting, giving everyone good Preparation for the Mid-West Regional!

HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS FROM YESTERDAYS(Saturday 23rd May)BUGGY CLUB MEETING :

[The mad1]

its been a fantastic weekend all round i only wish i hadnt worn that shirt i had it the first pic as my shoulders really hurt now man

[Wacker1]

Hi all,

It was Hinckleys 5th(4th in the Clubs Championship)Buggy Meeting of the Off-Road Summer Series yesterday(Saturday 30th May), with yet another great turnout of Drivers.........5 FULL Heats in total!
It was also nice to see a good collection of 4WD Buggies turning up, giving them their own Heat........will be good to see this on a regular weekly basis.
The Meeting ran as smooth as usual, thanks to Dale & Scott, as well as having a plenty of Food & Drink allday, to keep all the Racers happy
Another good Track Layout appeared(thanks to everyone that helped build it), with some nice flowing Corners & Challenging sections. It was also great to include another part of the Banking in the Circuit, that seemed to have a decent Bump in it, which you could carry some Speed through, if taken correctly(Thanks to Justin for Cutting the Grass on the Bank).
Everyone did another fantastic job of working together & clearing up the Track after the Meeting, making us finish on time

GOOD STUFF!!......already looking forward to next Saturday!

Here are some Photos from yesterdays Meeting(Saturday 30th May) :

[Wacker1]

Hi all,

After a late start, due to poor Weather conditions, Hinckley had their 5th Meeting in the Clubs Summer Championship Series yesterday(Saturday 6th June).
Being unsure of the heavy Rain coming back in the afternoon, we decided to put a slightly smaller Track together & drop one of the Qualifying Rounds(just 3 & a Final this time), other than that, it was Racing as usual!
It was good to see some 'Die-hard' Racers outthere, that were'nt scared of the Weather, giving the Club another good turnout of Drivers........3 FULL Heats in total!
It was also good to see Dale making a comeback to Off-Road Racing, after a 2-3year break, giving his new Atomic S2 Buggy its Maiden Voyage!.....I'm sure he'll be up with the Frontrunners in the 'A' Final very soon!
Thanks to Scott for running another smooth Race Meeting(& not being scared of the rain ), as well as Dale & Family for some great Food
Thanks to everyone that helped pack the Track away, we seem to be getting quicker eachweek at doing this

A Couple of Pics from yesterday(Saturday 6th June) :




Roll on Next saturday!

[Wacker2]

Sorry I couldn't be there guys, looks like a good meeting despite the weather.

I'll definately be running next week so will see you all again then!

Cheers, Jon!

[Dale]

Hi All,

Thanks again Dean for the write up.

I was very pleased to see the turn out yet again and despite the weather we really did have a good meeting and I was very pleased to get the new buggy going!

It did seem the packing away went very well this week and it seems the black hosing can all fit at the back making far more room for the ramps etc. Can those who do this role next week look to do the same?

I am going to try and spend a bit of time next week orgainsing the container a bit more. I want us to trow away stuff we are not going to need and I want to ensure the iron poles are put away in one of the wooden boxes.

I was especially pleased to see the new retro lunch boxes in action!!!! Absolutely brilliant and looking forward to more and more of them racing!

Regards Dale - Chairman

[JamesG]

Gutted I couldnt make it this week, chances are I won't be able to make it next week either

The lunch boxes look awesome guys, how did they handle the jumps?

[Eddystone]

Hi Dale,

Just a thought about the packing away of the black hose. If it would be possible to build some sort of retaining cage at the back of the container to hold the hose I think storage space and packing away speed could be improved further. It was quite hard work battling the hose to keep it all at the back of the container yesterday. A cage wouldn't take much, possibly just a wooden bar across the width of the container about 1 foot from the roof and then 2 or 3 vertical pieces between it and the floor. Need the gap near the roof to feed the hose over to get it to coil, the uprights would then hold it in place and stop it springing back out while still allowing the hose to be easily removed for use the next race. I can't remember but if the container has vertical ridges in the walls inside then it could probably be done quite easily if we had the wood. I'm happy to give knocking it together a try if we've got any wood to build it from.

Richard

[Hail Ming]

Gutted I couldnt make it this week, chances are I won't be able to make it next week either

The lunch boxes look awesome guys, how did they handle the jumps?

Hi James,

The Lunch Boxes handled the jumps pretty well provided you gunned it - but clip the apex and you were on your roof.

It was good fun - they put a smile on everyone's face

James

[Wacker1]

Hi all,

Today(Saturday 13th June) saw ROUND 6 of Hinckleys Summer Off-Road Club Championships.

The Weather was blisteringly hot.........contributing to yet another high turnout of Racers!
It was good to see many of the Clubs Members chipping in right at the start of the Meeting, to help transport the Hoses & Features to the Trackside. This combined with Martyns (Master Smacker of Track building!)planned Track design, made it possible to have the Circuit built in our fastest time ever!
The Track Layout for this Meeting was our best Club Circuit 'to date'! Giving a 'Regional' quality to it, probably due to being a decent size, with some very fast flowing Sections(the fast sweepers after the main Straight), as well as some good Technical parts, like the 2 small Jumps situated diagonally on a Chicane, the Rumble Strip & the short Steep Table Top(this catching a few Drivers out....including myself!). With the Hot Dry Weather, this made the Racing close & Competitive, as everyone had the consistancy of running on the Schumacher 'Yellow' Mini-spike Tyres allday, on the high-grip Grass!
Well done again to Scott & Dale for doing another fine smooth job of running Race Control & the BBQ.........I think the Meeting went more flowing than ever this week!
Was also good to see some Top-Class Drivers like Andy Moore etc, joining the Off-Road Buggy scene......hopefully this will become more regular

I hope everyone is already looking forward to next Saturdays Meeting, as I am

Here are some Photos from Todays(Saturday 13th June)Club Meeting :







See you all next week!!

[Dale]

Hi All,

Thanks again for Dean showing pictures of another successful meeting at HRCCC. We had a great turn out and I am very pleased with what we are doing this year.

We really worked on the timing this week and I think the fact that racing was finished for 5pm was a bench mark for future meetings and this is something we want to do week in and week out.

I would say that the only negative was the amount of people who did not stay behind to help pack away and if it were not for a welcome handfull we would have not finshed everything for 6pm. All I ask is that we work as a team and get packed away a little quicker in the future please!

Also if any one has any ideas for new things for the BBQ I am open to suggestions. PM me please for this.

Many thanks

Dale - Chairman

[Hail Ming]

I took some camcorder footage last Saturday and have placed a short clip of the 'A' Final on YouTube. The link is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onDguznf52k

James