BRCA 1/10 report (Written by Liam Galvin - Mechanic) Team boots

Last weekend it was back to 1/10th for us, Eden Park Raceway being the venue for the BRCA national.
This was a clash with the 1/8^th EUROS B event, disappointing for us and some of the other racers who would have been there to support and encourage the English Team in particular.

Saturday 2WD:
Practice 1: with the track being super slick, it would just be a case of easing the car around and getting to learn the layout that had been made for the event. The RB6 was looking good on track after watching others in the higher heats.

Practice 2: We decided to stand the rear shocks up on hole on the tower for the next run and raise the ride height a little. We also removed some of the side guard screws to help generate some more flex and traction in the car. Pace once again looked good.

Qualifying round 1:

We hit the track for the first run, putting a steady calm run in with the car working well. A mistake free run, which we felt would be good for a top ten. The following heats hit the track with many drivers making mistakes, and to our surprise we took TQ for the round!!

Round 2: We hit the track once again and the car was still working well. On another good run, landing one of the jumps the car ended up on its roof, after what seemed like a perfect landing, possibly a bad lump in the track. It would put an end to fighting for the TQ for this round and we would end up 13th. As shame as the car was looking great.

Round 3: The track now looked as if it had fully dried and that grip was high so we decided to take the option and run a different set up. However it didn’t handle the bumpy track as well and would result in it being hard to drive ending up 15th for the round due to this.

Round 4: We made some changes in the hope that it would make it easier to drive and take the bumps like we wanted, however the car was still hard to drive so we would eventually change back to starting car set up for the finals.

Starting 9th on the grid we knew anything would be possible.

Mains:
Leg 1: Everyone set off, and from the start it was clear to see changing back to the other car we had the pace we wanted again. Making some good clean passes we got up the field a little, but then suffered with another car making a poor attempt at a pass, taking us out and needing a Marshall putting us to the back of the field. Not giving up, we battled back and passed a few cars again, but once again go taken out by another car, ruining our race.

Its worth mentioning we found especially with 2wd it seems the tracks have one line only and make racing and passing very tough, It’s being more like waiting for someone to make a mistake or people trying to force overtakes that are not there and causing contact.

Leg 2: the next leg it would just be a case of following the pack round, unable to make and ground and finishing where we started off.

Leg 3: We made a good start to the final gaining a couple of spots and battled to try and move forward some more. However once again we suffered with avoidable contact from another driver which would ruin our race.

A shame in the finals as our car had much more pace then we were allowed to show due to 'incidents'.

Sunday 4WD:

We awoke to a damp looking morning and hoped that rain wouldn't affect the day. How wrong we would be, but more on that.

Practice 1: We had fitted some parts to test that we had an idea would help the car and this would be the first time running them. We hit the track and the car was looking great during the first few laps, we then suffered contact with a rolled car on the straight and damaged a shock, only practice so it was ok.

Practice 2: We hit the track again and this time managed to gain an understanding of the parts we had fitted, with the car super easy to drive and very fast. Feeling good looking towards qualifying.

Round 1: The first round would be when the weather decided to taken a turn on us. It began to drizzle with rain just before our heat, making the track slick, we put in best time of the round still at that point, but the rain would end meaning the next 4 heats the track got faster and faster.

Round 2: It was almost a copy of round 1, with the weather affecting our run again! It would be down to the last two rounds and hope the weather would hold off.

Round 3: We hit the track knowing we needed a safe clean run. This is exactly what we did, avoiding pushing as we needed a score. Taking 7th in round.

Round 4: We hit the track for the final qualifier and began. From the off our pace was on for TQ and fastest time of the day. A small tumble going onto the main straight and a slow Marshall would mean we would end up 10th for the round.

We was left hoping and wondering if our two best scores would be enough to make the A, however we were unfortunate and would start 2nd in the B Final.

Onto our B main, and the aim was to prove the pace that we had and see where it would have seated us had we made the A. Putting in a clean fast drive, we would take the win by 6 seconds.

His time would have placed in the top 3 in every A final leg, proving with a little luck and better seeding a podium place is an easy goal.

A shame that the weather was against us, put we made some good progress with the car for future meetings.

It’s worth to mention that in 10^th Nationals seeding is not done by ability, That’s unfortunate for Elliott as officially he is an F2 driver due to not enough racing the previous year in this class, Therefore he does suffer with not being seeded very high, making it quite tough to get the qualifying he needs to get a real crack at winning the mains, but if he sticks to it this year and keeps the results going, next year it will be a totally different situation giving him a real chance to be a 10^th champion which he clearly can be.

Thanks as always to all our sponsors as without you we wouldn't be where we are:
Kyosho, Proline, Reds, Tekin, Byron, Sanwa, Bittydesign, Maugraphix, LRP Batteries, SMD, Inside Line Racing, Ghea, Radio Race Car International, RDRP, JC Racing, Racers Design Products, Muc-Off.

Up next for us is the Kyosho Masters in France, a great fun meeting! See you there if you’re attending.

Thanks for reading

Team Boots

(Written by Liam Galvin - Mechanic)