AKA - North East drivers put their cars on a funny green coloured track, and realise it's nothing like driving on Seaham gym floor.
[above] Chris Stewart and his C4.1 followers
2012 National number 1, and a big reality check that the UK nationals were going to be much tougher this year … so many good drivers. …. And so we kicked off the 2WD championship. The track was technical but still flowing, and included a nice twisty bumpy section before going onto the straight, that the commentators affectionately nicknamed “The Washing Machine” . Practice round one was foggy and damp, and even though it’s a round most people use to familiarize themselves with the track, it was still a mixture of Schuey greens, Ballistic greens, Schuey yellows and silvers on the cars. Practice round two, and everyone was on yellows, which stayed that way for the rest of the day.
And onto qualifying.
We all realized that the aim of getting a G final (as previous years) was going to be a very big ask.
Someone pointed out that around 20 F3 / F4 drivers had been replaced with faster F1 and F2 drivers, so a G final target was the equivelant of an I final now??? I don’t know if that’s an accurate or fair conclusion, but an I final was the expectation I had.
Following round 1 (where my place on the rostrum had been taken), my qualifying in rounds 2 & 3 was fairly slow and steady. I was gradually after more steering, going to longer wheelbase, softer front oil, and softer spring, until in round 4 I went from stagger ribs, to cut staggers, and the car was transformed, and I managed a 55 in round which I was really pleased with. It’s a nice change to see my times come down as the day goes on.
Jeff had started strongly in round 1, but made some mistakes in round 2 despite being on a good time. In rounds 3 & 4, mistakes on the first corner unfortunately meant his run was spoiled early on, despite putting in fast laps to try and recover the time.
Andy’s DEX210 looked a little under damped, or too low, as it looked quite bouncy around the track. He seemed comfortable with it though, and pushed on. He put in a good clean run in round 1, which looked to be a good platform to build on. In round 2, he made a good start, and was quick and clean for the first half of the race, but ended up making a mistake which seemed to upset his rhythm, as a few more mistakes followed. A quick round 3 was followed by a round 4 which again had a few mistakes in it, unusual to see the Pearson pace disrupted like this.
I didn’t see much of Neil’s qualifying, as he was in the heat before me. From what I saw, Neil’s car looked quick, and clean, with the pre season testing obviously paying off for the C4.1 driver. It looked a little low, but this seemed to help it on the hairpins.
David Pack was trying his best to thrash Jeff’s old X-6 round the track. It looked like it was handling well as Jeff looked on misty eyed….
The potential was always there for the car if on a clean run, and David made sure with a stonking round 3 score of 72 (the highest score in round 3 from all of us due to technical problems with Gregs car).
Chris Stewarts car looked quick, but inconsistent round the track. He had some bad luck with other cars, and was already looking towards the 4WD day, when in round 4 he popped a ball joint off, though I retrieved his car and fixed it, the run was spoiled.
Greg put two good runs in early on, and despite getting C/D final scores, his lap times hinted at B final pace. Unfortunately, a technical problem held him up at the start of round 3 and dashed hopes of pushing on for a B final.
Greg shows us how to negotiate "The Washing Machine":
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These were the scores in the rounds:
Round 1
|
Round 2
|
Round 3
|
Round 4
| |
Greg Williams
|
29
|
35
|
113
|
64
|
Jeff Steele
|
70
|
95
|
84
|
104
|
Chris Pattinson
|
92
|
76
|
77
|
55
|
Neil Adamson
|
78
|
96
|
82
|
99
|
David Pack
|
113
|
92
|
72
|
98
|
Andy Pearson
|
98
|
109
|
87
|
95
|
Chris Stewart
|
94
|
98
|
100
|
111
|
I tried to get atleast a few laps of everyone’s final…. Which meant that when it came to my final, I’d lost my rostrum position, and then spoiled my race by misjudging the end of straight corner from my new position… the sacrifices I make for this amateur report…. :o(
Andy and Chris line up for the L final as cars 1 & 2, narrowly out qualifying the fag end.....
True to form, most of us ended up near the back at the start of the finals, or in my case broken … but the shining light was Andy P’s final…. Great drive, and … well.. just watch it to see what happens in the end:
The rest of the finals are on here…
Pack's K Final:
Pack's K Final:
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....... Worsley 1 - Neil Sleigh 0
Jeff J2?
Neil J4?
Pack K6?
Andy P L1
Chris S L4?
4WD POWER……
The track viewed from the rostrum looked very open, with lots of high speed areas, but when walking the track, we realized it wasn’t the corners we needed to slow down for, but the undulations, table tops and the area of the track that was yesterday’s washingmachine ….. ‘the corkscrew’.
In practice, everyone’s car was too twitchy, and we were tippy toeing round the track .… all except Pack who’s car was dialed and perfect and he was on his way to the Team Durango tent to share his setup with his teamys….
Neil went up 2.5 wt in front oil, me and Chris copied, I also went for a front roll bar 3 rows off the front tyres, -1mm on ride height and toed the front wheels out and glued the side walls (Cheers Dan).
Again, non of the qualifiers contained any slow cars, so mobile chicanes were not going to be an issue.
And onto qualifying…..
I was in Jeff’s qualifier, and he was a lot quicker than me, to the point where I was concerned about my pace…. If he hadn’t had the odd crash, he would have been around the F / G final area all day, however I managed to stay on my wheels on a slower pace, and Jeff tumbled about at a quicker pace, which meant I was getting in his way, letting him past, avoiding his upside down car, then spent a few laps with him behind my car again wondering whether I should let him though … mind games central!
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So Jeff had a sharp settled 502, and I was quite happy with my 511.
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I felt I was gradually picking the pace up in round 3, I was on for an excellent time, but rolled once at the end of the straight only to be rescued by what Chris Stewart called “the slowest marshal in the world”… it’s also a pity that the slowest marshal in the world also had glue all over his hands, my car seeming to stay in his hand what seemed like 10 seconds as he looked to put it back on the track…
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Chris Stewart’s 511 looked really good, if a little edgy in round 1. It looked to be jumping well, and riding the bumps well, and if only he could stop entering the corkscrew too quickly, or turning in to early on the entrance to the corkscrew, would’ve gotten some brilliant times.
Best new bit of kit for the weekend on show was Andy P's self created pit board. Now on back order for the rest of the lads .....
Andy's pit was looking very professional and prepped, further enhanced by pitting next to Pack....
Pack and Andy looked to be having the same kind of race as me and Jeff. Pack was on storming pace, running 2nd in heat behind Darren Bloomfield for a long time, ahead of many other established quick drivers. However, errors saw him lose the advantage gained by his blistering pace and caught by the Pearson Pace. But both Durango’s looked well sorted.
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Greg’s car looked quick (as always), and though it looked to be taking the bumps and jumps aswell as any other cars, he wasn’t happy with it, and despite a few shock adjustments…. he never quite felt the car was riding the track aswell as it could.
Still, mega scores of 27 & 28 in this very difficult field meant a D final that Greg would’ve been really pleased with 2 years ago, but it shows how much he is progressing that he was disappointed he didn’t end up in the B final where some of his lap times suggested he could’ve been, mixing it with the likes of Helliwell and Stafford.
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Neil’s car looked quick and settled, so settled that it kind of looked like how Lee Martin’s car goes round the track, just much slower and with Phil Sleigh’s paint scheme on it. Again I didn’t get to see much of it, as I was was queing, and after yesterday, paranoid about losing my position on the rostrum.
In round 3, it rained / hailed quite a bit. It was clear that the track was quicker when damp, as drivers could push on without the fear of grip roll. The hail meant icy ball bearings where not as favourable, and only Pack managed to time it right and capitalize on the changeable weather. The rest of us spent much of round 3 looking at the skies, with pockets full of BB greens and wheel wrenches. Notable quick tyre changes where CS in R3, myself and Neil working on the car trackside, and CP in R3, myself and Greg working on my car…. Just thinking, I still didn’t get my car rescruitineered.
Here is how it turned out in qualifying:
Round 1
|
Round 2
|
Round 3
|
Round 4
| |
Greg Williams
|
27
|
31
|
28
|
37
|
Jeff Steele
|
55
|
70
|
102
|
90
|
Chris Pattinson
|
57
|
80
|
88
|
78
|
Neil Adamson
|
109
|
78
|
66
|
75
|
David Pack
|
81
|
97
|
70
|
100
|
Andy Pearson
|
75
|
68
|
84
|
99
|
Chris Stewart
|
90
|
114
|
97
|
73
|
For the finals no one was in the bottom final… RESULT.
Unfortunately due to the on off rain, I was a bit of a jessy with my camera and put it away in it's cot while we concentrated on the racing.
Chris Stewart started in true NE tradition, by ending up right at the back after an untidy start, even though I wasn’t in the race. But he fought hard, to recover and win the K final…. Surely the highlight in his 2012 BRCA 4WD campaign to date.
The J final was good to watch. Always in the middle of the field, Andy P was leading Pack and Neil round. Pearson pace, vs balls out Pack on a mission pace, followed by Neil ‘Lee Martin in slow motion’ Sleigh. Though Neil’s car looked really settled, Pack pulled away to challenge Andy, again and again. I felt Andy had the pace and the head to maintain position, until he had some radio / electrical issue which saw his car glitch at the wall of death. So Pack dove through, and so did Neil.
The I final, with myself and Jeff was the closest final Ive raced in. Jeff was fighting for the lead, and I was fighting between 8th and 5th, but was only a corner or two from the leaders. I made good progress from 9th, upto 5th, but hit a stationary car near the fingers (a double hump on the track). This relegated me bac to 10th, and I fought back to around 7th ish. Jeff had a storming run, despite one tumble going into the corkscrew, and showed the pace he had early on was enough to win the final.
Greg's final:
Greg’s D final was a little untidy. Frustratingly, there were a few tangles where Greg, though not at fault seemed to come off worst. And then a few tangles where Greg maybe touched someone, and was gentleman enough to wait for the other car to recover (Barry didn’t call it gentleman like from the sidelines), and so team Williams ended up around 7th in the D, despite showing the pace to have won it.
So 4WD final positions, again estimates from meory until the offical results get posted:
So 4WD final positions, again estimates from meory until the offical results get posted:
| Greg Williams | D10 |
| Jeff Steele | I1 |
| Chris Pattinson | I7 |
| David Pack | J4 |
| Neil Adamson | J6 |
| Andy Pearson | J8 |
| Chris Stewart | K1 |
Good weekend, good racing, good craic, and good company, roll on the North East regional @ RHR.
