D1RC Shakedown Round - Bedworth RCCC

The D1RC UK National Series 2006 first event - Practice time for everyone

Well, we did it! And despite being told by the weather services all week that it would rain and thunder, from 09:00 arrival to 17:00 departure, not a spot or a rumble, just warm and dry.

Before I disclose the details I've a very important job to do.

A few thanks are well deserved, and in no particular order:

Eddie for the whole idea and getting the sponsors on board, then busting a gut to make it happen.

CML and D1GB for their sponsorship and support, without which we couldn't have done it. Thanks guys.

Brad for his drive and hands on help, a good mate.

Jimmy for breaking the ice and entering, well done Jimmy!

Peter and Richard for keeping their promise and sending in the entry forms! Nice shells lads.

Paul for turning out at the eleventh hour, making the journey etc. Cool chassis mate!

Richie for making time to get away from work to play with the boys!

Bob Burr of Bedworth for trusting us with their superb track for the day - much appreciated by all.

And.....Dez Chand of RRCi magazine for his willingness to allow us bunch of loons to penetrate his otherwise very serious race car magazine...and for entertaining us with his high speed drifts into the Bedworth wall....and his death defying jump of the Bradley....and his tutorial on how to remove a brace of neons in under a second.

Okay, enough of the grovelling.

Yes, it stayed dry and mild all day and the M1 was free moving in both directions! Bedworth has one very long straight followed by a high speed sweep (with wall) and then a series of 90/180 twists and turns back to the straight.

We all started by getting used to the track, for some quite an experience as they'd not before drifted on a circuit with (damp) grass borders. Jimmy's friend was kept very busy marshalling until the grass dried out! We started by practicing a long oval in both directions and then progressed to grass cutting all of the run-off areas around the track.

By lunchtime I think we'd all got the gist of it and were performing reasonable to really very good drifts around the curves, with smooth transitions joining one to another and by the end of the day a few of us were twinning in style.

ALL the cars were showing some signs of minor but realistic battle scarring by the time they were being retired for the day. Indeed, one car in particular was showing severe signs of scarring but somehow I don't think we will be reading about that in RRCi.

Only Eddie ventured out for Time Attack practice with his Cusco Scooby, a heavy Tamiya shell on a top TC chassis, and in the process showed a couple of Bedworth locals the way to go in TC racing, lapping quicker than their Protoform blobs! I know there will be a few more up for this come Rockingham.

A great day. So now to the gallery, see if you can 'spot' the shells:

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Drivers:

John Turner - Magenta Tamiya Supra & Orange HPI Impreza

Eddie Turner - Purple Yokomo 180SX & White Tamiya Impreza

Jimmy Lam - Blue Yokomo FC3S RX7

Brad Hurr - Sumo Power Replica HPI 350Z

Peter Savage - Blue Yokomo 180SX

Richard Savage - Black & Red Yokomo Silvia S15

Paul Edwards - Orange Yokomo 180SX

Ritchie Hood - Green D1RC Yokomo Silvia S15 & Blue HPI Gallardo Spyder

Dez Chand - Blitz Yokomo ER34