Round 3: Bashley

[MikeS]

Well what can I say, just got in after an equally wet drive home, soaked through to the bone. I would like to thank ALL THE DRIVERS and the host club and the scrutineering team for their support and stirling work today, well done everyone, your really do deserve it.

Not only did we have an almost full turnout despite the torrential rain, a major proportion of the drivers went out and raced repeatedly, and despite quite a few people having electrical problems, including us as we finally succumbed to a wet speedo, I did not hear one word of unpleasantness or dissent from anyone - thank you all, what a brilliant group the STCC drivers are, I am just sorry the weather did not allow you to enjoy the Bashley track to its full potential.

Note: it has been requested that we hold the championship in a certain equatorial location next year, whilst I like the idea, I am afraid I think the committe will probably, and regretfully, have to turn that one down on the grounds that the entry fee costs may just be a little too high for everyone! Nice idea though!

PS, who needs wets, the tyres were absolute magic..........now lets hope this weather breaks by the time we meet up again at Barham for Round 4.

Thanks again to everyone today.

[skelsey]

Yep agreed, very, very wet (especially after our gazebo broke within 5 mins of going up on Saturday), but definitely worth it.

Thanks to the organisers and SHMCC for a very interesting weekend!

[MikeS]

Simon, despite looking absolutely drenched, every time I saw you you were smiling and laughing, well done you are a class act!

[Drifter]

"Note: it has been requested that we hold the championship in a certain equatorial location next year, whilst I like the idea, I am afraid I think the committee will probably, and regretfully, have to turn that one down on the grounds that the entry fee costs may just be a little too high for everyone!"

Could work out much cheaper than two new speedos, a PCM receiver, servo, motor, damaged gazebo, car valet plus the washing bills??? Barcelona would do it at half the price!

I tried very hard to enjoy the day - had a few laughs - but I have to say that, from the comments around the paddock, those that did were in the minority and, to be absolutely truthful, I think the event should have been canned - at the drivers briefing we would told racing would be halted if the rain became worse (it was barely spitting at that time) and we were told twice we were here to enjoy ourselves. Did we really? I braved it out to the bitter end, marshalling heats despite no longer being able to compete. Most left long before me.

Lets be honest, an expensive, miserable day only made bearable due to the good company. I’m not having a go at anybody but I'm sure there's something to be learnt from this - a little less bravado and a little more common sense maybe? Maybe I'm in the minority but I'm certainly not alone.

[Drifter]

Let me just balance that last post by adding that the race organisation was very good and the racing very entertaining.......... think positive Turner, Barham next, bathed in glorious sunshine ;)

[MikeS]

........ think positive Turner, Barham next, bathed in glorious sunshine ;)

Absolutely John....think very positive..... :) :)

[sams old man]

:D Let's all get real !! It was a great day out despite the weather. A big thanks to all running the event. We were there to race & thats what we did. :eek: This is England, we know the weather!!

[Peter 51]

Thanks for the meeting, I had a great time, like some of my motorcycle trips, you wonder why you are doing it at the time, but you remember it for ever, and the longer ago the better it seemed.

At home we wouldn't even race on a damp track, no one would have got out of bed on a day like that, but I got a full days racing in and that always makes a good day.

Tyres were good, better when it was raining than just damp. I was a bit sceptical about those lexan clam shell rain shields, but it certainly worked for me.

Special thanks as always to all the helpers/organisers.

Cheers
Peter

[BigJobby]

Let me just balance that last post by adding that the race organisation was very good and the racing very entertaining.......... think positive Turner, Barham next, bathed in glorious sunshine ;)

Beautiful piece of balancing there!

Did I have a good time? Yes

Was it well run etc.. ? Yes

Would I make the same 2.5hr journey again in the circumstances? Yes

Should it have been abandoned? - Without a doubt!

Sorry I had a great time including the 3 laps I managed. But out of 6 of us 2 blew up speedos, 2 fried motors and and 3 recievers went bye bye. Now that is an expensive day. For saying this is all about the people and enjoying the racing, you have to consider the economy of the thing.

I appreciate its a difficult decision to make. Still couldn't agree more with Mr Drifters quote above. Roll on Sunny Barham - Plus its only 3/4hr away!

[CCFM]

Well what a day it was, at wet Bashley. Saturday was great fun and had the car on the pace but was all in vain along with the rest of us that was praticing.
I suppose it should of been called off after round 1, as the forcast was for the weather only to get worse through-out the day, that was why I did not go out in round one, as I was trying desparately to get my car waterproofed so as NOT to blow anything in my car (like a lot of other did) but unfortunately missed my race and was still trying to sort my car when I heard over the speaker (which you could hardly hear due to the fact of the rain hitting the canopy on the gazeebo) that I was being sumoned to marshall or I COULD lose my FTD, where upon I got to my marshall point. After my marshaling I went to race control and appologised for not being on the my point, and was told 'OK NO problem' (sorry but do not know the mans name with the glasses that was at the PC) I also did not go out for the 2nd round as it was raing harder than the 1st and saw NO point, this time I marshalled as I was sitting doing nothing and my car was ready to go for the 3rd (come hell or high water). So went out for the 3rd and had glitching all over the track, and found out that one of my cappicitors had come adrift when putting the motor in. So after roulnd 3, I had put 12 measely laps in, but at leased my waterproofing worked. Now to see where I was after round 3, to my astonishment I was last in the last final, surely this cant be right as I had put in more laps than a lot of others that had unfortunately blown speedo's and alike, when aproaching Barry, he told me that I had lost my FTD, when asking why, he told me that it was because that I had not been at my marshaling point and had missed the first 4 mins of it, but as I said to him NO one had the curtisy to tell me that I WAS definately going to lose my FTD, if that was the case then why would I have bothered to go out in round 3, in that terencial rain only to LOSE that 12 laps that I managed to put in, as if I hadnt gone out I still would of been bottom, apparently 10, people had the FTD's taken away due to the fact they did not marshall, surely that cant be right, as you would NOT get all those people doing it on purpose. It seems to me that again politics comes before the 'FUN FACTOR' and decided not to partake in the finals and went.
I do appreciate what goes into these meeting as I help run a club myself and am in the middle of using new track markers etc, ans know the time involved ;)
Shame, as we all look forward and prep our cars for these meetings to be let down by one thing or another. Just my penny's worth :'(
At least I can drop this round and hope we dont get any other rounds that are wet.
I felt for Ben rayment as he has only booked in for 6, rounds and as we all know is a very good driver and HAD to gain some points for this one, be it wet.
West (wet) London BTCC saw sense and called it off after round 2,

Cheers Malc The Cool-Can-Fan-Man

[jo90]

I made the drive down but just couldn't justify racing against my bank balance. Real shame as the track looked excellent and the one practice session I had led me to feel if it had been dry then there would have been some very fast, close racing.

It is a real shame the weather 'rained on our parade' but well done to those brave enough to go out and race. Perhaps if I had had more rain protection for the car I would have stayed and become one of the brave myself. Ah well, we can only blame mother nature as the STCC crew did a sturling job as always in the quite harsh conditions. I was really looking forward to this weekend, just glad the next one is only about 3 weeks away !!

[Bonny85]

Should it have been abandoned? - Without a doubt!



ermmmmmmmmm, i dont think any meeting should be abandoned, if you dont wish to race than go home yourself and let the race orgabisers and those who wish to carry on, get on with it thereself.

i myself wasnt at bashley but look forward to barham in a month!

[Drifter]

No amount of protection made any difference, it was just a lottery. I have one of those clam shell inner bodies but from experience, though correctly cut and fitted, rain and grit still get in through the small front opening where the steering sits and then can't get out! All my son's electrics went awol between races due to sweating in balloons, one a normal red one and the other a translucent Mates branded one, the latter being more robust, spacious and stretchy (available at most good motorway service stops)!! Okay, I'll get my coat.

As for marshalling, when the weather conditions are THAT bad it's absolutely essential to have all ten marshalls in position. I watched cars sat in the wet grass for ages simply because other drivers had not turned up to marshall. Of course, when people had given up and gone home, there's not too much you can do.

[CCFM]

cant see why it couldn't be abandoned after round 1, as people that had gone out and put in a time, unlike myself, as I was not prepered to blow yet another speedo' 2 being at Helger as we speak, as West (Wet) London saw it was fit to cancell it after round 2. :confused:
I did make a sugestion to Barry to maybe hold round 3, for a bout an hour to see what the weather was going to do, and then maybe have only 2 finals, but as he sugested after some diliberation that the Sky forcast was that it was supposed to stop at 2 that they would carry on the meeting as per normal. fair play
Cheers Malc

[Colin Williams]

ermmmmmmmmm, i dont think any meeting should be abandoned, if you dont wish to race than go home yourself and let the race orgabisers and those who wish to carry on, get on with it thereself.

i myself wasnt at bashley but look forward to barham in a month!

Mark, you had to be there to comment realistically.

I think it may have been appropriate to have another driver briefing (yes there was one at the start, even though the race report claims we didn't turn up :confused: ), after the qualifiers and ask those drivers remaining what they wanted to do regarding abandoning, or changing the meeting.

I can't say I particularly enjoyed the day, even though points wise, that will probably be my best result of the year, and damage wise I will get off lightly with just a new set of bearings. Having said that, I would still go again, I just would like to have had a bit of an input into how many, if any, finals were run.

Colin

[MikeS]

At the end of the day, the organisers did what they felt was going to be the most fair to the majority of people especially considering the effort many people made to come and race. Everyone knew well in advance that there was a very high chance it was going to be very wet on the Sunday..........I even posted this on the STCC website under the orange meeting banner!

This is exactly one of the reasons why driver input is both good and bad. In the end it wouldn't really matter what was done, Barry and I had a number of discussions during the day, we had a number of scenarios ready, we were also following the weather on the TV, during the meeting, to try and gauge how things would go. In the end no matter what we did we would never please everyone, so many people and so many opinions......of course we are sorry that ANYONE should suffer damage to equipment, and that was one of my concerns, however as has already been said, this is the UK and we all know what the weather can be like, just because of this we should all really be prepared for it, as quite a few obviously were....my biggest suprise was how long our ESC actually lasted and the amount of brush wear on just one run in the modifieds, it was eating 2mm off the brush!

Now, lets just settle down and look forward to Barham round and pray that the weather has perked up by then, I blame it all on the hosepipe bans...... :rolleyes:

[CCFM]

To a point I agree Mike, but being disquolified even before I had had a run was crazy, and not even to be told either. The whole weekend was a waste for me not even getting a point :eek: ah well Tra la la la onward and upward I say, Just so happy that I had a great laugh with Disco Kev and few of the others, oh yea and you Digavino :D (I know, my spellings c**p) but they never taught me well in the monistry
Cheers Malc

[CCFM]

I have to say Mike your boys car was awsome in the rain ;) I reckon you had been rain dancing all Saturday :D

[Colin Williams]

At the end of the day, the organisers did what they felt was going to be the most fair to the majority of people especially considering the effort many people made to come and race.
This is exactly one of the reasons why driver input is both good and bad. In the end it wouldn't really matter what was done, Barry and I had a number of discussions during the day, we had a number of scenarios ready, we also were following the weather on the TV to try and gauge how things would go. In the end no matter what we did we would never please everyone, so many people and so many opinions......of course we are sorry that ANYONE should suffer damage to equipment, and that was one of my concerns, however as has already been said, this is the UK and we all know what the weather can be like, just because of this we should all really be prepared for it, as quite a few obviously were....my biggest suprise was how long our ESC actually lasted and the amount of brush wear on just one run in the modifieds, it was eating 2mm off the brush!

Now, lets just settle down and look forward to Barham round and pray that the weather has perked up by then, I blame it all on the hosepipe bans...... :rolleyes:

Mike, I wasn't suggesting that the organisers take lots of different opinions into consideration, but rather that there may have been some benefit to having two or more options which could have been put to the drivers and perhaps voted on by a show of hands. For example, I didn't see any point in running all the finals, and would have voted to run just two, rather than the three, other may have felt differently, but at least the organisers would have understood the majority feeling - whilst it is still clearly their (your) role to make the decision.

Anyway, just my twopenneth.

Colin

[MikeS]

LOL...not really Malc, the speedo gave out after the third run, I was devastated!
The sight of his car was quite something, the way it stuck to the track and the turn in, I am just so impressed with the new tyres I really am.

[Skiddins]

Although I did manage to keep my car running all day the only time you could hear my teeth grinding was when everyone had finished and we were packing up, the sun came out and the track suddenly had a proper 'dry' line appearing :rolleyes:

Thanks to everyone involved in running the meeting etc.
And to cap it all I had my best results to date against some stiff competition. :)

Skiddins

[Barry_Hughes]

Just a few comments from me regarding some of the comments.

The disqualify on results is just for a round as that is the way the program works, not marshalling will result in loss of FTQ, always has been always will be. Quite a few of the drivers who lost their FTQ were from my own club, they all accepted they did not marshall or get there on time so lost their FTQ.

It is always a difficult call to make, but if you were on your best run of the day, were knocked off the track or just made a mistake and were stuck on the track and no marshall was there, what the comments be?
It is bad enough sometimes when there is a full compliment of marshalls, some drivers expect a marshall to know they are going to crash, run to that place and be there to put said drivers car back on the track even before it has stopped moving.

Should the meeting have been stopped, the decision was taken to continue through, again consideration was given to the expenditure of those travelling and hotel bills etc.
Whatever decision taken would have upset someone.
The weather was changeable, with spells ranging from no rain to heavier rain.
I for one did not run in the first 2 qualifiers hoping the conditions would get better, which they did earlier in the last round, by the time I went out it was during one of the heavier showers, my decision, my bad luck (?) though I did end up 4th on the grid.

Having been at BTCC meeting a few years back at West London the weather took a turn for the worse by that I mean torrential rain, far far worse than anything on Sunday, a vote was taken, as the track was under water and the rain getting heavier, guess what, the majority of drivers wanted to continue, under the circumstances though the meeting was called off, the correct decision at that time.

In previous years I have called off meetings at both Barham & Milton Keynes during the day due to weather conditions. So I will call off meetings if I feel it is neccessary.

All of you please note, Paul is there to look after the computer and do bit of commentary, if you have problems please do not go and worry him, come and see me.

I don't know how many times I say this, but please make sure your details are correct in your driver registration, it does not help at the start of the meeting, after we have published the heats, that we continually get drivers coming and saying can I change crystals because I haven't got the one you have put me on. Those details are from the information you have supplied so please ensure it is correct.

[mark Fuller]

Mike i quite agree the tyres are very good.

as for the over and under trays yer their good but u cant just put one on wiv no watter proof to the speedo and reciever i ran the top ov the range speedo in the finals a bit of fender mender and blue tack it was fine

as for chris (smiths) who had the same speedo i supprised yours lasted that long wiv just lil bits ov blue tack on. lol

Just been looking up the monthly weather forcast i dont know when Barham is on next month but the 17th and 18th its suppose to chuck it down all days :D


Mark

[MikeS]

Just been looking up the monthly weather forcast i dont know when Barham is on next month but the 17th and 18th its suppose to chuck it down all days Oh thanks for that Mark, what a ray of sunshine you are...... :D

[exint2]

In my opinion it was definately the right thing to do to run the meeting in it's entirety. We all had the choice of whether to run or not, and we all knew the possible consequences (and yes I did "blow up" .... well drown a speedo).

To the guys who got it right congratulations and to those like me comiserations, but I learnt a lot at my first "monsoon" meeting and if it happens again I'll be much better prepared!

[team usa]

[IMG]hehehe thanks Malc, THE COOL CAN FANS also act as a hovercraft!
disco kev will always try and brighten a day, :D if not the strobe light will come out! :eek: tho' im not too bright today as i have a cold from the weekend.. ;) i'll stock up on coffee for the next one x

bless the racing bus! she did good

sadly i blew 2 ko recievers and 2 quantum two's even wrapped and inside a special coffin.
its catch 22 when the meeting goes on, if you dont go out you lose out, but if you do go out you might win! i tried the latter :'(

[alltah]

Alex and i had a good weekend dispite both our speedo's going pop even after my best efforts at waterproofing but thats the risk we took when we put the cars down, it was just bad luck.its time to get a waterproof speedo (MRT seemed to run without fault). The result wasn't to bad points were scored.Each lap completed on the sunday cost £14.27 !!. Thanks to everyone for a good weekend, i'ii get back to drying the tent and repairing and drying the gazebo, changing & Cleaning bearings............etc.

[J_Farthing]

We'll i had a brilliant weekend down in the depths of the new forrest. I had my FTD taken away from me for not marshalling but i took this on the chin and still managed my best qualification position of the season so overall in my view it was another top notch weekend even though i was a lil bit soggy come sunday evening. Well Done Paul and Barry for some excellent desicions in tough situations

[Debbie]

Hi Guys

Personnaly I'm glad the meet wasn't cancelled as I posted my best ever STCC result :D My electrics where fine although I was a bit worried about my Spectrum Reciever but the Bluetac and inner shell worked a treat, just a shame the speedo wire came out of its holder and got cut through by the rear drive belt ! :rolleyes: fortunatly I had a spare ;)

I can understand where everyone is comming from as the electrics are expensive, unfortunatly its part of the sport and to some extent I think it adds something to any championship, the biggest thing though is that its your choice to run or not, maybe a second drivers meeting would a way forward when the orginisors feel its warrented but other than the absolute worst of weather and thunder, lightening ect I would "vote" to race.

My Gazebo was totally destroyed on Friday night / Early Saturday Morning when the weather was far worse (we got less than 2 hours sleep) :( I had to buy some wellies, socks and waterproofs and other bits on Saturday Morning (for 2 of us) as all our clothes got completely soaked so all in all it got rather expensive and I understand that others in the same position wouldn't be able to continue but again I would still vote to race.

It was a very well run meeting and I do think it was the correct decision to allow the meeting to continue, the track was quite challanging in the wet and I look forward to visiting Bashley (Hopefully in better weather) next year.

Debs

PS
The weather Just had to rub it in though as come 6:30pm and it was blue sky and very warm :rolleyes: that was untill we got back near London and hit a thunderstorm !

[alltah]

The speedos haved come back today from repair and i need to add a further £6.20 to each lap, so each lap alex and i did on the sunday cost £20.47 getting up there with the real race cars !! , still was a good weekend. See you all at Barham. Tent is dry Gazebo is dry and repaired & bearings are bathing in oil.

[jo90]

If you can take the shells out of the bearings at all i'd put some thick oil in them and work them round a bit before cleaning again and fitting back in the car. This will just allow them that last bit of bedding i again after the water abuse.

sorry to go off topic but thought that might be handy info for others

[Harvey S]

It was a big shame about the rain.

I agree completely about some peoples comments about the risk of expensive electrics. But lets ne realistic here, this was a planned big event. Any 'every sunday' race event would be cancelled in weather like that, but you cant really cancel a big event when people have already made the trip down, lots of fuel, paid hotel bills perhaps etc, and then have to pay again for a rescheduled event.

I was extremely disapointed with my day. I missed the 1st round (orginally i was in heat 3 then moved to heat 1 :confused: ) Run the 2nd, done 14 laps, had a bit of 'glitching' on the final bend all the time which was a pain! made some set up changes, ready for the 3rd qualifier with every expectation to do 15+ laps and be in the A final, but noooo, the bloody reciever decides to pack up!!

What bugs me is my el cheapo hitec reciever in a balloon was 100% reliable at a local club event, and a bloody LRP phaser receiver packs up! Not impressed! It does work again now mind after spending a night in the airing cupboard. I beginning to think more and more by the day that LRP stuff is actually complete bollocks. :rolleyes:

[jo90]

I think that the LRP is actually a KO reciever (check out the Radio/transmitter section as someone posted up about these the other week).

[CCFM]

Hi Peeps,
On Sunday 9th of July I am organising a meeting at Wodson Leisure Centre in Ware (yea ive heard all the jokes on that one!), as Ware in Hertfordshire has an annual 'Ware Festival' which runs throughout the month of July, and so happens that the 9th (which is when the meeting will be held) falls right in the middle of the Nationals which is 1st & 2nd July and the 16th July STCC at West London.

The 9th of July is known as 'Action Weekend' which hopefully will give us an excellent opportunity to bring the public to the attention of our sport. Primarily the meeting will try and help to bring new members to the sport, but also to demonstrate our skills (well some of us anyway LOL)

The track will be held in one half of a very large gymnasium which will be split in two, one half will have a track of aprox 20mtrs x 20mtrs the track markers will be square white truncking. The other half will be also split in two, one part for pitting which will be cordoned off so as the public will be able to speak to us and ask questions but NOT to wonder around the pitting area, and the other will have a Mini T track, which will be run by Terry Crewe of 'RC CRAZY' where the general public will be able to have a go. There will also be a shop in attendance - HC Models (formally known as Three 5 Models) to sell spares and to show the general public the different class of cars there are to be driven. There will also be a viewing area for the public to watch and a large window which the people in the sport centre bar can view down from to.


Tires to be used are LRP V-TEC 24's pre glued or Carpet Dragons. 6 heats, 8 cars per heat and hopefully 12 buggy drivers, 4 rounds and a final. Doors will open at 09.00 and open practice till aprox 10.15, racing will start at aprox 10.30. A nice leisurely meet and only at £5.00 per entry.

It will be invites ONLY to this meeting as I am looking for people who:

1: After agreeing to attend will actually turn up on the day and not let me down.

2: Can conduct themselves in a professional mannor, this meeting is in a public presence so swearing, shouting at marshalls etc will not advertise our sport in a good way!

The meeting will give us a rare opportunity to educate the public about our great sport and will also be alot of fun to participate in so feel you fit the bill and you are free on the 9th of July, can you let me know asap via slim@coolcanfan.com


Cheers Malc - TCCFM ;0)

drivers so far booked in

27turn
1) Mitchell Davey
2) Stewart Davey
3) Nathan Pile
4) Andrew Simpson
5) Rob Blacker
6) Bradley Chapman
7) Chris Fischer
8) ??????????


Buggies
1) Mark Mills
2) Barry Lancaster


19 turn
1) M Hall
2) Jonathan Fletcher
3) Leon Hedges
4) Phil Randell
5) Alan French
6) Stuart Laxton
7) Keith Helmkee
8) Dave Ringsal
8) Ricky Copsy
9) Mark Elms
10) Phil Digabeano
11) Paul Upton
12) Dacs
13) Steve Lissamore
14) Nathan Parker
15) Russel Williams
16) Chris Kerswell
17) Martin Southworth
18) Ashley Wiffen
19) Dave Saul
20) Kit Jones
21) Gary Brace