Racing at the B.I.W.S
It had been quite some time since I've raced at a larger 'Regional' style of event. I have been a committed club racer at my loc...
https://www.thercracer.com/2012/12/racing-at-biws.html
It had been quite some time since I've raced at a larger 'Regional' style of event. I have been a committed club racer at my local club but, usually the distance or time involved has kept me away from pitting my driving skills against a wider range of racers.
However the BIWS series was announced in Sheffield and it seemed like a relaxed organisation of racers that wanted to put on a good days racing at Don Valley stadium.
There are 3 classes of racing, Open where obviously anything goes.. Ready for sponsored drivers and speedfreaks. 13.5 boosted, undoubtedly the most popular current series and 17.5 blinky.
I usually race 13.5 with no timing (my club has a small track and a punishing perimeter, so I erred on the side of caution and plumped for 17.5 blinky.
The first thing was to get a motor. In the end I bought an Orca Rx2 17.5t. I initially bought a speed passion sportsman but was told that although blinky is about no timing or boost on the esc, you can change the timing on the motor.. Colour me confused, what's the point in that?? Anyway as I was told I would loose out I returned the motor and purchased the Orca.
Next up, gearing the 417 for Blinky. I needed a FDR of around 4. So after going through my spurs I found a RWracing supalite v2 94t to be a good fit. Allowing me to go from a FDR of 4.3ish down to 3.5 ish.
Tyres were the next thing on the list. Moorespeed revs are the sanctioned tyres, with no additive. For the last few years I have raced foams.. We had started to move across to rubbers at my club so I have been working on my settings but they still didn't feel right (plus I has become used to driving foams over the last few years).
After a few more club races I had got a set-up that started to feel ok, but was dreading going against a load of more practiced racers.
Soon the day arrived and with an early start I set off for a days racing.
So I arrived at Don Valley and quickly set up, and booked in. The track looked great, i had an interesting infield and a fast sweeper coming into the main straight. I couldnt wait to have a go.
Then my first disaster of the day. My shiny new shell seemed to just lose it's rear wing as I moved it on the pit table!!! A quick inspection seemed that the threadlock i used on the wing mount had dripped onto the wing mount and The plastic on the mount had dissolved! I was gutted, I hadn't bought a spare and it was already the practice session! I managed to fashion a small repair and got the car out on the track.
First up I can see why tyre warmers seemed to be the order of the day! My car drifted around as if it was on ice.. So I made some quick changes to my setup and softened the car to give a little more grip.
So on to the qualifiers.
The car felt good, it did take me a while to get the feel for the circuit, but soon I was flying. I managed 2 second places and a win. This put me on the second slit on the grid for the two final rounds.
Final one was good, I was in the swing of things by now and chased the leader for a few laps, however I got stuck in a backmarker sandwich and was put half a lap back. I chased hard but I didn't have the straight line speed as the leader so I just remained second.
For the last race I was told to crank up the timing on the motor, so I took advantage of it and was ready for the final showdown.
As the car raced of the line I could tell it was faster, however my tyres were cold so I had to go wide and concede a few places until they heated up. Once they got the grip I was able to get back to second place. Unfortunately a back marker knocked into me and threw my car well off track. I lost nearly all my positions. So with half the race left I went on a charge! The car was sweet and the extra timing on the motor all ensured I was now running at a similar pace to the fast guys. I slowly picked them all off as I raced to the front of the pack, however as I approached the leader final lap was called and I ended up second..although it felt great as the car was sublime and I had really enjoyed pushing the car to try to claim the win.
Overall it was a brilliant day, I was tired, I had really enjoyed it and everyone there was friendly, the organisers were top and the track and facilities were spot on.
Next race is Dec9th hopefully I will be able to get there to try to improve :)
More info here
http://biwsdv.weebly.com/
In the meantime im going to play Pixel smash a top iOS advent calendar game available here
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pixel-smash-christmas-edition/id577425431?mt=8
However the BIWS series was announced in Sheffield and it seemed like a relaxed organisation of racers that wanted to put on a good days racing at Don Valley stadium.
There are 3 classes of racing, Open where obviously anything goes.. Ready for sponsored drivers and speedfreaks. 13.5 boosted, undoubtedly the most popular current series and 17.5 blinky.
I usually race 13.5 with no timing (my club has a small track and a punishing perimeter, so I erred on the side of caution and plumped for 17.5 blinky.
The first thing was to get a motor. In the end I bought an Orca Rx2 17.5t. I initially bought a speed passion sportsman but was told that although blinky is about no timing or boost on the esc, you can change the timing on the motor.. Colour me confused, what's the point in that?? Anyway as I was told I would loose out I returned the motor and purchased the Orca.
Next up, gearing the 417 for Blinky. I needed a FDR of around 4. So after going through my spurs I found a RWracing supalite v2 94t to be a good fit. Allowing me to go from a FDR of 4.3ish down to 3.5 ish.
Tyres were the next thing on the list. Moorespeed revs are the sanctioned tyres, with no additive. For the last few years I have raced foams.. We had started to move across to rubbers at my club so I have been working on my settings but they still didn't feel right (plus I has become used to driving foams over the last few years).
After a few more club races I had got a set-up that started to feel ok, but was dreading going against a load of more practiced racers.
Soon the day arrived and with an early start I set off for a days racing.
So I arrived at Don Valley and quickly set up, and booked in. The track looked great, i had an interesting infield and a fast sweeper coming into the main straight. I couldnt wait to have a go.
Then my first disaster of the day. My shiny new shell seemed to just lose it's rear wing as I moved it on the pit table!!! A quick inspection seemed that the threadlock i used on the wing mount had dripped onto the wing mount and The plastic on the mount had dissolved! I was gutted, I hadn't bought a spare and it was already the practice session! I managed to fashion a small repair and got the car out on the track.
First up I can see why tyre warmers seemed to be the order of the day! My car drifted around as if it was on ice.. So I made some quick changes to my setup and softened the car to give a little more grip.
So on to the qualifiers.
The car felt good, it did take me a while to get the feel for the circuit, but soon I was flying. I managed 2 second places and a win. This put me on the second slit on the grid for the two final rounds.
Final one was good, I was in the swing of things by now and chased the leader for a few laps, however I got stuck in a backmarker sandwich and was put half a lap back. I chased hard but I didn't have the straight line speed as the leader so I just remained second.
For the last race I was told to crank up the timing on the motor, so I took advantage of it and was ready for the final showdown.
As the car raced of the line I could tell it was faster, however my tyres were cold so I had to go wide and concede a few places until they heated up. Once they got the grip I was able to get back to second place. Unfortunately a back marker knocked into me and threw my car well off track. I lost nearly all my positions. So with half the race left I went on a charge! The car was sweet and the extra timing on the motor all ensured I was now running at a similar pace to the fast guys. I slowly picked them all off as I raced to the front of the pack, however as I approached the leader final lap was called and I ended up second..although it felt great as the car was sublime and I had really enjoyed pushing the car to try to claim the win.
Overall it was a brilliant day, I was tired, I had really enjoyed it and everyone there was friendly, the organisers were top and the track and facilities were spot on.
Next race is Dec9th hopefully I will be able to get there to try to improve :)
More info here
http://biwsdv.weebly.com/
In the meantime im going to play Pixel smash a top iOS advent calendar game available here
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pixel-smash-christmas-edition/id577425431?mt=8
