Iconic cup Broxtowe 2024 Race Report

The iconic cup has been a stablemate championship of TheRCRacer over the years. A championship where you get to race old Tamiya's, what's not to love?

The last few years of my racing career have lead me to pursue other championships, however I still keep in touch with the regulars and they always ask when I plan to make a return, even been offered a car to drive!

I finally decided to make a one off return as one of my favourite tracks (Broxtowe) fell on my birthday weekend. A nice way to celebrate

The first problem was a car to use. Whilst I have a few Tamiya's I'll never sell, I have sold most of my iconic championship winning cars over the years so others can enjoy it with a proven car


Whilst I initially considered a TA03, parts supply and changes to make it race ready felt like a lot of work and expense. I saw my TL01 and knew it needed another race!

The car is well known, it gave me my initial 2016 championship and also used in parts in 2017. It's been brought out for random smaller races, but untouched since 2018

Car prep

Although it was left in a raceable condition, I felt like it needed a refresh and wanted to change some parts to give it a fighting chance in the superstock class


Hunting the Japanese auctions lead me to a brand new chassis and the elusive roll bar set that I didn't need to harvest an organ to afford!

Once the parts arrived, I cleaned out and oiled the bearings. Rebuilt the diffs and made sure the suspension was nice and free.

The championship dictated a Core RC 15t brushed motor. I already had a Hobbywing 1080 esc which would cope with the power.


The servo did need changing as I swapped it out for another project a few years ago

I also upgraded the lipos as my old stick pack lipos were a few years old. IP do a HV 5000mah that were round cases. Although a high voltage pack, I just made sure I wasn't charging past 8.40v, the voltage should stay higher for longer

3d parts

Asking the organisers to check legality, I was allowed to use some 3d printed parts that offered no performance advantage

The lipo holders had multiple holes to accommodate different size packs and one was shaped differently to accommodate offset cables


There aren't many foam bumper options available, but I found a holder that was specifically designed to fit the car and allowed a TT01/2 foam bumper to fit, making it easy to replace the foam when required

Bodyshell

Looking in my attic, I found my box of Tamiya 2005 NSX shells that served me well over the Iconic cup championships. 

A quick redrill and we were ready to go

Race weekend

Were were greeted with a super hot weekend. A threat of a thundershower turned into nothing more than a few clouds so not wet tyres were needed


Broxtowe is an old off road track that was paved over. It has a table top section and lots of undulations that can catch you out. It's really rewarding when you get it right and punishes you if you don't respect it. A great recipe

I made sure I was there for the Saturday practice as I wanted to see how it faired with a faster motor and different tyres to what I ran last time.

It was very difficult to start as it would flip over on any given bump, mainly the one at the end of the straight!

However, we tested many different setup ideas and got the car to behave well. Not the most stable, but it was a decent pace as long as I stayed away from the kerbs

Race day

Due to missing round 1 and not being present for the last few years, I was placed in the bottom heat, but car 1. This was no issue and I actually had less pressure as I could drive my own pace and didn't have to worry too much about the top guys.


Round 1 was a good start, I just focused on driving the lines and made a good start to finish 3rd fastest.

Due to the heat, the times were starting to drop for round 2. It was round by round, so that's not a problem. I felt like I had a decent run, but was pleased to find out I went fastest in the round and actually lead qualifying after round 2!

I decided to change to a hotter tyre for round 3 as the track temperature was rising. The car felt ok, but the tyres caused me to have a couple of rolls. It was a different brand of tyre, so maybe I needed to adjust the setup . A 4th place was ok


I felt good for round 4, I could be near the top of the timesheets. Unfortunately, I was collected by a back marker and I made a few driving mistakes so finished 5th the round

The qualifying was sorted by best 3/4 runs. All my points combined landed me 3rd on the grid, was super pleased

Lining up on the grid, I was optimistic that it could be a good race, anything could happen. The start was clean and I was battling with 4th. I had a 2 wheel moment and he passed me. I stayed with him and just looked at turning laps. Unfortunately for them, cars 2&4 collided and I passed them for 2nd.


I was battling with 4th again for the rest of the race. I was trying to keep the door firmly shut and not allow him to pass. In my attempts to defend, I tucked in too tight and rolled the car, allowing him to get by. I just focused to keeping it shiny side up to cross the line in 3rd place


This was a great race meeting with a car that often gets overlooked. Although not a focused race car, it showed great pace against a field of TB02, TA04 and even some upgraded TT01's

Will I return for another round or the rest of the championship? Never say never but I know I will really enjoy it if I do

Thanks to John Weston for the Iconic cup and additional pics
Thanks to Broxtowe model car club for being great hosts and booking the sunshine for the whole weekend
Also a thanks to Lance Walker for all the legality questions I asked ;)