Change to Mini racing.........

Well, that didn't quite go as planned! Although each leg was run as a grid start, the first two legs were still qualifying rounds as far as the computer was concerned, so only the last two 4 minute races counted towards the overall result. It doesn't look like we can run the way we wanted, so it may be back to the drawing board and see if we can come up with a "work around".

It was a fast and furious time with the Touring Cars, as we were running on a modifed Track 13, which effectively left none of the carpet unused, but it did make the infield just that bit trickier - still everyone managed to cope and some very close racing followed.

Full results can be found here - Race Results >>

Summer Racing Break - Advance Notice!

It's getting close to the time now for the Club "committee" to take a holiday, so here is advanced warning that we will take a break for two weeks during August. Racing will be as usual all other weeks, but we will not be racing on Friday 20th and 27th August.

Busy night this week, with us having to run four TC finals! It's been good to see a few new faces at the Club over the last couple of weeks, and we had a "family final" tonight, as three generations of the Reynolds family all ran in the same race. It was good to welcome Andrew Keen, Anthony Adcock and Peter Covell, who are quickly getting to grips with setup for our track and Andrew especially is vying for a win in the A Final.

Full results can be found here - Race Results >>

Track personal best's have been updated here - Personal Bests >>

Change to Mini racing

As it seems a bit pointless to run qualifying rounds for the mini's, as there is only enough cars for one heat/final anyway. So, from next Friday, we will start to run 4 x 4 minute legs of a final for the mini's. The first leg will have the grid set out based on drawing "lots" for each position. For the following legs 2 to 4, each will be run with a reverse order grid based on the result of the previous leg - providing we can all remember!

See you next week.

PHEW! it's been a busy couple of weeks (as well as hot!) and I haven't had the time to update the site, but now all the race results are up to date and the personal best have also been updated.

Full results can be found here - Race Results >>

Track personal best's have been updated here - Personal Bests >>

It was great to see another young driver take his "wheels" onto the track tonight, so to Daniel Gardiner, who did very well on his very first try at R/C racing.

There was also some very close racing in the TC-B Final, with Callum showing some excellent racing ability and certainly not afraid to "mix it" with the older drivers! The TC-A Final saw Dan disappear into the distance from the front, leaving Colin and Nathan to argue over second place, with Dave just a little off the pace, but still chasing hard.

The Mini's saw some close racing again, but Adam showed it's all about keeping nice clean lines, winning both legs to take a clean sweep!

Tonight's full results can be found here - Race Results >>

Hot weather and Bank Holiday week meant that numbers were a little down tonight, but there was still plenty of fun racing!

Tonight's full results can be found here - Race Results >>

to Ainsley and Lewis Reynolds, who came along tonight to have their first go at racing touring cars, and they both put on a good show, with some very respectable lap times and clearly much more to come from these two young drivers as they get to grips with running cars on a race track.

There was some very close racing in all the finals again tonight, with Kris, Dan and Charlie all looking very fast in the TC A Final and some very close laps, which Stuart just couldn't match as his car "played up" in each leg of the finals. The B Final saw Colin and Nathan "nose to tail" for most of the race, but we were so busy focusing on each other we failed to notice that Jamie was always there, just waiting for the inevitable mistake, which halfway through saw Jamie leading a large chunk of the second leg before a mistake from him let Nathan and Colin back through. Unfortunately John had diff problems throughout the night, which ultimately left him out of the second leg and languishing in bottom spot.

The Mini's saw Paul Upton return to defend his dominance in the class, and we welcomed Alan Petts from the Milton Keynes Club who brought his Mini Cabriolet for a run. By chance we ran the same track as last time Paul ran with his Mini - Track 13>> and yes, he couldn't be beaten again, but Adam certainly came close in the 1st leg after Paul had a bit of a "tangle" with Alan. Rob's car was also going quicker tonight especially in the second leg, leading to some very exciting laps!

Interestingly, Paul was actually slightly slower than the last time he ran this track, with the same 30 laps, but 10 seconds slower than on the 16th April - you can check out everyone's personal best times here - Personal Bests >>

The full results from tonight's racing can be found here - Race Results >>

We will be racing next Friday - 28th May, so see you then!

It was great to welcome two new drivers to the Club this week. Martin has been visiting for a while now and finally got his Losi onto the track - I think he enjoyed it , and Nigel made constant improvements to his lap times throughout the night with his XRay T2007.

There was some very close racing again this week, both in touring Cars and in Mini's. Well done to Callum Wilderspin for two really good runs in the C Final, which would not have looked out of place in the B Final - keep it up! His brother Thomas didn't have quite such a good run in Mini's, especially after forgetting to change batteries for the 2nd leg - but keep it up, you'll get there.

Kristian had electronics problems in the TC - A Final, giving the win to Stuart, but both Colin and Nathan were "keeping him honest" throughout, so it wasn't just a walk in the park! In the B Final, Jamie was really unlucky not to take the win in the 2nd leg, after a slide into the barriers let Dave back through on the last lap, and all the time John was hounding both of them - it was very close!

Adam didn't quite have it all his own way this week in the Mini's, after Colin had put some new tyres on his car [piece of advice - don't use S-Grips on the front of a Mini, they overheat and blister ], giving a very close race, with Andy and Rob hot on their tails - it only takes small mistakes to make all the difference in this class of racing - just because it's a budget class doesn't make it un-competitive

Tonight's full results can be found here - Race Results >>

Track personal best's for track 21 have also been updated - Personal Bests >>

New Corners

We now have a full set of new "bouncy" corners and "flappy" hairpins so that none of the older more solid corners need to be used and not only does this help minimise breakages, it also seems to result in much less marshalling needed, which is an added bonus!

It seems that Colin's "dominance" in the Mini class is now over, as Adam clearly now has a car just as quick and even though Colin led for most of the 2nd leg, a single mistake allowed Adam into the lead to take a clean sweep of both legs. It was good to welcome Chris Hampson tonight, visiting from Leighton Buzzard RC Club - these Mini's are certainly a growing class!

Tonight's full results can be found here - Race Results >>

Track personal best's have also been updated - Personal Bests >>

Facebook

For those who are interested, Neil Overson has created a Facebook page for the Club that is open for all to view, so if you want to post any pictures, comments, etc. then you can find it here KMCC on Facebook >>

Adam has posted a short video from last night showing the mini's / TC practice session, so go take a look!

Having introduced the new "car friendly" corners and sweepers over the past couple of months, we tried out a new design "flappy" hairpin tonight, and it worked great, allowing cars to clip it without causing damage, so more of those will be made as soon as I get the time!

Some very close racing in the Mini class tonight with a couple more people investing in "eBay specials"! Andy O'Brien looked dominant from the qualifiers and first round of finals, but unfortunately a steering arm failure put him out of the second round after only 8 laps, leaving Colin to take the leg win, and Rob to take the overall win with his new car! In TC's, Jamie Guiver had a great night challenging Nathan in both Finals, finishing ahead to take 3rd in the first leg, and behind him in 4th place in the second leg.

Tonight's full results can be found here - Race Results >>

Track personal best's have also been updated - Personal Bests >>

See you next Friday!

Another busy but fun night tonight - well for me anyway, busy trying to run two classes of car and race control, I'm amazed I managed the night!

A huge thanks to everyone who helped to set out the track and pack away again at the end of the evening, especially people like Andy and Jason - special carpet rolling skills there guys! I realise one or two had to leave early for various reasons, so I'm not "having a go" at anyone here. Particular thanks to Rob for coming to help even though he wasn't racing, that's dedication for you and also to Daniel Klinga, who was first to arrive, helped set out the track and was last to leave. I can't say enough how much I appreciate the help, as it means I go home with a smile and feeling relaxed!

So, back to racing, and another good turn-out of Mini's tonight, with six cars making the grid, you have to give Adam some real credit tonight as his "eBay special" only arrived today, and yet he brought it along and placed it 2nd on the grid, followed by a win in the second leg - nice one! My Mini went so much better this week with the new shocks and a decent set of tyres - no grip rolling at all, just got a bit too close to the corners at times, and one or two of the other cars. Jason made me laugh as I think our cars were magnetically attracted sometimes, or was he just trying to help Andy. I must say that while the TC's are faster, going slower with the Mini's certainly focuses the mind on getting a good line around the track and with John creating one of the most challenging tracks we've seen in a while tonight, it was important to try and get the corners right!

I think the track was perhaps more of a challenge for the TC's tonight, but that didn't stop some very close racing and I think the B Final was probably the closest with everyone leading the race at some point during the final!

Tonight's results can be found here - Race Results >>

Some of you were asking if we will be racing next Friday with it being a Bank Holiday weekend, and YES we will definitely be there, so see you next week!

It's a Mini Adventure....

...well, it sort of was tonight, with us trying out a new "budget class" of racing using Tamiya Mini's which run pretty much stock with Mabuchi 540 stock motors and very few hop-up's allowed. Although the cars are a bit slower with the silver can motor, that didn't stop Paul Upton putting in a fastest lap of 9.75s and 30 laps, which was not that far off some of the TC's!

This may become a popular alternative class to TC's, or maybe even a 2nd class for some drivers. There will be more to come on this if it takes off, along with some simple rules for the class, but for now, we will run to the same rules as Leighton Buzzard club - see here for a link Leighton Buzzard Mini rules >>

It was great to see an increase in drivers tonight, and we hope this will continue, as I find it adds to the excitement to hear that "buzz" in the pits and see so many cars out on track.

Tonight's results can be found here - Race Results >>

And Track personal best's have also been updated - Personal Bests >>

We've kept all the all older news items, so you can go find them if you feel the need!

Archived News >>