Hey Mal - sorry to hear you're selling up:cry:
But on the bright side a bloke I know was thinking about getting into it so would be looking for a full setup:)
I'll mention to him and it might get rid of a lot of your gear in one go.
Take care and hopefully see you back one day?

Cheers Mark that would be great.
I was trying to keep all my tc stuff so i could one day my son into it, but things are a bit tight at the minute so its going to have to go.
But you know me i probably be back in 2-3 years again:)

Well numbers creeping up again as we approach winter, 18 racing last night (19 cars) and 2 who should’ve been racing turning up without cars (inbetween cars apparently!!)
The even mix of buggies/TC’s resulted in 4 heats so only 3 rounds and a final for the TC’s with the buggies getting the extra round.
Loads of grip again making for some fast close racing with Gary Armstrong winning the TC’ final lapping Boblet and myself after we both drove like girls in the final and Greg Williams I think won the buggies after Boblet cut out while leading the last lap.
Still a few people AWOL who I’d expected to be back, Neg, Zerocat, Ferris, Old Man, Watson, even Hazzard???
*
Hope to see you all again next Monday by when I’ll try to get my thumbs working properly again J

Well a quiet night last night with only 12 cars on track, 8 TC & 4 buggies resulting in 4 rounds of Quali. A few dropping out through the night allowes all the TC’s to fit into one final allowing us to run 2 leg finals - 6 rounds of racing for everyone J
Loads of grip again and I’m hoping the low numbers were just down to the Toon being on the telly so see more of you next week.
I’m still a bit bemused by the new drivers who come along, spend a fortune on kit, pay their subs then disappear - where are you all???

Mark

i will be back soon :)

Well guys another reasonable turn out with 16 or was it 17 despite the weather. Late getting into the hall last night by 20 mins or so as one of the Zumba girls collapsed and needed paramedics but only a few minutes late in getting started racing. I’m guessing this is because by the time we actually got into the hall everyone had turned up to help so twice as many helping resulted in half the time setting up. Please take note anyone who CAN get there by 7 but doesn’t!!!!!!. If we set the track up this quick every week we could get an extra round EVERY week!
And now to shoot myself in the foot - despite the late start a condensed TC final with 9 cars allowed us to get an extra round in!!!!!!!!!
So 4 quali and 2 leg finals again with the very entertaining reverse grid for the second leg combined with loads of grip proving great fun J
Good to see Old Man Ray back and enjoying himself and also the long AWOL Peter Anderson on track again following a hopefully permanent change of shifts.
Even longer AWOL (since well before Longbenton finished) Kier showed to sell some gear but was also making noises about coming back. Even Andy Did Not Start Dytham was there and managed about half a nights racing.
See you there again next Monday - nowt else to do now the weather is back to winter so no excuses - its either racing or being force fed Coronation Street by your missus

Hello there guys, keir here, signed up after hearing about the site from paul.

Im looking out for a lipo battery to lend for TONIGHT if possible as iv seen a rc car on ebay, quite local and want to test if its working correctly, full electrcis, remote control, spare wheels, just missing a shell. Only problem being I need some battery power lol. if anyone can help please inbox a contact number.

Any help would be great

Thanks in advance :)

07795551066 - give me a call Kier. Also see a couple of posts above, Mal is selling up - not sure if his stuff's gone yet or not mind.

Well another decent turn out last night with 17 racing, 9 TC & 8 buggies meaning a split into 4 heats with the TC’s due the extra round. VERY slippy to start but grip levels quickly building throughout the night. Running short of time meant just one rather busy final for each class. Oh and well done Andy “did not start” Dytham probably managing his best ever nights racing with his car going as well as I’ve seen and a prospective new member Shaun popping in for a look having recently bought an electric TC.
See you all again next Monday when I think some new Tyres may be needed!

Weekly report this week seen 17 on track again I think split into 4 heats, buggies getting the extra round despite me setting the wrong run order. Finals compressed to 2 buggy and 1 TC after a retirement during quali. Nice to see a new face on the track with Shawn joining in for a run around in the final after a couple of practise laps between heats. And I guess summer is finally over confirmed by the fact Mel has returned from his annual 6 month summer holiday!
Can’t comment on the grip levels having had a nightmare night myself with broken driveshaft, broken tyres and just generally broken car not completing a single race!
Hope the rest of you had more fun.
And unfortunately a bit of a whine again, marshalling was poor again, many heats starting before the marshals had bothered to get into place. Also clear up is becoming a bit off a routine with the same people in the store week after week who are getting fed up with it. I know threres only room for 4-5 in the store but it’s the same 4-5 all the time and since they’re complaining to me, I’m complaining to the rest of you. Can we please have some different people in the store.
I’m open to suggestions how to police this and while I know some genuinely have reason not to be - Ray is far too old, Mel has a dodgy back, Adam is too small, Hindson isn’t, Paul temporarily as he did have a bit of his bit removed but most of you have no excuse. So……..I’m thinking the last 4-5 to arrive and miss setup go into the store for clear up.
I know some genuinely can’t get there early but I suspect many who don’t can. Either way it seems fair that those who do the least in setup do the most in clearup?
Also it may encourage some to get there earlier J
Open for discussion………………or suggestions.

Well the weekly reminder that you should al be racing this coming Monday. New drive shaft, rebuilt diffs, replaced front hub carrier and kingpin will hopefully enable me to at least finish a race this week. I know how Dytham feels after last week ;-)
Hopefully we’ll have a good turn out and see Shawn back for a full night of racing?
Oh and don’t forget what I said about setup/clearup. Nobody said it was a bad idea and a couple of you agreed it was a good idea so…….unless there is a genuine reason not to, the last 4/5 people to arrive and miss setup will be expected to be the ones in the store stacking track at the end of the night instead of the usual suspects who spend week after week in there.

See you all Monday.

PS where are all the "new racers" who bought all the gear, paid the club membership then vanished, Kevin, Ray etc?

Well thats sounds ok to me i don't mind building the track as long as a few others don't mind putting the track away.
one thing that would be better is when the track is pulled out the of the cupboard to keep it all aside the rostrum area this would make it quicker to build as it won't be in the way just a thought.:D:D

after all the sooner its built the sooner we race :D:D


Gar

Well another good turn out last night with numbers back up to 20, 8 buggies and 12 TC’c. meaning 4 heats, 3 rounds for buggies this week and 4 for TC’s
Grip seemed a little down but predictable.
Nice to have THREE new racers on track as well, Mad Dog’s work mate Tony making a first race appearance ever, as well as Paul Carr (not Dynamix Paul Carr!) making things look rather easy for his first ever time on a track, commented on by a few people, obviously a drift car on carparks is good practise for a slippy floor.
Also nice to have Seaham/Jarrow racer Rom joining us due to the inconsistency of racing at his usual venue. An appearance by Shawn again tho unfortunately not with a car this week :mad:
No complaints from me this week, you lot done enough of that last night :p
Hope to see you all again next week

Ps is you’re reading this on oople and don’t get the emails (Clarky for one) its cos I don’t have your email address. If you want added to the mailing list, pm me your address.

Cheers

Mark

Floor wasn't as clean as usual (usually its impressively clean). Maybe they cut back on cleaners over the winter months? Hey if its only done once a week, maybe we can ask them to clean it on a Monday morning, and for their efforts we can get the cleaner a box of heroes and/or a bottle of smirnoff for their xmas box...as a gesture of our appreciation :)

Nige

Was it less clean or is it just cos it's getting colder again. The heaters didn't come on on monday like they usually do!
Not that it was cold, just not as warm as usual.
The went through a phase a year or so back when they seemed to use a different cleaning agent leaving the floor particularly slippy. Guess they had to change it when th ebasket ball lads complained they kept falling over !

Just a thought for you lot. I know we agreed that squeezing in an extra round for one class when numbers dictate running 4 heats was how we were going to play things but even at the time some of you were concerned about the frantic pace to fit all of them in. Well I'm putting it up for discussion again as from my personal point of view, its not realy worth the hassle to me for one extra race every 2 weeks. I know racing isnt a relaxing hobby but I don't have time to fart when we run 14 quali and 4 finals in a night. If you lot want to keep getting the extra race every 2nd week I'll do it but I'll be starting racing as soon as the track is complete whether you're ready or not and as usual it'll be on auto witn NO holding starts

I'm easy either way, though would be good to be a bit less stressful

I'd say leave it as is, 4 one week 5 the next, leave the computer on auto and if you miss the start so be it, it's not normally that much of a rush between rounds anyway.

The extra time would let the tyre additive soak in better lol:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

I think and speak for a few here that time has been tight a few times with running the extra round as of late which has ment just having one final each for both classes which to me doesn't work well with different skill levels.which In turn spoils the final's for both party's after all the hole night is about gaining a place in the final.

Don't get me wrong here i want 20 race's per night:D but not at the expense of having a bad final......


Gary :):)

Not that much of a rush between rounds - it is for me! And I have 2mins if I'm lucky to sort the finals :-(

Ok lads time again to get your cars prepped and cells charged for Monday nights racing. Hopefully see some of the new racers back on track and a few more of the lads from the dark side with their buggies. And Ray with his new eyes aiming for a high finish again?

See you all Monday - don’t forget, if you turn up late and miss setup you’ll be expected in the store stacking track.

Cheers

Well another busy night again last night with 19 cars, again only 3 of which were buggies strangely! A little expensive mid evening pyrotechnics entertainment provided by Steve Allan managing to massively smoke both his speedo and more worryingly Li-Po’s which at one point looked like they were going to go up!
Luckily the car was dispatched out through the fire exit and disconnected before anything more spectacular than the huge smoke cloud occurred.
Fortunately it didn’t set off the fire alarm!!!!
Also good to see almost a full heat of relatively new drivers J
Also those of you there early enough will already be aware but for those of you not, we were informed that a couple of the Zumba class have asked us to be kept out of the hall while their class is still going on. While I don’t particularly mind them overrunning so long as it doesn’t delay us, them expecting us not to even go in until they’re finished when it is them taking up our time is way out of order and I will be having a word with Chris the gym manager about this. I’ll post the email on oople later for those of you interested.

See you all next week after yet another full rebuild of my car following last nights awful performance.
:mad:

(we were informed that a couple of the Zumba class have asked us to be kept out of the hall while their class is still going on. While I don’t particularly mind them overrunning so long as it doesn’t delay us, them expecting us not to even go in until they’re finished when it is them taking up our time is way out of order and I will be having a word with Chris the gym manager about this. I’ll post the email on oople later for those of you interested.)

Hi good nights racing last night.

As far as the zumba lot go well if its 7pm and there still in then its TUFF luck if thay don't like us setting up thay can always leave if thay don't want to be there. There lucky we don't start building the track around them ZUMBA get outttttt its past your time thats my say on it anyway lol:lol::lol::lol::lol:

Gary:)

Well said i completely agree!

Good racing last night chaps. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. The smoke incident was a surprise.

The Zumba women are tacking the mick ain't they?!


Stu.

Ok lads, copy ot the email I've sent to the centre manager about the Zumba for those of you interested.

Hi Chris

Firstly apologies if there was any strange smell on the hall today. One of the lads shorted out his speed control in his car which as well as a rather large expense results in smoke from melted electrical components and a bit of a lasting smell. The car was dispatched out through the fire exit as quickly as we could but not quick enough to prevent a fair amount of smoke and odour escaping into the hall.

Unfortunately the main reason I’m mailing you is a bit of a complaint I’m afraid for which I apologise as I’m sure you have better things to do.

As you know we’ve had one of two issues in the past with the Zumba girls, or rather they’ve had issues with us. While it was initially agreed with Sandra that we went in a couple of minutes early to set up and they finished a few minutes late some of the class took exception to us being in the hall at the same time claiming they were being stared making them feel uncomfortable. Since then we have waited in the corridor until 7pm to go in and after claims they were stared at through the door one night, which I was in a position to categorically deny as I was the first there on the said night and it was me stood closest to the door, have taken to standing further back down the corridor away from the door.

While we always wait until 7pm to enter the hall the girls do invariably run over past 7pm with their class and by the time they’ve finished, gathered their belongings and had a chat with their friends it is often closer to 7:10pm by the time they vacate the hall. In this case we simply work around them and while it does irk one or two of the racers, I have no problem whatsoever with them overrunning as it does not really delay us.

However on arrival last night I was informed by the lad on duty that a couple of the girls (again not Sandra) had requested we be kept out of the hall until the class had fully finished as they felt self conscious with us being in the hall while the class was going on.

While I don’t want to cause Sandra any problems nor cut her class short for the sake of a few minutes, we are usually very pushed for time to get cleared up and out of the hall by 10pm and to start 5 or 10 minutes later each week would cost us a full round of racing as us overrunning is not really an option with your staff waiting to go home. As it is we are usually hurried out of the car park by the security guard wanting to lock

If we do not object to the Zumba class running into our time slot each week I think that for them to ask that we stay out of the hall during their overrun is well out of order. The lad on duty did his best to help us by going into the store and moving the equipment so we could get started asap.
I certainly don’t want to spoil Sandra’s class or anyone’s night but if some of them have a problem with us being in the hall at the same time as they are, the simple solution would be for them to vacate the hall by 7pm - I’m in no way asking that this happen but it may be worth pointing out the option to the few that are complaining.

I did chat about this with both Sandra and the lad on duty last night and mentioned I’d be mailing you and both blamed earlier bookings overrunning, the lad on duty telling me that a gymnastics slot had overran by some 20mins and when he chased them was met with abuse!
Sandra mentioned she has been late in getting into the hall the last few weeks due to a new booking before the Zumba class but I can’t remember the last time the Zumba girls had finished their class let alone were out of the hall by 7pm.

As I say Chris, I’m not complaining about them overrunning each week but do think that them asking us not to go into a hall that we have booked and paid for until they are finished is unacceptable.

The good racing is par for the course - luckily the smoke grenade situation isnt!
First time we've had Li-Po's close to going up and hopefully the last:eh?:

Gents - time to charge and prep for Monday night racing again. I spent last night dismantling my car after the last few weeks of dismal handling and am hopeful I’ve found the problem so should be able to get round without getting in your way again next week.
See you all Monday - oh and never thought I’d be doing this but an appeal on behalf of the boys from the dark side!
Last 2 weeks have seen only 3 buggies, Jim, Gary & Westy. I know the Shears cant make it this week so if you can get along to race a buggy against Westy please do so otherwise he’ll spend all night playing with himself, er I mean racing with himself………….

Cheers

Mark

To keep you all posted - below is a raply I got from Chris re the Zumba girsl problem.

Hi Mark,

Thanks for this email and I am sorry you have experienced this. I am going to have a sit down with my staff and let them know what has been happening and ask them to chance up the booking getting out. I will also have a word with Sandra as she has, for a long time had no one in before her. However this should not affect her booking as she only books from 6-7pm, if she struggles to take payment and then run the class she will have to look in to getting someone down to help out.

[FONT=Calibri]If you are free to morrow please give me a call at work on or alternatively please contact me on my mobile which is/FONT]

Sorry again for the way you have been treated by the other booking and I will not stand for this to happen.

Many thanks

Looks like a good result. (Chris response). Well done Mark.

Just like to say that the track layout tonight was much better then what we've had over the last month. Nige.J had alot to do with it I think. Sure there were no jumps for the (surprisingly few) buggies that attended tonight, but having just the one, or no jumps, maybe helps with a smooth flowing/ faster track layout. Two jumps is probably overkill...in my humble opinion, but then I don't drive a buggy :)

Nige.H

Well a few more buggies last night, 4 meaning the Westy didn’t have to play with himself or join in a TC heat. Also 2 heats of 7 TC’s making 18 in total racing.
Obviously Chris has had a word with people at the hall and the Zumba girls were finished pretty much on time for once.
Nice to have Ian Watson back finally from maternity leave.
Can’t comment on grip levels as yet again I had none at all on the back of the car - new tyres next week as a last resort as I’ve changed everything else.
Hopefully the past 4 weeks since have just been down to a bad set from new. Otherwise it’ll be a change of car or thumbs!

Oh and just a quick mention - there was some rather too laid back marshalling last night, a little urgency wouldn't go amiss when it comes to getting someones car pointing back in the right direction:)

See you back there next week

Oops, forgot I promised Nobby a special mention for helping out in the store. Much to the surprise of one or two of us ;-)

I always do my fair share fella.
More than most.

Thanks for the mention though

Mark is there still a link with all the race times somewhere to click on or has that been scrapped?

Afraid not Lee. We were having to mail the data to Bill each week and then Bill upload it. Too much bother really. Sorry. Not really fair to expect bill to have to do it each week

Never mind just wondering thats all. I remembered it from a while ago.

I’ve already had my reminder on this today from potential future chairman “Red Mist Johnson” , presumably as the start of his election campaign J

So I thought I’d just forward it on instead of bothering to come up with anything original myself………..

“Reminder to get your batteries charge and cars prepped for Monday night.

Don’t turn up with your car in bits expecting somebody else to work on it or with bad tyres and complain about the lack of grip or with one pack of cells and complain you aren’t ready for the next round.

Don’t turn up late to miss the track prep or too early so you cause bother watching the Zumba whales.

How’s that sound, thought I’d better practice? ;-)”

Red Mist Johnson - 9th November 2012

Another busy night again this week with 21 racing, the first time for around 10 months we’ve topped 20 on the track. The mix being 16 TC’s and 5 buggies meaning 2 very busy TC heats. 4 quali and a final for everyone with a 5 min break between rounds 2 & 3 and a 10 min gap between quali and finals for those who don’t like being rushed :)
Just a couple of reminders, please don’t get off the rostrum until the LAST car has finished their race and the race isn’t won on the first lap - lots of bad first lap driving last night not helped by poorly spaced grids. Also if you want to practise and set up your car, do it in the breaks, not in the pits when there is a race going on and if you do practise in the breaks, please don’t drive the wrong way on the track. A head on crash on the straight WILL be expensive and whoever was going the right way around the track WON’T be happy:mad:

Hopefully as good a turn out next week and I keep saying this but hopefully my car will be driveable next week!

Well here’s hoping for another busy Monday’s racing this coming week so time to charge and prepare and for me to swap my diffs back to the right ends of the car!!!

See you Monday