Race report...
I haven't raced the DF for about 4 weeks (took it apart to re-design it Pred stylee, but never got round to designing the front end properly or getting the parts made up
) so I was down in the bottom heat with the other inexperienced/slow drivers. The track was quite a twisty one this time, with a crossover jump in a kind of snail shape, through an S chicane, up 2 ramps at 90 degrees to each other, over a crossover bridge, then a 270 degree turn down 2 more ramps and under the bridge. I managed to get a good line through there during practice and used that line while racing. The track where I race is in a small village hall with a polished wooden floor, the track is laid out using large shipping ropes (about 3" diameter) and tyres, and the crossover and jumps made of wooden ramps. Average lap times were about 16 seconds.
In the first race I was still getting the hang of driving the car again, I'd rebuilt it with the 3 racing chassis, 50 weight shock oil rather than 70 weight previously, and rebuilt both diffs. It had zero camber on the back and about -2 on the front, can't remember what the front toe was. I managed to get 16 laps, 2nd place but only on lap times, 1st got 16 as well, 3rd got 15. Not bad seeing as I sat on the line on the start for a second to let the others past then whizzed round them in their customary pile up in the first corner!
I got the fastest lap time of the race but I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was about a second quicker than anyone else.
The second race didn't go to plan, one of the ball joints on the top of the steering knuckle unwound itself about 2 minutes in. I thought it had just come off and asked a marshal to pop it back on but he told me it was broken so I went back to the pits. I fixed it about 2 seconds before the end of the race...
The third race was pretty good again. I got 2nd again, but someone had spilt shock oil on the main straight so it was a bit hairy. I got 15 laps that time, again the 1st place guy got the same number of laps and just pipped me on lap times but my fastest lap time was quicker than him.
After the race the guy who runs the club (Alan) and one of the regular A finalist drivers (Ollie) came over and said they were impressed with how well the car was going and how much grip it had, which made me chuffed as I'm nowhere near as good at driving as either of them.
I was about the only person to constantly get the line over the crossover right in my race, and the supposedly "better" drivers in the next heat were often getting it wrong
In fact in the first race the 2nd heat guys (who I marshalled) the 1st place guy only got 1 more lap than me, and the 2nd place guy got 1 less lap! Properly happy.
Anyway sorry to waffle on, but it was quite a good race meet. The car's going better than ever now, and is actually doing what I want it to do. I think my driving cound do with some improvement but the car's going well now so I can concentrate on improving my driving without worrying about the car doing something silly. It's almost a pity I've got a 501 on the way as that'll effectively make the 03 obsolete. I'll probably alternate them, race the 501 one week and the 03 the next, and see which is better for indoors.
Next time I'll try and borrow my mate's camcorder and get some video footage of the racing and some stills of the track so you can see what it's like (if you're interested, that is...
)
-Steve