LOL Brimrod shocks - I remember them traffman. I went to Mick Goddards factory once over in Wales. Nice bloke he would put together a lovely 'standard' motor for £50......
Anyway here's may latest instalment. As far as I can remember its all true.
I guess the highlight of my RC career was the Reedy international race at Romsey in 1988. It might have been ’89 but I believe it was ’88 because Masami was driving a YZ870 rather than the Cat he had used to win the worlds the previous year. It was the first time we had seen a Dogfighter and its shocking pink wheels and it was awesome.
We turned up a whole 2 days before official practice began so had plenty of free time to learn the track and dial the cars in. I was equipped with my trusty RC10 and a borrowed Ultima, which I quickly discarded after a few runs. Masami was already there too, but funnily enough he wasn’t camping on the dog poo infested field opposite like us. He was hammering round the track and we were totally stunned by this guys talent. I watched him on a qualifying run when a bad pot hole had appeared on the racing line on the final bend before the straight. There was *just*room inside but with the barrier so close it was a risk you wouldn’t take. I watched him go through this gap flat out for 12 laps in a row.
Looking back now I realise that the most valuable single piece of equipment I had that week was a set of custom cut crystals that Nick Marson had lent me. They were an expensive item but they were also guaranteed to be a one-off, with no one else on your frequency. These meant I could bypass the practice queue and grab any coloured peg as I walked past. I got some very strange looks but it meant I could drive all day and by the time official practice began I knew every inch of the hard baked slippy dirt track and my RC10 was dialled.
The pit marquee which was once empty started filling with faces we had only seen and read about in magazines. Mike Reedy, Masami, Cliff Lett, Butch Kloeber, Jammin J, Joel Johnson, Gil Losi Jnr, and the list went on. So to the start of official qualifying and on my second run and BANG fifth fastest 2WD overall and as my trusty RC10 was sat on the finish straight Masami wandered over to it and bowed towards it. To say I was happy is an understatement….. Nobody really knew who I was till then but people soon started to find me and I was quickly offered a sponsorship deal by Central Models and a team coloured shell was hastily cut out and slapped on my car.
Early days though. There was another 1½ days of qualifying to go but the track started getting worn, rutted and even slipperier and my position stood. I never matched my 2nd round pace again. Unfortunately disaster struck on the final afternoon of qualifying when rain started to fall. Now you would think that was good news but no, they sprinkled the track with sawdust, and the grip came back up. The top drivers started putting in fast motors to take advantage of the conditions and I was quickly knocked down into the B. I couldn’t believe how much grip there was but I just couldn’t take advantage of it as I had no speed. The masses of practice laps had taken their toll and motors, Nicads and everything were on their last legs. While others were power scrubbing on the start line in an attempt to get rid of peak volts my mate was plugging mine in at the last possible second.
Mike Reedy was sat ahead of us and just to the right. I watched as a never ending queue of works drivers approached him for advice. Often he would reach into a big leather case and hand over a clear sealed bag which contained an RC10 gearbox with a correctly geared Reedy motor already attached, plus a set of nicads. Screw it in and go. I was so tempted to go over and introduce myself and ask if I could borrow a motor for just one run. I practiced over and over what I would say to him but even when he was alone I just never had the bottle to do it. I have big regrets over that as I’m sure with some power I could have got back in the A, and after all the worse he could have said was no.
Still the B final was full of top names too and as the countdown began I’d never been so nervous. I think I was ahead at one point but got tagged and spun out at the hairpin. Basically I was overwhelmed by the people I was racing. It was a really aggressive race and I was too polite and just got swallowed up. I think I came last in the end.
However marshalling the 3 legged A final was even more nerve wracking. I think I had the worst marshalling position of all were if a car crashed in the centre of the track I had to run out, crossing another part of the track to get there. Nightmare – drivers screamed at me from the rostrum. Masami won and treated us all to his trademark ‘sitting down driving with his feet’ trick. What an amazing week though. It’s one trophy I wish I’d kept.
Next up: CML sponsorship
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