The Unofficial Talywain National Thread

[redaV]

Did everyone think it was great?

[Lee]

I enjoyed the 290 mile trip there and back, i even got a girlie wave from danny mcgee on the way home on the motorway (4 hrs )

I think the surface was weird/different, it was damp but yellows seemed to be one of the quickest tyres and they didnt wear

[Chris Doughty]

first of all, it has to be said that the Talywain crew put in a massive amount of effort, a proper drivers stand, grass that was mowed nice and short and had it not been for the heavy rain prior to the event it would have been a good grass track, it seemed the ground was sodden it just didn't dry out, even in the early saturday sun.

having radio's collected after the race was brilliant, I am certain it helped drivers get out to their marshalling points, some drivers have no pit crew to I certain that helped out some people.

they had people out on the track marshalling praccy, this was great, I have wasted a large percentage of my practise time because of bod crashes on the other side of the track, it was great to have my car turned over fairly quickly by the club provided marshalls.

I agree with Chris Long regards the distance some of the corners were away form the rostrum, some area's of the track I found it hard to see and I just drove around those corners just to 'get round' I never felt happy to 'race' those parts of the track, this got even worse when the finals came around, trying not to have someone off when racing in close proximity what seemed like a mile away from the rostrum was very hard.

the smaller table-top style jumps were great, nice shaped take-off, long downramp, perfect, maybe the length of the features were too small or maybe they should have been at a slower part of the track.

what they did with the single jump onto/over the tabletop feature for 4WD was by far the best jump/feature of the whole weekend, I watched 3 distinct variations to doing this jump, 2 of them were safe, the 3rd one to clear the lot to the downside required lining up and a good exit from the previous corner, I think a mix of the A-final drivers were taking 2 different options, good to watch.

the corner tabletop was a nice feature, but I found it hard to judge with it being quite far away from the drivers stand and chicane going side-side instead of to or away from the drivers stand, the 'line' was very hard to thread through at speed.

I personally didn't like the corners section going up and down the banking, the car felt quite awkward bumping its way up and down the bank, the one at the start/end of the straight was not too bad, it was a simple 'loop' shape - and it worked almost like a wall-o-death, but the other one back up seemed a funny shape and driving the car sideways along a 45 degree slope felt awkward.

the tripple what turned into a double for the 4WD felt like a repeat of the Ozfest tripple, no real downramp to connect with, massive height for very little distance meant that if you were following someone you HAD to jump it shorter than they do else you would land on top of them, and it was so easy to come up short, the other option was to go wider or tighter than them, but its really hard to watch their car while you are trying to launch your own car to not land on top of them. it seemed like there were 3 take off ramps in series.

landing ramps can (and maybe should be) taller than the take off ramp if it is a 'kicking' take-off, they should certainly be at least 2x the lenght and 1/2 the angle of the take off ramp.

I would like to repeat my first paragraph, the club did an amazing job, great effort and plenty of club members helping to keep things going, great job!

[DCM]

I think the club learnt an aweful lot over the weekend, and weren't annoyed if there were constructive advice on the track. I do hope they get the chance to do it again next year!

With regard to jumps, maybe there should be some advice from the BRCA as to what works and what don't.

[jim76]

Originally Posted by DoughtyUK.net

having radio's collected after the race was brilliant, I am certain it helped drivers get out to their marshalling points, some drivers have no pit crew to I certain that helped out some people.

that was an ace idea! I don;t have a pit bitch so that certainly got me out on the track quicker to marshal.

i thought on the whole they did a pretty good job for their first national. the double was the only thing i would change on the Sunday, even though i liked it, it did make things tricky if you were in a close group.

[paulc]

having radio's collected after the race was brilliant, I am certain it helped drivers get out to their marshalling points, some drivers have no pit crew to I certain that helped out some people.

yeah that was great idea not running round trying to get to your marshall point on time

the only problem with the track for me was the corner table top thing at the back off the track was to far away and very hard to judge on the whole though good piss up on the friday night in the pub racing could have gone better for me but nevermind an enjoyable weekend well done tally crew

oyeah and them breakfasts from the cafe were spot on

[telboy]

The electronic score board would have been handy too, as being far away it was sometime hard to hear who was on track.

Would be nice if the brca could find enough of a reason to invest in one.



Or is that just me being lazy and wanting to just stand up and see which heat is on?

[ben]

There is a time sheet at scruitineering which you can collect. And it tells you when you are on. The races wont ever start early so the time sheet will always be right

[Gnarly Old Dog]

I'd go back for sure if they get another one.

They put on a top show with great friendly club support - well done guys.

The Tx collection was a great idea.
As a constructive comment in general about all jumps though, my preference is for table tops that allow mere mortals to wimp out as opposed to having to clear them all. Not a complaint in any way but sometimes the triples and big air hang-time type jumps seem a little bit too random for my unskilled thumbs. Plus it can endanger the marshals.

On the plus side, the angled table top was great - tricky to see but at least you had the option of taking it easy if you weren't lined up fully.

All in all the Talywain guys deserve a big cheer for the effort - it was great.

[neiloliver]

I only raced on Saturday but enjoyed the day very much, the banked corners we good and the downhill into the straight made it feel like my B4 hit Warp 9 by the end of it.. i didnt so much like the hairpin at the end.. but anyone who saw Neil Cragg make that turn during the end of the final could be nothing but totally impressed. and 10th back up to 2nd in one lap...

The short up/down ramps were similar to our at Oz and worked well. The tripple was maybe too much like the Oz one in that it was also very tricky, but very rewarding when hitting the down ramp. The problem is that it was too random and even most F1 drivers were hitting the grass, bottoming out and then starting up again from a standing start.. and that does not make for a fluid race. I think both Oz and Tally now know we need longer ramps if we are awarded Nat's next year. (do they make 9mm ply in 3m x 16m sizes?!)

The organisation was great...

How did the soil never dry out though? did it have under track irrigation? Cool for tyre wear though

Well done Wales!
TIDY!

Neil

[jcb]

Thanks to all the guys at Talywain Model Car Club for running a really good national. I thought the track was really good to race on, despite initially thinking it looked on the big side, the jumps were also a lot easier and more forgiving than they looked.

Having the transmitters collected was a great idea, and saved a lot of walking Also made getting to the marshall points nice and easy.

Also got to thank OakField B&B in Blaneavon (probably spelt wrong) but I can't complain about someone getting up and cooking fried breakfast at half six

All in all a really good weekend and hopefully we will be back next year!!

[Stu]

Ace.

As said above the club members were superb & the track was great - considering what they have to work with.

[DCM]

Originally Posted by neiloliver

How did the soil never dry out though? did it have under track irrigation? Cool for tyre wear though

Well done Wales!
TIDY!

Neil

from what I understand.... it is built on top of an old slag heap (and no, thats not retired slappers hehe) so there is about 8 inches of top soil, and if you had seen the amount of water that had fallen from the skies the 10 days previous.... and even Friday evening, it was a marvel it was even raceable..... there was a duckpound behind the rostrum on Wednesday apparently....

Has Jimmy posted pics yet?

[tyreman]

Had a great weekend apart from one incident, had to order a new transmitter today, other than that an excellent meeting from all of the crew at Tallywain

[Slimboyfat]

I enjoyed the weekend, big thanks to Millzy (chris) for pitting for me on sunday, just a shame I couldn't get a decent result fella to reflect the effort you put in.

Had my first issue ever with a schumacher tyre exploding in the final which im not happy about but the social side was again great fun...aswell as a scoreboard, off road needs an inflatable jousting feature at all nationals!

looking forward to next one...

[DaveG28]

Thought the organisation was great, and like the others who mentioned it the tx pickup really helped (I don't have a pit bitch either) me get out to marshal.

Loved the track too, although the double was not to my own taste, I prefer shallower faster jumps to the steep ones, due to being s**t at them!!

Great team there too, really friendly, good having a cafe to go hide in as well, hope to go back again!

[strobe]

You couldn't miss the Talywain club members. Milzy's favourite colour. PINK t-shirts. Great team effort.
Food was spot on. Friendly staff
Transmitter pick up was a good idea.
Andy Griff. Great results both days. Not far of beating Craig?
Did hear there is a score board being produced.
Did any one else get to use the new Moulded Schumacher Tyres.

[_sleigh_]

Originally Posted by strobe

Did any one else get to use the new Moulded Schumacher Tyres.

[Lee]

Didnt know they existed yet, there were a few prescrubbed fronts on display still though

[Cockerill]

I didn't think the NEW tires were out yet. The rears seem to be a lot better since Kidderminster, altho I did get a dodgy pair off Dom on Sunday which were worse than the ones I were taking off He replaced them for me so all was good