Operation Hyper

After much anticipation 29th April saw the first round of the 2007 Radio Race Car series at Broxtowe?s J28 circuit outside Mansfield. This is a permanent dirt track with several jumps and banked corners plus a tight technical section at the end of the lap to separate the men from the boys. Thanks to the efforts of the track maintenance crew who?d recently watered the surface we started with fairly smooth conditions, but as the track dried out and the dust levels rose, it quickly became rutted in several areas, proving a real test of a driver?s skill and patience. A modest turnout of RRCi entrants were joined by several heats of club drivers running in their own class plus a couple of heats for the ever popular Truggies. Right from the outset reigning RRCi champion and CML team driver Jon Howells set the pace and never looked like being caught all through qualifying with his Picco powered HoBao Hyper 8. Jon was using several parts from the Hyper 8 option list on his car including the new FR2 long wheelbase chassis and big bore shocks from the Hyper ST Truggy. The recently released Picco P3-R, running on O?Donnell 30% race fuel, had plenty of horse power, far more in fact than its modest price would have one believe setting fastest lap after fastest lap. Jon made only subtle changes to his car set-up through the day, instead trying different tyres. He used Fastrax mini spike in round one, changing to Pro-Line Crimefighters in M2 compound for round two before switching to the softer M3 compound Crimefighters for the final round. Of the three variants tried, Jon settled on the M3 Crimefighters for the A final believing them to offer the most consistent grip levels in the rutted and dusty conditions. Joining Jon in the main A final was fellow CML team driver Andy Reynolds, also running a Picco powered Hyper 8, shod with Pro-Line M3 Crimefighters. Due to bad luck with traffic and self inflicted engine issues in qualifying, Andy had been forced to get into the A final the hard way by bumping up from the B final with a smooth and steady drive to first place. At the start buzzer Jon tore away from the rest of the field and was never headed during the 20 minute A final, eventually lapping the entire field. Meanwhile despite dropping to dead last during the opening laps Andy began steadily picking the other drivers off on his way to a delighted third place behind his victorious team mate. Both Jon and Andy?s Hyper 8?s ran faultlessly in the final, Andy was especially pleased after winning promotion from the 15 minute B final using Jon?s spare Picco engine. Special mention must be made of Jon?s girlfriend Claire, who kept both of the CML team cars topped up with O?Donnell 30% race fuel using a Pro-Line ?Straight Shooter? fuel gun during the main A final, what a team! The RRCi series moves on to Tamworth for round two on June 10th. Full meeting reports and pictures coming soon in RRCi.