Race report by Ben Cosgrove Coventry Model Car Club are holding a 6 round Summer championship on their great dirt track. Unfortunately round 1 got cancelled thanks to the British summer weather of torrential rain on the 29th April. A strong entry of around 70 drivers made their way to the track for what would now be known as round 1 of the series.
After a strong showing at the BRCA Electric Rallycross National a few weeks back I decided that I really needed to get some extra stick time with the Trophy Buggy Flux and try and understand the shocks and springs better. Coming from a circuit racing background this seems to be the biggest challenge with the setup of the car. I decided to focus on shock oils and springs for the day, as we would only get 4 runs before the finals. The day started well as I got a top 5 time in round 1. The car felt a little bit soft on the rear so I thickened the rear oil up. Round 2 was a big improvement although I think I only got a 6th in round. I then thickened the front up and this felt very good to drive and was much faster. For the last round I decided to try a different rear camber position which made the car rotate in slow speed corners very hard and proved to make the car much faster but also harder to drive. I ended up qualifying 7th in the A final amongst the nitro cars with Darren Bloomfield taking the pole position. I had qualified 1st in electric buggy every round as we score different points to nitro for the championship. No other electric cars made the A final after the bump ups had been decided so I had already got the win in the class. The final was very tricky on the first few laps as there are a couple of ways to take the jump sections: flat out or steady. After taking them flat out and requiring some marshall assistance it was time to take them steady! I kept out of trouble for the rest of the run and finished in a respectable 4th position just 1 lap behind Darren. I learnt a lot with the car and feel confident going in to the Midland Dirt Masters next weekend, followed by round 2 of the BRCA Nationals at Kent on the 10th June.
