The 'Three Men in a Shed' team at Worksop have once again pulled all stops out to bring to us the 4th edition of their regular Players event.

Early risers arrived at the venue on Friday morning at around 9am to commence preparations for the weekend long event. By the time we arrived mid-afternoon the track build was completed and timed practice commenced promptly at 5pm. The tepid sports hall was already filling up with keen drivers and by early evening the arena was buzzing with excitement.

The Trip.
oOple B-team snapper Stuart Evans took charge of organising the trip down to Worksop, having agreed to leave work at lunchtime and head straight over to oOple Towers by 1:15pm.However the dozey mervin shaped road trip warrior set off in auto-pilot mode and before he could issue a reboot command he realised that he had parked up on the driveway of his own home.

Not to worry, this only delayed the start of our journey by a few minutes and he had arrived to collect us by l:22pm. The dogmilk tour bus was soon packed up to the roof (amidst discussions that the bus is always fully packed regardless of whether we have a weekend away in Britain or a European week abroad).

The oOple trip was beaten only by Benjamin Jemison who set off on his long journey from York three whole times before he'd actually managed to bring everything that he needed, and he still turned up without his wallet.

This is what HEAD 2 HEAD is all about! (TRON?)

Ambrose looks on with amazement.

The Worksop venue is held in the historic quarter of the town of Workshop and is a very pleasent area with lush grounds and a long watery driveway to the main venue.

Above - the inside of the Worksop venue isn't quite as splendid visually - however it is much good.

In the hall next door to the track lays the legendary cafe & bar - along with a plague of 'silver foxes and golden eagels' lined up on a 100% carpet track with heavy black balls.
At a first glance the game appears to be slow, however on closer inspection one discovers that tictacs and intricacy rule.
The distance to the Jack-offten appears to be far, although these keen-eyed senior warriors judge their gaps well and produce accurate shots.
The big balls drift in from the side with uncanny precision, touching up the Jack, and scoring the points. The crumbly set clearly enjoy this - it's the way that they roll.
There are also some snooker tables.
The bar opens. We bought beer and chods. And food. And crisps. They are open until late.

Greys in action.

The Track.
The track build effort started at 9am on Friday morning. Organiser James Helliwell had drafted out the track design, which co-organiser Leon Morrell took an instant dislike to and vomited into his (own) mouth. The track team proceeded with the plan however and upon completion they were all pleased with the finished product and shared a man hug to make amends. A commited team of 10 joined in the track build efforts and by 2.30pm their work was done and they retired to the pub for a well-earned steak. Russel Woodhouse took up bouncer duties in the sports hall to stave off the local scrotes in any attempts to pilfer stuff.

Shane Foot gets told how to affix the BBK-live cam - then goes airborne

Track plan

Leon visually demonstrates the potential for big air off the recently built jumps

The Turnout.

In previous years the Players has attracted drivers in large numbers, however the booking in to this years event has been slower than expected. Although the calender was clear when the event was first planned, the addition of races such as last weekends PetitRC, Area51 & Chadderton indoor series, the Dez Chand memorial race this weekend, and the Reedy race in the coming week have all impacted on attendance figures. Conversely though the Players head2head has attracted drivers from far and wide, with Slovakian Sea Monster Pavel Balint making the trip over earlier in the week, and Amish warrior 'Tamiya Dave' Gibson flying in all the way from the USA mere hours before the start of practice. There were also some Welsh warriors present. A hundred drivers booked in to race though, we think this is pretty cool.

Graham 'Blitzboy' Smith and Pavel Balint were loving it

Nick Caro from JE, searches for the reset button.

Dave 'Amish' Gibson
 

Dave Gibbon was back from his Amish retreat in the USA to race this weekend in the UK and brought some of the wares of his new found fortune in the promised land. Dave's new transmitter for instance doubles up as a plaid car rug to keep his knees warm on these cold winter evenings.

 

 

 

 
 

The Practice.
Friday evenings practice proved to be popular with queues forming throughout the session. It was a bit of a 'free for all' without any marshalls or control over how long the drivers spent on the rostrum. Average track times per session worked out at around 17 minutes. Although it hasn't been possible to reveal who has spent the most time practicing, preliminary research suggests that DURANGO TEAM drivder Chris Doughty and privateer James Helliwell are amongst the most-practiced. Danny McGee has been the only driver so far to put in a sub-22 second lap, but Cragg, Cockerill and Helliwell are also proving to be fast on the track. Former European (scrabble) champion Chris Doughty is about one second per lap behind but we're sure he'll soon catch up.
oOple nut-case Stuart Evans managed an average of 24second laps in practice with a fastest lap of 23.bleurgh.99999second lap which he had thought was extremely good until he realised that the top lads were over one second per lap faster - doh!!

International race teams

 

Race Day One - Saturday January 21st 2012.
Day one of racing started on schedule with one round of timed practice commencing at 7.30am (ouch). The practice session pulled out no surprises with former Dub-C Neil Cragg coming out tops in 2wd, and track designer James Helliwell ranking at the top of 4wd.

After the practice round was completed, Muzzy held a slightly unconventional drivers briefing from race control - drivers weren't required to leave their comfy seats so this generally appealed to the masses. Muzzy explained the format of the weekends racing. Drivers would initially race in qualifying heats to determine ability - three rounds of these heats would be run, with the fastest three consecutive laps being used to seed drivers into head-to-head racers. The head2head heats are divided into two classes, the Elite and the open class. Due to the nature of the races drivers are issued with an ID number rather than a car number, as they will be in a different start order for each race in which they compete.

Each race in head2head is made up of 8 cars, the winner of the race scores one point, last place scores 8 points - the winner of the event is the driver with least points.

BBK Rob has crawled out from under his rock for the second weekend running after almost a year away from timing races, and has been witnessed to be on top form already this weekend.

Fastest 10 drivers in 2wd Practice
 

position

name

result

1

Neil Cragg

13/5:00.63

2

Chris Doughty

13/5:04.91

3

Danny McGee

13/5:09.81

4

Richard Drury

13/5:10.77

5

Colin May

13/5:18.33

6

Tom Cockerill

13/5:19.35

7

Olly Vaux

13/5:21.30

8

Gareth Stanton

13/5:21.32

9

Ashley Caunt

13/5:22.41

10

Andy Pearson

13/5:23.72
 


Fastest 10 drivers in 4wd Practice
 

position

name

result

1

James Helliwell

14/5:13:41

2

Neil Cragg

14/5:22.81

3

Tom Cockerill

14/5:28.33

4

David Poulter

13/5:01.12

5

David Gibson

13/5:01.79

6

Paul Bradby

13/5:02.31

7

Richard Drury

13/5:03.06

8

Gareth Stanton

13/5:03.62

9

Colin May

13/5:04.66

10

Steven Pierce

13/5:06.59
 

The track layout.

Quietly spoken (mighty) Chris Doughty is a well known and respected driver, recognised for his wealth of knowledge and experience in the field of R/C racing. With this is mind we approached Chris for some advice on a variety of issues both in R/C and daily life. Chris' advice will be featured throughout the report this weekend. Our first burning question is:

If you entered a shopping centre and witnessed some behooded youths hassling an old lady what would you do?

a) Ask the kids to leave the poor lady alone.

b) Go in like Chuck Norris, and get off with the lady.

c) Walk on as if you have not seen the bother.

CD: "If they were little lads I'd go for their balls, but if I thought I'd not be able to take them I'd just go about my business.

Joggers.
 

Definition: Joggers are people on Gofincham ships who jog every day to keep themselves in shape, usually fat people (Ref: http://hitchhikers.wikia.com).

Worksop clubs very own James Helliwell is one such Jogger (although has a quite acceptable BMI) and recent records suggest that he runs on almost a daily basis. James isn't simply running to keep in shape though, the real purpose behind his frequent sprints is to train for this years Virgins London Marathon in April. James is raising money for the Everyman Campaign, a charity which funds research into cancers which affect men. As we all know men suffer more and die sooner ;) So any contribution you can make towards this cause would be greatly appreciated. As a special thank you for your support, any sponsors who pledge over £10 we will provide a special edition oOple sticker sheet to.

Willing sponsors can approach James at race meetings (he's a regular at Worksop / RHR) or donate online via justgiving: www.justgiving.com/james-helliwell
To send a £4 donation via mobile phone, text: "TJPC68 £4" to 70070.
 
 

Chris Doughty took the TQ in 2WD with his Team Durango DEX210. TQ doesn't really mean much here at the Players, since the racing is in the REEDY format and it's only important to get into the top 24 during qualifying to ensure you're racing in the seperate 'Elite' category - but its still good to TQ for bragging rights.

Chris is using his DEX210 in mid motor, 4 gear configuration with all LRP electrics including a 6.5 wind motor. Chris's car is pretty much standard apart from the gear differential.

Chris's LRP lipo's are from the 2008 EBOR 24h race - and still going strong.

INTERVIEW with Chris Doughty:

Congratulations on TQ'ing the 2WD Chris - how?!
Old tyres! (Thanks Skelding). To be honest I was expecting to come here and get into the top-25 and race to see how I could do. I didn't expect this.

How long has it been since you raced a big electric meeting?
It would be the last electric national meeting I did - at the end of 2007. I've only done a couple of club races along with the York EBOR 24h meetings since then.

With this car, the Team Durango DEX210 - I tested the first production prototype at Coventry and have done two mid-week club meetings prior to this.

What secret test bits have you got on the car - what if any setup tips can you give?
My car is standard - I think the setup is actually as-per-manual (Check the online verison for the pistons - the manual in the kit has an error here - that's my fault, sorry guys!).

Other than the bling blue washers (Cadburys purple????) my car is standard apart from I'm using the new Team Durango gear differential - which should be out worldwide very soon.

Chris's pit table

LRP 6.5 turn motor powers Chris's MM4 layout car

Did you try the ball diff or start with the geared diff - and what were the reasons?
When I tested the ball differential I found it squared up too much - with the geared diff it felt like it stayed in the corner as I got on the power. Initially it was harder to drive so I went to a thicker oil and am now running 7,000 cst.

Chris's car is all about the LRP action - I asked Jurgen for an LRP drive last year and he laughed, and walked off, I'm not sure if that was a yes? Jimmy.

Did you try the car in rear motor or arrive and drive with mid? Do you think rear motor will be as quick around here since the floor isn't high traction?
I think the rear motor car would have been safer to drive and you could probably have pushed harder but I didn't want to spend too much time worrying about finding a setup for both and choosing between them. I'm honestly a little out of electric off road - having not raced much for a long time and I'm not fully up to speed - so I wanted to keep things simple at this meeting to concentrate on driving and setup.

Will you be racing any other big electric meetings this year - nationals perhaps?
Nationals will be unlikely as I can't commit to the full series and my main focus is the 8th scale national series and development. I'll hopefully be attending the oOple race though!

You work at Team Durango now - what's your role there and have you helped develop the DEX210?
I'm project co-ordinator at TD, so I basically make sure the projects flow right through from design to prototype and all the way into production with many things to think about on the way.

With the DEX210 I didn't have any input into the geometry as that was all done with the testing from Gerd, Hupo, Yawn, Adam and the rest of the guys. But I did have input into some of the design features and the way the geometry came into the production car.

CD goes for it

Back to Chris Doughty. Imagine you are a senior manager in an NHS organisation; you discover that a clinical member of staff has sought healthcare through a private organisation, how would you address the situation?;

a) Let it slide - staff members are entitled to meet their health needs as they see fit.

b) Disciplinary action - staff should be seen to be representing the organisation.

c) Sack them on the spot - request security to escort them from the premises, this sort of behaviour is unacceptable.

CD: "I would definitely need to refer to the managers handbook on this one to determine what is acceptable. I wouldn't want my own feelings about a particular member of staff to interfere with how the situation should be dealt with.
 

Round 1 Fastest 3 consequetive laps in 2wd

  
 

position

name

result

1

Neil Cragg

3/1:07.95

2

Danny McGee

3/1:07.98

3

Tom Cockerill

3/1:08.07

4

Paul Bradby

3/1:09.37

5

Richard Drury

3/1:09.67

6

Simon Moss

3/1:09.68

7

Ashley Caunt

3/1:10.21

8

David Gibson

3/1:10:43

9

Colin May

3/1:10.49

10

James Helliwell

3/1:10.52
   
   

Round 1 Fastest 3 consequetive laps in 4wd

  
 

position

name

result

1

Neil Cragg

3/1:07.95

2

Danny McGee

3/1:07.98

3

James Helliwell

3/1:08.07

4

Paul Bradby

3/1:09.37

5

David Gibson

3/1:09.67

6

Colin May

3/1:09.68

7

Tom Cockerill

3/1:10.21

8

Simon Moss

3/1:10:43

9

Richard Drury

3/1:10.49

10

David Poulter

3/1:10.52
   
   

Neil Cragg
 

During Friday practice Neil was running the rear motor B4.1, but switched to the mid powererd C4.1 for practice on Saturday. Neil opted to stay with the C4.1. Mick told us that the B4.1 was being used the previous day primarily as a shakedown test, as that's the machine they will be running at the upcoming Reedy Race in California in a weeks time.

Neil is off to The USofA with Bradders & BJ, hopefully they'll do stuff that we would not.

 
 
 

Qualifying Round 2.

Round 2 Fastest 3 consequetive laps in 2wd

  
 

position

name

result

1

Neil Cragg

3/1:07.78

2

Paul Bradby

3/1:08.51

3

Tom Cockerill

3/1:08.56

4

James Helliwell

3/1:08.81

5

Ashley Caunt

3/1:08.88

6

Danny McGee

3/1:08.93

7

Chris Doughty

3/1:09.02

8

Simon Moss

3/1:09.09

9

Colin May

3/1:09.15

10

Richard Drury

3/1:09.17
   
   

Round 2 Fastest 3 consequetive laps in 4wd

  
 

position

name

result

1

Neil Cragg

3/1:04.38

2

Danny McGee

3/1:04.60

3

Simon Moss

3/1:05.05

4

Colin May

3/1:05.10

5

Tom Cockerill

3/1:05.38

6

Paul Bradby

3/1:05.52

7

Andy Griffiths

3/1:06.04

8=

Graham North

3/1:06.21

8=

Steven Pierce

3/1:06.21

10

Richard Drury

3/1:06.49
   
   

The Raffle.
Raffle tickets became commercially available within the sports hall at lunchtime on Saturday. Thanks to the generosity of sponsors for this event, in excess of £2500 worth of prizes were available through the raffle, which has been scheduled to be drawn after the close of racing on Sunday. Prizes include car and helicopter kits from Schumacher, a kit from Ansmann, electrics from PBM, and goodies from Horizon, SMD and Custom Blitz. More information will follow...

Raffle donor!

Andrew Caunt has his eyes on the corraly connectors

Awe...How many prizes?

Qualifying Round 3.
Chris Doughty set the new fastest 3 consequetive laps of the day to TQ the 2wd class as drivers moved into Elite and Open classes. If the event was being run in standard format for 1/10th electric off-road races he'd be lining up on pole position for his finals. Clearly at this event TQ is less critical due to the line starts and random first corner action.

In 4wd Neil improved on his previous best times to hang onto the TQ for this class, with Cockerill, McGee and Bradby putting in very close times just behind.


Round 3 Fastest 3 consequetive laps in 2wd

  
 

position

name

result

1

Chris Doughty

3/1:07.25

2

Neil Cragg

3/1:07.28

3

Paul Bradby

3/1:07.55

4

Tom Cockerill

3/1:07.85

5

Danny McGee

3/1:08.07

6

James Helliwell

3/1:08.37

7

Ben Jemison

3/1:08.96

8

Ashley Caunt

3/1:09.00

9

Richard Drury

3/1:09.24

10

Gareth Stanton

3/1:09.50
   
   

Round 3 Fastest 3 consequetive laps in 4wd

  
 

position

name

result

1

Neil Cragg

3/1:03.81

2

Tom Cockerill

3/1:04.00

3

Danny McGee

3/1:04.04

4

Paul Bradby

3/1:04.60

5

Colin May

3/1:05.24

6

Simon Moss

3/1:05.34

7

Graham North

3/1:06.00

8

Gareth Stanton

3/1:06.44

9

James Helliwell

3/1:06.48

10

Andy Griffiths

3/1:06.86
   
   

Ansmann team driver Simon Moss took his Ansmann X2C - mid motor 2WD around for the warmup in the final qualifying run of the 2012 Players race.

Sadly Simon went nuts over the big jump and smashed his beloved Ansmann quite literally in half - much to the crowds amusement and approval.

Contrary to Si's usual serious racing manner he decided to tape the car together as the race was being held for a couple of minutes for him - and with the help of Leon Morell, they got the car back together with gaffer tape ready for the start.

Sadly the car shut down towards the end of the run because it turned itself off - a bit of dodgy wiring caused by the initial break being the culprit.

Simon didn't have a spare for the chassis and now has to swap to running the rear motor car - which isn't ideal in this hall but we're sure he'll do his best. This weekend hasn't gone well so far for the Mosses, after they thought they had booked into the local Worksop travelodge only to find out on arrival that they were actually booked in to the Worthington travelodge 200 miles away.

3 men and some gaffer tape

People watch on, laughing profusely

When two become one, girlllllll.....................

Overall qualifying for Elite Class.

Drivers who qualified in the elite class after three rounds of qualifying with the best 3 consecutive laps used to score - top 24 in each class enter Elite group.

Elite group - 2wd

  
 

position

name

result

1

Chris Doughty

3/1:07.25

2

Neil Cragg

3/1:07.28

3

Paul Bradby

3/1:07.55

4

Tom Cockerill

3/1:07.85

5

Danny McGee

3/1:07.98

6

James Helliwell

3/1:08.37

7

Ashley Caunt

3/1:08.88

8

Ben Jemison

3/1:08.96

9

Simon Moss

3/1:09.09

10

Colin May

3/1:09.15

11

Richard Drury

3/1:09.17

12

Gareth Stanton

3/1:09.50

13

Dave Belsten

3/1:09.59

14

Steven Pierce

3/1:09.59

15

Rob Fox

3/1:09.79

16

David Poulter

3/1:10.21

17

Andy Griffiths

3/1:10.33

18

David Gibson

3/1:10.43

19

Nick Caro

3/1:10.80

20

Nick Gurnell

3/1:10.95

21

James Wilkinson

3/1:11.07

22

Oz Gurnell

3/1:11.12

23

Andy Pearson

3/1:11.37

24

Olly Vaux

3/1:11.59

 

    
   

Elite group - 4wd

  
 

position

name

result

1

Neil Cragg

3/1:03.74

2

Tom Cockerill

3/1:04.00

3

Danny McGee

3/1:04.04

4

Paul Bradby

3/1:04.46

5

Simon Moss

3/1:05.05

6

Colin May

3/1:05.10

7

James Helliwell

3/1:05.42

8

David Gibson

3/1:05.79

9

Graham North

3/1:06.00

10

Andy Griffiths

3/1:06.04

11

Steven Pierce

3/1:06.21

12

Gareth Stanton

3/1:06.44

13

Richard Drury

3/1:06.49

14

David Poulter

3/1:06.84

15

Ashley Caunt

3/1:07.14

16

Ben Jemison

3/1:07.30

17

Rob Fox

3/1:07.32

18

Dave Belsten

3/1:07.64

19

Nick CaroNick Gurnell

3/1:07.72

20

Andy Wesson

3/1:07.97

21

Ian Ford

3/1:08.44

22

Andy Pearson

3/1:08.45

23

Andy Twigger

3/1:08.61

24

Oz Gurnell

3/1:08.63

 

    
   

Head 2 head - 2wd races, round 1.
When the three qualifying rounds were completed a gap in the schedule enabled tired drivers to sit back for a while and have some lunch. Racing kicked off again at around 2.30pm with the 2wd open class taking to the track first. oOple b-team reporter Stuart Evans had a battle in his race with Pavel Balint and Lee Fraser, all cars were on a similar pace, however errors from the other boys saw Stu Evans take the win.

In the first 2wd Elite race Welsh lad Dave Belsten who is well known across the racing community for his Grande Aire, won his race ahead ot Nick Gurnell and Olly Vaux.

Danny Mcgee, Neil Cragg, Steven Pierce, James Helliwell, Simon Moss, Ben Jemison, Nick Caro and David Poulter were the next Elite drivers up - Neil Cragg lead for most of the race but a wrestle for the top spot during the final laps saw changing positions, with Steven Pierce taking up the lead for a short time before Danny McGee came past and took the race win.

Chris Doughty, Paul Bradby, Tom Cockerill, Ashley Caunt, Colin May, Rich Drury, Gareth Stanton and Rob Fox competed in the following 2wd Elite race. Paul put on a stellar show throughout the race, maintaining lead position with maximum pressure from the rear where Chris Doughty and Tom Cockerill were hassling him for the lead. Paul kept his cool for the duration, until on the final lap he finally caved in and made en error, allowing Chris Doughty to take up the lead and win the race.

After the first round of 2wd head2head races oOple report hero Stu Evans was in a good position with one point, alongside Danny McGee and Chris Doughty - shame he's in a totally different class and can't win the meeting.

Rob Fox = HERO

Insert witty line here

Customblitz takes off more than a flake of paint

Doughty lends a hand

We took another moment to seek Chris' preference when it comes to audio equipment.

If you're in the market for some new headphones, what do you choose;

a) The small earphones that penetrate the ears.

b) Some standard black over the ear headphones.

c) Some massive garish red headphones.

It depends where I was planning to use them; if I was bringing them to a race meeting I'd buy the discrete ear phones, however if I was using them at home I'd purchase the large black sort.

Head 2 head - 4wd races, round 1.
In the first 4wd open race all eyes were on Lee Fraser and Rob Brazendale who kept close together and abandoned the rest of the field. Rob was gaining on Lee lap on lap but had to settle for second place just half a second back.

Next in the open class Julien Beckett took the 1 point win ahead of Leon Morrell and James Wilkinson.

Jamie Paton beat Nick Caro and Shane foot to the top spot in 4wd open race 3.

The first Elite 4wd race saw Danny McGee, Neil Cragg, Graham North, Andy Griffiths, Nick Gurnell, Oz Gurnell, Andrew Twigger and Dave Belsten aiming for the low score. Danny McGee lead the race but had a keen Neil Cragg close behind him. These two lads danced off without giving the other drivers much of a chance. With just over two minutes left to race Neil took up the lead from Danny and was soon pulling off in front of him. Neils fast lap of 21.30 seconds poo-poo'd Dannys 21.58 seconder. Neil held onto his lead and took the race with 14 laps in 5minutes 5.76 seconds. Danny made the overall fastest lap towards the end of the race in his bid to catch up to the leader, with a 21.02second lap.

In the second 4wd elite event, the race was on between Simon Moss, Gaz Stanton, James Helliwell, Tamiya Dave, Steven Pierce, Ian Ford, Andy Wesson, and Colin May.
Gareth lead the race from the start, but three laps in and Gaz was soon closing his back door on Simon Moss. With three minutes left to race Gaz rolled his car, and Moss moved into the lead, with Colin May in 2nd place a couple of seconds behind him. Colin May was gradually closing the gap on Simon but couldn't give what it needed to take the lead. Simon took the race with 14 laps in 5/11.03 but Colin may had the fastest lap with a 21.49 second runaround.

In the last Elite 4wd race in round 1 of head to head, Bradders took the lead, with Tom cockerill, David Poulter and Ashley Caunt just further back from him. Tom Cockerill chased the hardest, with just one secondseperating the top two cars, but with just over one minute to go Bradby extened this to 4 seconds. By the race end Bradby had pulled a 6 second lead on Tom.


RETRO TECH ON DISPLAY
A 'Stir' was caused in the pits when well-respected racer Stu Evans bust out his Hudy lathe to start skimming his motors. Stu is a firm believer in the simple mechanical nature of brushed motor technology and in 2WD he says it's the only way to go.

Below right: Lad to dad "eeeeh, Dad! what's about here like?" - "T'way things used to be, son-of-mine - watch 'im go!"

Copper fragments shower the on-lookers as Stu goes in too deep with the diamond tipped love triangle - oops

Head2head round 2.

In round 2 of the 2wd open class Ian Ford, Pavel Balint, and Rob Stanway won their races. In the Elite group Neil Cragg, Tom Cockerill, and Olly Vaux each took single point wins.
Over in 4wd Lee Fraser won his second race of the event, Leon Morrell took a win, as did Pavel Balint. In 4wd Elite class Tom Cockerill, Paul Bradby and James Helliwell each took wins.

Beer Race.

The racers retired to the pub after three rounds of racing were done, for food and good cheer. Leon Morell obnoxiously loud as usual, continued his campaign of suggesting to the waitress walking past that every meal was for him, much to her amusement. Big air Belsten was not overly amused with his char-coaled steak, preferring to use it instead as a toupee for Danny McGee.

End of Day1.

At the end of Saturdays racing the top 10 in each class were as follows:

4wd Elite after 3 rounds head2head

  
 

position

name

 result total rd1 rd2

rd3

1

Tom Cockerill

14/5:04.19

4

2

1

1

2

Paul Bradby

14/5:05.49

5

1

1

3

3

Neil Cragg

14/5:05.76

7

1

5

1

4

Colin May

14/5:11.19

7

2

3

2

5

David Poulter

14/5.19.27

8

3

3

2

6

Simon Moss

14/5:11.03

10

1

2

7

7

James Helliwell

14/5:13.63

10

7

1

2

8

Richard Drury

14/5:15.84

10

4

2

4

9

David Gibson

14/5:21.07

10

3

4

3

10

Danny McGee

14/5:10.92

12

2

2

8

 
   
   

4wd Open after 3 rounds head2head

  
 

position

name

 result total rd1 rd2

rd3

1

Lee Fraser

13/5:06.66

3

1

1

1

2

Leon Morrell

13/5:12.44

6

2

1

3

3

Nick Caro

13/5:16.48

6

2

3

1

4

Julian Beckett

12/5:01.08

8

1

3

4

5

Natalie Williams

13/5.20.30

8

4

2

2

6

Jamie Cheshire

13/5:20.50

9

3

3

3

7

Jamie Paton

13/5:20.30

10

1

4

5

8

James Wilkinson

13/5:19.69

11

3

6

2

9

Craig Mead

12/5:01.63

11

6

2

3

10

Brian Shardlow

13/5:13.25

11

5

4

2

 
   
   

2wd Elite after 3 rounds head2head

  
 

position

name

 result total rd1 rd2

rd3

1

Neil Cragg

14/5:20.81

4

2

1

1

2

Paul Bradby

14/5:19.92

5

2

2

1

3

Tom Cockerill

13/5:00.34

6

3

1

2

4

Chris Doughty

14/5:22.62

7

1

4

2

5

Danny McGee

14/5.17.92

7

1

3

3

6

Olly Vaux

13/5:16.55

10

3

1

6

7

James Helliwell

13/5:04.11

10

4

2

4

8

Dave Belsten

13/5:11.40

12

1

6

5

9

Nick Caro

13/5:13.04

12

5

5

2

10

Nick Gurnell

13/5:14.40

13

2

6

5

 
   
   

2wd Open after 3 rounds head2head

  
 

position

name

 result total rd1 rd2

rd3

1

Paul Crawford

12/5:00.42

4

1

2

1

2

Ian Ford

13/5:17.68

6

4

1

1

3

Brian Shardlow

13/5:23.92

6

4

2

2

4

Julian Beckett

12/5:03.49

6

2

2

2

5

Stuart Evans

12/5.01.38

8

1

3

4

6

Muzzy

12/5:02.92

8

1

4

3

7

Andrew Twigger

12/5:10.08

8

3

3

2

8

Lee Fraser

12/5:04.34

9

2

3

4

9

Daniel Austin

13/5:18.91

12

3

8

1

10

Pavel Balint

12/5:07.95

12

4

1

7

 
   
   

Sunday 22nd January 2012 - Head2head races.

With three head to head rounds already under the belt at the start of day 2, drivers had a further 5 head2head rounds scheduled for Sundays event. The day started early once again, with the first race leaving the line at 08.30am.

Steve Bond Update.
One year ago we spoke with Steven Bond about his successful weight loss and lifestyle changes. Steven visited Worksop today a further 5 stone ligher than when we last saw him, and was keen to show off his new form.

Steve talked about his regular 2hr gym sessions (warrior!) and protein based diet. He continues to be aware of food being a way of fuelling his body and implements careful portion control. Steve contiues to be an inspiration to those around him and is very supportive and encouraging to other people who want to lose weight. To join in the weight loss discussion check out the healthy stuff forum.

All muscle - Steven has no problems lifting dense weights.

Team Schumacher's Tom Cockerill is running some different parts on his cars here - testing as he always is to find some more 'speed secrets' - TM.

Both Tom's cars were running small bore dampers - Tom says he's tried both back to back and it's really track dependant. Outdoors at the nearby RHR track for instance Tom says nothing can touch the BB's - here indoors however he reckons the smaller dampers felt better.

Tom is running the TDS in his CAT SX3 - an adjustable centre one way system. Tom's running it fully loose for the maximum one-way effect for extra turn-in on the corners.

Tom was testing some new prototype front wheels which widen the front track a little, for more stability.

TC's 2WD is of course the Cougar SV - and recently Tom's been testing various alloy chassis plates - still no word on when they'll be available.

On the 2WD, Tom is using very worn tyres - which seem to work better, as a few other drivers have found.

 

Meanwhile, we thought of another very pertinent question for Doughty.

If you were in a (non smoking) pub, and someone sitting at the table next to you (complete with their young family) lit up a cigarette, what would you do?

a) Urinate on them to put out the cigarette.

b) Report them to the foxy barmaid with large assets.

c) Spark up with them.

Well I definitely wouldn't urinate on them, I think I'd have to politely draw their attention to the no smoking signs, and if that didn't work I'd report it to bar staff. If a fight kicked off though I'd leave the pub - I'd obviously chosen the wrong establishment in which to pimp my presence.

Sponsors and Raffle prizes.

The Players 2012 Head2head race has been generously sponored by Schumacher racing, Ansmann, PBM, SMD, Horizon and Custom Blitz. The sponsors have provided prizes for a raffle which will be drawn at the end of play today. Goodies on offer include a Cougar SV kit, X4pro 4wd, Helicopters, chargers, lipo, motor, ESC and servos, a hauler bag and race clothing, body shells, transmitter, pit mats, and vouchers for body and pit board painting. There's even a t-shirt by Pavel Balint, and some Corraly connectors kindly supplied by Nick Caro on there.

 

Andy Pearson has a very Dr.Who-esque power supply!

Mick Cragg and Phil Booth discuss political issues

Back at camp doughty...

Imagine for a moment that you are a Durnago B-team driver, one of the A team drivers comes to you and asks you to break in some tyres during your qualifying heats, what do you do?

a) Immediately take one for the team and say - yes!

b) Say OK, but I want some chips.

c) Say no... p*ss off.

Well I would assess the situation first, if it was an A team driver who was going for the win and I wasn't having such a great day, then I'd take it for the team. But if said A team driver was only a couple of places ahead of me and I had a good chance of making up the places, I'd have to re-consider.

Head2head

The nature of this style of racing makes for very difficult reporting, however throughout the course of the day some patterns were becoming fairly obvious. Neil Cragg and Paul Bradby were strong in both 2wd and 4wd - very good practice for them prior to the up and coming Reedy Race too.

The winning place goes to whomever has the lowest score at the end of the day, and in the event of a tie situation, the win's decided on best time.

There's been a lot of talk in the run up to this weekend about the new KO transmitter which uses both stick and wheel.

Some of the new KO products were shipped over specially for this event to showcase some of the new cutting-edge gear, and we got WORLD EXCLUSIVE access to some of the new gear.

The new Equaliser Visual And Nautical Styling (E.V.A.N.S) race data logging system will be an add-on module for the new transmitter and captures all the inputs the driver makes during a run.

Check out the details on the REAL new transmitter on the KO Propo website

Competition for all dreams - conquer future for performance of men.

 

Father and son team Ashley and Andrew Caunt have made frequent appearances on the off-road scene over the past couple of years. At the tender age of 15 Ashley is already famous in his locality, having recently been awarded with the prestigious title of 'Sportsman of the year' for his achievements in R/C racing. We spent a few minutes catching up with Ash and Andrew to find out a bit about them in this exclusive side-by-side oOple Interview.

INTERVIEW with Ashley Caunt:

Age: 15

Years racing experience: About 5 years racing, I started with touring cars and for about 2.5years have been racing off-road.

How did you first become interested in R/C racing? Dad used to race before I did so he got me into it.

What was your first car? A Tamiya ready to run touring car with a Subaru Impreza bodyshell.

Who do you most admire at racing? For driving style I think Neil Cragg.

How long have you been driving the VEGA car - which version is it and how have you found it? I've been driving it for nearly a year, started with it for last years national series. It's the Kyosho RB5 version, it's one of the best cars I've ever driven, even in comparison with my 4wd.

Tell us about your 4WD ride: I just got a Kyosho 4wd, we run the Vega steering mod. I've only run it a couple of times; here at at Area51 GP, it went alright on the carpet there but I've struggled on the slippery surface here.

You are attending a race event with your Vega car when tragically at the start of the meeting you snap the chassis in half; you have no spare chasis and unfortunately no-one is able to step in and help you, however a fellow driver offers you his spare Losi 22 to drive - what do you do?

a) Borrow the car - I'd still be able to get some practice in even if it's with a car I'm unfamiliar with.

b) Gaffer-tape the chassis back together and do my best with the Vega.

c) Withdraw from the event.

I'd borrow the other car to get some practice in but try to disguise it as a Vega. It would take some serious skill to snap a Vega though!

INTERVIEW with Andrew Caunt.

Age: 42

Years wrenching experience: I reckon I've been doing this for 7 years.

How did you first become involved in R/C mechanicing? I used to race, then once Ashley started lapping me I had to become a pit bitch.

What was the first r/c car you built? X-Ray TR1 I think it was.

Who do you turn to for setup advice? Normally Nick Gurnell.

How have you found the Vega car to work on? It's all alright yeah, very easy to work on - it's a really good car.

Tell us about your setups this weekend.
We haven't really had to make many changes to the 2wd, but the 4wd has had quite a lot of changes - altered the droop on the front, the anti squat on the back. We've found that worn out tyres have worked best this weekend.

You are attending a race event with your Vega car when tragically at the start of the meeting Ash snaps the chassis in half; you have no spare chasis and unfortunately no-one is able to step in and help you, however a fellow racer offers you his spare Losi 22 to drive - what do you do?

a) Borrow the car - Ash would still be able to get some practice in even if it's with a car he's unfamiliar with.

b) Gaffer-tape the chassis back together and tell Ash to do his best with the Vega.

c) Withdraw from the event.

I think I'd probably borrow another car, but try to stick the Vega shell on it.

 

 

Head2head Racing

By the time the last round of head2head races was in action the only two possible winners in both Elite 2wd and 4wd were the Associated pairinf of Neil Cragg and Paul Bradby - with both drivers on equal points Neil was already in the lead with fastest time.

In the 4wd event Bradby raced in the last race of the day, all pressure was on to put in his best time. On the first lap Bradby crashed trying to get through the traffic and Steve Pierce took the lead. Paul dropped way down the order but put in a good effort to finally take up the lead. After a close battle throughout the race Bradby eventually lost out to Graham North after snapping his car in half over Rob Fox's Schumacher Cat. Anyway Graham North won the epic battle, but overall victory went to Neil Cragg who walked away from the meeting with both 2wd and 4wd titles.

If you were racing at a prestigious event, trying to be serious about racing, and a bunch of maniacs kept coming over to you and asking daft questions, how would you respond?

a) Tell them to go away.

b) Tell them to go away.

c) Tell them to go away.

Nah, I wouldn't do any of that, I would try to join in with the banter, I can relate to fun stuff like that.

Elite class - 4wd

  
 

position

name

result

1

Neil Cragg

6 - 1 [5] 1 1 [3] 1 1 1

2

Paul Bradby

7 - 1 1 [3] 2 1 1 1 [6]

3

Danny Mcgee

8 - 2 2 [8] 1 1 [6] 1 1

4

Tom Cockerill

9 - 2 1 1 [8] 2 1 [8] 2

5

Colin May

13 - 2 3 2 2 1 [8] [7] 3

6

David Poulter

15 - 3 3 2 3 [4] 2 [6] 2

7

James Helliwell

16 - [7] 1 2 2 [6] 2 5 4

8

Graham North

17 - [8] 4 1 3 [5] 4 4 1

9

Richard Drury

21 - 4 2 4 4 [5] [5] 3 4

10

Andy Griffiths

22 - 3 [8] 5 [7] 4 3 2 5

11

Andy Wesson

23 - [8] [6] 4 1 3 4 5 6

12

Rob Fox

24 - 5 3 [8] 7 4 3 2 [7]

13

Gareth Stanton

24 - [6] 6 [6] 5 3 4 4 2

14

Simon Moss

26 - 1 2 7 3 5 dns dns 8

15

Ben Jemison

26 - 7 [7] dns 6 2 2 2 7

16

David Gibson

26 - 3 4 3 [8] [8] 5 3 8

17

Dave Belsten

26 - 4 4 [7] 4 [6] 3 5 6

18

Nick Gurnell

28 - [6] 5 4 5 2 6 6 [8]

19

Steven Pierce

29 - 4 5 3 6 [8] 8 [8] 3

20

Andy Pearson

30 - [6] 6 5 5 [8] 6 3 5

21

Oz Gurnell

33 - [7] dns 5 6 6 5 7 4

22

Andrew Twigger

34 - 5 [7] 6 7 [7] 7 6 3

23

Ian Ford

36 - 5 [7] 6 [8] 7 7 4 7

24

Ashley Caunt

37 - [8] [8] 7 4 7 7 7 5

 

    
   

Danny McGee 3rd - Neil Cragg - 4WD Elite Class Winner - Paul Bradby 2nd

Elite class - 2wd

  
 

position

name

result

1

Neil Cragg

6 - [2] 1 1 1 1 [1] 1 1

2

Paul Bradby

7 - [2] [2] 1 1 1 1 1 2

3

Chris Doughty

11 - 1 [4] 2 1 [7] 4 2 1

4

Danny Mcgee

11 - 1 [3] 3 [3] 1 3 1 2

5

Tom Cockerill

11 - 3 1 2 2 2 dns [4] 1

6

James Helliwell

16 - [4] 2 4 [7] 3 1 3 3

7

Ben Jemison

17 - [6] [8] 3 3 4 2 2 3

8

Simon Moss

19 - 7 [7] [8] 2 2 2 4 2

9

Colin May

21 - 7 [8] 1 4 2 [7] 2 5

10

Gareth Stanton

21 - [8] 4 [6] 2 5 3 3 4

11

Steven Pierce

23 - 3 3 dns [8] 3 2 7 5

12

Nick Gurnell

23 - 2 [6] 5 4 4 4 [7] 4

13

Dave Belsten

25 - 1 [6] 5 5 [6] 5 3 6

14

David Gibson

25 - [8] 6 4 4 [8] 3 5 3

15

Olly Vaux

27 - 3 1 [6] [6] 6 5 6 6

16

Ashley Caunt

27 - 4 5 4 [6] 4 6 4 [8]

17

Rob Fox

28 - 5 4 [5] [7] 5 5 5 4

18

Nick Caro

29 - 5 5 2 6 [8] [7] 5 6

19

Andy Griffiths

30 - 5 2 7 5 6 [8] [8] 5

20

Richard Drury

30 - 6 3 [8] 3 7 4 [8] 7

21

David Poulter

30 - [8] 5 3 5 3 7 [7] 7

22

Andy Pearson

35 - 4 7 [7] 7 5 6 6 [8]

23

James Wilkinson

39 - 7 [8] 6 [8] 7 6 6 7

24

Oz Gurnell

44 - 6 7 7 8 8 [8] 8 [8]
   
   

Chris Doughty 3rd - Neil Cragg - 4WD Elite Class Winner - Paul Bradby 2nd

Open class - 2wd

  
 

position

name

result

1

Paul Crawford

6 - 1 [2] 1 1 1 1 [3] 1

2

Brian Shardlow

8 - [2] 2 2 1 1 1 1 [3]

3

Stuart Evans

10 - 1 3 [4] dns 2 1 1 2

4

Muzzy

13 - 1 4 3 [4] [6] 2 2 1

5

Daniel Austin

13 - 3 [8] 1 2 3 3 1 [4]

6

Ian Ford

14 - 4 1 1 3 3 2 [6] dns

7

Pavel Balint

15 - 4 1 [7] 4 2 3 [4] 1

8

James Pickard

15 - [5] 4 3 1 1 dns 3 3

9

Julian Beckett

15 - 2 2 2 2 [5] 2 5 [6]

10

Andrew Twigger

15 - 3 3 2 [5] 2 3 2 [5]

11

Lee Fraser

20 - 2 3 4 3 [7] [8] 4 4

12

Rob Brazendale

22 - [7] [6] 3 2 4 6 3 4

13

Rob Stanway

23 - 6 1 6 6 [8] [7] 2 2

14

Jamie Paton

23 - 5 5 4 3 [5] 4 [6] 2

15

Russell Woodhouse

28 - 3 [6] 5 4 5 6 5 [7]

16

Craig Mead

29 - 4 [8] [8] 5 3 5 5 7

17

Rob Bryan

29 - [8] 5 5 [6] 6 4 6 3

18

Russell Gardner

29 - 5 5 [7] 5 [8] 5 4 5

19

Daniel Pickard

33 - [7] 4 5 [8] 7 4 7 6

20

Guy Dickinson

34 - 6 7 6 [8] 4 6 [7] 5

21

Eric Wilcock

36 - 6 [7] [7] 6 6 5 7 6

22

Steve Cockerell

40 - [8] 6 8 7 4 7 8 dns

23

Peter Tauber

34 - 7 7 6 7 7 dns dns dns
   
   

Paul Crawford- 2WD Open Class Winner - Team Durango DEX210

Open class - 4wd

  
 

position

name

result

1

Pavel Balint

9 - [8] 1 [4] 1 1 1 3 2

2

Leon Morrell

9 - 2 1 [3] 2 2 1 1 [4]

3

Nick Caro

9 - 2 [3] 1 [3] 1 2 1 2

4

James Wilkinson

10 - [3] [6] 2 1 1 2 1 3

5

Lee Fraser

11 - 1 1 1 3 [9] 3 2 [6]

6

Julian Beckett

13 - 1 3 [4] [4] 2 1 3 3

7

Rob Brazendale

13 - 2 2 [9] 2 3 3 dns 1

8

Natalie Williams

14 - 4 2 2 1 dns 4 [5] 1

9

Brian Shardlow

16 - [5] 4 2 2 [5] 3 3 2

10

Paul Crawford - Warrior

20 - 4 [8] [6] 4 3 2 6 1

11

Jamie Cheshire

20 - 3 3 3 5 2 [6] [7] 4

12

Russell Gardner

21 - 4 [5] 5 3 4 [5] 2 3

13

Craig Mead

22 - [6] 2 3 5 3 5 4 [8]

14

Andrew Hicklin

24 - 5 6 1 4 [7] [7] 2 6

15

Jamie Paton

24 - 1 4 5 [9] 4 5 [5] 5

16

Shane Foot oOple Hero

26 - 3 5 4 [6] 4 6 dns 4

17

Rob Bryan

31 - [7] 5 [7] 7 6 4 4 5

18

Dave Price

33 - 5 [6] 6 6 [8] 6 5 5

19

Peter Tauber

34 - [9] 4 6 5 5 8 [8] 6

20

Rob Stanway

34 - 6 [7] 5 6 6 [8] 4 7

21

Russell Woodhouse

39 - 6 7 [8] [8] 5 7 7 7

22

Paul Davies

43 - 8 [8] 7 [8] 7 8 6 7

23

Graham Smith

43 - 7 [9] [8] 7 6 7 8 8

24

Steve Cockerell

19 - 7 8 dns dns dns 4 dns dns

25

James Garner

22 - 8 7 7 dns dns dns dns dns
   
   

Pavel Balint - 4WD Open Class Winner - Schumacher CAT SX3

The Players head2head

The team at Worksop have yet again hosted another awesome event, and although the attendance figures were lower than we have seen at previous races here (for a multitude of reasons) the general feeling was that those present had a great time.
So a big thank you to everyone responsible for bringing the players head2head to us, especially Mark 'Muzzy' Musgrove, James Helliwell and Leon Morrell from the worksop team, everyone who built the track, Rob Nelson from BBK timing for running the event and trying to explain the results to me, Chris Doughty for being a good sport and everyone else who helped out with report content. Thanks also to the event sponsors: Schumacher, Horizon, Custom Blitz, PBM, Ansmann and SMD.