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Vector Re-Born. Halifax - 1/8th BRCA National Meeting (18/04/2006)
- By:
- Martin Lane
Halifax Circuit - UK
This weekend I returned to 1/8th racing after a 7 year break...!
This meeting was the 2nd round of the BRCA national series and was situated at the superb Halifax circuit in the UK, as featured on the VRC simulation.
The circuit is smooth and fast and has a very nice layout. (Check out VRC and see for yourself)
The facilities are superb and everything is well catered for.
A superb canteen for hot or cold food, excellent covered rostrum and race control, covered pits, cleaning area with mains electric, compressed air and excellent safety at trackside completes the package.
The only grey area was the weather..!
The rain was hanging around and showing it's face at various intervals over the weekend.
The air was cool and a slight breeze was passing itself around, making for a rather chilled feeling.
Return to Racing after 7 years...!
I stopped racing in back in August of 1998, with the birth of my son Ethan.
Having just purchased a 1998 spec Vector and only completing around 2 rounds with this car, it was put into storage and the dust was blown off 7 years later.
Arriving at trackside with my Vector was an amazing experience, over 70 drivers had booked in for this meeting and the standard of driving was incredible.
The latest cars were all on show in there full glory, representations from Serpent, Mugen and Kyosho.
It was great to see lots of old friends and lots of new faces at trackside.
Best of all is that everybody was so friendly and helpful and the atmosphere was just electric.
This made my return to trackside into something special and gave me a great feeling of belonging.
I have decided to run my "98 Vector" for this season and try and get the best out of this superb car.
With support and backing by Elite RC Racing, it was great to be back and this made me feel so much more relaxed, knowing that support and spares were not far away.
My old racing buddies excelled themselves and also helped me out, as best they could.
I am also the sole "Vector" runner and this feels good to be in my own little club..!
Practice and Race Day..!
Saturday morning arrived along with that magical 1/8th scene.
The air was filled once again with the smell of "Nitro".
The pits was a hive of activity with drivers ready to do battle with the circuit and test out that magical setup.
After watching practice sessions for the best part of the Saturday morning, I struggled to get myself out onto the track, I was just so scared to get back out there again.
The pace of the cars was just incredible and the speed and lap times were just so much faster than I remember.
I did not know what to expect and was afraid of getting in the way of the faster paced drivers. (Which was nearly all of them...!)
My old friends soon boosted my confidence and got me out onto the track.
Running my Vector with the SX21 7 port engine and my new Lola Evo2 body, I was soon cruising the circuit once again.
What an amazing feeling of satisfaction...!
I was back again and the car felt great, the Lola body shell gave the car an amazing feel and the steering was sharper than I can remember from before.
I managed to get in 3 practice runs with my car and trying to stay out of the way of the faster drivers, provided me with a few minor accidents.
My last practice run of the day was my best and I came off the track with a great feeling of satisfaction.
During the day I found myself once again on a very fast learning curve and did my best to focus on what my car was trying to tell me.
The Saturday practice came to a close around 7pm and everybody retired to there chosen destinations, although the pits did remain active until well after 8pm.
The Halifax circuit had a very nice grip line running around its length, like a "black Serpent"
Stay on this line and it was like driving on rails..!
As usual the night time scene is a major part of racing and socialising is a big part of racing, not just competing, but having a great time.
Looking forward to race day and unable to get any sleep that night due to the excitement of the days practice, I finally managed to drift off.
Dreaming the night away with visions of cars, setups, race action and everything that had entered my brain that day. (Awesome..!)
Race Day....!
Race day was a real eye opener, with the pace from Saturdays practice it was clear that some very fast racing was on the cards.
As usual the fastest drivers were clear to see and just amazing to watch.
I completed my 3 heats and managed to qualify for the "G" final, only to bin my car in my warm up session and break my first gear in half. :-(
Missing the start of my race, while fixing my car in the pits, I managed to rejoin the race and finish in 6th place.
Watching the remaining finals was fantastic and it was great to see some very close racing.
It was also great to see some very young drivers with amazing driving skills.
The "A" final was awesome with the most amazing racing that I have seen in a long time.
Overall my return to racing was a great experience and was made even easier by the warm welcome of everybody at trackside.
I would like to thank the Halifax club for hosting a great meeting and everybody who attended for there support and friendship.
Memories and History...!
Some of you may remember when we raced F1 style bodies on our 1/8th cars..!
We used to race them on the Monday of a 3 day bank holiday meeting.
I miss those days and they looked so cool.
With the new race formats and 1 day racing, this type of racing is now just a piece of history..!
See you at trackside
FastMart
Watch out for the "98 Vector"
Middle section of the super Halifax Circuit..!
FastMarts "98 Spec" Vector...Reborn Again..!
The old Halifax Circuit 1990's
Halifax - Aerial View
1/8th Excel Formula-1 Racing...!
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