Sedgemoor MBC Fast Electric test/race day – 22nd February 2009

Report by Mark Shipman & Russ Chilcott

Photos by Adam Truscott & Phil Jenkins

This pre-season gathering is fast becoming a favourite with the SWAMBC Fast Electric members. We were lucky once again to be blessed with pretty much perfect weather with a south-west breeze keeping the lake clear of the odd debris found at many public parks nowadays!

The meeting is mainly a get-together to try out our winter building projects, hence only 2 races for each class (3 for R2R) were run, with the best score (2 for R2R) to count for places on the day. No championship points up for grabs, so no entry fees, but prizes were donated by Bill Hickman and Russ Chilcott.

We had made many rule changes at our AGM last October, effecting 4 of the 6 classes. Formula 3 and R2R did remain totally unchanged, but Formula 4 had a complete overhaul, out went the old “faithful” 700BB motor, replaced with a brushless Mega 22/30/2 and the tired 3800mAh NiMH cells are now replaced with 5000mAh 4S1P Lipo’s. F2, Hydro 1 and Mono 1 are all now allowed to use either Lipos or A123’s cells. Despite so many changes in a relativity short time, it was good to have 35 boats listed to race at this meeting. There are a few showing no scores or DNS (did not start) as they were just test running their boats between the races. In fact, we had nearer to 40 boats in total as few more with the glue still drying appeared during the day!

After a quick skipper briefing including a reminder of the new F2 and F3 starting system (more on that later!) racing got underway by 10.40am.

R2R

Mark Shipman had brought along his dad’s old Shockwave boat, left it at the control point for anyone who wanted it. Adam Truscott a junior member, who had come along under the wing of Adrian Hingston just to watch the days racing, suddenly found he was the lucky beneficiary of a very nice R2R boat. With the loan of transmitter, receiver, cells etc from the Torbay members, Adrian put it together, attached a number plate and got the boat ready so Adam was out racing by the afternoon! This pretty much sums up the attitude of the current SWAMBC FE Racers, when everyone is more than happy to help out if they can.

Including Adam there were 8 boats entered to race, all were put together in one heat. The 2008 series runner-up Mark Sutton set the early pace, but surprisingly his lap score was equalled by a “rookie” Miss Rebecca Taylor a junior member racing in her first ever meeting! John Emms (another rookie racing in his first meeting), Nigel Taylor (father of Rebecca) and Alex James (yet another junior member) were just a few laps behind. John soon got into the grove driving his “Blue Whake” like an old pro and had two good results in the afternoon’s races but could not quite catch Mark’s overall score. Mark won the class on the day with a score of 25 laps and 30 seconds, beating John (26L, 63s) by just 27 seconds. By coincidence 3rd and 4th places were also separated by just 27 seconds, with Nigel just ahead of his daughter Rebecca – PHEW!

Though Adam was placed 8th on the day, he only finished the last race and was 3rd in that one! Looks like another FE Champion in the making.

Formula 2

This was the best entered class on the day with 10 boats which were split into 2 heats. From the very first race and with just a few boats on the water the new starting system had its problems. The new system required boats to “gather” on the water to the left side of the bottom left buoy and then from a standing start race to the bottom right buoy and up and around the usual M course. This all sounded fine when agreed around the table at the AGM last October, but even in a light breeze many found themselves struggling to hold their position, some ended up facing the wrong way and some even managed to run into the left bank before the race had even started! By race 2 the Race Officer was getting the boats to start from the bank, but instead of racing to the top right buoy were you had to do a complete 180 degree turn (which was the reason for changing the start system in the first place) the boats went to the right side of the middle buoy turning slightly before heading to the top left buoy and then around the M. This proved to be a much better starting system and was soon adopted for the remaining F3 class races.

Back to the racing itself – whether it was due to the starting system the stronger breeze in the afternoon or the sun glinting off the water where the top right buoy was, 8 out of the 10 boats set their best scores in their morning race. Roger Clark clocked the winning score with an impressive 17L, 24s, with his large winged ECO Nova, Graham Fright was second (16L, 1s) still using NiMH’s in his Graupner ECO Power, he was just ahead of 3rd place James Bond (16L, 28s) with his H&M Zip Wizard and in 4th Mark Shipman (16L, 43s) racing a ToySport Joker. Though Mark’s boat was clocked at 31mph, compared to Rogers 28mph, it didn’t handle at all well, as they say “it’s not always the fastest boat that wins”.

Formula 3

Another good entry with 8 boats, all were raced together in one heat. Just like F2 almost all the best lap scores came from the morning race, though many had problems and couldn’t race in the days 2nd race. The current F3 Champion Roger Clark showed why he’s got the number 1 race plate on his ECO Power hull as he won the day with a score of 13L, 14s. 2nd placed just 7 seconds behind was Alex J (13L, 21s) racing a GTM Falcon and another good result for the host club Secretary Graham Fright (13L, 1s) in 3rd spot with his other ECO Power.

Formula 4

Just 5 boats entered on the score sheet with one only “testing” so the field was down to 4 boats. But on a positive note, there are many still on their building blocks and at least two others were out test running later in the day - both looking very quick.

Adrian H from the Stithans MBC had made the long journey all the way up from Cornwall. His Sycron was going beautifully from the start and he was just able to hold of Phil Jenkins “Head of the River 32in Cat”, Mark Shipman’s “H&M NoStep II” and Aran Bonds “Shovel nose” boats, all of whom were pretty well matched at least for pure speed. But as the long 7 minute race continued Adrian drove a tidy line, avoiding the odd swan and the occasional dead boat which was usually right on the racing line! He won the day and with two identical race scores of 28 laps and 6 seconds, even though his flexi was screwed up into a little ball at the end of the first race. Only one race counting at this meeting, but a total score of 56L, 12s (usually best 2 from 3) might prove to be hard to beat at a full race meeting this year! In 2nd place was Phil (22L, 13s) but his score was spoiled by twice flipping over well before the race finished. The same was true for both 3rd place Mark (20L, 2s many flips and another damaged flexi) and 4th Aran (14L, 0s) who also suffered from not having a self-righting hull.

Hydro 1

The new rule allowing the use of the higher voltage A123 or much lighter LiPo cells was very noticeable for these little pocket rockets, which were easily the fastest boats on the lake during the day! One of the fastest (maybe the fastest) was Roger’s little pink hull, originally designed and built by Chris Osman. It rounded the large oval course at a breath taking speed but on his 5th lap a sudden loss of control caused it to run into the bank/reeds at full speed (water had entered the radio gear). Though the Lipos are lighter they still managed to move some distance forward through the fuselage splitting it open top and bottom. Amazingly he managed to bandage it together with plenty of installation tape and it was out racing again. Phil J was top placed on the day but with just 13 laps, 28secs it wasn’t a particularly great score, but enough to win. Bill was 2nd on 6 laps and Roger limped in 3rd on 5 laps.

This class will have another tough day getting a decent lap score around the much smaller lake at Exeter for round 1 next month. But they should really be able to show off their top speed when we race at Yeovil MBC large expanse of water at Sutton Bingham Reservoir.

Mono 1

Yet another class with 8 entries on the day, like F4 many more are expected to appear once the championship series starts. The much lighter Lipos and A123 LiFe cells do have their draw back especially in this class as most just rely on a flood chamber to self-right. Quite a few spent sometime capsized as the wind was just strong enough to prevent the flood chamber from filling properly. This was fairly costly especially for Mark S, his Zardoz Max was on the pace but spent far too much time up-side-down. Chris Locke racing a “Razz Fazz” 2 step mono was the only one to score more than 20 laps on the day. He easily won with a score of 22L, 0s. James Bond racing his reduced freeboard “Dragstar” was 2nd on 18L, 31s, with Keith Hickman 3rd on 16L, 15s with his Zardoz/Gozilla hybrid hull.

In summary…

We were very lucky with the very good weather, just a few weeks earlier the lake had been frozen completely over! The time of year also meant the sun was very low and reflections off the water did cause a bit of a “blind spot” at times, but the main problem was the constant battle to get the course clear of swans. A dominate male swan would chase other swans away scattering them across the lake almost as soon as we had go them into one place. Thankfully all the drivers used their throttle sticks and we managed to “share” the lake with our feathered friends without any incidents.

Quite a few were just testing their boats and some out on the water for the very first time, so the results may be different when the 2009 series kicks off in earnest on 19th April at Exeter. It’s then the lap scores and finishing places really matter and are converted into Championship points.

Once the prizes were given out, we had a quick show of hands and unanimously agreed to change to F2 and F3 start system to what we had tried successfully earlier in the day. No fuss, no bother – if it’s clearly wrong, fix it, and get on with the racing!

While a few were unable to make this meeting, those that did attend all seemed to go away with a big smile on their face and we left no boats at the bottom of the lake!

It all looks pretty good for the coming series with a new class, new rules, new FE Racers and even a new racing venue when we go to Millbrook Lake, Plymouth for the first time this year.

A special thanks to the Sedgemoor MBC and their members for hosting this meeting.

Roll on 19th April.

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