GT12 Nationals R3 and R4

Sorry for the lack of updates since the Euros!  Ive been working really hard over the 2 weeks to ensure my driving and car was as ready as I could so that I knew that however it went, I could not be disappointed that I didnt give it enough effort.

In total I tested and practised with various team mates at MB Models, Chesterfield and Midlands Raceway.  This gave me a good amount of track time (in my opinion the most important thing in preparation for a race) but also lots of time to help and ensure the setup would work great for everyone.

The car itself doesnt need much time to make perfect, so between each day out with the car I tend to check everything.  This includes a diff rebuild, all dampers refreshed, cleaned and checked everythings tight and set up correctly.  That whole process doesnt take more than 1 hour each time.

We were going to a track that was new to most, the highly impressive Chippenham Model Car Club hoasted these 2 rounds.  Those guys and the BRCA team put on an incredibile event and venue.

R3 - Saturday

Qualifying was super close, the track had massive raised bot dots, which punished the smallest error in driving.  

Going into the final round, I was sitting 3rd.  The car, as always felt great, but was almost too easy to drive.  This caused a driving style where I had to skim all of the dots to go fast, resulting in a few driving mistakes in R1 - 3.  I went up to a Nickel side spring (from silver) for R4.  This was a massive change, but I felt if I could hang onto it, I could drive safer racing lines and carry more corner speed.  It worked, and I took pole position by 0.5 seconds over Ollie Payne (recently crowned European champion!)

R3 A final, I went too conservative.  Because the opening laps in Q4 were so hard, with the car too aggressive on Nickel springs, I made a change to additive to make it easier.  Sadly this took away too much steering and I didnt have enough pace, Ollie piled on the pressure and eventually after about 4 minutes I clipped a dot and lost the race :(  He drove great though, fair play and well done!

R4 - Sunday

Unlike Saturday, we would be racing Clockwise.

Much like Saturday, qualifying was super close.  Hats off to Ben Vincent for holding onto it right until Q4,  I went back on the additive change from the final, and went down a rate on the side springs, to gold.  This gave back the drivability I was lacking but steering was still great this time.  I also, throughout qualifying, switched from using new tyres to using re-run tyres.  This provided a smoother to drive car, and a car that helped the hard to drive starts I was having.
I was using a vacuum pump after putting additive on the rears this time, this was to achieve rear grip for longer into the run.  Now the car was perfect all the way to the finish.

For me everything came together perfectly in Q4.  Adam also got a great run in to line up next to me on the grid :)  Crazy close times! 

I was also super happy for Arran Turner making his first National A final.  He tried really hard for that lately, and its nice to see efforts being rewarded for him too!!

R4 A final - I could have done without this brutal track where the tiniest clip of a dot would cause a huge crash.  I opened out a small gap at the start, and then drove as fast and cautious as I could to ensure no errors.  If I'm honest, I was more nervous than I've ever been in an RC race, but I just about held it together and drove without mistakes!

Adam raced hard with Ollie for the entire race, but Ollie coming out on top by 0.1second over Adam!  Hard luck for my team mate, but well done to Ollie again!

I wish I had taken a team photo this weekend.  I was so happy with everyones achievements as so many of us in Team Schumacher achieved aims or dreams with each others help.  Everyone worked so hard together..  Thank you all!!!!

I would like to go back to myself though, my own achievements.  After so many seasons of trying, I'm so proud of this win, because this win is enough to claim the 2018 GT12 BRCA National Championship!