Ashby Scale Rubber 18th September 2005

Sunday the 18^th September saw the Scale Rubber Series arrive at Ashby Woulds Model Car Club for what will probably be the last National for our Section on the present Ashby Circuit.  There are plans to redevelop the track over the 2005/6 winter.

Ashby has been a favourite of mine since I first raced electric tourers during the winter series many years ago, with a Tamiya TA02 if my memory serves me correctly.  At that time the circuit blew me away, as it was the first model car track I raced on with any sort of elevation change, not to mention the huge, banked, ‘Parabolica’ corner. 

Over recent years the track has suffered rather more than it's fare share of bumps and cracks, and car set-up for the track has become a bit of a compromise.  The grip is still good, but the extra ride height enforced by the bumps compromises the chassis' ability to change direction.  The regulars at Ashby have learnt the correct combination of ride height and shock spring/damper rates to get the best from it, but the rest of us just have to learn to drive around the worst of the problems.  Let's hope the new developments will improve the track without erasing the essential nature of Ashby.

The main straight runs uphill at an angle from the Race Control building (to the driver's left), into the banked turn to your right at the opposite end of the track.  The above picture makes it seem curved, this is just the distortion caused by the 'panoramic' stretch.  The 'straight' is heavily cambered, with a few cracks and ruts, and so the car needs help to maintain the right line as you approach the Parabolica.  For me it's an early lift, then a quick dab on the brakes to settle the car before you hit the big bump on the way into the banking.

	On the banking it's all a matter of balancing throttle and steering input to try and find the quick line through, while letting the car run onto the right exit line. If I get it right half of the time I'm happy, it amazes me the way the top driver's do it lap after lap.  The banking flattens out into a tight right-hander that starts the following right left chicane. Get the sweeper right and take a wide entry into the chicane and it's fine, otherwise it's a lot of lock to lock steering and all too easy to hit the second apex or run wide onto the grass, or even worse the main straight! The mini straight after the chicane runs parallel, and very close, to the main straight into a left right flick as the car runs uphill towards the rostrum into a fast 90° right and then along under the driver's feet across the “39 steps” before turning right again to run down “the mountain” into a left that leads into the "Cascade's", a big left, right, left combination leading into the Pits turn.  This has a slightly uphill exit back onto the main straight as you cross the loop to start another lap.
The Parabolica
The Nitro Scale Tourers really open out down the straight, and really attack the uphill sections, but can feel a bit cumbersome on the tight and twisty sections.  A quick lap is a matter of rhythm and careful lines, as much as outright aggression.  Maybe that's why I enjoy the track, even if I don't do very well!   Saturday the 17th was Practise Day.  About 25 drivers were there when Nigel P and I arrived at about 2 in the afternoon.  Apparently the track had been flooded in sunshine earlier in the day, but was now overcast and cloudy, though warm and dry.  The abrasive Ashby track meant that 32 or 36 grade tyres were mostly favoured, with Sorex seemingly outnumbering Take-Off nowadays.  I found Sorex 32's a bit loose and squirrelly for the first 3 laps or, but once they warmed it was easy to get the car balanced and they didn't show excessive wear rates. As we were in Moira, we had a visit from Uncle Bob Harley, giving a helping hand in the pits.
	The Cascades
Bob Harley, watches intently from the Pit Lane	Jason takes the Race Control Turn
All the usual suspects were there on Saturday, championship leader Paul Knapton looking smooth and fast as ever, with Simon Wood and Peter Craig looking strong too.  David Hall, making a welcome return to the Scale Rubber Series had also been looking good earlier in the day. Young Joe Kerry, arriving at Ashby as leader of the Clubman's Championship, had a new Pit crew.  Father Ian was obviously away on business, and Mum had brought Joe and his younger brother.  Squeezing all the racing kit into a Citroen C2 was bit of a miracle.  We reckoned his younger brother must have been sat on the Pit Box! By 6:00 pm the light was fading, but still good enough for practise, but everyone had had enough, and apart from a few engines being tweaked in the pits, all was quiet.  I was unable to bring my Caravan to this meeting, so we packed up and headed off to 'The Cedars' guesthouse for the night, leaving the campers to enjoy the first really cold night of the summer.
	Steve Woodhams looks for the tight line coming down  the 'Mountain'
Joe Kerry heading through the Cascade's	Simon Woods (Yellow Body) threads his way through the traffic in the Cascades

Sunday dawned bright, but cool and overcast, just like late Saturday afternoon.  It looked like the cloud was going to burn off a couple of times during the day, but any sun was short lived and the weather hardly changed all day.  The temperature did start to fall as the finals drew to an end, but the track seemed to be pretty consistent all day.

Driver's briefing was at 9:30, where we heard about the planned changes to the track, and Section Vice-Chairman Mark Christopher asked for proposals for the AGM in October.  If you have any, send them by e-mail or post to the Section Secretary, Craig Jeacock, as soon as possible.  His contact details are in the BRCA handbook.  For a proposal to be put to the AGM you must provide a seconder, and be present at the AGM.

Round One

Round one was underway just after 10, and when it was over it was Simon Wood who topped the sheet, with 19 laps in 312.71 with Paul Knapton just behind on 315.36 seconds..  Paul was leading the Championship coming into this meeting, with Simon second.  If Simon could take FTD and the win here and at the last round at Mendip, he could tie as long as Paul fails to improve on a fourth place from earlier in the season.  That's quite a big ask, but Simon was making a good start.

The rest of the top 9 were on 18 laps, with Sara Woodhams giving her Dad a shock in 8th, just ahead of Michael Humphries in 9th and Lee Chapman heading the 17 lappers in 10th place.

The top 10:

Round 2

Following on from Round 1 we find ourselves in Round 2!  The Sun put in an appearance as we reached the end of this round, and then faded just when we were reaching for the tyre boxes!  Joe Keaveny stopped messing around in this round and got himself back in the top 10 with an 18 lap run in 304.33, and Richard Spencer and Ed Crump also made the top 10.  Sara Woodhams had improved by less than a second, not enough to keep her in the top ten, as she slid to 12th at this stage.

At the sharp end Paul Knapton improved my a second and a half, but still not enough to take top slot, even though Simon had failed to improve.

The top 10:

Round 3

Jason Fox was the big winner in the top 10 in this round, recording an 18/304.48 to take 5th, and Peter Craig must have done something right as he moved his R12 from 21st after Round 2 to 6th overall with an 18/305.56.  Still no change at the sharp end, Simon unable to improve on his round 1 time.

The top 10:

Round 4

The big guns were going for it.  Bruce Thompson improved to squeeze into tenth, Keith Robertson moved up to 4th and Richard Spencer was the unlucky one who was bumped out of the 'A' final down to pole in the 'B'.

Simon Rounds the Pit Turn	Bruce starts another Lap
Joe Keaveny keeps it tight	Paul Knapton laps Bruce through the infield

Just two 19 lap runs on the day then,  Simon and Paul were seemingly in a class of their own, but less than 6 seconds covered the next 6 drivers.  This was going to be a close one!

The final top 10:

The final FTD list can be seen here:

The Finals:

The trophy winners were:

E Final

D Final

C Final

B Final

A' Final

I was marshalling the B Final so that Steve W could pit for daughter Sara, so I was fetching my camera and missed the start of the A.  Early in the race pole man Simon Woods missed the loop when he ran on the grass, so effectively lost a lap.  This put Champion elect Paul Knapton in the lead, with David Hall and the chasing pack slowly dropping back.  Peter Craig was an early retirement with his R12, as Simon got his Team Magic G4 wound up for the chase.  What a chase!  Simon steadily closed the gap by a couple of tenths every lap as the 30 minute final ran down and Paul Knapton, who could never quite match Simon's lap times, looked to be feeling the pressure.  With 6 minutes to go both drivers pitted within a couple of laps of each other for what we assumed was their final fuel stops, with Simon now back on the lead lap, but only just ahead of Paul on the road.

Then, with Simon closing by a second back every couple of laps, Jo (Paul's partner and 'Pit Person') called Paul in for a final 'splash and go' with 2 minutes to go.  As he re-joined the track Simon was just a few seconds behind and a couple of small mistakes from Paul put Simon right on his back bumper.  The seemingly inevitable clash never happened, Paul missed his line through the sweeper and Simon was through.  Even a small mistake from Simon was not enough to let Paul back in, well done to Simon, FTD and the win, fastest in qualifying and fastest in the final, effectively covering a lap more than the rest, the clear master of Ashby in 2005.

Paul clearly settled for second, and the 99 points that ensured he could not be caught for the 2005 Scale Rubber Championship.  Oh and after the A Final Paul had a good quarter of a tank left in his Serpent 715.  The minor Championship positions are still up for grabs, as is the Clubman's championship, so lets hope the late Indian summer lasts until Mendip in the middle of October!

The final positions:

In 2004 Paul Knapton came 5th in the 'A' with a time of 104 laps in 1811.15, just 2.01 seconds faster than 2005!  How's that for consistency!

The Top 3