108 RC

Well that's the Summer 2026 season officially over for me.

While my recovery from the third operation on my torn retina is OK at the moment, I've been advised by the Consultant to rest as much as possible for the next 4-6 weeks. So as well as no lifting, bending, stretching and exercise, no RC racing either. Even though I'm fit enough to return to work on Monday....🤷😥

Somewhat bitter sweet news, so although I'm massively pi**ed off right now and pretty down about life, prioritising recovering my eyesight needs to remain my priority.

Thank you to all who support me, and hopefully I'll get out before the end of 2026 to a track somewhere. Much love and see you all soon

Update.

Surgery on eye unsuccessful. Need to rinse and repeat. Summer season pretty much over, but I've got to remain hopeful I may be able to get to the last 2wd Regional at Tiverton in August with some help.

Does anyone want to borrow my Yokomo SO3 to race at Tiverton during July? I've got some ideas I want to test before that Regional. You'll need to come and grab the car from my house, but the offer is open to anyone

Last update on here for a while.

Off to Bristol Eye Hospital for surgery to fix a detached retina. No driving or heavy lifting for 6 weeks, so that's pretty much my outdoor race season done with.

But I will be back, hopefully stronger than ever.

Race report from BRCA South West Regional at Tiverton.

Not much to say except disappointment in my own performance. Couldn't quite get the car hooked up with enough steering all day. Drove like a novice. Qualified C2, finished 4th.

Not helped by being unable to see out of my right eye, so off to A&E this morning to sort that out.

Reflect, learn and move on

Round 4 of the Summer Series at Tiverton Radio Controlled Car Club yesterday.

Following R2 where I was not happy with either myself or the car, I sought the advice of the Yokomo team and made some subtle but important changes for this meeting.

Car felt good from Practice and two 11 in round had me lining up B3. My best qually result ever at Tiverton.

Managed to squeeze past Andy Leach at the start of the B, tried to chase down Sam Brown but he had a little too much in the tank, so settled for a comfortable 2nd. Might have caught him had I pushed a little harder in the middle of the race, but hey ho.

Thanks to the Yokomo team for the setup advice, will be back for more as I prep for the Regional in two weeks and to RC Octane & 1up Racing for the continued support

Just a footnote. Race with Respect has a meaning. If you shove someone in a pipe impatiently trying to get past, don't just drive off 😡

Somewhat surreal day at Tiverton today for the first round of the Summer Series.

I've got a bit of a love/hate relationship here. I struggle with the low grip nature of the track and have never had a car that I can say has worked really well. Not much change today!!!

I bought what I thought was a Yokomo SO2 to use as a low grip/wet car. As I was setting it up during the week, I found it was anything but, so I went with it regardless and set it up the best I could. Ok in the dry, but not enough pace to be where I wanted to be, and really struggled when the track was wet. Back end of the B was the best I could wring out of this beast today, it'll be up for sale tomorrow as it's not what I need.

Thanks to Dan and the Tiverton crew for a great track and a smooth meeting as always, definitely one of the trickiest layouts I've seen made trickier by the intermittent showers - thankfully nowhere near as bad as forecast.

Lessons learned, onwards, upwards and much to improve on next time!

No racing for me this weekend as I'm track crew and general gopher for the Modelsport Vintage Masters at Mendip RC Raceway

A meeting that's tinged with a little sadness as this will be the last ever meeting at this venue 😥

It's been a great day, dry and sunny but a biting cold wind 🌬️🌬️

Great day had by all. Roll on 4wd tomorrow!

First round of the BRCA South West Regional series at home track of Mendip RC Raceway.

First time out with the Yokomo SO3 having decided on a platform change. I wanted to try this to compare to the B7.

First round was decent with an 11. Small errors, but a good platform. Rounds 2 and 3 were awful, just poor driving on my part and too many unforced errors. With a bit of pressure on for Round 4, I drove a little conservative but enough for a 14. That would line me up B5 which I was really chuffed with.

I got lucky at the start of the B. The 3 in front got tangled just after the tabletop and left me a huge gap. Set off after Jon Wolfe, but he's just too good and I couldn't catch him. A couple of small errors, one which gifted Ollie 2nd with a lap to go and I'd end up 3rd.

I've got to thank the UK Yokomo guys for the setup help. I nailed a setup early and changed very little all day long. The car felt easy and safe to drive, I just lacked a little confidence to push it more.

Thanks to all who help and support, especially John at RC Octane and 1up

So I've done a thing and changed brands.....

I'll be open and honest, I've been struggling with the B7 platform on pretty much every surface and in all conditions. That's despite lots of help which I'm deeply grateful for from a number of people in the Associated camp. They know who they are, thank you!

I wanted to give a different platform a try. Everything is heard about Yokomo has been positive, especially about the SO series cars. So I've bitten the bullet and got myself an SO3 for starters.

I'll leave you hanging slightly for the next update.....