Adur Model Car Club

On an ice cold morning, 39 people turned up for the 2009 Ivan Mitchel Charity cup meeting, this year in aid of the Royal Marsden hospital.
The track was covered in half an inch of frost, the door to race control was iced up, and needed Ian Billet's BIG BOOT to open it, and once we started to connect up the equipment, it became clear that the printer was not a friend of the cold.

With many willing helping hands, the track was soon swept clear of ice, and the printer persuaded to work.

Booking in resulted in drivers competing in a number of classes, some of which had to be merged together because of the wide array of cars people wanted to drive.

As this is an inter-club challenge, drivers needed to say which club they were driving for. This year only two clubs had representation. 16 drivers nominated Horsham as their club and there were 23 drivers racing for Adur.

A big table by race control was soon heaving with raffle prizes as the sponsors of the event unloaded their goodies. A big thank you to RC-Comet and RC-Direct for their generosity. Also to Kleaners.com for providing the trophies for the event.

The racing got under way at around 11:00 after everyone was booked in and the track had warmed a bit in the watery winter sunlight. Yes, the sun did come out for a few hours to cheer the spirits, although the ambient temperature remained cold.

The early pace-setter in the stock class was Mete Faks, with his new Tekin redline 17.5 setup showing a clean pair of heels to the rest of the field. The rest of the field was largely made up of Ready to Run class cars and a single pan car, so this was not so much of a surprise.
Nick Herridge and Hedley James put up some brave resistance in round two with their Ready to Run class cars, but were still 3 laps adrift of Mete.
Having entered the class late in round 3, Ian Billett started the final driving a Cyclone-S kitted out with the popular EZrun ESC and motor.
A fascinating race ensued, with Mete pulling away down the straight, and Ian making up ground through the infield. The greater punch of Ians car was enough to take the win by 5 seconds when the flag dropped.

In the 10th IC class, Dan Ghibaldan was unbeatable. Taking qualifying wins from Jason Hurley, Luke Longley, and Mark Brown in turn throughout the heats, he extended his dominance into a closely fought final, where he beat runner up, Nick Glibert by 10 seconds.
In the IC Ready to Run class, Chris McLeavery showed his class, and the fact that he had a faster car, by showing a similar dominance. Ray Hinkins managed to finish in front of the pack on Heat 2, but in the final, normal service was resumed with Chris taking the win from Ray.
Carl Osborne had a good first qualifier, but then struggled with his car for the rest of the day, and Simon Clarke, in his first time out with an IC car, never really got going all day.

The Pecking order in 1/8th circuit has been settled for some time. Greg Fairley mastering the track throughout last summer, with Ian Billett leading the pack of drivers trying to catch up.
So it was something of a surprise that Dan Ghibaldan, in his first drive with an 8th IC circuit car, showed the same dominance as he had in 10th IC touring.
Leading from start to finish, and taking wins in the final and all qualifying heats, Dan showed a clean pair of heels to the entire field.
The 19 laps achieved in round 3 was the fasted time of the day by 2 clear laps, form the second fastest car, which was, Dan in his 10th IC touring.
If he carries this form into the summer rounds, we may as well pre-engrave the trophies now!

In the mini class, much was expected of club chairman Ray Briddock. With Mete Faks and Jody Symons not driving the class, Ray was the clear favourite for the win.
Its a funny old game though, racing, and Ray suffered from handling problems all day, comically spinning off on nearly every corner. Each round was the same, and no matter what tyre combination tried, the result was the same. This left the field clear for a new challenger to emerge, and Steve Green obliged, qualifying well, and wining the final by 11 seconds.
A special mention though to Rian Hendy, driving the ex-Potter works mini for the first time, and not having driven for nearly 12 months, Rian gave Steve a hard time in the Final, and was unlucky in the end to finish second.
Robbie Scott showed the grit and determination we have come to expect from him, to emerge a good third overall, even though he put the wrong transponder in for the final.
Robbie has added some consistency to his drive, now he just needs to up the game a little on his concentration so he can attack the corners on the same line every lap.

As expected, the superstock class was the most popular of the day with 12 drivers from Adur and Horsham.
The 13.5 brushless motors powering this class are now as fast as a modified motor of around 5 years ago, and the power, and slipperiness of the cold track caught many people out.
The Adur drivers were perhaps anticipating home advantage through track knowledge, but were disabused of that notion when Chris Moore led the qualifying adter round on with a 12 lapper.
Robert Moore took over pole position after rounds two and 3 with a couple of solid 15 lappers, Tristan James qualifying in Grid position 2, and Chris Moore in three for the final.
The highest placed Adur qualifier was Steve Green, in fourth on the grid, with Mick Hendy, perhaps the bookies favourite, nowhere to be seen.
(Skulking off down in the B final somewhere...)
Robert, Chris and Tristan held onto those top three places in the final with Chris outdriving Tristan to take 2nd, relegating Adur's Steve Green to fourth place.

In the end, we raised £465 for the Royal Marsden, from Race Fees, donations of cash and racing equipment, and the Raffle.
Some on the day preferred to donate to our chosen charity of the past 3 years, St Barnabus Hospice.
Along with their donations the club has chosen to donate the entire years camping fees, resulting in a total 2009 donation of £235.
Adur Model Car clubs total charitable giving for 2009 totals a round £700. All of this money comes from you, the racer, and I am proud that in times of austerity such as these, we can maintain, and even increase our contributions to those less fortunate.
Thank you all for continuing to support the Ivan Mitchell trophy at our annual Christmas inter club challenge.

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Oh, and who won?
After toting up all the points as below, Adur retain the trophy for another year.

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