Great RC8
Sandy Nitro Model Car Club played host to the first round of the BRCA rallycross series this weekend and the race saw some great results for the CML team.
Neil Cragg was debuting the new Associated RC8 in a nearly production form ahead of its release in the summer. Dave Crompton was confident with the Team Magic M1-B and the always strong HoBao Hyper 8 team were all expecting good results.
Round 1 of qualifying saw Graham Alsop take 2nd in the round with Dave Crompton 3rd. Neil made a steady start with 7th although he did set the fastest lap. Round 2 saw Dave Crompton at the top of the time sheets with Graham Alsop taking 2nd once again. Neil was making more progress as he was getting used to the new car and he took 3rd in round. The third and final round saw an outstanding drive from Neil Cragg who really showed what the RC8 is capable of by setting the fastest time of the meeting by 6 seconds. Neils fastest lap was 7/10th of a seconds faster than anybody else could manage. This gave Neil the overall TQ, with Dave Crompton 2nd and Graham Alsop 3rd, which completed a clean sweep of the top three places for CML cars. Also making the top 10 were John Holmes (5th) and Steve 'old dog' Haynes (10th) with their HoBao cars.
The main final was extremely close for the first 15 mins with Neil, Dave, Karl Jackson and Jon Hazelwood, swapping places regularly. Graham Alsop was also trying to drag himself back into contention after a terrible start. After 20 mins Dave and Jon started to drop away which left Karl leading Neil by about 5 seconds. Just leading up to the final pit stop Neil put in some very fast laps to get right on the tail of Karl as he pitted. Karl pitted the lap after but Neil's pace saw him Karl come out behind him. Over the next 5 mins Neil put the hammer down to really draw away from Karl and give himself a comfortable win. Graham's comeback drive saw him come back to 3rd with Jon 4th and Dave 5th.
So on its UK debut, the new RC8 has clearly shown its potential. The opposition better beware!
All images courtesy of Radio Control Car Racer. www.rcracer.com
Round 1 of qualifying saw Graham Alsop take 2nd in the round with Dave Crompton 3rd. Neil made a steady start with 7th although he did set the fastest lap. Round 2 saw Dave Crompton at the top of the time sheets with Graham Alsop taking 2nd once again. Neil was making more progress as he was getting used to the new car and he took 3rd in round. The third and final round saw an outstanding drive from Neil Cragg who really showed what the RC8 is capable of by setting the fastest time of the meeting by 6 seconds. Neils fastest lap was 7/10th of a seconds faster than anybody else could manage. This gave Neil the overall TQ, with Dave Crompton 2nd and Graham Alsop 3rd, which completed a clean sweep of the top three places for CML cars. Also making the top 10 were John Holmes (5th) and Steve 'old dog' Haynes (10th) with their HoBao cars.
The main final was extremely close for the first 15 mins with Neil, Dave, Karl Jackson and Jon Hazelwood, swapping places regularly. Graham Alsop was also trying to drag himself back into contention after a terrible start. After 20 mins Dave and Jon started to drop away which left Karl leading Neil by about 5 seconds. Just leading up to the final pit stop Neil put in some very fast laps to get right on the tail of Karl as he pitted. Karl pitted the lap after but Neil's pace saw him Karl come out behind him. Over the next 5 mins Neil put the hammer down to really draw away from Karl and give himself a comfortable win. Graham's comeback drive saw him come back to 3rd with Jon 4th and Dave 5th.
So on its UK debut, the new RC8 has clearly shown its potential. The opposition better beware!
All images courtesy of Radio Control Car Racer. www.rcracer.com
