Mardave Nationals

Well after some 33 years of racing my Mardave it was a pleasure for the BRCA to take us back under its wing and to race it again at top level the first one at Pontins hobby festival in Weston-Super-Mare Brean Sands and then again years later to race the Latest one at Ardent wow that has got to be dedication on my part spanning some years I can tell you

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Wes Raynor's Dream all this for £37.50

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Front end

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Rear end with wiper arm speed board

This was the 1/12th car that we ran in them days then there was the likes of Les Pipe - Bill Masey - Neil Francis -Nigel Hayel -Phil Greeno and Nick Adams who built one of the first Electronic ESC and all the others that I cant think of at the moment then as it got under way we had Associated - BoLink - Jerobee cars all of which were then classed as 1/12th electric and we ran super soft tyres covered in Dow corning silicone as we raced on wooden floors . .Oh my have we come a long way since then or what
Well for me to get a hold of a new Mardave car ready for this weekend I was like that little 17 year old kid again it did indeed bring back some memories as I was building it up but on with the show
Well As Saturday came it was up early and off to Ardent ready for the day and as I got closer I get a phone call from a Mate asking which way to Ardent I think I missed the turn LOL.
So we arrived at Ardent only to find we where the first there at 7:15am funny on the site it said doors open at 7:30am oh well hang around have a coffee and a natter

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James Carvell - Chris Wilkinson & Jim have a natter as we wait for Ardent to open up

Well As I and the rest all get set up I start to wonder what's what as I have not done a BRCA 12th meeting in years so I find out we normally have a practice round followed by 4 rounds and a Final. . . But I want to run me Dave its not even turned a wheel yet But as we finished booking in it was the Dave's out first only 2 heats but never the less it was well worth it I went out with standard 54pink rears and 50 fronts it was going like a dream but I had this funny twitch on the steering to which I put it down to the tyres and setting up the car after all it was its first time out but as the week end went on all will be reviled there were to be two of us with steering handling problems
So with me thinking back on what I have learnt in all the years of racing I decided to alter / check the car over and I could find nothing wrong ( I just wished I had it a week earlier to run at club and find the little problems )
So over the day I was looking at the cars and seeing what people were running and low and be hold every 1 was running the Dave in 13.5 1s Brushless mode I think Young Josh was on a G2 tho as I did not get to see his car Now for me this was a Joy as I had tried to convince all the top Dave drivers that going 13.5 Brushless and 1s was the way to go we are trying to get the ESC sorted and that not to use turbo or boost so we had a list on what to use and others saying I cant run then as I only have a Speedo that has turbo / boost . . well buy one that has not got it then simple
But alas Chris decided to let them run it as long as it was in blinky mode hmmm I thought will this really make a difference
Well I have a few ESC all of which have this boost and turbo and all of which can be turned off and my GTB2 which is 1s LiPo ready so does not need a booster and this is what I was running so for the life of me I cant remember what happened the rest of Saturday only that we were trying to set a Standard weight system as the new CE was oh so light any way we settled for 950 Grams.
with my car as I was annoyed by the car pulling to the left or right under load not taking corners . . so by the final my plastic bumper had split and I now have a chunk of plastic jammed against the front wheel so no steering LOL and that brings us to the end of Saturday but a Good win By John Plummer well done John
Sunday and again we are there early I made a GRP front bumper ready for today a bit of a rush job but it did the trick I also now had a chance to swop out my GTB2 for a speed passion and run it in Blinky mode to see if there was in fact a difference and although there did seem a little more punch it was not any faster than my GTB2 so save your money don't get a esc with boost etc just run a cheaper GTB2 right back to my car and still no Joy on the corners and at the end of the straight would it go around would it heck as like BANG straight into the barrier ahhhhh
So this was now to plague me for the rest of the day and I to felt sorry for Chris as he was still playing turtle all day yesterday and again today he was rolling on his roof so Mr Mardave was now Mr turtle even I said change to 50 fronts why the others are doing ok why not me well to be honest we all drive our cars different as I found out many years ago what works for 1 person will not work for you but would he change to a harder tyre .. . . . NOPE
Right with the steering playing up I went to swop my servo to another one only to find it was a little bigger and wont fit oh how I wish I could have a mobile workshop but decided to carry on and try a few things out the only thing we all agreed on was that the V12 CE does generate front end grip and with a normal servo mine being a Hitec 225MG I'm now convinced that it could not handle the Grip load on the front end and thus the steering was all over the place on fast flowing corners but was I 100% on this
oh yea almost forgot my old Fusion 13.5 has now got a bent shaft hence the horrible gear mesh sound so I had to get a New motor so thanks to John Plummer who had 1 left for sale . . .
Well finals time and I had a bit of a bad day and so did Chris "the turtle" Wilkinson the other guys were doing so well with there's even James my partner in crime and race buddy we swop ideas with each other and play around as James is also a long time Dave racer going back to Dave's when he raced the 1/8th I.C cars
Then James told Me that Wes was going to pop in and I could not believe it Wes was here and wow so many Memories when we were so young and how things have changed

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Chris meets Wes Raynor the Founder of Mardave


So Jame's and my self have a natter to Wes and talk about old times and catch up on what's what He is now in the development stages of R/C slot cars with out the slot ?



So we carried on talking about cars like you do and then thought we better take some pictures as I have not done any write ups for ages and im a little rusty so bear with me all

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James Carvell meets his Mentor from the past

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Thanks for helping so many kids in there youth even today many thanks Wes


So finals time and I was in 5th Place and pole sitter Karl with his old Dave and GTB2 esc was doing so well and the line up was
1st Karl
2nd Richard
3rd Tomo
4th James
5th Gazza
6th John
7th Chris
8th Chris Hardisty
9th Lee
10th Don

What a race they all performed so well and James having on off by Karl I think other wise the New car would have had a real good day out well Chris and my self still got problems and I think Chris was on about the Servo saver ( he had that one for about 3years) was on its last legs and the spring could not hold the wheels as the car and carpet where giving it so much grip it could not cope and I think that's what was going on with mine but not the servo saver but the Servo it self as I don't think it can cope with the Load on it and I possibly only got away with it due to me running 50 fronts So time to do some club testing me thinks and as I have had 2 good days I have to now pay the price of resting my back so No Ardent to day ( Tuesday ) but might try for Friday

Nice to see the young ones Back into the sport and what a way to help them into it than to run a Mardave

The B Fianlists

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Well done to you guys Ill get there names next time unless some one can send or post on here

And the A finalists
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James Carvell

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Tomo

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Karl

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OK here's Looking forward to Hereford

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Till next time Race Fans
Gazza

to help out any Mardave Racers

Is this any good . . . please feel free add and reload till we have a good one

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so here is the blank one

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Well i have just sat and read it makes for brilliant reading Gazza i know i had just missed Wez by 5 mins well gutted about that great mardave set up sheets mate.

Really great to meet up with Wes Raynor (The original Mr Mardave + the Designer of the V12) again, 40 years after I first raced his 1/8 nitro circuit cars. Had a good long chat about the 'good old days'.

Had a fantastically enjoyable weekends racing despite my mixed results.

Many thanks to Wes for the original V12 and attending this National, To Chris Wilkinson for taking the V12 to a new level and getting the BRCA to give the Dave the opportunity it deserves, To all at Ardent for their time given to scrutineering, food etc, To Wim of Action Model Center for parts backup and to the BRCA officials for their smooth running of the event, the 12th section in particular for allowing the Daves as a support class.

I think all the Dave racers put on a fantastic display and hope the BRCA feel the same.

+1 on that James

Well said James +1

uop101 wrote:I think all the Dave racers put on a fantastic display and hope the BRCA feel the same.

I thought they looked really good on track. Great to see Ishy racing...I knew it was his car when I saw the colour scheme And Wilko too who used to race BTCC with me years ago

With more time I'd seriously have considered getting a car ready rather than racing 12th. Unfortunately the rest of the 12th Nats are a long way from home this year. If not I'd be getting a Mardave to join in the fun.

Nice one Markb i think the Mardave class will grow and grow i just love racing mine it took a long time for me to make the change. But its been one of the best things i have done going to Mardave so cheap to run parts cheap as chips, and with the way the guys are developing the car it can only get better and better,

I would just love a vision into the future of Mardave in the next 10 years at the rate it has come on leaps and bounds. Many drivers turn their noses up at this little 12th car and i was one of them but i can see a lot more each time joining the class.

[quote="Gazza"]to help out any Mardave Racers

Is this any good . . . please feel free add and reload till we have a good one

Damper Tube option for the new CE car need's adding

Nice one Glen thanks