1997 Euros Barcelona Request

[jamin]

Does anybody have scans from the 1997 Euros in Barcelona? I raced at this event (representing the UK) and although it was the worst track I have ever driven on (seriously) I have fond memories of it being my most notable acheivement in my RC racing 'career'.

[CAT3K]

Here you go, from Nov 1997 Radio Race Car.















You should add your own race memories to the thread. I'd love to read your thoughts from the event from a racers point of view

Paul.

[jamin]

That's sweet! Thanks. Yeah I will do that, I have some prints also that I could scan and add to the thread.

Oh and listed under 2wd finals - D final 10th, that's me, Ben Rayment! I qualified 6th, had radio interference in the final as someone else was on my damn frequency, so didn't start. Turned out to be a UK driver who was on the wrong frequency. I was effing mad! Craig Dreschers dad tried to intervene to get the raced delayed until it was sorted, but it didn't happen.

[mamadoesntletme]

Does anybody have scans from the 1997 Euros in Barcelona? I raced at this event (representing the UK) and although it was the worst track I have ever driven on (seriously) I have fond memories of it being my most notable acheivement in my RC racing 'career'.

he,he,at least it wasn`t wet

[jamin]

Does anybody have scans from the 1997 Euros in Barcelona? I raced at this event (representing the UK) and although it was the worst track I have ever driven on (seriously) I have fond memories of it being my most notable acheivement in my RC racing 'career'.

he,he,at least it wasn`t wet

This is true, but if it was, there wouldn't of been a bush fire half way through the event which meant we all had to move our gear to the centre of the track!

[jamin]

Here is some of my own (very rubbish as they are photos of photos) pics of this event - I was just browsing my RC pictures on my mac and found them!

The pic of my car shows how bad some of the holes were on the track. This particular one added another 'corner' to the track! That front wheel is not even touching the ground. On top of the pot holes, the surface was super slippery, you couldn't really 'race' on it, it was more of a case of 'getting round' and being very gentle with the throttle.

The last pic is at the end of 2WD qualifying where I qualified 36th - 6th in the D final, which I was very happy with indeed.

[DerbyDan]

Great scans & story...... to Qual 6th in the D final in an amazing result! This was about the time that I was doing UK nationals & 6th in the 'D' final was about my best result in that series.... something to be very proud about for sure Ben!

Real shame about the final.... thank god now for 2.4ghz!

Great showing BTW for the Schumacher cars, the Fireblade especially wasn't the most popular buggy here in the UK but Jukka certainly made it work for the Euros.

[jamin]

Cheers Dan! yeah, I was more than happy with the result, apart from that damn final of course!

To get to the euros I had to of finished in the top 20 (or maybe 25) at the previous years nationals, I think I was 22nd in 1996 overall, so jumped at the chance to go. I think I was about 12th overall at the euros if you only counted the UK drivers, so I was more than above my qualification!

As you know the UK Nationals are vrey competitive, I was always lurking around the B or C finals (and had the occasional E & F!), I did once however make an 'A' final - with my XX4 at Colchester, that was my best result ever, and I remember it being the toughest race ever too - there was a massive step in agression and skill in those A final legs, although I did deal it out myself, i recall 'shutting the door' on Jamie Booth's predator on more than one occaision - a nice feeling, although he beat me eventually! Heheee.

Did I mention that our hire car got broken into also? Luckily my gear was not in there at the time - along with our friends as we car-shared, althought our passports and some money was taken. The passports turned up at the police station 'conveniently' before we came home.

The bush fire that happened duing one race-day was another story too! I could go on......

[Lonestar]

yup... D-main at the euros is some serious stuff...

[jamin]

yup... D-main at the euros is some serious stuff...

PMSL!

Party on Paul....

[DerbyDan]

Lol @ Wayne & Garf!

I know what you mean - with regard to stepping up that level of aggression.... its something i've only ever been able to do when I raced indoors - most notably during the DMS/Silverstone winter series around the mid 90s (I used to have quite close battles with Dick Barton & even held a certain Mr Moore for a few rounds on one occation with my Mardave Cobra!!) but outdoors off road its like my best lap of the meeting was the average lap time of the top guys, even now I watch the top level racers & I just can't believe how they (what appear to be) take such liberties with ramps & obsticles & seem to get away with it - I try the same & it all goes wrong Its obviously all down to the accuracy of the driver's inputs & I just don't have that little 'extra' that the top guys have & as such drive at a smoother/slower pace to keep my car on the track & under my control.... sometimes this falls into my favour if the faster guys make too many mistakes

If my RC racing career could be likened to a full size F1 driver i'd be Gerhard Berger lol!

[jamin]

LOL! Funny man Dan!

Wow, you got a Mardave cobra going that well!? That in itself deserves a medal! hehehee.

[DerbyDan]

LOL! Funny man Dan!

Wow, you got a Mardave cobra going that well!? That in itself deserves a medal! hehehee.

The tracks we raced on indoors were pretty much flat - if there were any jump/obsticles they were pretty small by today's standards. The Cobra with Schumacher micro-spikes all round & the car 'decked', the car would stick to the track like sh*t to a blanket, but with little/no rear toe-in it would turn on a sixpence - so was great on this type of track... outdoors off-road was a different story though I actually had the Cobra as my indoor car & saved the Losi XX for outdoor racing.