Whats on?
January/February
19th Feb - EABC - The Soccer Shed, Ballyclaire
22nd Feb - NNN Navan Winter Champs
28th Feb - UMCC Indoor Round 11 - Wellington College
NIMCC Winter Champs R9 - ECOS Centre
**MARCH***
1st March DMCC HUDY Championship - The Naul Dublin
5th March -EABC - The Soccer shed, Ballyclaire
8th March - RCNI Winter Series R3
NNN - Navan Winter Series
14th March - UMCC Indoors R12 Wellington, Belfast
- NIMCC R10, ECOS Ballymena
15th March - DMCC The Naul HUDY Champ R11
19th March - EABC - The Soccer Shed, Ballyclaire
22nd March - NNN - Navan Winter Series
28th March UMCC Indoors R13 Wellington Belfast
NIMCC R11, ECOS Ballymena
***APRIL***
1st DMCC - HUDY Champs R10 - Naul
As some are aware, I've had a little bit of a turbulent time over the past few months. A Career change didn't work out, so I've decided to dive, head first into painting. This was a bit of a long term goal, as my health has been making working in a typical 9-5 more difficult. I'm almost a month into this being my primary occupation and it's massively appreciated, the regular and long term customers who have supported me in this transition.
So far, it's been good. It's nice to have the opportunity when my body won't play ball to have a later start and work on through the evening. Obviously this wasn't possible with a real job, and made painting as an addition difficult.
I've personally noticed the quality of work improving too, as I'm less tired. Plus, lets give a nod to Paul Upton and his new "Puppy Paint" Liquid mask. It's a revelation. Also, the new Fast Finish airbrush paints from CML/Fastrax. Superb and looking forward to seeing the range grow. I'm migrating across from my stock of ProLine Paint and if anything, the Fastrax Paints are easier to use, requiring less reducing and they're MUCH better value!
I'm going to try and keep this updated as I go, especially the calandar and race blogs.
Where to start with Joey? He's taken to the new MS2.0 Touring car like a duck to water. Still a touch erratic in places, but so fast over a single lap. I've still never seen anyone as hard on tyres though. Must be great when Dad pays for them. We've started to make big progress with the car too. Simply stiffening the car has really helped. It's a big improvement over the MS1.0. That and reliability has been great. Joey is still prone to the odd big knock, so far we've only broken an aluminium turnbuckle.
With the offroad car, it's been great everywhere. For the carpet in Dublin, we've progressed away from the RO to the SO layout, with laydown gearbox etc. He's been quick again, with clubman podiums at the HUDY championship.
We've found by raising the inner rear link, the car has become much better in the faster corners with a more consistent rear end. As ever, we're having fun and learning every week!
Hope to catch you trackside soon :)
HUDY Series Ireland
DMCC 1/3/26
Joey has another HUDY trophy to add to his collection. He drove well; the Yokomo SO was pretty good all day. Thanks to Mick at MSD, we discovered that I hadn't set his ESC properly and was probably only getting 75% throttle for dear knows how long.... I'm not sure the extra power helped things, but it's unleashed an absolute monster.
I was also there. I had a good day, good fun with friends, and we're choosing not to discuss the result! The car is good, I'm just pushing too hard everywhere.
Ulster Model Car Club
Indoor, R11
Back at Wellington College for the touring cars again. Both Joeys and my MS2.0s were on point all day. Pipped to pole and the win by Adam Stewart, I came away with a strong 2nd overall. Joey showed a much more consistent day, probably the fastest car over a single lap and strong runs, just let down by the odd mistake. Qualified 3rd and finished 4th
RCNi Winter Series
15/02/2026
I was on Pitman duty for this one, focusing on what Joey was up to and helping a few others around the pitlane.
Joey and Cody reignited their friendly rivalry, exchanging positions and fastest times all day. Both young lads are pushing each other all day.
Joey came out on top this week, but the way both young lads are going, the championship looks like it'll go to the wire!
UMCC Indoor R10
14/02/26
I suspect there were a number of folk in the doghouse on the 14th. Valentines day saw us with good numbers again in Wellington College. Both Joey and myself racing our Yokomo MS2.0's in the Touring Blinky class. The track was fast and unforgiving, seeing a few breakages throughout the day. Joey got away with just a top arm rod end, and I got away unscathed.
Joey was as fast as ever, but unfortunately the few small mistakes were heavily punished. He ended up 2nd in the B final. He won this overall. Frustratingly, he easily had the pace for the A Final.
I faired a little better, lining up second on the Grid in the A Final, I struggled a little in Leg one, Adam Struggled in leg 2. We had one win a piece going into L3. Adam was straight on it, and pulled a 2 second lead, which i was then able to maintain. I just couldn't catch him, until he made a small error with a minuite to run. I was able to sneak by, and maintain this until the end, resulting in my first overall A-Final win in many years!! I Shall be retiring these tyres though! I'm glad there was no more running to be done!!
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MKGP 2026
The best indoor event in the world?
I made the trip across the pond with Andrew from modeltune.com to the MKGP. 3 days of unreal track action, featuring some of the top drivers from Europe... and Andrew.
Such an event. I'm writing this a few days afterwards, and feel like I'm still recovering. Massive congratulations to the organisers, massive kudos to the event supporters and the guys and girls racing. Thanks too, to Andy for letting me tag along. I'll be back, and hopefully racing myself next time!
It was great to catch up with some old friends, make some new ones and finally meet guys I've only known through the phone or online. I'm itching to get back on track myself now....
21/1/26 - RCNi Winter Series - Rd1
Round 1 of RCNi's inaugural winter series kicked off, Sunday Past. A Good turnout of drivers across both 10th and 8th led to lively pits and the usual friendly atmosphere you get with RCNi. Blaine was back on Race Control Duties and everything was pretty seamless. It's a nice balance or well run, yet friendly.
It was the first time the club ran it's "Pit with a Pro" scheme. Interested parties can rock up, use the club car and get looked after by one of the clubs more senior members. It was massively sucessful. So much so, that the newcomers father was able to borrow Richards spare RB10 and run as well! Hopefully we'll see both back as we think they had a great time.
8th Electric is superb around the Astro track. I can't think of a better way to sharpen skills for the upcoming season.
As for us, I let Joey run today, as i kept things rocking in the pits. He had a good day, the hastily put together RO2.0 was good all day. The more rearward biased weight was easier to deal with in the slippy conditions, although nothing was touching young Cody Smith. Considering this was his first run on our Astro, he looked like an old hand on track! Can't wait to see how he develops over the year. Third overall was Jordan Morrison, who again is just getting quicker every time I see him put a car down! The pits wouldn't be the same without the Morrison clan causing trouble!
DMCC - The Naul. 18/1/2026
The guys at DMCC went and changed the track on us. I'd made so much progress, making the car rock solid in fast corners, and carrying speed. The new layout requires a much more "square" driving car, forward traction is much more important than carrying speed, Both Joey and Myself struggled to get our heads around it and although things got better as the day went on, being on the backfoot from the start really hurt our qualifying. I was hoping to squeeze into the A Final. I Ended up being lucky to make the B!! Joey Still salvaged 2nd in Clubman through (Won By Gary Humphries also driving a Yokomo) once again showing up his old man, even with a monstrous dose of the cold.
Although results maybe weren't what we hoped for, the day was brilliant fun as usual with the DMCC crowd. We'll regroup, rethink and see everyone in 2 weeks time!
