I’ve had a hectic day or 2 since the event finished – sorry if you have been waiting for this!

The final result for Team Tornado was 496.2 km – just short of our 500km target, just short of last years winning total of 515km and well short of this years winning total of 548.3km, in fact we only made it home in 4th place thanks to cracking efforts from all the teams.

As I alluded to in my previous update, the pace at the start was good, easily enough to take the British record – probably 5 out of the 6 teams could have passed it! Unfortunately the wind didn’t hold up for the full 24 hours, there were some dead times around dusk and dawn, the dawn came with fog (traditional no wind fog) which cleared briefly and then returned, finally clearing with only about 45 minutes to go.

As a racer I need to make technical racing driver excuses for my own performance – I was out-gunned in the early stages both by my team mates and the opposition, and the excuse is this:
Chris’ buggy is probably set up fine for him (although he did point out that he needs some new tyres), unfortunately for the way I fly my tow point was too far back so the back end was sliding out much of the time. Of course I was able to control it, but continuously counter-steering and fishtailing affects your speed. Also I could do with a bigger tank so I don’t need to stop and empty so often.

Anyway, enough excuses – all the teams did really well, the event was too close to call all the way through which was great. Much better than one team going well clear early on, where’s the suspense in that?

Now for some photos, I’m assuming the ones of me at jaunty angles are a deliberate arty approach from Lewis:

You can find larger versions by clicking on each photo but anyone wants a full size copy of any photo drop me a line (jim-at-domain), I have them all at full size (3872×2592).

Photos copyright of Lewis Reeves and Jim Wallis

Just realised that although the app can’t access the server I can still get on by browser!

The event started with plenty of promise, I went first on my 15.4 followed by the 12.2, followed by the 9.7. Managed nearly 59 km in 2 hours. Lewis and Chis each managed sessions of around 65 – 70 km (2 hour). After that – I was back on the 15.4 and the wind has been up and down ever since. Lewis and Chris have managed with 10 or 12m kites most of the time (except the evening) but Chris has been becalmed twice and myself once. The average speed has dropped considerably, some teams may beat last years distance of 515km but the British record looks to be safe for another year.

Just over an hour left and only one spot has any wind, down by the Dee estuary at the limit of ‘bounds’.

Conditions have been quite overcast so not many photos, will probably post a few of the better ones up later or tomorrow.

Ok, I’ve beaten the train system again!

Managed to change to earlier trains at Hyndland and Glasgow Central, picked up the intended train from Preston (instead of Wigan) and then got the to platform for the wirral line just as a West Kirby train pulled up so arrived 20 minutes early – Hooray!

Everything is looking good here, a few people about already, jsut having a beer with Sandrash before working out the plan for the evening.

Lots of buggies and kites about, can’t wait for tomorrow!

Seem to be having trouble uploading from my phone so the updates might not go as well as promised

Well, the bags are packed ready for the 24 hour.

My kite bag is massively heavy, I’ve already redistributed stuff into my big black holdall, but looking at the forecast I think I might gamble on ditching some kites!

The pressure charts are quite complex just now, but the indication is for no significant weather for a few days. That means the wind is going to be light. Some fronts might bring damp spells but I don’t expect anything too bad.

The wind direction is looking like NW or WNW – pretty much directly onshore for Hoylake which means long reaches will be possible (hooray!). It also means that if the wind is light and coming from the sea, then any sea breeze that develops (convective wind due to the land warming up) will be added on to it – perfect conditions!

Tactically wind directly onshore is perfect. Hoylake is so big that we can get reasonable reaches in any wind direction, but to go as far as possible means maximising the time moving at high speed and minimising the time slowed down to turn. With Onshore winds, as long as there isn’t too much moon country (rough terrain is too slow) we should be able to get onto a good reach for a couple of miles at a time – literally find the fastest course and hold it for 5 minutes before turning.

That reminds me of another thing – it is very useful to scout out different areas of the bank in advance to see if the going is fast or slow, wet or dry. We won’t be able to do the whole bank before the start, but we are allowed to practise when we aren’t carrying the GPS’s, so one or other of us should use the time to explore the nether regions where the beach usually turns to big craters – if there is a good route through it’s worth knowing about, likewise if it’s way too slow it’s better not to do the research whilst trying to build up the scoring distance!

On the update front, I’ve worked out how to upload photos from the phone, and I’ve popped a micro SD card in my DSLR so hopefully we can make good updates during the event!

Hoylake 24 Hour Challenge
The Hoylake 24 hour challenge is on the 5th and 6th of June this year. The idea is simple, teams of 3 buggy pilots buggy in relay for 24 hours as continuously as possible (wind and permitting) to see how far they can clock up by GPS. This makes it an excellent opportunity to raise some money for charity – we have chosen to support the RNLI once more

The international federation (FISLY) have a set of rules for the 24 hour distance record which will be followed meaning there are 3 potential goals for participants:

• Beat all the other teams on the day
• Beat any personal bests from previous events
• Try to snatch the world record back from the German Parakart Association

This last goal is the most challenging since the German team managed a whopping 1050km in 2008!

Even my personal best is going to be a fair challenge – the team I was in last year were all experienced racers and won with 515km. My team-mates for this year are both racers although much more recent converts, they will probably be in better shape than me though because I haven’t made it to many events since last years Euros. Last year’s distance was set with very light winds, and an hour or so of dead calm around sunset – I am certain that with more wind we will be able to beat 515km, but since the event has to be scheduled around tides we have to take whatever wind is available.

Preparations are going well so far, unfortunately Scotland and Ireland are battling it out in the second round of the Celtic Challenge on the same weekend so I will be heading to Hoylake on my own, which since I am still a fair way from gaining a driving license means I’ll be on the train with about 50 kilos of baggage. This is OK, my team-mates have the same kind of buggy as me (well sort of – different ages/version) so I don’t need to try and take it (58.5 kilos according to the Euro’s weigh in at Gravelines in 2008 – max is 60kg). Apart from getting to the station at this end it’s not as bad as it sounds – changing at Partick and Wigan NW I don’t even have to change platform, Glasgow Central and Liverpool Lime street are a bit more challenging because I have to change levels between local and main lines but the routes are quite simple. Upon arrival at Hoylake the clubhouse is less than 10 minutes walk from the station – this isn’t the first time I’ve been down there by train!

I should be able to add posts during the event to report progress, so don’t forget to check back at the weekend.

Anyway, for now enjoy some photos from previous events: