Claydon House 2011

After a year away in Seattle I was hungry for some hovercraft action, so i spent a few weeks going over the orange craft and trying to sort out some of its issues.I had to lathe up some new internals for the carbon lift gearbox and try and address the skirt problems. Also the steering system cables were re-routed to work better.

After a week of fiddling assisted by my Amexican buddy Hilario, i gave the craft a short test run and it felt like i had improved the skirt slightly, although the real test was the first drop onto the water at the race…

I got some laps in practice and managed the jump onto the water without ploughing about half of the time, basicly there were still problems with the skirt, but i’d paid my entry and was looking forward to the races.

My first race was pretty fun having got from the back into the front group on the grid on the run upto the trees but i was going easy just getting back into it again. I ploughed quite hard most times i entered the water but had speed once i was running again so i was keeping up with some of the faster craft on the grid. About the 6th lap I stopped very abruptly and the engine cut on my worst water entry, i restarted and checked the craft over on land, then cruised to the finish-line.

In the second race i got another good start and was up into 3rd at one point after getting past some squabbling northeners, however coming onto the water i had contact with the storm raptor and lost one of my thrust struts (i didnt know at the time). I continued for a few more laps having some really fun racing, but losing a few places to faster craft, then finally as i jumped into the water i had one of my worst plough ins and an F35 i had just overtaken went straight through my duct, taking it clean off. This all occurred just as i was climbing back into the craft having been chucked into the water during the abrupt stop.

The craft was now totalled for the weekend and as i floated on the lake i wasnt even annoyed, i was in a way expecting something to happen with all of the craft’s problems, and at least i had tested it to it’s limits, and beyond.

As i’ve been disassembling the craft and pouring water out of the engine im starting to feel like i have unfinished business in F3… And its been a long time since i’ve been able to really compete and get to lots of events so watch this space.

Thanks again to Rebecca at Hovercraftvideo.co.uk for the great pictures.