First bug run

 

If this were an episode of Friends, it would have the subtitle, "The one where the wheels fell off" 

For the first run of my Sand Scorcher, I arrived early at the railway club, and made use of the rough gravel car park area near the model boat club. I reasoned that with a mix of loose stone and lumpy grass available, I could get an idea of what the beast was like, with hardly anyone else around. 

First up, take some nice posed shots with attractive backgrounds. 

Then switch everything on, and GO RACING!

I started by ragging it (as da kidz would say) around the stone car park. For a few minutes, all went well. We even took a trip on the grass, but I panicked a little as the car headed towards the water. Clouting a bench wasn't clever, and dislodged the driver, but we stayed away from the wet stuff. This thing is fast. And I am old, and slow. 

Then things went wrong. 

One of the rear wheels shot off. Looking at it, the stub axles had come out of the universal joint. Fortunatly, I had the appropriate Allen key in my pocket, it's the same one used to open up the waterproof box the electrics live in. 

Back on the "track" and started whizzing around again. but after a white realised the car turned better in one direction than the other. Investigating, the other end of the UJ had lost contact with the drive shaft, and the car was one-wheel drive.  More Allen key work, and we were back to normal. 

Things progressed well for another few minutes, until the other rear wheel shot off. This time, the retaining nut had come off the end. Try as I might, I couldn't find it, so the Bug went back in the car, to be fixed at home. 

Conclusion - this is great fun, but a little bit more fragile that I'd hoped.