In what could have been dubbed as being "the Race of Champions", round 3 of the Taplow R/C Car club's winter championship was to be the first public race meeting of the TLR22 outside of the USA.
Some of the most respected racers in the UK including the current double European champion Lee Martin and the current BRCA 1:10 and 1:8 national champions Tom Cockerill and Darren Bloomfield took to the indoor track just outside of Slough in what turned out to be an epic meeting and a fitting UK debut for the TLR 22.
All 3 UK TLR 22 cars qualified into the top 10 in 2WD but with 8 car finals, it was the 3rd car of Andy Carter that had to settle for poling the B-final. Up at the sharp end though, it was the TLR22 of Darren Bloomfield who lined up 2nd on the grid alongside current EFRA European Champion Lee Martin with Tom Cockerill and David Poulter locking out the 2nd row of the grid with their Schumacher Cougars and ahead of the 2nd TLR22 of Simon Reeves in 5th and the XXX-CR of Special Agent Richard Barton in 6th place on the 3rd row of the grid.
With wins a piece for Lee and Darren in legs 1 and 2 of the final, it was all to play for in leg 3. After some incredible driving from both drivers, an uncharacteristic error from the pole man allowed the TLR22 of Darren Bloomfield into the lead – a position which he didn't relinquish, ending up nearly 7 seconds clear of Tom Cockerill in 2nd and Lee in 3rd.
So the overall win went to Darren Bloomfield with the all new TLR 22, 2nd place to Lee Martin and Tom Cockerill in 3rd. Simon Reeves made it a good day for the TLR team, placing his TLR22 in 4th place