Sun, 19 May 2013 19:25:24 -0500 admin@slotforum.com (SlotForum) IP.Blog 60 . Ten of us turned up for racing and the weather was really quite nice considering what had been happening a few days earlier.
60's rear engined Le Mans cars start us off as usual and as usual my Slot.It Ford GT40 struggled somewhat. First against DaveL's Fly Lola T70 and then against the NSR Ford GT MkIV's that Peter and Steve got working really well. Peter's car has become the car of the class and it was no different this time. My Ford seems to suffer from front end "brake chatter" but is a solid mid-field runner at least. Mind you that is against mostly Scalextric opposition at the back end.
For the Grp 5 class I was running one of my Fly Porsche 935 cars which are fun to run. Ruebens runs one as well and we discussed how much weight we put right at the front to compensate for the motor being behind the rear axle. It's a lot! Jim had brought along his Class A Racer Porsche 935 "Moby Dick" but this certainly wasn't as dominant as the Racer Ford Capri and Lancia cars. Peter ran off to probably a whitewash of a class win with his Racer Ford Capri against the other Class A cars. Keith's Fly Lancia again proved quite quick and competitive. I lent Trigger my Fly Ford Capri after he threw his version off the road quite quickly in two races. I like to think he raced better with my version. On the strength of how well the Racer Ford Capri goes I certainly quite tempted to get one.
The 60's front engined Le Mans class has been my most successful but in my first race I struggled somewhat. It picked up after that with three wins. I was well in the lead in my fourth race on the white lane when it did the usual thing and came off at it's favourite spot; coming off the "radio corner". Slightly frustrating to say the least. I think I took a final race win in my final race.
So onto 70's Rally and I have really struggled with my Spirit BMW 2002. This time around it seemed much better and I had some great midfield dices, one of which was a tremendoes race long battle with Will's club Escort and Steve's BMW. Great stuff. Either Peter or possibly Jim took the class overall win. Jim turned up with a Porsche 911 which was just a bit slow on the long straights but kept it's speed up on the twisted bits.
As ever there were some great racing in all the classes and I think it was possibly DaveL who ran out the overall winner on the night.]]> Sun, 19 May 2013 11:48:55 -0500 .]]> Sat, 11 May 2013 09:37:25 -0500
As ever we start with 60's LM (RE) and my Slot.It Ford GT40 seemed to be struggling for grip at times. The man on fire this time around was Peter, who had really got his NSR Ford GT40 sorted for this round and only dropped one point on his way to being a runaway class winner. In second place was Keith, who only took one race win with his Fly Ford GT40, but managed 28 points to just out-score DaveL. Dave actually took three race wins with his quick Fly Lola T70 but somehow dropped enough points to come in third on 27 points. The best that I could manage were three second place finishes but still ended up in fourth place on 25 points. Not unnaturally the scores started to drop away after that and also not unnaturally there were plenty of Ford GT40's involved. Wes was running a club version to 20 points and just beat in Jim's Fly version by one point. Will followed in with another club GT40 to 17 points. Ruebens was running an oddity in the shape of the SCX Renault Alpine and it didn't give him much success but he just beat Trigger in 10 - 8. This was one of Triggers two best scores on the night.
So onto Grp 5 and this time around there were only two "Class A" cars in the shape of Peter's Racer Capri and DaveL's Racer Lancia. Remarkably we also had a "Class C" car in the shape of Jim's old Scalextric Capri! The rest were "Class B" Fly cars. Peter really did run off with this class as he took six wins and a perfect score of 36 points, his best score on the night. Not surprisingly the other "Class A" car DaveL's Lancia took two wins on his way to second place on 32 points; his best score on the night. The battle of the "Class B" cars ended with Keith with his Lancia just beating ME and my Capri 25 -24 with Will a bit behind on 20 points with another Lancia. Wes, on 16 points, was running his BMW again and just beat in the final race winner Rueben. Rueben was running a quick Porsche 935 and might have done better than 15 points had he stayed on more often. He actually took his race win when the three ahead of him all came off under the bridge! Jim was only two points behind with his "Class C" Capri but did out-point Trigger who got his other best score of the night of 8!
At the break it was easily Peter in the lead on 71 points from DaveL 59, Keith 53, ME 49 and Will on 37 points.
We start again with 60's LM (FE) and at last I started to have some success. My Scalextric Corvette L88 gave me my best score on the night of 33 points as I took three races wins and three second place finishes on my way to class winner. It was tight though and I needed to be racing as hard as I could all the time. DaveL, running a Pinkar Ferrari GTO, also took three wins but dropped a couple of points to end up in second place on 31 points. This was a competitive class again and Keith showed that by taking a class win with his quick Ninco Austin Healey on his way to third place on 28 points. The scores dropped off a bit then to Peter in fourth place on 24 points also running a Pinkar Ferrari GTO. The final race winner was Wes who scored two wins but somehow lost points but got his best score on the night of 21 points running a club Austin Healey. Tied on 17 points were Wes and Ruebens with Ruebens taking his best score on the night running yet another Pinkar Ferrari GTO. Will was running another of the club Austin Healeys. Jim decided to run a Revell Grand Sport and struggled somewhat to 11 points. Trigger strolled in on 7 points which he would see again in the next class. At the end of this class Peter's lead had shrunk somewhat over DaveL and I had just managed to bounce over Keith into third place by one point.
So onto 70's Rally and I had got a new rear axle for my BMW 2002. Bizzarely I got three second place finishes with it but also two fourth places and a fifth. My second places came courtesy of everyone else falling off but I wasn't complaining about that! In dominant form was Keith who took six wins and a perfect 36 score, his best on the night to completely demolish the opposition. It was very tight for the midfield places and in joint second place were DaveL and Jim on 25 points. Jim took two race wins and his best score on the night running a SCX Fiat 131 whilst DaveL took a win with his Spirit BMW 2002 which for some reason didn't seem so quick this time around. One point behind him was Peter running an AvantSlot Alpine Renault. One behind him was ME and one point behind me was Will getting his best score on the night of 22 with a club Ford Escort. Ruebens managed 16 points from Wes on 11 and Trigger getting his second 7 point finish of the night.
Peter ended up as the overall winner on 119 points but only just. Davel tried hard but failed by two points on 117. Keith's perfect score of 36 in the final class saw him leap over me into third place on 115 from ME on 105 points. There was then a big drop down to Will in fifth on 76 points from a tied Wes and Jim on 68, Rueben 58 and Trigger on 30.
I'm going to miss the next round, which is also the "picking night", because my youngest daughter is coming back from Japan for a weeks holiday.]]> Sat, 27 Apr 2013 08:53:56 -0500
I was without my wife this year and managed to get into Silverstone early and hike a considerable distance around to the paddock behind the pits in time for the pitwalk. I know Silverstone has a bus service that runs around the circuit but I really do think they should invest in a bridge or tunnel or both to make access to that area much easier and quicker. The old pits had it. Anyway, I really enjoyed getting into the pits area to see all the cars and drivers up close and it seemed like lots of other people did as well. Once we were ushered out at the end of the session I then had to hike it back to the stands opposite "The Wing" for the start. I'm also equipped with a little radio and ear-pieces tuned into the commentary (provided by the Radio Le Mans team and others) with ear defenders over the top so listening is not a problem.

Qualifying this year in the WEC is now based on the aggregate times of two drivers manageing at least three laps within the allotted 20 minute session. In LMP1, Toyota had qualified first and second with Audi third and fifth and Rebellion fourth and sixth. The only other LMP1 team, Strakka, managed to "balls up" their qualifying and ended up 30th and very last. The top three LMP2 cars were the 25, 24 and 26 cars of Delta-ADR, Oak Racing and G-Drive Racing. In the GTE grid the Aston Martin Racing Team managed to lock out the top three places with the 97 (Pro), 99 (Pro) and the 96 (Am) cars. For some strange reason Toyota had come to Silverstone with their 2012 cars whereas Audi had two brand new 2013 cars. Is this a case of "corporate Toyota" putting a spanner in the works?

Anyway at the start the Toyotas maintained their grid positions for a while but the Audi's quickly began to pressure them. By the end of the first half hour both Audi's are at the head of the field and looking very comfortable with it whereas the Toyotas seem to be struggling on pace, a complete contrast with last year's race. The P2 class is quite close with 25 Delta-ADR leading from the 35 and 24 Oak Racing pair. In GTE Pro it is the 97 Aston Martin from the 51 AF Corse Ferrari whilst in the GTE Am class the two Aston Martins are comfortably at the top. At this time I start to wandered around the entire circuit although for some strange reason I take a clockwork route which means of course that the cars are coming from behind me all the time. I don't know how I managed that. Lunch was on the go and I enjoyed several breaks in my walk to watch the action. It quickly becomes apparant that the Audi Team will only lose this race if they make a problem for themselves. LMP2 remains close and the quartet of Aston Martin's look and sound great as they seem to be the class of the respective GTE Pro and AM fields. Mind you I like the look of the new works Porsche GTE Pro cars with a stack of works Porsche drivers no doubt getting some useful experence of WEC racing before the new Porsche LMP1 car arrives for 2014. In the last hour the two Audi's had a really battle between themselves and the "old team" got past the "new team" in the last 10 minutes or so to take the overall and LMP1 win. The 24 Oak Racing took LMP2 honours, the 97 Aston Martin won GTE Pro from the 71 AF Corse Ferrari and the 95 Aston Martin took GTE Am from the 50 Labre Corvette.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and the drive back home and now I'm looking forward to round two at Spa on 4/5 May which I will be watching on MOTORS TV.

Some photos will follow in due course.]]> Mon, 15 Apr 2013 12:40:08 -0500 "Well! If ever there was a group of classes to put me off racing this has to be it!", Well having won the first round he was certainly back for more. We were also going to see two racers get two same scores twice but one would get a lot more than the other twice. We also welcomed the return of Karl to Thursday night racing as well.
We start with 60's LM (RE) and I seemed to have sorted out my initial problems with my "RAF" Slot.It Ford GT40 as I started off with a win in my first race and followed that with a win in my second race. Three second places finishes and a third place follow as I take my best score on the night of 31 points and joint second place with PeterP. He's running a couple of NSR Ford GT40's and takes three race wins. Who needs Slot.It or NSR when you've got a Fly Lola T70? Well obviously not DaveL! He took FIVE race wins on the trot with his yellow Lola and looked like he was going to get the perfect 36 score but suffered like I think all of us did on the black lane which seemed to have no grip on the night. He dropped two points with a third place finish but did end up a clear winner on 34 points and that was one of his two top scores on the night. Ade was quite close behind the top three with his Slot.It Ford Gt40 on 28 points with surprisingly no race wins. The two right behind him took the final two race wins; one a piece. First up was Wes who was also running a Fly Lola T70, albeit not in the same league as DaveL's version, on 23 points. SteveP came in sixth place with his NSR Ford GT40 on 21 points. The next two up also showed the extremes of slot car racing as Karl and Jim were tied on 18 points, this being Karl's best score on the night. Karl was running a "up to the minute" NSR Ford GT40 and Jim was running a Scalextric Ferrari P4 which was probably a lot older than Karl! Keith was on his lonesome on 15 from a tied Tony and Will on 13 points from Trigger on 8 points. Keith was running a Fly GT40 whereas the bottom three were running club GT40's. Nuff said! So five people took race wins although DaveL almost got half of them.
So onto Group 5's which is definitely a class of two halves. Class A run the Racer Sidewinder cars and Class B consist of anything else. There seemed to be more of the Class A runners this time with PeterP and Ade running the Ford Capri and SteveP, DaveL and Karl running the Lancia. In my first race I pursued the Class A cars as hard as I could for a third place finish and was doing the same in my second race when I to spun off for one point at the 'faraway corner'. There was obviously less of the Class A cars in my third race as I finished second. I then swapped to a Porsche 935K3 and managed a couple of fourth places but at least the car looked great. In my last race I tried my Fly Lancia but obviously selected third gear at the start as I bogged down. It then took off like a rocket and I was off at the first corner. So not a great points haul for me. As it was, Class A cars took the first four places with PeterP taking his best score on the night with five race wins and 35 points. Ade took second place on 33 points, his best score on the night, which included four race wins. Both were running the Ford Capri. DaveL was the first of the Lancia runners taking a couple of wins on his way to 31 points. SteveP was in fourth on 24 points, his best score on the night, running a Lancia. The last race winner was Keith who managed a win with a Fly Lancia in his first race and ended up just two points behind SteveP. Will also did quite well with a Fly Lancia ending up just one point behind Keith. The rest of us trailed in with ME 17, Wes, Jim and Tony tied on 16, Karl on 13 and Trigger with his second score of 8. There were a coupleof oddities in the class (apart from Karl running a Racer Lancia and finishing that far down). The first being the Carrera Ferrari 512BB gallantly run by Jim and the Fly BMW as run by Wes.
So at the break PeterP had jumped up to first on 66 points from DaveL 65, and Ade 61. I had slumped down to fourth on 48 points from Steve 44 and Wes 39.
We start again with 60's LM (FE) and my Scalextric Corvette L88 demonstrated it's love for the radio corner by falling off there when in the lead. At least it looked better now it had a proper wide yellow stripe on it's bonnet. This was a hard fought class as I battled to two second place finishes and a third before finishing with two hard fought and flat out all the way wins. I ended up second in class on 29 points. DaveL scored his second 31 pointer on his way to being class leader with a Pinkar Ferrari GTO that gave him three race wins. Wes took his best score of the night of 26, which included two race wins running a Ninco Cobra to third place. After that the scores fell away a bit but it was all very tight. PeterP, running another Pinkar Ferrari GTO and Keith, running a Ninco Cobra, tied on 22 points. Jim took a couple of wins on his way to 21 points with his Ninco Austin Healey so obviously succumbed to some bumping and banging. Steve took a race win on his way to 20 points running another Ninco Healey. Tony was on 19 from Will 18, Ade 17 with a race win, Karl 15 with a race win and Trigger on 12 points one of the two he got which were his best scores on the night. So competitive racing from top to bottom with seven race winners coming right across the field of talent. DaveL had jumped PeterP for the lead and Wes had jumped Steve for the fifth spot.
We finish with 70's Rally. It's not my favourite after my Spirit BMW 2002 went sour. I'm start off with a club Ford Escort but it's motor seems strangled for power so revert to my Spirit VW Golf. That's dire as well as it likes to just lift out of the slot on a whim. I can do no better than distant thirds three times and have my worst result on the night. DaveL meanwhile is romping away to another 34 points, his second best score on the night, with another five race wins and top spot with his Spirit BMW 2002. Jim has his best class on the night with his best score on the night of 31 points, taking two race wins with his SCX Fiat 124 Spyder. It was another tight class because in third place was Keith, who took his best score on the night of 24 points which also included two race wins running a SCX Fiat 131. Right behind him was Ade who took three race wins and three not so great races with his lovely TeamSlot (I made a point of asking and writing it down this time) Lancia Stratos. Tied with Ade on 23 points was Will so scored his best result on the night running a club Ford Escort. On 22 points was Tony running another club Ford Escort. Peter was on 20 points with a very lively Avant Slot Alpine 310. Down the bottom end Wes on 18 points led in Steve 17, Karl and ME tied on 14 and Trigger with his other best score of 12 points.
So at the end DaveL took a convincing overall win on 130 points. Fly Lola T70's must be in hot demand. The next three stayed as they were with PeterP second on 108, Ade third on 101 and ME on 91. Jim on 86 led in a tied Keith and Wes on 83 with Steve close behind on 81 points. Will was in ninth place on 75 from Tony 70, Karl 60 and Trigger 40. Some sort of symmertry going on there.]]> Sat, 06 Apr 2013 14:55:05 -0500 Anyway, last weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix came pretty close to fisticuffs I reckon. The driver room at the end of the race was a pretty tense place to be and it didn't get any better on the podium as Mark Webber made it perfectly clear what he thought of Sebastian Vettel. Then there's Lewis Hamilton feeling awkward because his Mercedes Team has kept his team-mate behind him for the sake of fairness! At least Lewis and Nico have grown up racing each other and seem to be pretty good friends. What's more despite all his 'pleading' Nico obeyed team orders and stayed behind. Will it be remembered???
With Red Bull it's quite different in my opinion. Sebastian Vettel is undoubtably the 'star' driver having come up through the Red Bull academy from the beginning and been the only one to become World Champion and three times at that. It's his team and he undoubtably has the backing of Dietrich Mateschitz and Helmet Marko. He is the one they want to win the races and no amount of 'team orders' is going to change that. What's more his apology seemed a bit too scripted to me, a case of PR working overtime. I don't expect Red Bull will censure him in any way as I'm pretty sure they are not expecting to be re-signing Mark Webber for 2014. Would he want to stay?
As for team orders. Well if you're going to have them then go back to the old days and have a number one and number two driver. At least everyone knows their place. Or perhaps they should do away with radios and just let the drivers race each other. Is this racing or management?]]> Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:50:45 -0500 We started off with 60's LM (RE) and I had bought a Slot.it Ford GT40 white kit, painted, assembled and track tested it all in the week or so leading up to this first round. That was probably my downfall but it seemed pretty good at first and I took a win in my first race by out lasting everyone else as much as anything. It seemed to be a touch 'nervous' and after a couple of races I discovered that I had barely screwed the bodyshell on and it was doing a very good impression of the "DaveL rocking Corvette". Tightning it up made it better but it wasn't great and I discovered other problems later. The trouble was by that time Peter and Stephen Przybycin had their NSR versions going really well and were starting to dominate the class. Remarkably the person really challenging them was DaveL who was running an old Fly Lola T70. As it was Steve took four race wins on his way to first in class on 32 points, his best score on the night. DaveL ended up brilliantly in second place on 29 points which included a race win and obviously some other good placings. One point behind him was Peter with the other NSR Ford who took two race wins. Ade was the quickest of the Slot.it runners taking a race win on his way to 26 points. I followed him in on 21 points having struggled for a couple of races with that loose body and over-driving. I did manage a second place finish in my last race but along with the other emerging problems probably need to add some weight to balance the car. Well that's my excuse. Running another Fly Lola T70 was Wes who also managed a race win but otherwise suffered some poor results on his way to his best score on the night of 18 points. Tony was running a club Ford GT40 without much luck and just kept ahead of two oddities Jim and Keith. Well not them but their cars in the shape of a Renault Alpine and a Ferrari 250LM who tied on 14 points. Will was also using a club GT40 and struggled with it to 12 points and last place. So quite a competitive class with six race winners and a remarkable Fly Lola T70 taking on the NSR Ford GT's!
I was looking forward to the Group 5 class as I had a fair collection and I had watched the real things in Europe when they were racing for real. Unfortunately this became a class of two groups between those that had the Racer Sideways version and the rest of us that had Fly cars. I thought my 'lighted' Fly Ford Capri was fast but it didn't have a chance against the newer versions. I relied on the Racer mob falling off which they did sometimes as I got two second place finishes but otherwise I trailed forlornly behind them. This class was dominated by Racer Ford Capri runners Ade and Peter, who both took five wins but Ade also came second so took the class honours with his best score of the night of 35 points. Peter was fairly close behind on 31 points and it was also his best score on the night. There was now a tight midfield bunch which consisted of DaveL running a Racer Lancia on 26 points from ME with the first Fly car on 25 points and Steve with a Fly Lancia on 24 points. I had also tried out my MRRC Toyota Celica and a Fly Porsche 935K3 with similar results. Will lead the rest in with his best score on the night of 18 points from Tony 16, Keith 14, Jim 11 and Wes on 10 points. Well there's no hiding the fact that this is going to be a class of two classes; Racer and Fly and that the Racer cars are undoubtably the faster. Having said that both 'classes' are competitive in their own right. It will be interesting to see how many more Racer cars appear.
At the break it was Ade who had jumped up to the top spot on 61 points. Peter had moved up to second on 59 points. Steve had slipped down to third on 56 from DaveL 55 and ME on 46 points.
So onto 60's LM (FE) and I elected to run my Scalextric Corvette L88 with the dodgy paintwork. In my first race I had just moved into the lead when my car did it's usual thing on the white lane and front de-slotted coming around the 'Radio' corner. It obviously likes the scenery there. A win followed in my next race and I was comfortably in the lead in my third when Tony came storming back and took the win from me. A case of relaxing too much and not being able to up the ante when needed. Fortunately two more wins followed as I drove 'qualifying laps' in each throughout the races. I was in the lead in my last race when there was quite a collision between a couple of cars and I discovered that unlike some, who can chat away, look around or if you're Tony take a telephone call (!!!), I can't and I promptly fell off as well. Oh well. Top of the class was DaveL who started with an Austin Healey but halfway through moved on to a Corvette L88. He took two race wins on his way to 29 points. I finished in second place with three race wins on 27 points; my best score on the night. One point behind me was Jim with a Reprotec Cobra with one race win and his best score on the night. Peter was fourth on 24 points running a Ferrari GTO. Ade scored a race win on his way to fifth on 21 points and obviously finished better than Tony who took two race wins but only garnered 19 points, his best score on the night. Keith and Will were right behind on 18 and 17 points respectively and Wes trailed in on 14 points.
So we finish with 70's Rally and I brought along my BMW 2002 which has been a race winner. Unfortunately for me a rear wheel had mysteriously broken and the replacements I put on didn't really suit it and the best I got was two third place finishes. On the other hand DaveL was running a BMW 2002 and ran off to six race wins, a maximum score of 36 points and his best score on the night. Peter was also running a BMW 2002 and came in second on 28 points with a race win. In third place was something a bit different. Ade had a Lancia Stratos and although he told me who the manufacturer was, I can't remember. Anyway, once he got his three last place finishes out of the way he took three race wins and ended up on 21 points. He either wins or comes last. Jim was right behind on 20 from ME 19, Steve 18, Keith 16 with Will and Wes tied on 15 points. Tony was running an Advant Slot Renault Alpine which should have been a sure-fire winner but was either too light or the drop-arm guide not work properly as he ended up on 10 points.
So at the end it was DaveL on 120 points from Peter 111, Ade 103, ME 92 and Steve on 89 points. Leading the bottom half was Jim on 71 points fom a tied Keith and Will on 62, Tony 61 and Wes on 57 points.]]> Sun, 24 Mar 2013 07:39:41 -0500 It has to be said that it all went according to plan because after the first 'hour' Obvious Winners were already just over three laps ahead of the chasing pack which consisted of Team Chang on 207.8 laps and Bolwextric on 206.4 laps. SagaSport was handily placed in fourth place on 203.9 laps from Pressbuttorn on 200.2 laps. The visitors were suffering from lack of track knowledge and brand new Ninco car problems and had struggled to 176.6 laps. The Bolwextric team started to claw back the difference but Obvious Winners knew they just had to keep consistent, stay on the track and keep clocking up the laps. The top three settled down into an order of Obvious Winners, Bolwextric and Team Chang. Team Chang had a very weird rocking bodyshell which was suppose to aid road holding but looked rather extreme. SagaSport was running pretty consistently in fourth place and benefitted from Pressbutton suffering from firstly a motor wanting to jump out and then the rear axle doing the same thing but when those problems were sorted they began to put on the pressure. It wasn't helped by Sagasport suffering transmission problems which only got worse as more teeth went from the spur gear and then it became apparant that the rear tyres were wearing away quite rapidly as well. With about two hours to go a pit stop was needed to change tyres and clean all the considerable tyre debris away from the inside. It didn't make much difference as the transmission problem robbed the SagSport car of top speed and the charging Pressbutton team went through to fourth place.
It was a tense last stint as Bolwextric tried to make up the laps on the leaders but eventually resigned themselves to second place. SagaSport managed to struggle on to the finish with a car that sounded far from healthy. The Loft Boys increased their pace and fell off less to record some of their best stints. Through it all however came the team that lived up to their name, Obvious Winners as they crossed the finishing line on 2669.1 laps to secure the endurance trophy again.
Results:
1 - Obvious Winners - 2669.1 laps
2 - Bolwextric - 2654.8 laps
3 - Team Chang - 2562.8 laps
4 - Pressbutton - 2464.5 laps
5 - SagaSport - 2452.7 laps
6 - Loft Boys - 2096.3 laps]]> Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:01:35 -0600 We start off with the dreaded Classic NASCARs and this time I'm borrowing a Revell Classic from Peter. This has been my worst class in a long time with previous scores of 9, 17 and 15 and as I found out nothing was going to change ith on this night. I started off with a last place in my first race but survived to finish second in my second race. Then a sequence set in as I finished last, second and last. Unfortunately I failed in completing the sequence by trying just a bit too hard for that second place finish in my last race and ended up fourth instead. Well, at least it provided me some some entertainment in trying! Funnily enough Peter had a very good Classic NASCAR managing five wins and a second place to run out a comfortable class winner overall with his best score on the night of 35 points. Keith took one of his two best scores on the night of 29 points coming second in class with a race win and consistent finishing. In third place with perhaps bizarrely three race wins was Jim on 26 points. The numbers started to fall away then as a returning Ade just beat Steve 22 - 21, this being Steve's best score on the night. Tony got the last race win but could only tie with Wes in sixth place on 18 points. My 16 points saw me just beat in Adam on 14 and Trigger on 11 points.
So onto SCX Modern Rally and again I'm borrowing a club car in the shape of a normally fairly quick Peugeot because my SCX C4 is still without a useable motor. Unfortunately for me it seemed to be lacking in top end speed and was very much a midfield runner this time around. I did get a second place finish in my third race but other than that I seemed to really struggle on pace and ended up collecting only 18 points. At the opposite end of the spectrum were Jim, running a Seat Ibiza and Tony, running a Ford Escort who tied in first place on 30 points. They also both scored three race wins and their best score on the night. Very cosy! Pushing them very hard was Peter who took a race win on his way to third just one point behind on 29 points running a C4 which did have a working motor. I didn't notice Keith's Skoda Fabia until halfway through so he must have had a couple of naff races as he ended up in fourth on 25 points with three race wins. The rest of us were a bit behind that lot and were led in by Ade on 20 from ME 18, Steve and Adam tied on 17; this being Adam's best score on the night and Wes on 16. Right at the back was Trigger on 8.
So at the break Peter had extended his lead with 64 from Jim on 56 who bounced Keith down to third on 54. Tony was up to fourth on 48 with Ade on 42 points.
I was hoping that the second half would be much better for me as it has normally been but, as is often the case with open wheel cars, it can all get a bit tight and tangly with unfortunate consequences. I have had race wins with my Lotus (Williams) in all the previous rounds but the best I could manage in this round was three second place finishes. Slightly disappointing to be honest. I also suffered from other people's accidents in my first two races and just plain threw it off in my fifth. I think it was in my fourth race when we had the most bizarre of incidents as everyone got involved in the same accident at the faraway corner. We were all running in a close pack and a little nudge there and another bump there resulted in a big six car pile up. Club rules state that a shunt like that demands a restart which was just as well as it happened so fast it would have been nigh on impossible to allocate positions and points. As it was, top of the points pile was Wes getting his best score on the night of 32 points with four race wins with his BMW. Keith pushed him hard with his SCX Lotus-Renault taking second place on 29 points with two wins; his second of his best scores on the night. Tony took four wins but only managed to come in third on 27 points for some reason running a Jaguar. I managed a fourth place finish with the first of my two best scores on the night of 24 points. We then had the two brothers Peter and Steve tied on 18 points and both of them were running Scalextric cars, a Ferrari for Peter and a Renault for Steve. Unfortunately for Trigger, who top scored last time, he didn't do so well in this round although to be fair when he came off it was when he was running at the front. He did get his best score on the night of 16 however. We then had another tie, albeit in last place with Ade and Adam on 14 points who I think were both running Scalextric F1. Keith just managed to take the top spot from Peter in the points run whilst everyone stayed where they were.
Hornby Muscle, which is dominated by the Chevy Camaro, turned out to be somewhat similar to my Modern F1 in that I got clattered off in my first race and then struggled to third in my second race. I then changed back to some Ortmann tyres and got a win and a second place. It went sort of pear-shaped again after that although to be fair in my fifth race there was another unusual incident. A car had slid off and left on the last bend as it was initially deemed not to be in the way. It then was decided that it was in the way just as someone crashed into it with quite a bang. That made me jump as I was looking the other way at the first corner where my car was. It went off! I finished the class with my second 24 points finish. This was actually quite a tight class as Tony, running one of the two Mustangs in the field, took it on 29 points with four race wins ahead of a tied Keith and Ade on 28 points. Keith took two race wins to Ade's one. I was tied with Peter on 24 points and Jim, who was running the other Mustang, actually managed two wins on his way to 21 points. Wes lead in the rest on 19 from Steve 14, Adam 12 and Trigger on 10 points.
At the end Keith had extended his lead by five to 111 points from Peter 106, Tony 104 and Jim on 95. Wes brought in the rest of us on 85 from Ade 84, ME 82, Steve 70, Adam 57 and Trigger 45.
I will be missing the last round as I will be up in London with my wife for her birthday but don't tell her. My next racing will actually be in the Goodwood 9 Hours on Sunday 3 March.]]> Sat, 23 Feb 2013 10:14:51 -0600
I currently use an old MRRC 45ohm (I think) red thumb controller and it has seen me through 8 years of club racing. I've probably had this controller since the sixties when it was a major upgrade for the standard Airfix controllers that came with our MR15 set. Why do I want to change it? Well I've done a heck of a lot of slot racing since joining the Bolwextric Club and racing in the No Name Racing Club series. I grew up with thumb controllers and this suits me but because of it's age I'm encountering a recurring problem; it seems to have an issue with SCX cars. I like SCX cars because of their quick speed and good motor braking characteristics and it's this full throttle racing that seems to upset my controller as I seem to lose 'contact' as I drive through corners. It's like not picking up the fuel as you come to the end of your stint.

My problem now is that modern controllers are finger triggers and I have been reluctant to purchase one of these in the hope I could source an affordable thumb controller. Unfortunately I can't seem to find an affordable one so it looks like I will have to buy a standard Parma 45ohm trigger controller.]]> Sun, 17 Feb 2013 02:59:57 -0600