Thursday 14 June 2012. My youngest daughter is 21 today and we have a skype chat because she's up in York finishing uni. She's slightly peeved that I have to cut her short a bit because of my slot racing but she understands. What I don't understand is it's the middle of June and getting towards the longest day and it's pouring with rain!
I'm running my Alfa Romeo 156 in the 2.0 Saloons and for some reason it's all over the place in my first three races until I decide that I'm running it too loose and tighten up the chassis somewhat. That's much better and I get a second place and a win in my fourth and fifth races. I was in a determined mood in that fifth race and was helped a bit by the leader (Jim perhaps?) falling off. I then caught DaveL and powered away to get the win. Mind you I was down with a bump in my final race with yet another fourth place. Remarkably, I was one of five race winners in this class. Joint top of the class on 26 points were Keith, with the most race wins, three, and Will with one win, both running Honda Accords. This was Will's best score n the night. DaveL, also running a Honda Accord, scored a win on his way to third, just one point behind the leaders. Jim ran something different in the shape of a Ford Sierra, grabbed a win with it and was just one point behind DaveL. I was two points behind Jim and PJ and Trigger trailed in behind me on 13 and 11 points respectively. Trigger ran his Ninco Mitsubishi 4x4 in the first race but managed to throw it off and I think then moved on to a Honda Accord.
So onto TransAm (open) and I had done a bit of work to my Scalextric Camaro. It worked wonders as well because I took two wins and a second in my first three races. There was some talk in race two that I had a had in taking DaveL's Pioneer Mustang off at the first corner half way through the race. Rather amusingly (for some) third place man Keith with his Pioneer Mustang crashed into Dave and went off as well. I think I just braked a bit later than Dave expected and he left his braking too late. For the next three races I ran my Scalextric Mustang and scored two wins and a fifth place. That fifth place was disappointing and a bit strange as it lifted out of the slot on a short straight. So remarkably I ended up on the top spot with four wins and 31 points.

The Pioneer duo in the shape of Keith on 29 points and two wins and DaveL on 26 points with the remaining race win completed the podium spots. They both scored their best scores on the night in this class. Everyone else were quite a bit behind us but in a very tight group. Will led them in on 17 points running a club Camaro from a tied PJ and Trigger on 15 points. This was Trigger's best score on the night. PJ was running a modified SCX Barracuda, which he threaten to win with, but disappointed himself by not. It was perhaps surprising to see Jim in last place on 14 points but he struggled somewhat running a Spirit BMW 2002.
So at the break Keith was still on top with 55 points but I had bounced up to second on 53 points just ahead of DaveL on 51 and then Will on 43.
We start again with 70's Rally and I had bought a Spirit Golf which arrived a couple of days before. Spirit seem to be either great or desperate and this was definately the latter as it seemed very tight in the transmission area and almost SCX like in warming up the motor. This also meant that I couldn't help but suffer from running into crashed cars as a result of running at the back. In my last race I managed to hang on and avoid the crashed cars to record a second place finish. Jim bounced right back in this class with three wins and the top spot on 28 points running a SCX Fiat 131. This was his best score on the night. Also scoring three wins and also running a SCX Fiat 131 was Keith but he finished on the second spot with 25 points. Will had another good class running to third spot on 23 points with a SCX Ford Escort. DaveL took the final race win and 21 points with yet another SCX car in the shape of Fiat Spyder. I was tied with PJ on 18 points: this being PJ's best score on the night and Trigger followed with 14. At the end of this class my poor scoring had dropped me behind DaveL again but by only one point with Keith still on top.
So onto the Open class and I can say without fear of any contradiction, I look forward to this class. My RAA Spirit Dallara is proving to be fantastic car and it showed it again in this round with another perfect score of 36 points, six wins and obviously my best score on the night. In a couple of races I was pushed hard by Jim and DaveL and the starts can be a bit fraught if I get caught in the pack but otherwise I do tend drive away from the field once I get going. I hope it continues for the other two rounds I'm contesting.

Quite a bit back and second in class on 25 points was DaveL, who started with a Proslot Ferrari and moved onto some other cars as the class progressed. He should of taken the other race win and almost did but instead suffered a bizzare incident. He clouted the wall, which in real life would probably have resulted in a flat tyre. On the slot track he either had the tyre come off the wheel slightly or the rear axle popped out of it's housing. Whatever happened, Will chased him down and took the lead halfway round on the last lap. Will ended up third in class on 23 points running my Scaleauto Radical LMP2. Keith, running a Ninco Mosler and Jim, running a Fly Lola T70 tied on 21 points with perhaps Jim having the better of the races by running at the front more often. PJ tried hard with his quick Slot.It Ferrari 312: as usual hampered by coming off too soon and only came away with 14 points. Trigger ran his Slot.It Audi at first and then tried my 'Rollcentre' Spirit Dallara but also had a problem staying on for any length of time.
At the end I had bounced up to first place on 107 points from Keith 101, DaveL 97, Will 89, Jim 87, PJ 60 and Trigger on 47 points.