WHO Racing 2012 Round 6 - Formula One - June 6, All the build-up, reports, results, pictures and video Options

[woodcote]

Championship tables updated here and on the website.

Here's the ever-popular family battle:

[diesel]

Firstly apologies for the issues with Race Live. Seems that things that were working fine last month decided to give up this time round. As my phone was being used for the data connection I didn't notice! Took a bit of hasty rearranging to update the scoreboards for the 2nd half. Hopefully things will be tested and working for next month as I have the Race laptop at home to play with.

Bit of a mixed result tonight. Not particularly happy with 8th, but the car was running well in the first pair of heats putting me in 3rd - where I expected to be. I think I suffered from some heavy handed marshalling in the 3rd, which threw my car out for the rest of the heat with frayed braids that just weren't contacting right or sitting flat enough. Note to marshalls: Pushing MS cars backwards along the track doesn't do them any favours! Oh well, moral is don't crash. 4th heat was just as bad, with a dodgy corner in yellow lane that my car just kept sailing off at, even at slow speed. Unfortunately I got dumped in the same lane for the final, so that was that.

Hannah's car was going well. In her first heat she managed to snap a guide blade which resulted in her straight-lining at every bend. After blaming me for messing with her car (as usual), I swapped blades and all was well for the 2nd heat. It was fantastic watching Callum and Hannah jostling for position on the Scoreboard. At several points each were the only Junior in their final and looking to win the medal by default. In the end it went to the wire and only half a lap gap at full time. Hannah was even leading on the last bend... Nail biting stuff. Hannah's definately looking for revenge at the next F1!

Thanks to all involved in what was a busy night with the Ferrigno/McCann invasion.

I'd say see you next month, but we've got Honk in a few weeks

[woodcote]

Race report

With racers complaining of Jubilee-related hangovers, DIY fatigue, scout camp mosquito bites and a case of unexplained sunburn, it was a rag-tag bunch of 27 who assembled at the Barn on Wednesday evening for some HO slot car racing.

It was a momentous night for Alex Ferrigno – his sixth birthday and his debut at WHO, supported by his mum, dad and sister.

There was also a big welcome for Siân, Owen, Colin and Jim – all visiting from Preston and all roped in by Mike to bolster the McCann assault on the very unofficial family fortunes championship.

The track was tricky and practice was essential. It looked like the cars with the extra grip – the Tycos and Micro Scalextrics might do rather well.


Heats

As usual, racers gradually found their feet during the heats. The first hour – slightly extended by a light gantry and lap timing glitch – was full of carnage. The second hour was quieter, smoother and saw some good scores.

There were some wry smiles when Alex posted the top scores of the evening in his first two heats. His overall score of 50.00 was not far off the big boys. Not bad for a 6 year old on his debut.

When things panned out, it was an all-Mega-G ‘A’ final with two Tycos and a Micro Scalextric up in the ‘B’. Mike, Darren and Robin has been a class apart all night and the win looked to between those three.

The junior medal would be a straight fight between Hannah and Callum. For a while it looked like Hannah would take the medal without a fight, but both Andrew and Andy scraped past her score in the final two heats, much to Hannah’s disgust.


Finals

The ‘G’ final was a McCann / Hughes affair. Stephen had been a helping hand to Owen and Siân all night, but he showed no mercy in the final to take 25th place. Hopefully we’ll see Owen and Siân again on their next trip down south.

The ‘F’ final was saw Rick up against the grown-ups of Team McCann. Not unusually, Rick found his best form in the final and walked away with the win, with Jim, Colin and Mike having a good scrap behind.

Jonah took the ‘E’ final after swapping from his Super-G to a Mega-G. If only he’d done that for the heats. Right through the grid, junior racers are starting to drive their Mega-Gs really well. That was also the case for both Daniel and Louis in this final. Tyler might be looking at a switch from his SRT next time.

The ‘D’ final was the first of four stunningly close races to finish off the evening. Up against rookie star Josh and former medal winners Ashely and Ollie, no-one gave Alex much of a chance – apart, maybe, for his dad. Okay, we were all wrong. The six year old drove a completely awesome race to beat Ollie by two laps.

Ollie, Josh and Ashely all drove well and posted good scores so it was close, but Alex kept focussed and un-phased by a scrappy mid-race section to pull away at the end. A chorus of ‘Happy Birthday to You’ round off a fine debut.

The ‘C’ final was the junior showdown between April’s F1 junior winner Hannah and the reigning junior champion Callum. And what a race it was. Callum’s icy focus is becoming legendary and he blasted into a lead from the start. Hannah was nervous and made a couple of errors early on. The race settled down with the two juniors trading fast, error-free laps about a lap and a half apart. Chris and Duncan were nowhere.

With about twenty seconds to go, Callum faltered. A couple of offs and Hannah saw her chance. Realising that the clock was running down, she threw caution to the wind, managed to overtake Callum with a few seconds to go and then crashed. Callum, just behind, snuck through for probably the closest win in his time at WHO. Hannah had her head in her hands and Callum managed a smile in victory lane.

Then we had the ‘B’ final with three Classic Cup cars – Andrew’s Micro and two Tyco in the expert hands of Simon and Dave – plus Andy’s Super-G+. It was a cracker. Dave ran like a train from start to finish without an off. Andy attacked time and again, taking the lead and then falling back. In they end he fell back behind Simon, who was waiting to pounce on any slip-ups. A mere half a lap covered the top three.

Andrew’s night had started very well with his good-looking Micro Scalextric Benetton. However, the car was never the same after a braid issue following an off and some heavy-handed marshalling in his third heat. That and yellow lane in the final capped a frustrating evening for Andrew.

John had his family cheering him on for what would be an unlikely win in the ‘A’ final against three guys who had completely outshone him in the heats. But it was John who lead most of the race. A scrappy start left John out front and Mike dead last. Robin and Darren continued to struggle, whilst Mike moved through the field and started to haul in John’s Mega-G.

With his lead evaporating, John over-cooked it and crashed. Mike was through for his second WHO win. Darren had got things together and was just a tenth of a lap behind John at the end. Robin came in fourth.

So, with the results in, Mike jumps into the lead of the F1 championship, Hannah maintains her advantage in the junior championship and Dave takes the lead in the Classic Cup.

So, having successfully avoided any Jubilee puns, it’s goodnight and see you next month for the WHO Modified race.

[Gareth]

Brilliant race report there Andy. Sounded like it was a brilliant night and those Finals must have been thrilling to watch!

And Andrew: first of all there really is no need to apologise for the glitches last night. Race Live is such a phenomenal achievement and having the opportunity to even see anything of the race night while at home is amazing and something you should be really proud of. Plus it was only the second night of use and there are bound to be a few dramas and issues that need tweaking along the way.

I did notice one more actually which was that some drivers were showing as Rookies when they aren’t. I saw Mike McCann popping up as a Rookie and a few others. Plus I’m not sure if the program was always labelling the driver as a Classic user or not was always accurate but it really is a minor thing and I’m only telling you for the sake of completeness!!

I was able to follow the finals live with scoreboard and tweet feed working in perfect harmony. And while I couldn’t see the actual race, it was exciting seeing that Callum and Hannah would be head to head for the Junior medal. Tell Hannah better luck next time and I’m sure she’ll add a second gong in September F1 or before. I was rooting for Hannah as I always cheer on the underdog and Callum has become the Sebastian Loeb of the Junior category with his great drives every month.

I managed to predict (to myself!) Mike’s win using the scoreboard which I thought was pretty cool. Seeing he had two top lane scores meant he had to be favourite for the win in the A final and sure enough he was! It turns out it is easier to predict once at least one complete rotation of drivers is completed and everyone has done a pair of heats. Last month I was changing who I thought would win with each heat result and I was completely wrong!

[woodcote]

Hannah was really unlucky. The way she hunted down Callum was really exciting. With slightly quicker marshaling she would have got away with that last lap crash too.

As an added incentive to diesel, I'll keep the classic 70's disco soundtracks on F1 until the first Micro Scalextric win. Then it'll be 80s rock all the way



Our YouTube Channel is here.

[Gareth]

Dear God man you cannot be serious! Andrew hurry up and win. Failing that, I need to make my return and win and herald a new dawn of 90s grunge!!

[diesel]

I'll endure an evening of Pearl Jam rather than 70s disco.

[mikefi]

Wow,Mr player does it again,the whole lot,results,tables,photos,video and race report in under the 24hours... ...can it get any better!!!!

Another cracking full house at the barn,dominated by a couple of families and a birthday to celebrate and splendid debut by Alex...

Congrats to callum and the disappointment was evident on hannahs face .......still a great scrap...

Mr Pritchards faultless Lap bashing performance in B final... ....

Thought I'd blown the final.. ...I certainally heard robins assement of his performance very early on in the race!!!!good to remain light hearted sir...

Hope team Parsons enjoyed driving the mega-g.....

Thanks again WHO and all involved in set up,Race control,and techy computer bits....

MIKE D

[Dazmeister]

Darren's Mercedes looks a bit totalled! Must have been a huge off to take the entire front wing assembly like that.

Erm yeah had a bit of poor marshalling in one of my heats. Despite taking ages to look at my car, see the white dot he placed it on the back straight but in the yellow lane. Car went full bore into the barrier, snapped wing and popped arm out. Car was never the same after that so used Callum's one in the A final.

Still had another great night overall and def could have nicked past Mike and John had I not had a few silly off's.

[woodcote]

When those Mega-G wings get broken, some Eahorc racers have had success gluing them back with Plastruct Plactic Weld - but only if it is a really clean break.

Otherwise, I've fitted some replacement lexan wings, that look okay and are extremely robust.



A section of the underside of the nose is filed flat and the piece of coloured lexan is glued with a large amount of ShoeGoo.

End plates can be added:

[pne4ever]

First of all Many thanks from my family in Preston,,a brilliant night and really good fun!!!!!!So good that Owen wants to travel down next month!!!!!!!!
Gareth the front wing on the Williams was broken by Sain(who at 5 has no idea of stop and start it was all or nothing!!!!!!!!!!!) was unaware the car was rare or else I would have supllied another one for her!!!!!!!
On close inspection with Mike D it was discovered that out of 3 mega g`s all brand new only one was set up perfectly the others were too high at the front so a bit of tweaking needed there! We put the new guide pins in all 3 cars with only 1 problem, YES in my final against my Dad and Uncle the guide pin dissapered!!!!!!!!!
What with wheels breaking up on the harden creek mod cars and now dissapering guide pins I think the shop needs a bit of work on it!!!!!LOL(sorry Robin and Andy) Once again Many thanks for the welcome given to the "Northern Mob"