[MICHAEL D]

Hi, to anyone thinking of going to the Slot Festival tomorrow (Sunday).

I have been critical of how crowded the Trader's Area has been in the past. I can say three thing's.....

1/. They have gone to a lot of trouble, to make the 'gangway's' MUCH WIDER which has created the desired effect (for me) of making walking around, much more pleasurable.

2/. They have 'opened up' more small room's, for some of the larger individual trader's. This give's them more space to display their product's and for us, a much more pleasing (and expensive) viewing experience.

3/. It look's like, opening for 2 day's has had the desired effect. A less crowded, more pleasurable, more expensive (!) experience.

I hope this quick (Review) may help those contemplating visiting.

Oh, it seem's they have 2 entrance's for those who 'pre-paid' making the queue much, much shorter. That and probably less people attending has reduced the queue's to almost, non-existent. I arrived at about 10 past ten and had no one in front of me. (Yes I did pinch myself.)

HIGHLY RECOMENDED along with CONGRATULATION'S TO THE ORGANISER'S (for listening AND getting it right).

Michael.

 

[TimR]

Well said that man.
Definately the best Slot Festival yet and well worth a visit tomorrow if you didn't get there today.

 

[lowloft2]

Superb day out. Enjoyed every minute of it, great tracks to try and a much more accessible retail area. Jealous of all you fellow slot fans attending tomorrow.

Well done Mark, Roger and Shaun.

Jonathan

 

[Chappy]

Michael well put my friend.
I am now extremely jealous of what I am missing.
I do hope someone has taken buckets of pictures to post.
Hmmmm UK slot car festival 2015 in Picton Canada,,,,,

Bob

 

[Kit Spackman]

It was the first Slot Festival I'd been to, since my slot racing renaicence in Januray this year, and I was totally BOGGLED!

I'd never seen anything like it, every aspect of slot racing all gathered together under one roof, more traders than my bank account would ever stand, so much so that I deliberately left early in order that I DIDN'T overspend!

The organisation was very good, lots of space to wander around and observe (and oggle the myriad trader's stands...) and really good day out. Can't wait for next year

after I've topped up my bank account.....

 

[Rooster92]

My first show and wow! I was blown away. Absolutely fantastic!

 

[RikoRocket]

Great fun, chatted to so many people, the time flew by...

Bumped into Slot.it Maurizio Ferrari looking at the next F1 car they are about to launch, he was soooo excited, taking pictures of every sticker, every rivet...

He then showed he supports Scalextric by taking a Scalextric blue flag and waving it, so I captured it with my phone:

Minardi did a presentation on version 2 of RCS64

And SouthWestScorer gave me a bottle of single malt for no reason! Thanks mate

Nice to meet Chris99 in the flesh, and many others

 

[Ade]

Hi
Yes,superb event and much more relaxed atmosphere without the usual stampede as it was over two days

Great to meet up with Mr Ferrari and Colin before the doors even opened and Marcel once the doors did open,sorry I missed your official demo but V2 does look stunning

Chris99,missed you again this year,next year I will pm my mobile number :thumbsup

Also great to meet David C of Sillage racing,the blst track is superb to use and I beat you even when you dialled yourself more power than the rest of the field,cheeky

but as It's your track

Also got some great scenic additions courtesy of Slot track scenics,thanks David and nice to meet up once again

 

[Wankel Ickx]

Sincere thanks to those who put the effort in to organise it all. Excellent work and I'm much obliged. Very well thought out, very well spaced out.

Thank God some traders still only deal in the folding stuff or I'd have been in far more serious trouble.

 

[mtucker666]

A Herculean effort from Sean and all the Pendle posse whom made this event really special and a must attend diary event for all whom enjoy this great and getting more diverse hobby.

Lots of racing opportunity, formal and informal, lots of space around the traders made that aspect much more pleasurable and as a result I spent more than intended. Great to hear maurizio discuss the hobby and his plans. The online order your specific chassis which will be printed and posted to you, with Carerra dtm being the first offering is a great idea, and will open up a potential load of cars for us racers.

Thanks again,thoroughly enjoyed it.

Matt

 

[chris99]

QUOTE (MICHAEL D @ 17 May 2014, 20:25) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>HIGHLY RECOMENDED along with CONGRATULATION'S TO THE ORGANISER'S (for listening AND getting it right).

Michael.Agree with all the above and thanks for putting up signs with traders names this year.

Brilliant weekend. Thanks to Julie, Sean & Roger & all those behind the scenes who succeeded to make it pretty much a flawless event and a sunny weekend to boot. Oh & thanks PSR for remembering to bring my trivial little order and MrModifier for the sticky tyres etc

There weren't so many presentations/interviews this year, but I couldn't see a list displayed anywhere and had to go & dig it out of Julie's back pocket. The tannoy announcements were lost in the general hubbub and not repeated enough, so maybe that's an area to review for next year. Can't think of any others. Hornby's material presence was surprisingly small and lacking some pzazz - maybe a sign of belt tightening and delays with the recent marketing review for the App Race Control system.

In the end, I missed almost all of then due to gassing & getting some fascinating insights, especially from Riko & from the Slot.it guy's. Maurizio F. kindly let us try the new 4wd E-tron on other tracks including the impressive Slotfire track. and using the Oxigen system. He patiently held the analogue controller full on to put 100% power to one of the lanes on the analogue track, enabling us to use the SCP2 wireless controller, complete with its new integrated LiPo battery box stuck on the side

.

Great to have people with small businesses to run but retaining a great passion and support for the hobby.

Also, good to put faces to other forum members. Ade, I assume it was you pinning Minardi to the wall trying to get the release date for the new version of RCS64 - I put my hood up & went incognito

. Sorry to have missed you though - I had to run for the last bus. Nice presentation Marcel.

Special mention for the BLST track and David Caille's unbounded enthusiasm, especially having to deal with all the alien accents and people thrashing his cars. I was suitably admonished for nerfing and I now realise that you need hang back a bit to take advantage of the overtaking system. The track flows really well and you can concentrate on the fine control of the throttle without having to worry about lane change buttons.

Missed out on loads of things like Slot Rally GB and the drag strips to name but just two, so roll on the next one.
Chris
PS nice to see a pretty comprehensive video appear so quickly

 

[backMARKer]

Great event again! Sadly did not get to see everyone I wanted too, but that was my own doing racing in a conference room all weekend!

Picked up some bargain carrera buildings though for home so well chuffed!

Same again next year please!

 

[nik kerswill]

Well done to all who made SlotFest such a brilliant event

I could only make the Saturday but IMHO much better than last year for ALL the reasons mentioned in previous posts.
Making it a 2 dayer deffinately made it easier to get through the crowd and the increased space made it harder to resist the goodies on offer.
Didn't overspend but that's because my wife took my credit card out of wallet before I went

Lets hope for more of the same next year.

Cheers.
Nik.

 

[Keith Packer]

As someone who has only recently started dabbling in slot racing again after over 20 years away, it was my first visit to the festival and it was very interesting to see so much stuff that wasn't around when I used to race in the 70s and 80s.

I managed to resist spending any money....too much to choose from for someone who doesn't yet know how long he's back for or what variation in cars he'll race while he's back.

It was good to catch up with Mike Dockery & Chris Savage (and the fact that they recognised me after 30+ years) and James Cleave (who recognised me after 20+ years) plus Dave, Ian, Ralph & Sandy who I've seen more recently at Oaklands (who clearly had an easier job of recognising me).

If I'm still involved next summer then I'm sure to make the trip to Gaydon again.

 

[Rich T UK]

Went on Sunday and spreading across two days does seem to have made it a lot less crowded.

I thought it was a slight shame that the Rally was smaller than last year, but that was the only downer to an otherwise great event. picked up a bargain 6R4 from pendles, so a good day once again.

 

[mudchukka]

Could only do the Saturday but the whole event felt better... lots of things to see and do.

Swap meet was less crowded so easy to see those bargains, race events were fun to take part in, stands with new products was good to see.

So all in all a fantastic event.

Well done to all that made it possible.

Mudchukka

 

[MJE]

We had superb day yesterday at the show and I picked up some great bargains aswell throughout the day...

 

[choc-ice]

I thought it was a great event, really busy on the Saturday and quieter on Sunday but still lots of people who seemed to enjoy themselves.

Thanks to all the organisers who made it straightforward to just arrive and set up.

Gareth

 

[Mr Modifier]

I'll second that!

Saturday was busier as far as sales went - I think our demo track was pretty much on the go all day on both days with maybe a couple of gaps of a few minutes where people weren't hammering 70's cop cars, Boss Hoggs Limo or the "A" Team van around the track.

 

[Sandra]

Went yesterday and enjoyed truly, picked up a few scenic bargains from the Dutch shop. Far less crowded, found actually a couple of friends in the crowd. Some of the car prices were a bit ott, was it the same Saturday or have slot cars increased in price ? Bagged a xlot Porsche 997 for 40, but that's not a bargain either really.. That was the only car... Picked up a lot of good priced spares. Superb show again.