[Mr.M]

QUOTE (Wambulance @ 30 Apr 2013, 10:59) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>There must be a lesson in there somewhere.

Yeah! Probably something like - "don't try to get up the outside of Chris on the kink above the bridge"

 

[Wambulance]

Probably because of the good sunbathing conditions we have been having we missed Wez, Chris and Matt and had just 7 racers. Middle of May and the heaters were on FULL!

Terry threw us in the deep end for a bit of open wheel action with Indy cars, although it must be said being a bit short wheel to wheel is not such a problem as it could be. I had my controller back working again, having made up my own braided wire - a bit tight (as in cost nothing) I know but it should last as long as the OE bit. Having taken the Parma to bits for the first time it seemed pretty well built except for the braid which seemed bit lacking material wise and routing. So I was hoping for a glorious night of victories, that was a BIG HA HA as I finished this class equal last with Terry on 14. Tony rated his 17 as poor, which it was compared to Keith's winning 31 and then Jim on 26. Dicky kept his head he won no races but totalled 25.

Tony got out the dreaded 1/24 Citroeny, apparently now sorted (by disconnecting the front wheel drive), but again they were soon showing signs of distress and taking trips to "the pits". Keith did the best taming for 30 with Jim on 27, with Dicky was a distant 3rd.

Jim went for touring cars, he tried to go for a mixed grid but we ended up with 5 Accords and a Volvo - by the end of the class we all agreed a "class" of Accords would be a jolly good thing, sadly they are difficult to come by. I started in Yellow and shot straight into a decent lead, but my first decent drive of the night got the better of me and I came off needlessly near the end for a 3, what an utter dork! At least Tony won a class.

At the break, Keith was in the lead and I was struggling (even by my mediocre standards) with Dicky well ahead of me and Greg snapping at my heels who had been helped by a race win in the Touring cars.

Then it was a case of wobble rattle and roll as Keith went for the Auto Art Porkers, it turned out some rattled a lot less that others but the level of random de-slotting would have quickly brought PJ to tears. Good thing was - they did Keith no good at all

as he slumped to a miserly 20, even being beaten by me. Jim got the best out of them (not a surprise) with 32, Tony was runner up with 29. Terry clocked up a trio of strategic 3rd places for a 16, not much wrong with that.

Dicky found the long forgotten Cossies, they didn't get him a full win but he drew with Jim for the class on 25, Keith and I were next with 23 each, I cursed a crass 1 in my third race, a real case of a class that got away. Terry did well and Greg didn't.

So at the end it was well done Jim with Keith 6 marks less than well done. Dicky's steady action meant I never caught him, but Greg's poor final classes got me 25 clear of him, and he nearly got jumped by a late charging Terry who ended up just 2 behind him (they were scrapping top clubman honours).

Another glorious hot bank holiday intervenes so the next round will have to wait until June 10th when we will all be going backwards. Bolwextric Racing results.

 

[Wambulance]

Yes, if one word is guaranteed to get Chris out of the woods it's "backwards", and here he was. 8 racers ready to go but no sign of me as I was late, something to do a hole appearing in the roof at home, and having to help the builder repair it before the nights forecast rain. Thanks for waiting everyone. (and thanks to the builder for turning out so quickly)

Terry broke out Ninco Porsches of the GT3 variety, they generated him 11 while everyone else was in the teens or twenties, except for Jim he was well hot with 34.

Greg went for Accords (and Volvo), these are usually a good hunting ground for me but I had missed my backwards practice and wasn't at all comfortable, I was never in the lead all evening. This round turned into the Tony and Chris show and it was all 5s & 6s as they battled for backwards honours, Chris's 34 ended just two ahead of Mr T. They left one win for others, Jim got that. Wes had a torrid class ending with 13, some would say that was an unlucky 13, but I would say with Accords you don't need luck - but who am I to talk.

Ninco Hot Hatch were picked by Keith, what came out of the party draw was pretty dysfunctional, including one which would have won "tramper of the year" as Greg demonstrated with a lurid start which only lasted inches before the rig flicked out of the slot. Nil disperandum - soon suitable cars were appearing from all corners of the room, but it was a long job testing and applying the relevant tape, the testing was quick but the taping was Dicky complicated, he then attempted another premature start before Tony read the results. It was still a variable bunch that made to track and one caught Jim out for a 1, otherwise he would have monstered the class, as it was he had to share 30 apiece with Keith for a class draw. Tony and Chris shared the other fruit but Chris had a 1 and it wasn't his first of the night.

At the break Wes gave us the life history of everyone he thought I would know from Haslemere and Liphook. Jim had a slender lead over Tony. Amazingly I was 16 ahead of Wes, we had a few snippets of racing in which he seemed to crash out of while leading. In fairness to Wez he seemed to have the draw from hell, often running next to Greg who seemed to be taking Wez out more often than not. Chris really was going backwards as the night's favourite odds slumped to an outsider - ouch!

If Jim thought the Orange SCX DTM Mercs would give him an easy time he had to think again, they may all look the same but some were slower than others (a tyre count that averaged around 4.5 didn't help, or perhaps it does?). Jim hung on with 30 but Chris, Tony and Keith were all snapping close.

Just to complete the night of utter annoyance Dicky picked Pro Trucks. I think it was Wilde that said "a boy is a noise with dirt on it", he should of just said "Dicky". Only joking Dicky, as the present secretary of state would probably mumble "concentration and application boy". Some more close racing in a night of good racing but again it was Moys who was the boy and shaved it from Tony then Chris.

Jim made the magic "one hundred and fifty" and the nights' win. Well done Jim. Tony was next with 139 then 131 for Chris, I managed to stay just clear of Wez and Dicky as they totalled 95/94 respectively. Elsewhere Terry and Greg ended just 9 apart. Easy leaders of the respective championships are Jim and Greg, but there is plenty of racing yet to do

Bolwextric Racing results are here. Next round on the 24th, forwards and upwards.

For Jim's eyes only. I had some more consistency: 21, 20, 19, 19, 19. Though I would have preferred yours 34, 26, 30, 30, 30.

 

[Wambulance]

Round 5 saw a select band of 8 racers as several regulars were away. It was a big WELCOME to Sandy, who was known to some as he races at Milland. Hopefully with Jim's clearly written score sheet I should be able to complete this blog without a total confusion of embarrassing Faux Pas (not sure if that should be "Faux Pas' " or "Faux Pas's"). OK, let's get on with it

Jim picked the Golf 4wd from the end cupboard, these were good for racing and good for Jim as he nearly got a golden 36 but fell for a 2 in his last race. Chris only had one win but sneaked runner up with 27, I thought my 23 was a handy score but Dicky managed 3 better - huh! Sandy started off with a creditable 19 with a mid spread of scores.

Keith thought Escort Mk2 would help him make up ground, these are very good racing but are starting to suffer from Partyitis, with a mass of miles under their belts they are literally getting worn out, some tyres so worn that chassis road rub is a problem. This all gets the dice spinning and evened out the playing field as 7 racers ended the round in the 20s'. It was low 20s' at that, as Jim won another round with a mere 26 - WOW. Chris was hanging in there with a runner ups 25 and again my handy 22 was pipped by Dicky - huh again. Sandy was right there with 21 while Greg had his best class with 20.

Terry went for the Orange SCX Merc DTM, this comparatively new addition to the Bolwextric fleet have proved very flaky, on this night guides and contacts seemed to be a continual problem. But no problem for Jim as he cruised to another easy win, a 34, how did he manage that? Again it was Chris doing the best job at competition 5 points behind, then a long way back to Keith and I tied on 23.

So at the early break, Jim was up above the clouds with 92 and Chris next on 81. Dicky was 3rd - H U H !

It was Trucks for the next class as Chris picked to try and get on terms with you know who, and Jim didn't win the class but Keith did with 30, THEN it was Jim on 28. Chris had three wins but only totalled 23, I lucked into a win to help me get the same.

Gregg threw the curved ball of 2CV, Jim was straight down the wicket with 16 from his first three races, and Chris at last managed to stick one on Jim with 28. Somehow I managed to read the spins and bounces (I didn't, but it sounds good) to win with 29. Which all goes to show what a nightmare those garlic swingers are. (I am talking about cars, not people)

So in the end it was Jim with 147, then Chris a way behind, I still can't get my head around me being third but that is how Jim has written it down, me with 120 and Keith on 119, Dicky really threw it away and ended miles down the road. The good natures evening ended early and Sandy got to ride his Triumh home in the light.

In the Championship we have just 3 round to go and Jim is starting to sneak it from Chris then Keith, while in the Clubmans it's a family affair with Greg in the lead from Terry. See the details here. Next round is a backwards direction jobby on July 8th.

 

[Wambulance]

Not sure if this will upset you or raise spirits - but I am not able to come tonight - please have fun in my absence.

Will.

 

[Mr.M]

Great to see the Gosport (Cedric, Chris and Sam) guys along last night. Good timing too - with Will, Wes, Terry and Greg AWOL.

 

[Wambulance]

At last the Bolwextric Racing results for Round 6 are on liine.

Looks like the "new boys" will step the racing up a level, I notice the scores have squeezed up nicely, probably not to good for me but good for racing in general.

MINI BLOG
Keith chose McClaren which Jim won on 30 followed by Chris 2 behind.

Sandy went for Hornby F1 and got by far his best score of the night, an open wheel specialist perhaps? 28 was enough for Keith to win the class, Chris was again runner up on 24, yes - that's twenty four for 2nd place! Sam was last but 16 is a high score for that position, just 8 points between 2nd and last.

Hot Hatches were Cedric's choice, Chris won on 29 followed by Jim on 27.

Jim wisely picked 911 for another win - is that the kind of Porsche fest you DO approve of Jim? Another 2nd for Chris who was set to win but got his only 1 of the night.

Pajaro were picked by Chris, he won but had to share it with Jim, 28 each.

Chris was Mr consistency AND Mr Backwards-Specialist as he won the evening with 139 including two wins in each class, Jim was a hot second with 137. Someone has to come last and that was Sandy & Sam, but 70 is a good score for such a position and especially for newbies. Looks like this new blood is going to liven things up a bit.

Going forwards - Next round is on the 22nd when we will be - going forwards.

 

[Wambulance]

Obviously TOO HOT for some, we had just 6 racers, so lanes Black and White were conned off and we got to race 8 classes. Or perhaps it was a good telly night - BOY or GIRL?

And we had some very good and close racing, we quickly got sorted into:
On it: Jim, Keith and Wez
Out of it: Will, Dicky and Sandy
Nobody got it all their own way as none of the classes returned a magic "16", Keith came closest to heaven with the only 15, in the Indy class.

Aside from the default youth element annoyances it was an evening of clean racing, so for data lovers I will just list the Pickers - Machines - Winner/s - Winning Score/s:

Wes - Golf - Wes, Jim, Keith - 13s
Dicky - Cortina - Keith - 13
Sandy - Lola B98 - Jim, Keith - 12s
Jim - BTCC - Wes, Keith - 13s
Will - Accord - Wes - 14
Wes - Nascar - Wes, Will - 12s
Dicky - Indy - Keith - 15
Sandy - Hornby 911 - Wes 14

And the winner was WES with 99, then Keith 97 and Jim 96. Well done Wes, and do not forget that winning an evening has got you started on the first rung out of Clubmans!

Just a round to go and the respective Champions are pretty well sorted though Terry could snatch the Clubmans from Greg. Runners up are not in the bag so it is worth racing in the last round on August 5th, it's a reversio. Bolwextric Racing results on line.

 

[Mr.M]

Obviously a bit hot for you as well, Will

You've got the last two classes credited to the wrong pickers.

Worse than that, you've diddled Keith out of a couple of points on the Club website.

I know your grateful for the use of my Audi on Thursday nights, but it won't make any difference to the overall result......

 

[Wambulance]

Keith would not have spotted that - and I really need your Audi

Didn't you say something about bottom two get to re pick so it must have been: ?

Wes - Golf - Wes, Jim, Keith - 13s
Dicky - Cortina - Keith - 13
Sandy - Lola B98 - Jim, Keith - 12s
Jim - BTCC - Wes, Keith - 13s
Will - Accord - Wes - 14
Keith - Nascar - Wes, Will - 12s
Sandy - Indy - Keith - 15
Dicky - Hornby 911 - Wes 14

And I left Keith off the picker list as well, he might never speak to me again.

Points adjusted on the web site

 

[Wambulance]

Last round of the Summer series was won by the reverse specialist Chris with a total of 145 which he got with some steady driving, only eight wins and his lowest scores were a pair of 2s. Jim was runner up with 135.
As it is nearly a week since the event my ability to recall enough for a blog will be even more degraded than my norm, so I will tabulate a few details as previous. I wonder if I should sneak in a "error" to see if Jim spots it after all this time, it would be interested to see if his total recall feature has a "dump after ?? amount of time" facility.

Round 8:
PICKER - CLASS - WINNER - SCORE
Tony - Enzo - Chris - 33
Wes - Scalex Nascar - Jim - 27
Keith - Scalex Indy - Jim - 33
Jim - SCX DTM - Chris - 30
Chris - Accord - Chris - 30
(any errors really are errors)
The score sheet was short of 2 points, as there were no close encounters I just added 2 to Sandy's score rather than mess around chasing down the error.

TA DA - Following any round dropping the outcome of the championship was:
Winner, Jim with 92, followed by Chris on 76 then Keith with 70. WELL DONE JIM.
Clubmans turned interesting at the end as the tussle between Wes and Greg went down to the wire, in the end it was Greg that took the honours with 60 from Wes's 56. Third place was a similar situation and ended with a tie on points as both Terry and Sandy clocked 50 each, not sure if there is a tie break for this, perhaps it Sandy's round win might swing it. WELL DONE GREG.

The next series will be called 2013 Autumn and will start on August 19th. meanwhile here are scores.

 

[Wambulance]

Round 1 of the Autumn Championship saw just 5 racers, Keith, Jim, Wes, Chris and myself.

After waiting around for any late arrivals we went for 10 classes using the middle 4 lanes.

As I expected in such exalted company I finished last, but not by much, and I managed that without winning a single race. Last or not it was one of the most enjoyable evenings racing that I can remember.

With so many classes, lots of close racing and being short of time I will not do a blog, just say congratulations to Jim for a comfortable win. The evenings results and classes.

Next round is on September 2nd, it's a backwards operation.

 

[aerodynamic]

Hi, I turned up at about 5 past seven and the place looked completely deserted, so as I was a bit cream-crackered I headed home. Sorry that that meant you were last, instead of me!

 

[Keef921]

Hi Sandy, sorry you missed us, we could have done with an extra body. If Tony isn't there I normally open up at about 7.10.

We won't be racing next Monday as it's a bank holiday.

Regards Keith

 

[Wambulance]

We ran just 4 lanes again this time with 6 racers, holiday time I guess?

We went for 8 classes, Jim won most of them.

Wes picked NC2 Clio, while Jim cleaned up with a maximum 16 we had 3 runners up tied on 10, being Wes, Keith and myself. During this class I got a text asking me to ring home urgently. This turned out to be Pat letting me know that Keith's phone had unknowingly dialled my home number and she had listened in to 15 minutes of our pre race chat. Not sure what she was hoping to hear / not to hear, but is seems she listened to our talk of BTCC at Knockhill and how to get a broken Ipad fixed.

Keith went for Corvettes, again Wes, Keith and I were joint runners up this time with 11 each while Jim dropped to a winning 14.

Sandy tried out the Fly Lola B98, Keith scored 11 again to be runner up, while Jim was joined by Wes as winners with 12. Sandy was being very consistent score 5 in each of the first rounds, he is getting up to speed, but this night was reverse direction and this put him at the bottom of the learning curve, keep on keeping on Sandy!

Golfs were Jim's pick to get him another win while I was chuffed to get a running up 12 with a full house of 2nd places, and Dicky sneaked a 3rd place with 11.

I thought open wheels would be a good idea and picked Hornby F1, this turned out to be a good call as I was joint runner up with Wes, while guess who clocked up another win. Sandy's 7 was his best of the night.

So at the break Jim was well in charge and Wes and I were tied 2nd. We all checked our phones before chatting.

Dicky surprised us all by a sensible pick, but it was more than sensible as Punto racing proved fruitful for Dicky as he shared a class win with Wes, I managed runner up a point behind with 11 while Jim "crashed" to 3rd place on 10.

Sandy's second pick was Cobra, this time it was Keith's turn to be runner up.

We badgered Dicky in to picking Accords and Keith ended the evening with a flourish as his 14 points made him equal winner with Jim. This didn't leave many points to share out, Wes an I tied again to share 20 of those rare points.

Well done to Jim for winning the evening with 110, while Wes took 2nd place with 86 followed closely by most of the rest.

Next round is on the 16th and the scores are on line here.

 

[Mr.M]

Hi there!

It's me again - the resident nit-picker

How come Sandy only gets 10 points for runner up in Clubmans?

 

[Wambulance]

Blinkin heck Jim, nothing gets by you, either on track or on line. - Now sorted.

And apologies to Sandy, you now have your full compliment of 12 points for Clubmans runner up. Well done.

 

[Wambulance]

Scores for round 3 are now on line.
Three wins in a row for Jim in this series, on this night Keith and Tony were tied a few points away for runner up, count back was in Tony's favour. Total points were correct - IMHO.
Next round is a reversio on Monday, 30th September. Come on guys and girls, winter draws on, so get down that circuit for some hot adverse action.

 

[Wambulance]

Despite people away on holiday we had 8 on the line, helped in part by Geoff who joined us for the first time (that I can remember), welcome Geoff.

Keith started us off with Corvettes, sadly despite a couple of wins he could only manage a total of 24, looking on the bright side it was enough for 3rd place. Jim was runner up with 26 while Chris was covered in glory with 30, this despite just arriving back from New Zealand in a jet lagged state. So impressed with Chris's win Dicky offered to put money on Chris winning the evening.

And hot shot Chris sort to extend his lead with Accords and it nearly worked had it not been for the intervention of a a certain Mr T who rather messed up Chris's war plan, so it was Tony 30, Chris 28 and Jim 27, Keith was next over the line with 24 but the also rans were level with Matt, Geoff, Dicky and myself all on 15. For me coming last in Accords confirmed what I already felt I was not having a good night - though perhaps I had eaten rather too many sour grapes.

Matt fancied some heavy action with Lorrys or heavy roulette as some rigs seemed even more capable of random de-sloting that others. Whatever the odds Chris seemed to have got a grip on terra firma as he took and easy win with 33 which was also the highest class score of the evening. Jim lead up the distant followers, while Matt must have rued his choice as he netted his lowest score of the night with 12.

At the break it was Chris with his head in the clouds on 91, while the four tail enders were clustered around 50.

Geoff went for Austin Healey, I wonder if he knew of Tony's weak spot as Mr T crashed to the lowest score of the evening, 10, I think we were all braced for a toy throwing exhibition but Tony was the sole of discretion - ba haa. Someone else was underwhelmed with the Austin Healeys namely Chris as his flight took a bit of a dive descending to 21. 29 was the best that the joint winners Keith and Jim could manage.

I fancied some open wheel racing so we finished with Indy cars, Jim and Tony shared honours with 30 each. But Chris's flight came down to earth with a bump as he slumped to 14 and last in class, now that is something that doesn't happen often.

So it was Jim and not Chris that won the evening with 140 and Chris 14 behind. This meant we used a lot of verbal trying to convince Dicky he owed us all money for the bet he lost, but he was sharp enough to wriggle out of that one. Further down the running order it was congratulations to Geoff for coming top also ran (see more below).

The outcome was not as quite as we thought on the night as the spreadsheet wasted no time telling me we were a point missing from the scores. With Matt ahead of Geoff on count back I went straight to their scores and luckyly to the fault, Geoff had been diddled out of a point, sorry about that Matt - Tony did his best for you

So those scores are here. Next round is forwards on October 14th.

 

[Wambulance]

It was 8 on the line again as we battled our way through round 5 in a forwards direction. Wes was just back from the west coast (or Wes coast) of the USA so he was all red eyed and not expected to do much, but as Dicky learnt last week, great expectations are merely expectations. Having your legs stripped usually involves getting rid of varicose veins, but with higher management decreeing a gents toilet upgrade the phrase took on an entirely new meaning, apparently much to the chagrin of boys, both big and small. Whatever - the racing was most enjoyable despite or because of the pram rocking wildly towards the end of the evening. IF you do not understand much of this - you need to get on down to the Bolwextric slot car racing club.

Geoff got off to a big start with Lorries, Jim and Keith set the pace with 29 each, some how I lucked into a rash of 5s to get 25 for my only decent score of the evening.

SCX BTCC was Dickey's pick, despite a win it didn't work for him, Jim was the hero with 28 closely followed by Chris then Wes.

Ninco McLaren served up some excellent racing but not for the picker Sandy, Jim was on his way to a full house but suffered a dreaded 1, I suspect this may have been on the black lane where the black car seen to have come out of the factory on Friday afternoon.

At the break Jim was comfortably in the lead with 2 fat ladies

We heard highlights from Wes's trip, where he did several days of theme parks, a water world, Challenger space shuttle exhibition and Daytona where the banking is nearly vertical and the scale of the stands awe-inspiring, WOW. We also discussed if using power tools like strimmers affected the function of throttle fingers. Much talk of the weekends Moto GP, F1 and BTCC all without spilling to too many beans to those who had not yet done "catch up".

Tony thought Skylines would be good for him and they were, but the first signs of pram rock became evident. They offered up more good racing and at the end Tony and Chris tied on 29, but it was MR M who just pipped them with 30. Sandy had been off his usual form all evening, maybe down to a dose of powertool fingeritiss as he crashed to rock bottom 6.

Jim went for Golf Rally, so great was his lead he picked them so some of us could find a good car for his new Thursday class, he could afford this generosity as he was in a pretty well unassailable lead. He shared the class win with Keith on 28 apiece. And the result of the car tests was "go for a blue and white livery one, they are the best". Tony did well with 3 wins but a 3, then a 2 and then a 1 got the toys and language flying and Tony ended the evening with a yellow card from the chief steward, oh dear.

So at the end of this most enjoyable of evenings Jim aced it with 146, Keith went steadily to 2nd place with 132. With both Chris and Wez on 122 it was count-back gloom for Chris while Wes did "great expectationaly" well to get 3rd place and Dicky got another lesson of life. As for me I really wasn't up to even my usual pace, though my Wambulance did clock up a race win and loads of 5s which helped to get me an undeserved 99.

Scores so far are on the web site, where you can also find the forthcoming Manor Farm Racing classes. Next round of this series is on October 28th and will be a reverse direction, we can expect Chris to be on winning form and advise Dickey to put money on him now. ONLY JOKING !