More info on the great day out racing Policar at the Wirral Slot Racing club
Although this was the first open meeting that the Wirral Slot Racing (WSR) club had ever put on, the event has set a very high standard in so many ways....and so I thought that it may be of interest to anyone involved in the national Policar racing scene to learn more about all the good stuff that went on.
So here are my thoughts......
Paul Taylor, Paul Cooper and Peter Wright of WSR did an excellent job of planning and organisation for the day, they really thought about how to make the best of the facilities at WSR and worked together to put a great meeting on.
The fact that they chose only to run one class on the day - standard Policar - and the fact that it was a one day meeting....seemed important to me. The whole day was relaxed...doors opened at 9.30 am.....and everyone had lots of track time...with first time visitors always given preference on track during practice.
Racing started around 1 pm and the day finished around 5.30 pm.....a relaxing drive to the track and a relaxing drive home....many of us are no longer spring chickens....so 'relaxing' works well for us.....
The entry fee was £15...but for that....as well as a great day's Policar racing...every entrant had free hot drinks all day plus a really good hot lunch....followed by some truly excellent cake.....and various snacks and treats available at any time.....I do understand that not every club has the facility to do this.....but it certainly adds to the appeal of a day out racing at WSR....the coffee produced by Paul Taylor.....is really really good.....thanks to Paul and his friend Ian who provided the hot drinks...again the fact that Paul asked a non slot racing friend to act as hot drink provider on the day....shows the great thought and consideration that WSR put into the event.
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Another interesting new feature was the way that WSR set up and delivered a proper in race commentary system, in the picture you can see that Moss Hills is wearing a mic kit and this was hooked up to discreet room speakers....various racers provided commentary during the day and all did a great job....it added so much to the event and also gave every racer a great in race picture of where they were in comaprison to other competitors...both in race and also in terms of the overall qualifying and/or step up final situation.
A special mention too for WSR club member Steve.....although a winner at WSR club.....Steve decided to spend the day marshalling and generally being available to help solve any problem for racers or club....great job Steve.....thank you for all that marshalling and running of the start/track call system.
As only one class was being run, all the qualifying heats were 5 minutes....all laps to count from running on all 4 lanes.....the computer race control system had been set up to ramdonise who raced against who in all the heats....and it all seemed to work really well to me.
Another mark of the care that WSR had put into the meeting was that the whole race computer system had been tried out and perfected during the 2 previous weekly club nights...running timed heats and then lap based step ups' took some great computer work to organise...well done to the WSR team for a great job with race control.
Plenty of time to settle in to each race...the odd bad nerf or confused marshall...not such a big problem in 5 minute heats....added to the long step up finals and 3 hours of open practice.....everyone who came to the WSR Policar event went home having had lots of track time.....for those who do not have a local club or home track...that makes a big difference to the enjoyment of the day...especially if you have travelled a long way.
Once qualifying was complete the top 2 drivers went straight to the A final, while everyone else ran through 'step up' finals of at least 100 laps....with the top 2 from each final race 'moving up' to race in the next final.....this system produced lots of really good racing....the longer than usual finals allowing everyone to settle down and really enjoy close racing with people lapping around the same times...the racing was meaningful and as 2 moved up the dice for second place was often really tight and only decided in the last few seconds.
Another interesting innovation was that cars lined up on the starting grid in qualifying order...just like in real F.1.....reducing the 'first corner shunt' risk .....yet still producing some really tight racing from the off.....partly because the 'stepper uppers' were already in the groove from the previous race....while the the pre qualifyers were basically not.....almost all step up finals saw 4 cars racing side by side for the first 50 laps or so......great to watch and great to participate in.
None of the Policars in use had any mechanical problems during racing, (although David Farrow did manage to break a chassis in practice.....) and all seemed well matched...the racing was ever so close although Jeff Norton used the new BRM to great effect and I think ended up with the fastest lap time on the day.........
I plan to send all entrants a more detailed record of the meeting, one thing WSR did not have on the day was a printer so I need to spend more time than I have available right now on working out the full finsihing order at the meeting by checking through the step up final pics on my phone....but it just re inforces what a great job the WSR crew did on the day.....nothing else for me or anyone else to moan about !
Great track, great club room, great organisation, great food and drink, great racing......great smiles from all who attended - basically a great job WSR in every way.
cheers
Pete
