[roblees]

Hi all

This will serve as the thread for Round 36 of the 2012 Wales and West Challenge, to be held at the Four Lane Blacktop club in Marlborough Wiltshire on Sunday October 14th:

2nd Marlborough Scouts, 46 George Lane, Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 4DH

(Sat Nav/Google Maps coordinates: 51.416131,-1.732074)

The track is the former East Devon track

We will be opening up at 8.30am.

There's a possibility of Saturday pm practice and I will confirm this soon.

FLBT also have regular club nights at: St Mary's Church Hall, Silverless Street, Marlborough SN8 1JQ. We meet every Tuesday - please see our Slotforum thread for class details.

Remember if you are thinking of coming to Marlborough there is a lot to do near here as well as race on the Sunday.

We'll be happy to help if you feel like making a weekend of it with other halves in tow.

Fantastic historic cities (Bath Oxford Salisbury all within an hour), prehistoric stuff at Avebury and Stonehenge, lots of pretty vilages, antiques at Hungerford, the locks at Devizes, the Ridgeway and neolithic castles at Liddington and Barbury. Swindon has the Steam museum and a big outlet centre.

Marlborough itself has a load of nice unusual shops, tearooms, pubs, restaurants and you can stay moderately cheaply in local pubs.

Looking forward to hosting a round of the series - check back here for more details later.

Best, Rob

 

[roblees]

We've been asked for tips on how to drive the track - all I'll say is that it's a real challenge and a great leveller.

If you're local enough, come down for a practice! You need a car that's capable of taking low-speed corners well, with plenty of punch, which is probably more important than outright top speed. Going across the track, there's definite advantage available with adjustable brakes, as the tightest bend on some lanes definitely needs more brakes than others.

I expect the Ninco W+W cars raced on it will soon match our own times (which in turn I don't think are quite as fast as the East Devon members managed with slightly higher-spec cars).

 

[roblees]

Saturday practice confirmed, 5.30pm to 7.30pm, £2 for the session.
Please pre-book on this thread. If no takers, we won't be openng up.

Please also let me know if you are coming to race and I'll start listing you here as usual.

 

[Slingshotx]

Just to add, the track is a sandtex finish, I'd say it's slightly rougher than the wolves track. Its a lot smaller and as Rob said it has some tight fiddly bits. We run at 13.6v.

We also have deadstarts and the track is marked in 1/100ths for accurate counting of position after 3 minutes.

Rob I'll race both session as a guest and I'll help with race control if you're racing.

Kevin

 

[welshwisard]

Hi all

Thanks for the info lads it's appreciated. Look forward to meeting you all.
Don't forget it's the last round of this years series. We will try to Finish at a reasonable
time to compensate for the trophy and prize presentations.
As usual could you give Rob/Kevin some idea of numbers again.

Steve jones
Craig jones
Phil field
Ben Clements
Keith Clements
Bill charters

Regards,

Steve.

 

[Slingshotx]

I'm sure someone will correct me but I think the slot depth is only 6 or 7mm so some of the deeper guides may have issues. I've never had a problem with any standard guide but BRSCA style guides definatley have to be cut down.

 

[Graham M.]

I used a cut down Slot-it guide in my Auto-art RX8, by cutting it down several times I finally ended up at 7mm.

To be safe, I would say this is really maximum depth.

 

[roblees]

Thanks Graham - we are honoured to receive your second post in 3.5 years!

Entry List:

Steve Jones
Craig Jones
Phil Field
Ben Clements
Keith Clements
Bill Charters
Kevin Gee
Rob Lees

 

[Hobby]

Hi Rob.
Looking forward to this meeting. The last time I ran on the old Honiton track was at Haynes, for their CSCRA event organised by Dick Smith and Tony Condon.
Have you re-painted the track since your ownership of it? I don't remember it being a course 'Sandtex' finish, more what I would descibe as a 'mildly abbrasive blackboard type paint'.
Most of the current crop of W&W drivers have run on the track when it was at Honiton, and from memory Ninco guides have no problem with the slot depth in this track. The majority of the registered drivers in the series will be using one of the 2 types of Ninco guide for the GT Class, and as you know, the 2 types of NSR guide are hardly 'deep' so most visitors won't have guide depth issues. Have you made any changes to the track since Honiton owned it?
It will be nice to visit your club, the legend that is FLBT!!

Best Regards,
Bill.

 

[roblees]

Hi Bill
Thanks for your kind words and we look forward to welcoming you to our legendary, er, scout hut

We have kept the track exactly as received in terms of layout, slot depth and surface, just adding our own lap counters, driver panel and race control system.

I don't think the surface has changed since well before the Haynes CSCRA meeting.

Best, Rob

 

[welshwisard]

Just a quick note regarding guides. Only Ninco and Scale auto guides are allowed.(Ninco Class)
No slot it deep guides or any other manufacturers other than the two stated allowed.

Cheers,

Steve.

 

[slotrace48]

Bill/Rob

The track surface is a fine Sandtex and the slot depth is 6mm.

If you use very thin (racing) braid it sometimes helped if you eased the leading edge of the guide to ensure smooth transition across the board joints. This may depend on what Scaleauto guide you allow.
Both Ninco guides (Std & Racing) always used to clear with no problem.

You want to gear for acceleration as much time can be gained in the two short straight sections that lead into and out of the first hairpin at turn 3.

Blue lane was the quickest !!!

Regards

Ron Lane

East Devon Slot Racing Club

 

[roblees]

Excellent Ron, thank you! We enjoy racing your old track (and found your new one a big challenge when we visited for the team race!). Are you coming up to race? If not can you send me two legal cars

 

[slotrace48]

Hi Rob

Glad you are still getting a lot out of the track.

I will not be able to attend your round and as for providing two legal cars for you ... Sorry, cannot do ... Steve Jones has already asked for these to be prepared LOL!!!

Regards

Ron Lane

 

[roblees]

Shame - Thanks for the reply Ron!

 

[Hobby]

Hi Steve.
Its a while since the last round, any chance of a W&W website
update?
Cheers Bill.

 

[welshwisard]

Hi Bill,
Sorry again re update of website I have been down my caravan since Wednesday.
I sent Craig the results Tuesday but unfortunately unknown to me I didn't send him all the results.
He has a track day tomorrow driving a Ferrari, so I will make sure he gets them done on Sunday.

Cheers,
Steve.

 

[Hobby]

Thanks Steve.
Craig in a Ferrari!!!!! Now that is a worrying thought! I hope its well insured!!
cheers Bill.

 

[welshwisard]

Don't worry Bill thay have restricted it to a King 25!!!!!!
Will post as soon as Craig updates Website.

Regards,
Steve.

 

[welshwisard]

Hi all

Website has now been updated, sorry for the delay been away for a few days.

Regards

Steve