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Thanks, Fergy! I really enjoyed reading that! Ah, what wonderful days…
As for myself, my professional career has led to a number of overseas assignments, which has unfortunately not always allowed me to race slot cars as much as I would have liked. In fact, I haven't raced slot cars regularly since 1984! "Home" over the past twenty years has been South Africa (three times), France, Belgium, England, and is presently Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. I love the hobby and have never lost interest, managing to keep myself more or less abreast of the latest developments, thanks mainly to the wonders of the Internet and forums such as this!
For me it all started in 1965. My parents didn't have a lot of money and I was very fortunate indeed to receive a small oval Scalextric set for Christmas. Scalextric was the craze at the time, and together with my friends, I "played Scalextric" practically every day after school. At least once a month we would organize a "championship" event, combine our tracks, and build a large layout on the garage floor. We lived in Milnerton, near Cape Town, South Africa, and our opposite neighbour was a very enthusiastic spectator and he often sponsored prizes for our big races.
With the Killarney motor racing circuit within cycling distance from Milnerton, we were also motor racing enthusiasts. We used to arrange our "championship" races to coincide with the big motor races at Killarney and you can imagine our surprise and delight one afternoon, when towards the end of our race a huge Team Gunston transporter pulled up in front of the garage, complete with a Brabham BT20-Repco in the back, and out stepped multiple South African Champion racing driver John Love! Our neighbour had arranged for him to stop by and hand out the prizes - we were overwhelmed!
The hobby really took off and the first commercial raceway centre in Cape Town opened in 1966. "Miniways" had three huge eight lane tracks for racing 1/24th scale cars; a 155' Blue King, a 110' Orange Monarch and a 90' Black Prince. The raceway also had a vast inventory of spare parts and I became interested in building my own cars. 1/24th scale didn't really appeal to me though, because the cars were too big for my Scalextric track, so I raced my home-built 1/32nd scale cars at the raceway, often beating the older boys and adults who were racing 1/24th scale cars.
Late in 1969, by which time the world-wide slot racing boom was already over, the raceway closed down. A group of adult enthusiasts decided to start their own club, the Cambridge Model Car Club, which is still active today, and I joined up. They raced mainly 1/24th scale cars, so I finally converted to the larger scale. Since the early 1960s however, 1/32nd scale club racing has been the mainstay of slot racing in South Africa. The South African Model Car Association (SAMCA) was formed in the early 1960s and is responsible for standards and national championship racing. With Cambridge practically the only club still racing 1/24th scale cars, in early 1970 we decided to convert to 1/32nd scale. A new 6-lane track was built and the club joined SAMCA.
This enabled me to compete in a couple of South African National Championship races, held in Kroonstad in the mid 1970's, which attracted upwards of a 100 or so entries. Along with other club members willing to embark on the 1,000 or so kilometre drive from Cape Town, I really enjoyed competing in these events. It was a great experience and learning ground, although it was only in 1978, after getting married and moving to Durban, that I became really serious about racing at national championship level. In Durban I joined the Ecurie Elite Model Racing Car Club (EEMRCC), founded in 1963 and still active today. It is possibly the oldest surviving slot car racing club in the world.
At that time, the South African National Championship was contested over four rounds, at four different tracks each year, with your best three results counting towards the championship. Slot racing at national level in South Africa has always been extremely competitive and to equal things out, drivers were graded into three classes - A, B and C - depending upon ability and experience, with a national title bestowed upon the winner of each of the classes. The SA National Champion title was awarded to the overall winner in Open Class, regardless of driver grading.
After winning two national races and the C Class title in 1978, I finished third in the championship in 1979, although my only win was at the Pretoria Grand Prix, after an epic duel with fellow SlotForum member and now a US resident, Dennis Samson (Gascarnut). 1980 was my most successful year, winning both the A Class and the South African National Championship titles, despite having to miss the last round of the series due to a military call-up.
I won two of the four Grand's Prix in 1981, but poor results in the other two races left me in third place overall in the championship, although I won the A Class title. I won the A Class title again in 1982, and with another two Grand Prix wins, came second overall in the championship. 1983 brought no national wins, just two second places and a third place, giving me second place in A Class and second in the championship. All in all, between 1978 and 1983, I managed to win 11 races out of 23 that I competed in.
In 1984 we were transferred to France and I stopped all slot racing activity until we moved to Belgium in 1986. After living in Brussels for about two years, I heard about a club in Wesembeek Oppem, which was only about fifteen minutes from where we lived! I joined the club and raced in a few Belgian Open Meetings, but pressure of work did not allow me to become a very good club member.
When we moved to London, I joined the North London Club, but rarely managed to get any regular club nights into my schedule. I did however manage to travel to the national in Cape Town in 1994, taking top British racer Geoff Mitchell with me. It was a great event, which also attracted top Brazilian racer "Gugu" Bernardino. Geoff pulverised the field, with me taking second place.
Being enthused by his experience (besides, Cape Town really is the most beautiful city in the world), Geoff and two other top class British racers, Charlie Gooding and Mark Harrison, went to compete in the race the following year, but by now the South African racers had sussed them out and they were soundly beaten.
I have been fortunate in having raced in a few ESROC/ISRA World Championships; in Ceska Lipa in the former Czechoslovakia, Gateshead in England and Dordrecht in the Netherlands and although "retired", I was invited to compete in the ISRA World's in 2002. Racing in these events gave me the opportunity to meet and befriend some of the best slot car racers and builders in the world, something that I will always treasure.
I enjoy building cars for the proxy races that I enter these days. Proxy racing has also brought about new friendships, even though I haven't actually physically met many of the personalities (proxy friends?). I have however been fortunate to meet Chris Briggs and to race on his track in upstate New York, and SlotForum has enabled me to meet Beppe (Xlot) and Gareth (Jexy).
Beppe, it's your turn next!
With kind regards
Russell
As for myself, my professional career has led to a number of overseas assignments, which has unfortunately not always allowed me to race slot cars as much as I would have liked. In fact, I haven't raced slot cars regularly since 1984! "Home" over the past twenty years has been South Africa (three times), France, Belgium, England, and is presently Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. I love the hobby and have never lost interest, managing to keep myself more or less abreast of the latest developments, thanks mainly to the wonders of the Internet and forums such as this!
For me it all started in 1965. My parents didn't have a lot of money and I was very fortunate indeed to receive a small oval Scalextric set for Christmas. Scalextric was the craze at the time, and together with my friends, I "played Scalextric" practically every day after school. At least once a month we would organize a "championship" event, combine our tracks, and build a large layout on the garage floor. We lived in Milnerton, near Cape Town, South Africa, and our opposite neighbour was a very enthusiastic spectator and he often sponsored prizes for our big races.
With the Killarney motor racing circuit within cycling distance from Milnerton, we were also motor racing enthusiasts. We used to arrange our "championship" races to coincide with the big motor races at Killarney and you can imagine our surprise and delight one afternoon, when towards the end of our race a huge Team Gunston transporter pulled up in front of the garage, complete with a Brabham BT20-Repco in the back, and out stepped multiple South African Champion racing driver John Love! Our neighbour had arranged for him to stop by and hand out the prizes - we were overwhelmed!
The hobby really took off and the first commercial raceway centre in Cape Town opened in 1966. "Miniways" had three huge eight lane tracks for racing 1/24th scale cars; a 155' Blue King, a 110' Orange Monarch and a 90' Black Prince. The raceway also had a vast inventory of spare parts and I became interested in building my own cars. 1/24th scale didn't really appeal to me though, because the cars were too big for my Scalextric track, so I raced my home-built 1/32nd scale cars at the raceway, often beating the older boys and adults who were racing 1/24th scale cars.
Late in 1969, by which time the world-wide slot racing boom was already over, the raceway closed down. A group of adult enthusiasts decided to start their own club, the Cambridge Model Car Club, which is still active today, and I joined up. They raced mainly 1/24th scale cars, so I finally converted to the larger scale. Since the early 1960s however, 1/32nd scale club racing has been the mainstay of slot racing in South Africa. The South African Model Car Association (SAMCA) was formed in the early 1960s and is responsible for standards and national championship racing. With Cambridge practically the only club still racing 1/24th scale cars, in early 1970 we decided to convert to 1/32nd scale. A new 6-lane track was built and the club joined SAMCA.
This enabled me to compete in a couple of South African National Championship races, held in Kroonstad in the mid 1970's, which attracted upwards of a 100 or so entries. Along with other club members willing to embark on the 1,000 or so kilometre drive from Cape Town, I really enjoyed competing in these events. It was a great experience and learning ground, although it was only in 1978, after getting married and moving to Durban, that I became really serious about racing at national championship level. In Durban I joined the Ecurie Elite Model Racing Car Club (EEMRCC), founded in 1963 and still active today. It is possibly the oldest surviving slot car racing club in the world.
At that time, the South African National Championship was contested over four rounds, at four different tracks each year, with your best three results counting towards the championship. Slot racing at national level in South Africa has always been extremely competitive and to equal things out, drivers were graded into three classes - A, B and C - depending upon ability and experience, with a national title bestowed upon the winner of each of the classes. The SA National Champion title was awarded to the overall winner in Open Class, regardless of driver grading.
After winning two national races and the C Class title in 1978, I finished third in the championship in 1979, although my only win was at the Pretoria Grand Prix, after an epic duel with fellow SlotForum member and now a US resident, Dennis Samson (Gascarnut). 1980 was my most successful year, winning both the A Class and the South African National Championship titles, despite having to miss the last round of the series due to a military call-up.
I won two of the four Grand's Prix in 1981, but poor results in the other two races left me in third place overall in the championship, although I won the A Class title. I won the A Class title again in 1982, and with another two Grand Prix wins, came second overall in the championship. 1983 brought no national wins, just two second places and a third place, giving me second place in A Class and second in the championship. All in all, between 1978 and 1983, I managed to win 11 races out of 23 that I competed in.
In 1984 we were transferred to France and I stopped all slot racing activity until we moved to Belgium in 1986. After living in Brussels for about two years, I heard about a club in Wesembeek Oppem, which was only about fifteen minutes from where we lived! I joined the club and raced in a few Belgian Open Meetings, but pressure of work did not allow me to become a very good club member.
When we moved to London, I joined the North London Club, but rarely managed to get any regular club nights into my schedule. I did however manage to travel to the national in Cape Town in 1994, taking top British racer Geoff Mitchell with me. It was a great event, which also attracted top Brazilian racer "Gugu" Bernardino. Geoff pulverised the field, with me taking second place.
Being enthused by his experience (besides, Cape Town really is the most beautiful city in the world), Geoff and two other top class British racers, Charlie Gooding and Mark Harrison, went to compete in the race the following year, but by now the South African racers had sussed them out and they were soundly beaten.
I have been fortunate in having raced in a few ESROC/ISRA World Championships; in Ceska Lipa in the former Czechoslovakia, Gateshead in England and Dordrecht in the Netherlands and although "retired", I was invited to compete in the ISRA World's in 2002. Racing in these events gave me the opportunity to meet and befriend some of the best slot car racers and builders in the world, something that I will always treasure.
I enjoy building cars for the proxy races that I enter these days. Proxy racing has also brought about new friendships, even though I haven't actually physically met many of the personalities (proxy friends?). I have however been fortunate to meet Chris Briggs and to race on his track in upstate New York, and SlotForum has enabled me to meet Beppe (Xlot) and Gareth (Jexy).
Beppe, it's your turn next!
With kind regards
Russell
