After a three-year hiatus, our ARC Air Mini Challenge is finally back on the road. First stop was a special Scalextric-themed open day at High Salvington Windmill, overlooking the west part of Worthing. Back in 2019, we held the racing outside, but for our return we set up the ARC Air track indoors - in the old granary. Outside, there was a small Micro Scalextric set, a table selling sets, packs of track and a few cars - plus we had a 1:1 scale Lotus Evora and a Sinclair C5 in JPS livery...

       

The Micro Scalextric set - the new system - looked after itself and was used and abused non-stop from around 2.15pm until the plug was pulled at 5 o'clock. The Wile E Coyote and Road Runner cars were new out of the packet this morning and everything ran faultlessly, despite some rather extreme punishment. The set and the cars still look as good as new - a sign of how much better the new 9-volt Micro Scalextric system is compared to the old.

       

Although we were busy outside, the main event was inside the granary - Terry and Pete put in an astonishing shift of 37 races between 2.30pm and 5 o'clock. Racers of all ages and abilities took part - everyone having to negotiate a moderately tricky track and successfully execute a pit stop...

       

Our tried-and-tested format uses the Scalextric ARC app running a 21-lap race with the tyre simulation. That means stopping on the ARC Air powerbase after 11 laps for a tyre change, otherwise the power is reduced and eventually a DNF signalled. It's a very small taste of our WHO/digital racing formats and shows how Scalextric has developed for the mums, dads and grandparents who remember racing in the 70s, 80s and 90s...

       

There was a queue to race throughout the afternoon - and the final few drivers lined-up well past the time the gates to the windmill has been closed. Ethan topped the leaderboard with a sensational run of 1m 10.24s just after 4.30pm. He waited nervously as Ben, Evie and another Ethan came within a few seconds of his time - but no-one would beat him to the trophy and the Micro Scalextric 007 'No Time To Die' set, kindly donated by the Scalextric team in Margate...

       

And that was the end of a breathless afternoon. Huge thanks to the WHO team - Terry, Pete, Simon and Andy - for an awesome team effort.

   

After our visit in 2019, we did get four new racers at the club - of whom Alan and Harry still race with us. Fingers-crossed we'll see some of today's racers join us for a taste of HO and Scalextric digital action. But most importantly, dozens of people enjoyed getting controllers in their hands and having fun with slot cars. Whether it was grown-ups on a nostalgia kick or youngsters having their first taste of Scalextric products, hopefully our trip the High Salvington will be a catalyst to more slot car fun in the future.

We'll be back at the windmill next summer - but the next port of call for the ARC Air Mini Challenge will be Gaugemasters' AutoFest on the weekend of 8-9 October.

Gentlemen the cars are at Luckston Raceway.  Here is the track owner Lez's commentary.


Gents qualifying for round 8 is complete.
I ran the cars in reverse order of the points, bottom to top.
Checked all cars over and they all checked good.
I did notice on the #33 car that there is a small groove in the left rear tyre.
I glued cars #5 and #79 wings back on.
I qualified the cars in the yellow lane(middle) at 11volts for 15 laps each

Results

1) #10 CGracer :4.731.Wow glued, beauty.
2)#100 PK_CZ :4.767.Great drive, touch loose.
3)#54 Lez. :4.787.touch loose.
4)#60 Loan Shark:4.788.Beauty,great drive.
5)#64 Audi1. :4.820.smooth/quiet, easy drive.
6)#2 CourtneyS. :4.834.Quiet/smooth,easy drive.
7)#33 Brumos RSR:4.848.Good speed, little loose.
8)#4 Aloha. :4.855.Smooth/quiet, touch loose.
9)#93 DFRacing :4.860.Smooth/quiet, great drive.
10)#5 Redlynr. :4.864.Great drive, little loose.
11)#31 GSNOPOINT:4.869.Good speed,loose.
12)#101 JMS. :4.891.Good speed, little loose.
13)#13 Modernslots:4.896.Smooth, easy drive.
14)#79 Jimmyslots:4.905.Nice drive,little loose.
15)#88 Ragtopman:4.913.Quiet/smooth.little loose
16)#7 F1Fan. :4.920.Smooth/quick little loose
17)#200 Camber. :4.921.Nice drive, little loose
18)#9 SuperSlab. :4.957. Loose easy drive
19)#48 Rleog. :4.964.Quick/smooth, loose
20)#3 FastCo. :4.973.Jumps out of slot really easy from standing position.Smooth, little loose
21)#70 Smokeio. :4.976.Noisy,loose
22)#99 Big Duhg. :4.984.Good speed,loose
23)#46 Leadfoot. :4.997.Good all round, seems down on speed.
24)#188 Steeveew :5.023.Loose, smooth, loose
25)#2 Slotracer Hawaii:5.105.Smooth,loose
26)#63 ArroldN. :5.222.Smooth,loose
27)#23 OXO. :5.224. Smooth,loose


Congrats to CGracer and PK_CZ on top qualifiers.

Brumos I checked your car, looking in the wheel well with a flashlight and can’t see anything that is touching your tyre, maybe it happened earlier in the series.
The wheels turn freely.
We are a go for racing on Saturday, thanks to the guys here that are willing to come in on their weekend.
Good luck to everyone and thanks for letting me play with these awesome builds.
Photo of our 3 top qualifiers

   

Scalextric C4322 Blues Brothers Dodge Monaco - 'Bluesmobile'. RRP £53.99. Available next week

Arriving next week is one of the all time great movie cars from one of the greatest movies of the 1980s - certainly a wonderful twist on the get-rich-quick materialism of that decade...



The car itself deserves its own showreel...



The Scalextric Bluesmobile comes complete with the massive loudspeaker on roof, that rather uncared-for look and assorted detritus on the dashboard...

       

Both Jake and Elwood are in the car – no repeat of last year’s Batman-and-no-Robin drama…

   

But if you wanted to add standing figures, 132 Models have you covered. Because the car is incredibly long and rather high, a new case has been created for it. Inside, there’s a sidewinder motor to power the Bluesmobile as you recreate the action from the movie and blast out the soundtrack...



The Bluesmobile is expected on the Scalextric website over the next few days - and with UK retailers from next week. Thank you to the Scalextric team for the images.

Our next race is August 28. This will be the first race of segment 3. We will be racing SuperStox, Islip Legends, Indy Roadsters, and 1/32 NasTRUCKS. Racing is free and loaner cars are available. Hot dogs are on the house. Call 603-826-4242 for details.

I am looking for some excellent quality classic track parts.  A light clean is ok, but no rust or sandpaper scratches or grinding away the rails.
I also have some good classic track I don't need, some Triang parts I don't recognize.
This is just to generate interest, I'll post specifics later.

Need help with something better than what I used. I used 6mm pinstripe tape and it looks good on the straight sections, but no chance it will stay down on corners. I've tried rubbing a plastic edge over it to flatten it, but it just rises back up. Maybe 3M do something of quality? I got this from a car auto shop but its a failure 

They take up a lot of space and most cars I have will be or have been raced. 

I can see keeping the boxes adds value for a mint unused car when it's being sold on but do they add any value when a used car is sold?   

Is it worth selling the boxes, or just bin them?

                                                   
Here is my new track. Carrera plastic which is painted. The track is 4 x 1.5meters and can be lifted by way of a hoist so I can park my car underneath. It’s fast with a bit of technical thrown in.