Alright chaps!
Ok, so aside from some landscaping and such to finish off, my track layout is now pretty much complete.
(that said, I *might* add some more split-with-a-bread knife/single lane stuff, elevated of course, but I'm still thinking about that....hmm)
Everything is where it ought to be, structures and supports are all good, and there's a strong current throughout.
So here's a little rip round with my new favourite car (which, has been sitting idle since I first acquired it - I should have recomissioned it/ got it back into action *months* ago) - the Jaguar Xj220.

   

Nineteen of us pitched up to test cars in preparation for the autumn's Digital Saturdays, which start in ten days time with the 2026 WHO Goodwood Revival.

Although we'd shifted the test night from its regular August slot, the summer weather carried over - a proper hot day seeing plenty of people in shorts and t-shirts. Phil was using the evening to check out whether he could make the jump from home digital racing to our club system - and it looked like he could. Some racers had one or two cars to try out, others had a dozen or more. Plenty of work went on during the evening...

   

We started with five 15 minute test sessions, with six drivers on track each time, and then moved onto complete seven 4-minute races before the end of the evening...

Race One: Euro Saloons

   

   

Race Two: American Muscle

   

   

   

Race Three: BTCC

   

   

   

Taree Raceway
Race Report
Tuesday 22nd September, 2026

Great action on the track across six distinct classes! Charlie dominated the leaderboard with consistent wins, while Joe, Johnno, and the rest of the field kept the pressure on throughout the session. Let's get in to the racing results and photos below.

Race 1 Ninco 1's

• 1st Place: Joe – 36.23 Laps (Best Lap: 9.520)
  
• 2nd Place: Charlie – 35.62 Laps (Best Lap: 9.573)
  
• 3rd Place: Jeff – 34.20 Laps (Best Lap: 10.018)
  
• 4th Place: Johnno – 33.30 Laps (Best Lap: 9.945)
  
• 5th Place: Jim – 33.12 Laps (Best Lap: 10.080)
  

Highlight: Joe set the current race best lap (9.520) to take the victory ahead of Charlie.
   
   

Race 2 Aussie Classics

• 1st Place: Charlie – 35.71 Laps (Best Lap: 9.271)
  
• 2nd Place: Joe – 34.57 Laps (Best Lap: 9.445)
  
• 3rd Place: Pete – 33.94 Laps (Best Lap: 9.820)
  
• 4th Place: Warren – 33.62 Laps (Best Lap: 9.779)
  
• 5th Place: Johnno – 33.36 Laps (Best Lap: 9.519)
  

Highlight: Charlie set a double mark, setting the Current Race Best Lap (9.271) and breaking the Race Record Score (50.205).
   
   

Race 3 Revo BRM

• 1st Place: Charlie – 39.18 Laps (Best Lap: 8.449)
  
• 2nd Place: Joe – 38.17 Laps (Best Lap: 8.703)
  
• 3rd Place: Johnno – 37.77 Laps (Best Lap: 8.581)
  
• 4th Place: Warren – 37.60 Laps (Best Lap: 8.879)
  
• 5th Place: Pete – 36.48 Laps (Best Lap: 8.748)
  

Highlight: Jim set the fastest single lap of the race at an impressive 8.292, matching the Race Record Lap.
   
   

Race 4 GT International

• 1st Place: Charlie – 41.63 Laps (Best Lap: 8.195)
  
• 2nd Place: Johnno – 41.03 Laps (Best Lap: 8.208)
  
• 3rd Place: Joe – 39.20 Laps (Best Lap: 8.642)
  
• 4th Place: Warren – 37.58 Laps (Best Lap: 8.742)
  
• 5th Place: Pete – 36.36 Laps (Best Lap: 9.358)
  

Highlight: Charlie edged out Johnno in a nail-biting, high-lap battle, setting the race best lap at 8.195.
   
   

Race 5 Slot It Class

• 1st Place: Johnno – 39.27 Laps (Best Lap: 8.240)
  
• 2nd Place: Charlie – 39.18 Laps (Best Lap: 8.346)
  
• 3rd Place: Joe – 37.83 Laps (Best Lap: 8.911)
  
• 4th Place: Warren – 37.41 Laps (Best Lap: 8.830)
  
• 5th Place: Jim – 36.66 Laps (Best Lap: 9.191)
  

Highlight: Johnno scored a clean sweep in this class, setting the Race Record Lap, Record Score, and Current Race Best Lap all at 8.240 / 39.271!
   
   

Race 6 LMP'S

• 1st Place: Charlie – 42.06 Laps (Best Lap: 8.150)
  
• 2nd Place: Joe – 39.56 Laps (Best Lap: 8.651)
  
• 3rd Place: Johnno – 39.55 Laps (Best Lap: 8.431)
  
• 4th Place: Jim – 38.46 Laps (Best Lap: 8.831)
  
• 5th Place: Warren – 36.36 Laps (Best Lap: 8.951)
  

Highlight: Charlie ended the night on top, putting up a blistering 42.06 total laps and setting the best lap of 8.150.
   
   

   

This week marks 20 years since the Slot Rally GB, a mad idea cooked up between Gareth Jex and me on the drive back from a slot rally in Abergavenny.


We had seen pictures of the great big Spanish events, rooms filled with slot car tracks, and decided to try to create the same thing here in the Britain.
I arranged the use of the Toyota offices (and more importantly, the facilities staff to help build and manage it) while Gareth did everything else.  His contacts from the exhibition stand business were called upon and invitations went out through the national slot car club (NSCC) asking for entries and, crucially, tracks and stages.  In the end we had 20 unique tracks, some made from track pieces others custom built.

Two notable tracks built for the event were the water splash and the hillclimb, a one-storey high track which was even used on the Toyota stand at Goodwood Festival of Speed.

We had 100 entries running over two days, the winners going home weighed down with boxes and boxes of slot car goodies donated as prizes by most of the slot car makers such as Scalextric.

It was a one off event, but it gave rise to the Slot Rally GB championship which is run at slot car clubs across the country to this day.  Appropriately, it is the Abergavenny round this weekend.

There's a nice summary and some of Gareth's pictures here: 2006 Slot Rally GB

And a 50min chat with Gareth about the background and making of the event : Slot Rally GB - how it all began

   

Our 2027 season equals this year's record of 33 events at the Barn, with exactly the same events on the calendar. There are some tweaks to the dates. The three WHO Digital GT Championship Wednesdays revert to the third Wednesday of the month, two weeks after the monthly HO race. The WHO Goodwood Revival returns to its usual slot in September, with the Digital Test Night moving back to a jam-packed August. Both July and August see four events at the Barn - another action-packed summer holiday programme, which has proved very popular over the past two years.

Race fees remain at £3 adults / £2 under-16s on Wednesday nights and £6 adults / £4 under-16s for the Digital Saturdays. The Slot Rally GB Championship event in July is hosted by the club - fees and regs will be publicised in due course by the Slot Rally GB organisers.

More details about our WHO Slot Rally, Scalextric Digital and HO scale formats and regulations for next season will follow very soon. 

Here's the 2027 WHO Racing Calendar as text...

1. Wednesday 6 January – WHO Mod & WHO Tuners – Round 1
   
2. Wednesday 13 January – Scalextric Digital – Nascar & Trans-Am
   
3. Wednesday 27 January – WHO Slot Rally – Winter Stages
   
4. Wednesday 3 February – WHO Nascar – Round 1
   
5. Wednesday 10 February – Scalextric Digital – Nascar & Trans-Am
   
6. Saturday 27 February - Scalextric Digital – WHO American Speed Fest
   
7. Wednesday 3 March – WHO Formula One – Round 1
   
8. Wednesday 17 March – Scalextric Digital – GT Championship Race 1
   
9. Wednesday 7 April – WHO Mod & WHO Tuners – Round 2
   
10. Wednesday 21 April – Scalextric Digital – GT Championship Race 2
    
11. Wednesday 28 April – WHO Slot Rally – Spring Stages
    
12. Wednesday 5 May – WHO Nascar – Round 2
    
13. Wednesday 19 May – Scalextric Digital – GT Championship Race 3
    
14. Wednesday 2 June – WHO Formula One – Round 2
    
15. Saturday 19 June – Scalextric Digital – GT Championship Race 4
    
16. Wednesday 7 July – WHO Mod & WHO Tuners – Round 3
    
17. Wednesday 14 July – Scalextric Digital – Nascar & Trans-Am
    
18. Saturday 24 July – Slot Rally GB Worthing Stages
    
19. Wednesday 28 July – WHO Slot Rally – Summer Stages
    
20. Wednesday 4 August – WHO Nascar – Round 3
    
21. Wednesday 11 August – Scalextric Digital – Nascar & Trans-Am
    
22. Wednesday 18 August – Scalextric Digital Test Night
    
23. Wednesday 25 August – WHO Slot Rally – Dakar Rally Raid
    
24. Wednesday 1 September – WHO Formula One – Round 3
    
25. Saturday 11 September – Scalextric Digital – WHO Goodwood Revival
    
26. Wednesday 6 October – WHO Mod & WHO Tuners – Round 4
    
27. Saturday 16 October – Scalextric Digital – WHO Birkett Six-Hour Relay
    
28. Wednesday 27 October – WHO Slot Rally – Autumn Stages
    
29. Wednesday 3 November – WHO Nascar – Round 4 + AGM
    
30. Saturday 13 November – Scalextric Digital – Tin Top Saturday
    
31. Wednesday 17 November – HO Test & Fun Night
    
32. Wednesday 1 December – WHO Formula One – Round 4
    
33. Saturday 11 December – Scalextric Digital – Tin Top Saturday
    

Any questions, just ask.

There may also be occasional Friday evening sessions at the Barn over the next year or two. We'd like these to be a chance to try out new stuff that club members want to share. Carrera Digital, 4-lane analogue and Carrera Hybrid are all possibilities - as is some 1/28 scale RC racing, the public debut of SlotNav (see here) and some slot car hill-climbing. Expect a flat £5 entry for these extra evenings.

I'm trying to find local groups or clubs in the North Orange County, California area. Anyone out there know of a way to find a list of either groups, clubs, or even tracks in my area. I've tried searching but I'm just not very good at it I guess. The only one I'm finding is Electric Dreams, which is a good distance from me. I'd appreciate any help on this.

Wanted: Scalextric or Carrera Formula E and/or (Scalextric) Jaguar i-Pace cars.
The don’t have to be pristine… missing wings, spoilers etc are no problem. All they have to do is drive. I live in Germany but I do have private contacts in the UK that might be able to be a middleman if that makes things easier.
Price?: As cheap as possible! :-D

We have been aware of some issues with the SlotRacer site for a while now, first with an unfeasible number of visitors to the site over the last few months, then with some of our regular members reporting problems logging in, and on top of that a recent outage. 

Unfortunately I couldn't find any problems, but the recent outage meant I could put in a request to our web hosts technical department, who got back to me today.

Quote:We have now examined the server logs in detail and identified what is happening.

What is actually happening is that your site is being crawled very heavily by automated software, and it is being caught in a loop that generates an effectively unlimited number of pages.

These are not real pages on your site, but because of the way the site is built, the server accepts them and runs the page code anyway. Each one appears to the crawler as a new page containing further links, so it follows them, and the process repeats without end. The result is a limitless supply of addresses for automated software to work through.

The scale of this is considerable. During the period you reported the site as unavailable on 24 August, our logs recorded over one million requests in a single hour. That is what caused the timeouts. The server was not down, it was simply unable to keep up.

This is still happening. Today the site is receiving around fifty thousand requests per hour, and just over 182,000 requests so far today are for these invalid addresses.

The traffic comes from a very large number of different internet addresses, with no single source standing out, so it cannot be resolved by blocking individual addresses.

Basically the site is being overloaded by automated software. For a site like ours, a low key site, to have a million hits in an hour is ridiculous. The purpose of it is unclear, but the effects seem obvious enough.

I will be making some changes over the next few days, as the tech team have suggested, but they are site wide permission changes so if they don't work as expected it could have some unexpected consequences. But, we don't have a choice, our regular members are being put off by log in problems, so....

Here we go.

I have come across the following vintage slot car kits: 
White Point Klassic Slot Cars 1/24 scale Porsche 908 Lola T70 Piper GT Volvo 144? Alpine A110 
LSRF 1/24 RTR Chassis 
Dream Slot Car GT 1/32 
Looking for a valuation of these kits.