Shipping from 17th August, latest Legends from Pioneer, green #44 and yellow #52 liveries:
   

Mahogany set up plates made by my father-in-law out of his next door neighbours old front door.

     

He managed to make 17 from the leftovers after he made us a nice round garden table!

I know Dave frequents here from time to time but I found his latest video very interesting.
I agree with many of his sentiments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1n816J1JM0

As someone who only played mildly with H0 cars in the 80's and came into the hobby in around 2013 I can't delve through years of memories and i didn't experience the "golden age" myself so getting his insight helps me focus on how best to increase the uptake of the hobby.

I have recently been allowed to go into our club as I please and guess what? Nearly every day I have free and my son has friend(s) over he wants to go slot racing.
When I got the run through on how the track worked I asked how to reduce the voltage and he stared at me for a minute and said "they have to learn to drive so we never do that"... needless to say I figured it out and I started them at 9 volts, then upped it to 10 and finally the 11 we normally race.

The had a blast. I expected to stay there 1 maybe 2 hours. We were there a full 5....!

It might have helped that we had done a tour of the Hockenheimring beforehand though. :-)

Hey folks,

Here in Canada the COVID-19 numbers are relatively low in most areas and the provincial governments having slowly been working through a staged re-opening to help manage the “curve”. Like most clubs, we have some older members and some folks who are more in that higher risk profile, so we have not done any racing since the end of February.

So as things slowly reopen, we are starting to look more closely at what racing could look and what safety protocols to put into place. For our club, it's all in members homes/basements, so that is going to be dependent on host comfort to start. 

But for those hosts who would be comfortable, we have traditionally not had big spaces to manage social distancing aspect even though we are around 10-12 members. Likewise, we have normally used the house controllers, but I suspect we will mandate people use their own. And I can foresee everyone requiring facemasks for sure, and possibly face shields in conjunction. 

I know of a US club that has restarted but only with a host class or IROC class supplied by the host with only the race director marshalling cars. That will not likely be practical for us. We have thought of using gloves to marshal but am finding out that is not a great option, as you'd need to constantly sanitize them - so we are likely thinking having hand sanitizer on hand and everyone re-upping the hand sanitizer after each heat in addition to using their own controllers and wearing facemasks.

That's as far as I've gotten, so am interested in hearing about what other club’s are either doing or may be planning for. 

Many thanks in advance!
Tom

After the two successful events in 2010 (as discussed in part 2) Pendle, Scale Models and Roger Barker put their heads together and decided that it would be sensible to combine their knowledge and efforts into staging one huge event the following year combining all the best elements of their predecessors.

First hurdle to overcome was finding suitable premises. The NSCC, Haynes and Brooklands events were too far south to attract people from the whole country while Brooklands and Donington shared a common disadvantage of being too small with much of the event being held in the open air. Fortunately they had all been blessed with fine weather but there was no guarantee this would continue and rain could prove disastrous.

Various options were explored including the Donington Exhibition Centre (centrally located but too expensive) and the NEC in Birmingham (astronomically expensive) before settling on the British Motor Museum at Gaydon, built on the site of a former RAF airfield in South Warwickshire, which was once home to the Rover Group's design, technology and testing ground. Plans were drawn up and construction began in 1991 for the new Heritage Motor Centre. Set in 65 acres of grounds, the centre provides exhibition and storage space for the collection of over 250 British Leyland vehicles and an archive of over 2 million photographs, business records, brochures and drawings. Over the years the collection has expanded to include to include all of the companies that have formed part of Britain's motor manufacturing history.

Personally I find the museum somewhat depressing as what it actually chronicles is the decline and fall of the once thriving British motor industry due to a combination of incompetent management, bolshie unions and government interference. When you look beyond the magnificent display of cars, view the rejected original designs of the genius Alex Issigonis and read how he was eventually sidelined to working in a garden shed it makes you want to weep. However, there is no denying the appeal of the museum as a whole with over 300 classic cars on display at any one time.
       
Gaydon really ticked all the boxes:
It is centrally located with motorway access from the M40 close by. Obviously a long way from Scotland, the frozen North and the cream tea counties but within reasonable traveling distance of the most densely populated part of the country.

It has a very large exhibition and conference space on the first floor complete with good catering facilities.

There are well organised access points for exhibitors to bring in their equipment.

Massive free parking space.

Plentiful accommodation to suit all budgets in the surrounding area.

The museum is a draw in its own right. Organisers realised right from the early days that there weren't enough truly committed slot car enthusiasts to support a very large show on their own and you had to appeal to families on a day out to swell the numbers. All previous events had utilised the appeal of real motor cars combined with plenty of free to play tracks and other attractions to bring in the crowds.

It was affordable! Visitors are actually paying for entry to the museum itself with the slot car festival as a free bonus. The museum keeps all the entry fees so hire charges are very much reduced.

Many months of work followed as all the various aspects were put in place but finally, after years of experimentation the very first proper UKSF arrived:  
Sunday 22nd May 2011 UK Slot Car Festival, Heritage Motor Centre Gaydon
The quantity and variety of the exhibits was truly mind boggling:

Actual manufacturers present were:
Slot.it - Maurizio Ferrari
Avant Slot - Alberto Ranz & Beatriz Santiago
NSR - Salvatore Noviello & Giovanni Montiglio
Scalextric - Adrian Norman
Ortmann - Michael Ortmann
Classic Slot - John Heywood
GT Models - George Turner
Slot Track Scenics - David Jessett
Tarn Model Foundry - Lawrence Attrill
Tru-Speed - Steve Hills

Other manufacturers were represented by their distributors with samples / test tracks & literature available:
BRM
Carrera
Cartrix
DS Racing
D-Slot 43
Fly
MRRC
MSC
Racer
Scaleauto
SCX
Sloting Plus
Speed ISS
Team Slot

There was a huge swapmeet with at least 30 traders tables.

The major slot car clubs had a significant presence with information and free to play tracks:
NSCC (National Scalextric Collectors Club)
SLN (Dutch Collectors Club)
BRSCA (British Slot Car Racing Association)
EAHORC (English Association of HO racing clubs)

Publications present at the event:
Slot Car Magazine
Slot Racer Magazine
Car on Line (Germany)
NSCC
Racer Magazine

Presentations by:
David Jessett - Slot Track Scenics
Dave Chang - Car Set Up & Basic Tuning
Riko Rocket - Digital

A slot car auction was held by Astons.

All this plus more slot car tracks and demonstrations than you could shake a stick at! It was virtually impossible to get round everything in one day.

Of course, being a new venture, there were some teething problems, primarily due to a lack of signage and the museums inability to process the entry in a timely fashion which led to queues of more than hour to get in. The swapmeet was also extremely crowded but overall the event was a huge success and the small niggles were easily sorted out in successive years.

By 2014 the festival had expanded into a two day event and the rest, as they say, is history. It has been refined each year with different aspects added and is now the premier slot car event in Europe with average attendance around the 5000 mark. It was sadly missed in this virus blighted year but should be back next year bigger and better. Sean and his fellow organisers are to be congratulated for their foresight and dedication to the cause. Way back in 2005 Gareth Jex and the NSCC committee had no idea what would eventually emerge from that first tentative venture. Truly, from little acorns.................

The events from 2012 onwards have been adequately covered elsewhere so I don't need to give a full run down on them. There are plenty of YouTube videos available, the NSCC Journal always carries a report and there is a dedicated section on SFI about each one LINK. Unfortunately the continued disintegration of the SFI software combined with the incompetence of its commercial owners has led to the disappearance of large parts of the photo content but there is still plenty to read.

I hope you have enjoyed this trip down memory lane and perhaps I shall see you at the 2021 UKSF. To finish, here is a photo montage of the 2011 show provided by the NSCC. How many faces do you recognise? 

Part 2 The seeds begin to sprout
As mentioned in part 1 no major events were held in 2007/8 but Pendle Slot Racing had a trade stall at the NSCC events and had been very impressed by them so Sean's mind started to turn to organising one himself. In 2009 he put together a one day event at Brooklands Motor Museum in Surrey. Like the NSCC shows it would include trade stands, lots of tracks to race on plus the the superb historic racing surroundings of the museum itself.

16th August 2009 Brooklands Museum Slot Racing Festival
This one included:
Drag Racing strip under Concorde    
Brooklands era scratch built slot race in the historic chequered flag room        
Phil Smith's concours winning Morgan 3 wheeler       

Scalextric hillclimb up the actual Brooklands one            

Lots of other race tracks and attractions.             

The NSCC organised a large swapmeet with the trade stands in the original pit buildings while Pendle's and Scalextric looked after the other attractions.

Totally unexpected though was a phone call from a TV company who were producing a series called Toy Stories. It was going to be presented by BBC Top Gear’s James May with each episode focusing on different toys with a set challenge. They wanted to re-create the original Brooklands circuit on the same day as the Slot Car Festival. In the process of doing this, it would also be the longest ever Scalextric track in the world.

Inevitably the event was a huge success with enormous crowds and Weybridge almost gridlocked with the queue of cars waiting to get in, largely down to the lure of the TV Cameras and James May.


23rd May 2010 Donington Park Slot Car Festival
Things really started to take off in 2010. Mark and Julie of Scale Models had also been present at the previous events and teamed up with Roger Barker to run one at the Donington F1 car museum. It used a similar formula and again was successful in attracting a large crowd around the 2000 mark.
   
The Scalextric roadshow was again in attendance    
A crowded swapmeet    
Bicycle powered slot cars were a novel addition    
The NSCC had their own marquee        
First appearance of a slot car auction    
Slot Track Scenics with their new fencing kit    
All the attractions of the F1 museum as a bonus    



10th/11th July 2010 Haynes Motor Museum International Model Motor Show
Not strictly a slot car festival and largely forgotten but this was another small step towards the modern UKSF. It covered all forms of model car racing - slots, die-cast, R/C etc at the Haynes Motor Museum in Somerset.

The slot car content consisted of:
A 24 hour team race using 1/24 BRM cars        
A round of the BSCRA National Championship    
A classic retro race
Drag strip
H:O race
Diesel powered rail racing
Swapmeet

Unfortunately, despite support from Pendle and MRE, attendance was very low because Haynes made a major cock up with the date. It clashed with the soccer World Cup Final, the British Grand Prix and, most importantly, the Yeovilton air show very nearby which attracted 40,000 visitors. The surrounding roads were gridlocked and many people just gave up trying to get to the show and went home. Very few photos of this event survive but the August 2010 issue of the NSCC Journal has a small report on it.

8th August 2010 Brooklands Museum Slot Racing Festival
Pendle's returned to Brooklands in 2010 with a similar event to the previous year and even without the lure of James May, the event attracted around 2000 visitors and it was considered a success.
Scalextric in attendance as usual    
Swapmeet as usual       
Diesel rail cars first seen at the Haynes show        
Plenty of tracks to play on                
SCX off road layout    
Pioneer showcase layout    

All photos courtesy of the NSCC who retain the copyright. Further information can be found in back issues of their journal:  September 2009, June 2010 and September 2010.

As 2010 drew to a close most of the elements were now in place for the birth of the full blown UKSF in 2011 which is covered in part 3. HERE

I've been trawling through hundred of fonts, so far without success. I thought I recognised the script but although I have something close, it ain't exact.
 
If anyone knows what Cummins used or just recognises the font I would be very pleased to know what it is
   

I appreciate that it will have been signwritten but I would expect them to use the company font. Theproblem is finding that as the modern one is very different.

Anyone know a source for a rear crash bar/tail light unit for a Fly Sisu truck, or have a spare to sell please?

Hello all.

Policar track has stainless steel type rails and is therefore difficult to join wiring to with soldering.  This difficulty has long been a challenge for users of Carrera track who want to use club-style controller wiring in lieu of the standard powerbase.  The work-around typically comes in two forms and these work for Policar as well:
1 - Stuff bared wire in underneath the rails
2 - Use DS wiring clips (DS-0092)

Leo

Pictures tell a thousand words:

Bared end folded back on itself - use a substantial thickness of wire
   

Inserted under the rail
   

DS Clip details
   

Recently completed a routed MDF track of Watkins Glen using original engineering drawings when the track was modified in the early 1970's for the US Grand Prix.  All the routed turn radius and elevations are taken directly from the drawings and scaled down to fit my basement space.  I race with the Interstate Home Slot Racing (IHSR) club.