Great North Slot Race
This Sunday at Raceway 81 at Birtley.
Doors open at 8.30am
Racing starts at 11am.
1 minute F1 sprint race
2 minute heats for Saloon
3 minute heats for Sports / GT

Let me know if you are attending please.

Gerry

The annual digital Bathurst 1000 was held on 11/10/25 (Bathurst weekend) on Col’s digital Bathurst track in Bundaberg Queensland. Running the Scorpius wireless system, all cars and rms performed without any glitches or issues. All cars bar Maddog were Nsr cars fitted with Scorpius decoders. Maddog ran a modified slot it. We ran a fuel race with very light fuel burn and ultra quick refuelling to be sure the race was not lost in the pits. A great race with a lot of self imposed pressure, it was a nice temperature at race start and sweaty as hell at race end.
https://youtu.be/L4erkHTdV2g

Since Bathurst is on right now thought it would be a good opportunity to share what I have started on my bench now.

Dick Johnson Tru-Blu XD Falcon and Jim Richards BMW635csi.

$&#%!!!

A day in the life of a tech developer
So John took 4 weeks off to go to Canada and on return I sent him the MPDV5 decoders. Testing was going ok until John went to test some 3.3V circuits only to find they didn’t work. However all the 5V circuits worked fine.

It took a lot of detective work. The components we’re talking about are 0201 which are 0.06x0.03mm.
Too small to remove and replace. Even for a pro. 

John used a macro lens to photograph the components but the numbers are not clear or missing. The part concerned is a resistor.

Anyway by comparing outputs of various sub circuits between MPDV4 and MPD5 John was able to deduce one of the components was incorrectly loaded into the pick n place baskets the robots use. Factory error. V4 worked fine.

However the factory is not convinced  and they also cannot see the part number. Hmmmm.
Looks like Scorpius will have to take the hit and move forward. So onto another rapid prototype company and wait 4 weeks.
Will it affect time frames? A little. Cost so far 6 hours. 
Overall we can keep busy for 4 weeks doing a heap of firmware work using MPDV4 so no it won’t affect us overall. Phew!

The cost? 20 prototypes? That’s life. That’s development. 86 parts are on the MPD and 85 were correct. Fail.

However, positive thinking:
Every error, once recognised is a step closer to completion. And that’s how you have to look at it.

Any hey there’s 2 tweaks I thought of so why not take advantage of a bad situation and get these added in now.
And we brightened the rear lights up on V4 but it’s still needs to go a fraction brighter so let’s take advantage once again and get that upgraded while we’re at it.

Another season of racing has begun for the core T32 group. Some classes will be raced every time we meet. Points will be awarded for these classes. Other classes will rotate through as usual.

Up first were a group of scratch build cars created from static Arii kits. Everyone chose to use matching aluminum chassis, and a 16k Pendle slimline motor. Any gear. Any wheel and tire can be used. A total of ten chassis were made for the group.

   

Only 5 racers were able to make it out. Some were on vacation. Other racers called in sick. Old age sucks. Here are the Datsuns. Points awarded for this class. Some cars still need to be completed (Mine. Oops).

   

Another scratch built class for this year are the Watson Indy 500 front motor cars. Every car must mount the motor up front, and use a drive shaft. 16K Pendle slimline motors again. Our new favourite slow motor. RS Slot wheels (thanks again, Colin). Urethane tires. Any gear. Points awarded for this class.

   

Up next was our regular Trans Am class. RTR cars with upgraded wheels/tires/gears. Nice looking muscle.

   

The last class to race was RevoSlot GT. Box stock with urethane tires. A fun class to race.

   

Thank you very kindly for looking.
Ken

Just got this and wondered if anyone could tell me what make it is ?   body and chassis both marked as made in Italy

An invitation was sent out to a group of friends. 5-racers were able to attend.

The evening kicked off with Trans Am class.

   

Up next was Group C.

   

Then 70's GP.

   

The last class to race was LeMans 22K.

   

Here are a few pics of the track.

   
   

We thank our host for another fun event, and look forward to the next race.

Thank you very kindly for looking,
Ken

   

The real-life Birkett Relay is a fabulously quirky format and arguably the biggest annual event on the UK motorsport calendar in terms of cars and drivers...



The WHO Birkett Relay format is a simplified version that allows us to run six different classes during the day, with all six teams in with a shout of the Handicap win...

   

Here are the teams for 2025, with Mike's Maximus Gastropodus replacing Terry's Laps in Concentration...

   

And these are the six classes we'll be running...

   

Each hour is a separate 57 minute race in RCS64. When the power is cut, each team's car is replaced where it stops by their car for the next hour.

The first running of the WHO Birkett Relay used a Silverstone-inspired track, but we made the decision to run a new track each year and giving us six-hours to learn and maybe master it. For 2025, Simon has worked on this layout, based on the Monaco street circuit...

   

Like our other Digital Saturdays, this event is not for beginners - we do ask that all racers have successfully completed at least one Wednesday evening Nascar team race & Legends pairs race.

Hi,I would like to announce that My website Bernards Slot car Museum is back up after several years of being down. Please visit ,its the largest rail and slot car site in the world. Enjoy !