Although Pete has wrapped up the club championship, it's all to play for in the race for the F1 title...

   

Pete leads Darren by just 30 points, with 160 for a win and 130 for second. Should Darren and Pete finish 1-2, Darren would grab the trophy having won more races. It would be a third title for either racer, Darren's last one coming in 2013.

We'll be racing on a new layout, loosely based on the Rattlesnake Raceway in Texas, the test track of Jim Hall's Chaparral team...

   

Doors open at 6.15pm for practice, with the F1 heats beginning just before 7. We aim to finish by 9.30. Entry is £3 for adults and £2 for under-16s. We ask that all racers aged 13 and under bring a responsible adult with them.

I figured I should start a build thread for this new project, I think someone might be interested in it.

This is a "heavy" body that Fola makes and is intended to just paint and run. I however, want to make a car that resembles something Michael Niemas would make, and thus will need to perform surgery to achieve the finish I want to achieve. It's going to take a lot of work and will take a lot of time for epoxy work, sanding, shaping, more epoxy, etc...
Here's what I received in the original box, along with some new paints I ordered.
   

I thought the chassis comes with axles, bearings and other bits to make a complete running chassis, but I was mistaken. I didn't realize my last car from Fola had all the parts because he created a kit for me, so I placed another order for all the parts that were missing.

I started cutting out the body and shaping the wheel arches
   

I started building the chassis to get the wheel fitment, and drew in the front door arches that I need to create. You can see the outer layer of body I removed because it wasn't adhered to the weave underneath - that's happened all over the car and essentially has "bubbles" that I need to fill and fix
       

This car has been on my radar ever since the 1969 movie "The Italian Job". They threw one of these off a cliff right at the start of the movie. Reports say the driver car in the movie survived. The car thrown off the cliff was already pre-wrecked in an accident.

The kit was originally molded in red.

   

The car in the movie was orange. So the body was painted.

   

A custom chassis was made.

   

It has a Cyclone 21.5k motor with 11/36 gears. The car still needs a few details to complete like tail light lenses, the rocker panels and side scoop painted silver, etc. But it runs well.

   
   
   

Thank you very kindly for looking,
Ken

Every once in a while our small group of friends races the larger scale cars. We had 5-racers and 4-classes.

1/24 is rather new to the group, so you can run a placeholder if you don't have the right car for a specific class yet. New cars take time and money to build. It's good to be patient with these things.

Up first were the scratch built Boulevard Cruisers. Full size family cars. Lots of fender rubbing with this class. They barely fit the track. That's the best part.

An open class. Run whatever motor/gears you want.

   
   

Someone figured out that the BRM Group-2 cars also fit on a 1/32 track. These cars are a lot of fun. They run really well. A stock class with urethane tires.

   
   

Then came the scratch built Muscle Car class (American cars). Another completely open class.

   
   

The last class to race is also the newest class on the board. It's called "Street Imports". Cyclone 21.5k motor restriction. Any gears. A few unfinished cars made it to the track. Some still had wet paint. Others no paint at all. Everyone seems to like this class right out of the gate. There is a buzz to build some new cars going around the neighbourhood.

   
   

Thank you very kindly for looking.
Ken

The names were blocked to protect the innocent, the guilty, and even those sitting on the fence.

I came in last. But, had a blast! 

   

Our December Tin Top Saturday is the final event of the year at the Barn. Expect lots of great action, plus a festive vibe with decorations, Christmas jumpers, mince pies and plenty of chocolate.

Approximate timings are:

10.00 - Doors open + practice
10.45 - Group A team race - Gold drivers lead the six teams
11.30 - BTCC Qualifying and Race One - success ballast based on championship positions
13.00 - Lunch + practice
13.30 - BTCC Race Two - grid & success ballast based on Race One result
14.15 - Carrera Classic Nascar
14.45 - BTCC Race Three - partially reversed grid will pole-sitter picked by random
15.30 - Muscle Car Mondiale - heats & shoot-out races
16.30 - Prizegiving

If we have time, the plan is to try a variation with the Muscle Car Mondiale shoot-outs - having two or even three 5-minute races to end the day.

As is becoming a tradition, we end the season on Mike's NerdBarnRing...

   


Entry is £6 adults, £4 under-16s for the full day of racing. This is not a suitable event for Digital newbies and we do ask that racers have at least one Nascar & Legends evening under their belts. No club cars are available.

I was just perusing the Slot.it section of the PSR website and I noticed that they have got a whole load of old cars back in stock for the first time in a while...so lots of Group C cars along with some GTs. Prices are slightly elevated compared to current models, but thought it was worth highlighting.

I have no connection with Pendles, other than having them on speed dial on my credit card!

   

We're back with more events in 2025, including a round of the Slot Rally GB Championship...

• WHO Winter Stages: Wednesday 22 January
  
• WHO Spring Stages: Wednesday 30 April
  
• Slot Rally GB Worthing: Saturday 19 July
  
• WHO Summer Stages: Wednesday 23 July
  
• WHO Autumn Stages: Wednesday 22 October
  

We'll keep and tweak the five stages used in 2024 - Friston Forest, Ilex/Sea Lane, Jupps Farm, Titnore Lane and the Ford Ice Rink. We aim to add more stages, with Mike and Phil making plans for Scalextric Sport and Ninco stages and Scott murmuring about bringing some Carrera. There's also a routed version of a  local airfield stage on the drawing board.

We will adhere to the Slot Rally GB regulations, although staying with just the three main classes and we continue to celebrate the top box-stock Scalextric and SCX runners, of which we have quite a few. Club cars and controllers will be available on all the stages.

A pdf brochure including the dates, regs, classes and some top tips can be downloaded here

The 2025 Slot Rally GB calendar looks very manageable for us...

• Sunday 23 March - Oxford Scalextric Club,  Ramsden Memorial Hall, Ramsden, OX7 3AU
  
• Sunday 1 June -Farnborough Park Scalextric Club, St. Peter’s School, 60 Church Avenue,Farnborough, GU14 7AP
  
• Sunday 22 June - Nascot Wood Slot Car Club,  Margaret Wix Primary School, High Oaks, St Albans AL3 6EL
  
• Saturday 19 July - Worthing HO Racing, English Martyrs Catholic Church Hall, Goring Way,Goring-By-Sea, BN12 4UE
  
• Sunday 7 September - Abergavenny Slot Rally  Club, Abergavenny Community Centre,  Merthyr Road, Abergavenny NP7 5BY
  

There's a championship registration fee of £5 to score points. Entry is £4 per car at each event. Details of a one make/model class to replace the SCX & Scalextric classes will follow.

So who's up for all nine dates at WHO and Slot Rally GB next year?

after weeks of practice...finally a photo of which I can say...this is starting to look like it...you all know my great role model in this. Doug Johnson...that man makes beautiful photos truly art.
Since I don't have gear like a professional and don't have expensive subscriptions to expensive Adobe software, I had to rely on many hours of YouTube, learning how Gimp works and other tricks.
a lot led to frustration... Gimp has a very difficult learning curve, and light can become your biggest enemy with photography.
However, you learn how to take photographs from every session.step by step.

This is my very first slot car track with scenery that I have built. I fulfilled this childhood desire during the first Lockdown. At the age of 10 I received a Fleischmann slot car set as a gift from my parents. My favourite periods in motorsport are the 60s and 70s, which is why I have tried to recreate that atmosphere in 1/32nd. scale.
This is my very first slot car track with scenery that I have built. I fulfilled this childhood desire during the first Lockdown. At the age of 10 I received a Fleischmann slot car set as a gift from my parents. My favourite periods in motorsport are the 60s and 70s, which is why I have tried to recreate that atmosphere in 1/32nd. scale.

Not sure if this is the right section but it's as close as I can find.
I'm sure I am not alone but I have just had an OMG moment.

I've been slot car-ing since 2011 and have put up with rattle cans and brushes the whole time, getting frustrated by the results, thinking, "one day I must get an airbrush".
Always been hesitant as I always thought .... must be hard to use, they are a bit expensive, what if I get a cheap one and its shite and it puts me off, what if I get an expensive one and I can't use it to its potential and it puts me off, what about paint .... and so on.

In fact I had never even seen one used in real life.

I have a car I'm building that I really want to look super and so I watched a few vids and read up on airbrushing, some of the info sounded like, you really need to do this or it'll be stuffed or you really need to be careful or it'll be stuffed or you really need to ... or it'll be stuffed ... so on.
It all sounded like it would take me weeks possibly months to practice and master.

BOY WAS I WRONG.

Picked up a Neoeco off Aliexpress for $82AU, it sat on my workbench for a few days, I didn't even open the box.

Tonight though I plucked up enough courage (yes wimpy in this respect) to have a crack.

WHY, OH WHY, DID I NOT DO THIS 10 YEARS AGO.

It is amazing and so easy to use, I will not say master as it is my first try and it was a flood fill job, after a bit of practice on a piece of paper.
But I painted a trial body black and it came out smooth as a babies bottom using Tamiya paint and thinning with water, the thinners/retardant are on order.

OMF'nG MOMENT COMPLETE.

Onwards to master this thing.