UK Slot Car Festival Part 2 - green shoots - Printable Version

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UK Slot Car Festival Part 2 - green shoots - CMOTD - 10th-Aug-20

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[attachment=7933]
Brooklands era scratch built slot race in the historic chequered flag room[attachment=7936][attachment=7937]
Phil Smith's concours winning Morgan 3 wheeler[attachment=7938]  

Scalextric hillclimb up the actual Brooklands one[attachment=7934][attachment=7939]   

Lots of other race tracks and attractions.[attachment=7931][attachment=7935]    

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.
[attachment=9467]
The Scalextric roadshow was again in attendance[attachment=7940]
A crowded swapmeet[attachment=7941]
Bicycle powered slot cars were a novel addition[attachment=7942]
The NSCC had their own marquee[attachment=7943][attachment=7944]
First appearance of a slot car auction[attachment=7945]
Slot Track Scenics with their new fencing kit[attachment=7946]
All the attractions of the F1 museum as a bonus[attachment=7947]



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[attachment=7975][attachment=7977]
A round of the BSCRA National Championship[attachment=7976]
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[attachment=7969]
Swapmeet as usual[attachment=7970]  
Diesel rail cars first seen at the Haynes show[attachment=7978][attachment=7972]
Plenty of tracks to play on[attachment=7979][attachment=7980][attachment=7981][attachment=7982]
SCX off road layout[attachment=7973]
Pioneer showcase layout[attachment=7974]

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

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RE: UK Slot Car Festival Part 2 - green shoots - Anthony B - 10th-Aug-20

Once again - outstanding report Brian!!!

Thank you

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RE: UK Slot Car Festival Part 2 - green shoots - rallyhub - 10th-Aug-20

Brian, thank you for your splendid report of the chronological run-up to an unique event, what the UK Slot Car Festival is, for sure.
Next year, we hope to be back in Gaydon.

rallyhub

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RE: UK Slot Car Festival Part 2 - green shoots - DPJ - 12th-Aug-20

WOW!! What fun that must've been! Any idea who makes the carbon fiber bodies on those gorgeous rail cars??? They look amazing!

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