[PaulCooper]

            Finally Concourse podiums

[Graham]

 Good morning, many thanks to Paul for posting up the winner Team photos.

Each winner and runners up of the classes will receive a Gold, Silver or Bronze engraved medal with Vouchers provided by Pendle Slot Racing, these will be sent directly by email to the recipient (saving on paper printing etc). Additionally Mountain View Racing will receive the Le Mans Cars Trophy and vouchers, and the runners up Teams will receive vouchers also. And finally, the "George Turner"  Maserati 151 Le Mans 1964 model kit will also be on its way to Mountain View Racing for their superbly presented 3 cars which was voted on by the entrants. The runners up will each receive a voucher from Amato Slot Car Design.

   

So almost a clean sweep by Mountain View Racing, I know that Paul put a lot of time and effort into preparing his Teams cars, so I think it was well deserved, and it was his first slot car winning event.

After a short break I will give my verdict on the Le Mans Cars Event overall.

Many thanks again to our generous sponsors

Sponsors
Pendle Slot Racing  www.pendleslotracing.co.uk
George Turner Models  www.georgeturnermodels.com
Amato Slot Car Design

[Graham]

 Finally the verdict

Overall I feel entirely satisfied with the direction and the character to which this event took.
I would like to thank again all those who participated as entrants, Clubs and individuals to make this a challenging, interesting and rewarding proxy event.
And of course the support of our loyal Sponsors who provided us with the event prizes, which is very welcome bonus for those who worked hard and provided the winning cars.

So I will not be throwing in the towel any time soon 

This year we initially had the Road Race which was very enjoyable, but very much a pioneering thing for me having never organised a slot cars event before. There was some flaws however, it was not a good idea putting the GT40's up against the Ford Cortina's etc. And the scoring system generated a big advantage to the class front runners which soon became a insurmountable mountain to climb for the rest of the field. So for the Le Mans Proxy I think these two issues were resolved.

For the Le Mans Cars event I particularly wanted the cars to run with lights, to me Le mans is not a race without nighttime and lights. I had thought to make lights mandatory requirement for all classes, but thought that was a step too far, but certainly having the "no lights penalty" had a motivating effect 

In reality we only had 9 cars running without lights of the 40 running, but sadly for them they incurred the dreaded penalty, which I did not like applying, but to be fair to those who persevered was I think entirely justified. I had initially proposed not awarding any points to the cars without lights, but changed that to half points at the last minute which was reasonable compromise.

More thoughts  after lunch.........

[Graham]

Although the date was set for the Le Mans event after the Road Race, and interested parties were consulted and reminded either directly by email and by posting here, I was kind of surprised that later on near to the deadline so many entrants were taken by surprise, thinking that it was still some time away. So its made me think that some kind of Calendar of the schedule might be a good idea, and especially as I am now proposing 3 proxy events for next year. I will generate this under the umbrellar of the "Triple Crown " thread. Also I think maybe having 3 events following on from each other might also be good to keep entrants up to date with the overall timetable. 
As a consequence of the above issue, I found that the number of entrants dropped from 20 to 14 as people struggled to prepare their cars in time, however that did have a positive side which was that my expectation of running a total of 60 cars was reduced to 40 cars which on reflection is more than enough for hosts to cope with. So this will be the limit for next year.

Additionally this also gave me the impression that for many entrants the prospect of preparing 3 cars was too much, who are now busy at club events or back at work after the restrictions of the covid have lifted (Thank goodness). So for next year there will be only 2 cars allowed, but I will keep the 4 class format, so that the odds of a entrant winning a class or the event Trophy are increased.

Finally the variation in hosting was very welcome, something I had not expected was the willingness of clubs to participate in Proxy related events. I am really gratified that South Manchester, NERCS and Woodland Fort (not the North one) were willing to give up their time and twist a few of their members arms into the bargain. I really don't know how to thank them enough, and the fact that they are all wanting to endure the pain again next year is really gratifying. I allowed them all to run their hosting "as they thought fit" was again another plus point as this gave variations on the results which were unexpected. Woodland Fort even sacrificed one of their normal race nights in order to involve their whole club in a "Le Mans Proxy night", even though they were not actually entering the competition itself. I have to take my hat off to them. Truly wonderful stuff, and great support.

As a result it has generated interest from other parties/ clubs willing to participate next year, so the possibility exists of extending the Proxy event a little longer, maybe over 2 months instead of the current 1 month events of this year. The only downside of this will be that more venues mean higher postal costs which need to be recovered in the entrance fees. But I am sure this can be kept in proportion, the events which I run are "not for profit" and after purchasing the medals etc, they just about break even. The prizes are of course up to our sponsors generosity and are not something we can depend on for the future, but they are very welcome enhancement to the events when we get offered them.

So finally "THANK YOU ALL"

And I hope some will be interested to participate next year, details will follow in the "Triple Crown" Thread.

RoadRace Administrator
Graham

[Graham]

 Morning,

just to let you know that some cars are packed and will be posted today, the others will be packaged and sent on Monday. 
Medal winners will receive their awards with the cars, and their Pendle Slot Car vouchers will be sent by email. 
The runners up of the Best Presented Team will receive their Amato Slot Car Design card vouchers with their cars.