Well, we packed the Barn out good and proper! 38 racers is a record for a WHO slot rally event and only bettered by two Scalextric World Championship extravaganzas in 2014 & 2015. Thankfully there was a steady breeze through the hall, which kept temperatures really rather reasonable for the time of year.
Terry took money and I booked people in until we had six groups of six racers, plus Dave the dog. Oliver and myself would do the Seb & Alan double act during the day - entering data and jumping on any free stages when we could. But for the first hour, we just enjoyed watching everyone get cracking with the competitive action...
Unbeknown to me, our WHO maintenance crew hadn't powered up the stages at 9am and they remained that way until groups were ready for timed runs. That meant almost no practice - which is the WHO way for slot rally club nights, but wasn't our intention for this day. Still, there didn't appear to be (m)any complaints. And once on the stages, competitors were encouraged to minimise any warm-up to at most one lap.
The new Targa Florio class had only even entries, so this was a very rally-focused event - 49 cars in 80s/90s, 45 in Modern and 41 in Classic (19 of them SRC Porsche 914s). That made it 146 cars in total, quite a few of the local Worthing racers sticking to their usual three club night entries.
As always, there was a wonderful variety of models on show. The Avant Slot Yaris has been joined by a fair few Scaleauto Škoda Fabias, making Modern a genuinely modern class. There were a good smattering of SCX and Scalextric models too, either running as standard or with a 3D chassis...
The action in the hall was relentless and lunch breaks brief - groups having to get through eight stages (Ford Ice Rink was run twice) before the end of the day and journeys home. There were groups from further west along the coast, with the drives from Portsmouth and Bournemouth very manageable. The furthest to travel was Gareth, who'd made the trip from north Wales, and was the only Whitchurch Slot Rally Club representative at this round. Others had the prospect of a trip round the M25, possibly better on a Saturday than a Sunday?
Oliver and me were getting used to our data collection duties, grabbing time sheets when we could and figuring out the most efficient ways to input the times to the spreadsheet. And then there was remembering to set our own stage times - jumping on for a quick blast round. It was interesting racing as a pair. There was no waiting around, the adrenaline hit was quick and focused - and only having a sighter lap with our first car helped with that too. The downside was that we didn't get to 'learn' the new stages through watching other people's mistakes, only by making our own errors.
Jeremy's Friston Forest was glorious and the reduced visibility increased the challenge of the stage. A quick recce on foot was a good idea, which I will remember for future events. The Burpham & Wepham stage was also proving to be a nice addition - quick at the drivers' end, but very tricky after the downhill section. The real-life roads are definitely worth a drive, ending with a pint in
The George at Burpham and maybe a walk through the surrounding countryside.
As usual, there were a few technical glitches, but these were mostly resolved. The Ninco N-Scorer on the Ice Rink was a real pain... Thankfully Neil had one of his new timers with him and this worked like clockwork for the afternoon. A similar unit is being ordered...
The Ice Rink was the pinch point of the afternoon. Left idle for much of the morning, groups needed to complete the stage twice - and although the track time was about half of some stages, it's all that fiddling around with controllers and braids that caused delays. However, running the Super Special twice did allow drivers new to the delights of the stage to improve their times and maximise the fun. And everyone seemed to enjoy their chats and downtime while they waited for the final two groups to finish - very few people left early.
And so, within a few minutes of the final time card being handed in to Rally HQ, the results were ready.
First was the Targa Florio class, which saw 3.79 seconds cover the top three...
(You might want to click on these results tables to make them readable)
Huge congratulations to Adrian on a mighty win with his NSR Lola...
Next was the Modern class...
A comfortable win for Gareth and his Scaleauto Peugeot 208, but a most welcome runner-up spot for my Ninco Subaru, just ahead of Martin's NSR Abarth Punto...
It was another win for Gareth in 80s/90s...
Gareth's SRC Lancia Delta S4 blew everyone else away in this class, Martin's Avant Slot Ferrari 308 second and Steve M's Avant Manta third...
The quickest class this time was Classic - the top two also first and second overall...
A gap of just 0.46 of second, giving Oliver a famous victory on home soil. Gareth was second and WHO racer Mike third - all three with SRC Porsche 914s...
All these results have been officially authenticated by SRGB HQ in Abergavenny. I will add an overall result in due course.
Massive thanks to everyone who came along and made it such an excellent day of slot rally competition on the south coast. Special thanks goes to Neil for bringing Snow Blind along as a guest stage. Help with setting up and packing away was much appreciated, as always!
If anyone wants to pop back to Worthing, we have a WHO Slot Rally club night on Wednesday 29 July and our first Dakar Rally Raid fun night on Wednesday 26 August. Both run over four stages and entry is £3 per person for the whole evening (£2 for under-16s).
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