22nd-Jul-19, 02:46 PM
The eleventh running of the AFX 6 Hours took place this weekend at Pinewood Raceway in Berkshire. Six teams battled for the win, using hand-out AFX Mega-G+ rolling chassis provided by Racemasters and silicone tyres provided by SuperTires. Among the drivers were members of HO, 1/32 and 1/24 clubs - including a team from the hosts. The layout has been the same for most of the ten previous meetings - a six lane AFX HO track laid on top of the Pinewood 1/24 wooden track...
Teams provided their own body shells for the cars and - for the first time - all six cars featured custom paint schemes on either the AFX Peugeot 908 HDi or the new AFX Audi R18...
An hour on each lane and some lanes more tricky than others, means it is a while until the pattern of the race settles down. After the first hour, firm favourites Larkfield were back in third place, 23 laps behind Undisputed Era - one of the two teams from Four Lane Blacktop and featuring dad Marc and sons Henry and Louis. It had been a really close sixty minutes of racing with the top five separated by just 34 laps - unfortunately locals Pinewood were still adjusting to the small cars and were back in sixth place.
Marc, Louis and Henry still led after two hours, although both HONK (HO North Kent) and Larkfield had made up some ground. Their advantage was 20 laps over Larkfield and 21 over HONK. The second Four Lane Blacktop team - EN-FLBT - were a further 15 laps back in fourth and Pinewood had overhauled the Worthing team by three laps for fifth. The Worthing team included four AFX 6 hour rookies - Oliver, Ryan, Matthew and Terry - who only started slot car club racing in 2017 via WHO's AFX club car championship.
The third hour was an impressive one for Larkfield, Elliot driving superbly in white lane to put his team five laps ahead of Undisputed Era at the halfway point. HONK were still in the mix 21 laps back and 14 ahead of EN-FLBT. Pinewood now had a ten lap advantage over Worthing in the battle to avoid the wooden spoon...
The AFX Mega-G+ cars were running extremely reliably so far with a minimal amount of maintenance - mostly routine stops to clean tyres, occasional pick-up cleaning and some lubrication. The fourth hour was another very close one, Larkfield again finishing ahead, but this time only five laps ahead of HONK. Second to fifth were covered by 13 laps. The top four positions stayed the same - at the back, Worthing had a very good hour leaping ahead of Pinewood by 34 laps.
The penultimate hour saw Larkfield eke out a few more laps to stretch their lead over Undisputed Era to fifteen. EN-FLBT were the stars of the hour and moved into third, three laps ahead of HONK. The drama also continued at the bottom, Pinewood fighting back and leading Worthing by 8 laps. Going into the final 60 minutes, Larkfield and Worthing made quick pits stops to try and find a little more pace, but would it pay off?
Larkfield and Undisputed Era put up their best drivers for a fabulous final hour. The west country trio had a magnificent run in red, finishing nine laps ahead of Larkfield, but that wasn't quite enough to grab victory. However, a winning margin of six laps after six hours of racing was exciting stuff! EN-FLBT fought hard to fend off HONK, finishing one lap ahead and four laps up overall. Despite mechanical issues for Pinewood in the final ten minutes, they had built up a very comfortable lead over Worthing and finished 62 laps ahead.
Congratulations to the Larkfield quartet - a nice warm-up before their debut at the Derby HO Le Mans 24 hours in November. And a massive thanks to Andy Whorton and all the THORL team for putting on such a fabulous day of racing at Pinewood. The 1/24 track was back in action within an hour of the HO race ending...
Official Results
Larkfield 2098 laps
Undisputed Era 2092 laps
EN-FLBT 2036 laps
HONK 2032 laps
Pinewood 1839 laps
WHO 1777 laps.
For anyone interested in trying out HO slot car racing in the UK, the THORL (The HO Racing League) website is a good place to start, including links to all the UK HO clubs and events.
Teams provided their own body shells for the cars and - for the first time - all six cars featured custom paint schemes on either the AFX Peugeot 908 HDi or the new AFX Audi R18...
An hour on each lane and some lanes more tricky than others, means it is a while until the pattern of the race settles down. After the first hour, firm favourites Larkfield were back in third place, 23 laps behind Undisputed Era - one of the two teams from Four Lane Blacktop and featuring dad Marc and sons Henry and Louis. It had been a really close sixty minutes of racing with the top five separated by just 34 laps - unfortunately locals Pinewood were still adjusting to the small cars and were back in sixth place.
Marc, Louis and Henry still led after two hours, although both HONK (HO North Kent) and Larkfield had made up some ground. Their advantage was 20 laps over Larkfield and 21 over HONK. The second Four Lane Blacktop team - EN-FLBT - were a further 15 laps back in fourth and Pinewood had overhauled the Worthing team by three laps for fifth. The Worthing team included four AFX 6 hour rookies - Oliver, Ryan, Matthew and Terry - who only started slot car club racing in 2017 via WHO's AFX club car championship.
The third hour was an impressive one for Larkfield, Elliot driving superbly in white lane to put his team five laps ahead of Undisputed Era at the halfway point. HONK were still in the mix 21 laps back and 14 ahead of EN-FLBT. Pinewood now had a ten lap advantage over Worthing in the battle to avoid the wooden spoon...
The AFX Mega-G+ cars were running extremely reliably so far with a minimal amount of maintenance - mostly routine stops to clean tyres, occasional pick-up cleaning and some lubrication. The fourth hour was another very close one, Larkfield again finishing ahead, but this time only five laps ahead of HONK. Second to fifth were covered by 13 laps. The top four positions stayed the same - at the back, Worthing had a very good hour leaping ahead of Pinewood by 34 laps.
The penultimate hour saw Larkfield eke out a few more laps to stretch their lead over Undisputed Era to fifteen. EN-FLBT were the stars of the hour and moved into third, three laps ahead of HONK. The drama also continued at the bottom, Pinewood fighting back and leading Worthing by 8 laps. Going into the final 60 minutes, Larkfield and Worthing made quick pits stops to try and find a little more pace, but would it pay off?
Larkfield and Undisputed Era put up their best drivers for a fabulous final hour. The west country trio had a magnificent run in red, finishing nine laps ahead of Larkfield, but that wasn't quite enough to grab victory. However, a winning margin of six laps after six hours of racing was exciting stuff! EN-FLBT fought hard to fend off HONK, finishing one lap ahead and four laps up overall. Despite mechanical issues for Pinewood in the final ten minutes, they had built up a very comfortable lead over Worthing and finished 62 laps ahead.
Congratulations to the Larkfield quartet - a nice warm-up before their debut at the Derby HO Le Mans 24 hours in November. And a massive thanks to Andy Whorton and all the THORL team for putting on such a fabulous day of racing at Pinewood. The 1/24 track was back in action within an hour of the HO race ending...
Official Results
Larkfield 2098 laps
Undisputed Era 2092 laps
EN-FLBT 2036 laps
HONK 2032 laps
Pinewood 1839 laps
WHO 1777 laps.
For anyone interested in trying out HO slot car racing in the UK, the THORL (The HO Racing League) website is a good place to start, including links to all the UK HO clubs and events.
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