[woodcote]

Helped by hourly reminders on local radio, there was a queue to get in at 11 o'clock! That meant the World Championship track was packed from the first minute...

   

The Scalextric format and our paperwork helped things along and we quickly got into a rhythm. Mostly, we limited the racing to four drivers at a time - four cars were enough on the small digital track. There was a driver briefing, practice session and then the cars were lined up for the race - the winner of each ten lap race had their race time added to the leader board.

   

From 11am to 4pm the World Championship track was incredibly busy - with over a hundred different people racing in 80 races and a total of 800 laps. We collected names, email addresses and post codes, so we know most people came from across East and West Sussex, but some travelled further - with the intrepid Al making a day trip from Cambridge and taking most of the pictures and video clips for us.

   

Racers could race as many times as they wanted to, but with so many people waiting patiently, no-one really hogged the track. And there was the big SSDC layout and Darren's second-hand Scalextric shop to keep everyone entertained.

   

Had we not called time at 4 o’clock, some people would have gone on all night trying to beat the top time of the day - a brilliant 10 laps in 26.930 seconds by Ann Bird from East Preston. Second, with a superb time of 27.283 seconds, was Henry Fellingham. I was third with 28.618, Mike Dadson fourth with 28.714 and Barry Borret fifth with 28.776 seconds.

   

Not only was Ann our winner on the day, but she also claimed runner-up spot in the World Championship - a wonderful achievement and one that made the news across the south of England. Ann and me were back on BBC Radio Sussex on Monday morning and Ann featured in the regional daily newspaper and here on the BBC website. There was also a brief feature on Sunday evening on the ITV Meridian local news in Kent - which Adrian and the Scalextric team saw and were delighted by.

       

Australian Pete Dimmers was the 2014 world champion with a time of 23.12 seconds.

Like many others, Ann and her daughter Olivia made the most of their day at the Barn by racing on the big SSDC Goodwood layout...

   

The morning saw some fast and frantic GT racing before some more leisurely - but no less competitive - non-mag action in the afternoon.

   

The first non-mag race saw the debut of a new Goodwood Revival class, which is still part of our WHO/digital repertoire.

   


To round off the day on the big track was our usual team race action using the Scalextric Nascars. Ann and Olivia again starred - their team coming home third.

   

At the front there was a tie between the teams of Stephen and Daniel - very fitting given the massive amount of hard work the twins put in to running race control on the big track all day.

   

Looking back, we now know that several dozen of our first-timers that day have returned and raced with us - some occasionally, other for a year or two and half a dozen became WHO regulars - racing digital and HO. It was also a real bonding experience for the club - racers mucking in, taking on responsibility and running races for the first time. Stephen quickly became the WHO race controller, with his brother Daniel stepping into his shoes when Stephen left for university (and became a BSCRA racer).

Here's some video of the event...



It was a truly knackering day, but hugely enjoyable - and we vowed to do it again in 2015...