[woodcote]

Here's more of an introduction to the hillclimb...

   

The starts reverts to the top of the hill - at the Devil's Dyke pub - three feet above floor level. There's a grandstand and spectators this year too...

   

Timing is via an IR sensor, Arduino Uno and Race Coordinator. The software is set up for 90 seconds of warm-up, followed by a five 'lap' timed run.

   

After negotiating the usual ninety-degree inner left-hander off the line, there's a shallower-than-usual dip into the SCX 'Super-Sliding Curve Set'...

   

This is set up as an S-bend and will punish any cars with poor mechanical grip - as there is zero magnetic attraction from the rails. As before, the first precipitous drop is after the muddy esses...

   

You should know the drill by now... The crest will be a problem for cars that are too low for their length - they will bottom-out and deslot. The sudden changes in gradient also accentuate the shallow 6mm slot depth of SCX and Scalextric Classic track - especially as the slot is not enclosed. Guides often catch if they don't have a notch to deflect over bumpy bits in the bottom of the slot. Although an issue going down, the crests will be more of a problem going up (see later).

Once over this crest, it's a constant gradient down to a new section...

   

Instead of a ninety-degree standard radius left, this turn now features a complex of inner, standard and outer curve pieces. The changes improve the descent and ascent for the cars I run on the hill - although we'll see how the Road Race cars manage! And there are more changes...

   

Although the SCX powerbase and 45 ohm Parma controller are the same as before, some of the gradient lost at the top is transferred to the straight that dips down to ground level - the figure-of-eight loopback now includes a couple of straights, a crossover, an outer corner and then into a short straight and a tighter Ninco return loop - you can see that all in the previous post. This alternative layout loses the long 12-foot 'Saddlescombe Road' - making the entire course shorter and more technical. The lap time remains similar - around 17 seconds for the Scalextric Mégane.

One the way back up, the tighter corners means it's less 'seat-of-your-pants' and more precision is needed... But when it all goes wrong, there's less speed involved.

And now for the section where I suspect a few cars will struggle, as they always do...

   

It doesn't look much, but if the car bottoms out, the guide will lift and the car will not turn through the corner going into the chicane piece - or will deslot on the chicane entry. I will be standing close by... But hopefully I won't be needed and the cars will get back up the hill, through the inner right-hander and back into the Ninco return loop...

   

The rest of today is giving the Road Race cars a shakedown, ready for an 8am start Sunday morning for the first two classes, followed at 9.45-ish by classes C & D. Keep your fingers crossed that I've ironed out the glitches in the OBS live stream - but no promises!

Last year, the quickest Road Race cars on the hill were two Ford GT40s (an NSR and a Slot.it), split by an SRC Porsche 914/6. The SRC Porsches always go well - light, short, powerful - so that's my tip for tomorrow.