[woodcote]

Race Report: Morning session

It was an early start for the set-up crew - two hours to build and test the massive Suzuka-inspired layout. It was job done by the time the morning's eighteen racers had arrived - the track was open at 10am for practice. There were no takers for Mike's Digital Driving School, although both Mark and Stephen made sure they got some practice in - neither had raced digital at the Barn for a long time. For the rest of us, this was our first Digital Saturday since December 2019.

       

The Club Car Rotation is always a good introduction to the day - learning the track with a selection of different Scalextric GT cars and attempting to get the most out of each one. The races are set up so one pit stop is usually required, but the blue car - a Jaguar XKR - could just about get to 3 minutes on one tank of fuel... if it was stroked round carefully. The art of getting a good score is to quickly adjust to each car - some can be pushed hard, others need more gentle handling - and it's crucial to focus on your 3 minutes and not race the cars around you. All the cars had a 10-lap run in them, with 11 laps possible with three or maybe four. Parts of a lap are only recorded with the yellow car - acting as a tie-breaker... and if the scores were still the same, drivers are separated by the best race score.

This rotation race ended up being one of the closest we've seen - the top ten covered by just five and a half laps. In the end, it was Andy, Simon and Mike who made up the top three - all scoring over sixty laps. Gary was fourth on exactly 60 laps, Oliver a fine fifth and Dean sixth. In the battle for the junior medal, Ryan finished ahead of Isaac...

       

Here are all the scores for the rotation race...

   

With everyone nicely warmed-up, it was time for the BTCC race - a full eighteen cars in qualifying and four step-up finals... it would be a late lunch!