[woodcote]

When we held our first Scalextric digital evening in 2014, there was never any suggestion we'd end up racing 50% HO and 50% 1/32 digital five years later. Although the two formats of racing are different and HO half the size of Scalextric, the two sides of the club share the same philosophy - accessibility and fun.

I've always been proud that our club welcomes new members with no expectation that they have to ever spend anything beyond the £3 entry fee (£2 for under-16s). Our HO club cars are competitive and the DS club controllers the same as most other people use. All the equipment is provided for Digital Wednesdays, with the exception the Trans-Am cars - but being a pairs race, non-owners always get a drive. Our Digital Saturdays have a club car rotation and pairs and team formats, meaning non-car-owners can have a great day, only sitting out the BTCC and Group C races. Of course, most people do buy their own cars (and controllers for HO), but not everyone does. And our digital cars are pretty much all standard Scalextric cars, plus a Slot.it Group C class.

Another factor that might help the accessibility to our club racing is that we build a new track for each event. At the start of the evening (or Saturday morning), everyone is learning the track for the first time. It's not like turning up and trying to compete against veterans who have been racing the same cars on the same track for five, ten or twenty years...