[woodcote]

Muscle Car Mondiale

Sixteen racers remained, after Duncan headed home - giving us three ten-minute heats and the top two from each going through to a five-minute shoot-out. Amongst a field heavy on Camaros (four varieties of), there were also two AMC Javelins, two Mercury Cougars, Mike's new Chrysler Hemicuda, Simon's Aston Martin V8 and Isaac's Dodge Challenger. A nice innovation was the driver name for the windscreen of each...

   

Heat One was a full six-car line-up. Alex's low and lush Camaro IROC-Z unsurprisingly pulled away from the rest of the field, although Stephen's recently Dadsoned Cougar and Dean's Trans-Am Camaro kept as close as they could. Behind the top three, Matthew, Ash and Isaac gradually lost ground. The battle for the second spot was fierce, but in the end it was Stephen who grabbed the place, finishing just a lap behind Alex.

   

Mike's new Hemicuda is a thing of beauty, but he was raced hard by Daniel, Rob and Ryan in the second heat. Daniel - doing double-duty in the McCann Cougar - had the better of the rest from the early stages, Kev dropping off the back of the chasing pack. As Daniel closed out the win and Ryan lost time, Mike and Rob were locked in a very tight scrap for second place - a sweaty Mike just making the cut and taking the yellow Chrysler to the shoot-out at the expense of the Javelin.

   

Heat Three was exciting, but the top two were clear from the start. Ollie and Jeremy were neck and neck through the early stages, but it was the fast and consistent Ollie who pulled away to win with a lap total equalling Alex's Heat One score. A very impressive performance indeed. Jeremy came through the chequered flag a lap adrift, with Andy third, Terry fourth and Simon fifth.

   

That gave us six cars for the short & sharp shoot-out to finish the day. The McCanns had to fight over the Cougar and Mike's loaner Capri, but otherwise everyone was in the same machinery as the heats. Alex stepped up a gear in the IROC-Z, annihilating the opposition with super-fast driving and a perfect pit stop. Man and machine were simply unbeatable. Jeremy was best of the rest, finishing two laps behind. A further lap adrift, Mike just beat Stephen to third and Ollie beat Daniel to fifth. A nice race to end the season - and a soft-focus podium picture in front of the Christmas tree...

   

   
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And that was 2023 at the Barn wrapped up, ready to go again in January. Huge thanks goes to everyone who came along on Saturday - and during the rest of the year. Special thanks - as always - goes to the set-up crew, to Ash and Ryan for awesome work on Race Control, Mike and Simon for steering the day and to everyone who stayed behind to pack away. We couldn't do it without you.

We start our 2024 Scalextric digital racing with two Nascar & Legends Wednesday evenings on 17 January and 21 February. These are the perfect introduction to digital racing and our RCS64 software - including fuel and tyre simulations. All equipment is provided.

All our 2024 HO, Slot Rally and Scalextric digital dates are here:

   

Expect the full guide to WHO/digital 2024 pdf document to be updated in January. Any amendments will be to the autumn Saturdays and also reflect new cars available in the 2024 Scalextric catalogue. You can find the Guide here: https://slotracer.online/community/showt...9#pid34539

Wishing all our racers and followers a merry Christmas and a happy & healthy 2024!