[woodcote]

Together with all the YouTubers, one big difference I noticed were the massively increased number of figures, buildings, scenic materials and hand-crafted cars and gadgets...

       

There are sections of the hobby that have gone upmarket - and seem to be doing extremely well...

       

But for most of the festival goers, the retail experience was one of traditional bargain-hunting...

       

And there was some kick-back against the digital age - print media still has a place at the party...

       

Our base for much of the day was the Slot Car Magazine stand, which was right next to Hub's rally track and the Mission Motorsport Goodwood track. Also in this section of the exhibition hall were all the manufacturers and distributors - all of them very busy talking or playing...

       

The new Thunderslot Ferraris were on show as was the first of the Fly 3D printed 80s F1 cars...

       

Plus there was talk of a tie-up with Fly and Scaleauto to put the latter's racing chassis under the former's wonderfully-detailed F1 bodies.

Everyone throughout the venue seemed very happy with the state of the hobby. Yes, the huge boom of the pandemic has waned, but the numbers involved and money being spent is still significantly more than before April 2020. One retailer local to us in Sussex is opening a bricks & mortar store next month, with a four-lane Policar track being designed to form the basis of a new club - that is just one indicator of the confidence at Gaydon this year.