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Race Report

In the past 15 years we've had a few challenges - most notably the pandemic, but also snow, broken heating and renovation work on the roof. This time, we found ourselves locked out of the cupboard where we store all the HO track and equipment. It took us an hour - and permission to use 'any means necessary' - to get past the seized-up lock, leaving us 20-minutes to set everything up before practice began at 6.15. We very nearly did it... and cars were circulating by 6.30...

   

We added in an extra 3 straights on each side, giving a track length of 77.5 feet - probably the biggest oval we've raced on at the Barn - and a quick lap time of just under 4 seconds at a speed of  20 feet a second for our box-stock HO Nascars.

   

22 racers joined the Nascar grid, with 2010 veterans Mike D and Simon stopping in for cake. Keith and Deborah would pop by later to say hello on this 15th birthday celebration night. It was also Matthew's birthday, so we got him cutting cake...

   

And then - around 7.15 - we got the heats rolling. Four Bulldogs made their debuts in the hands of Kev, Dylan, Ethan and Andy. Super-Gs dominated the grid as usual, but will need to run a minimum wheel/tyre height of 11mm for their final season in Nascar and also from next month onwards in Formula One. Duncan ran his Life Life and Steve P a Turbo, plus six Mega-G+ cars competed for Gen6 Cup honours.

Everyone ran twice in the first eleven heats, Terry leading the pack with his Super-G, Andy top Bulldog in fourth and Daniel top Gen6 runner in seventh. Isaac had a small advantage over Ollie in the junior competition, with Phil top of the rookies...

   

The rule changes had certainly evened out the field, even on such a big, fast oval. The Super-G drivers were having to lift more - as were the Bulldogs - with the Mega-G+ Gen6 cars making up significant ground at each end of the oval. The Bulldogs are a different driving experience, which will take some time to get used to - those making the jump now will hope to have a big advantage for 2026. There were certainly a lot of crashed keeping the marshals busy and the scoreboard suggested fastest lap times didn't necessarily deliver the top scores...

   

As we approached the end of qualifying, Terry still held provisional pole, with Matthew close behind. Oliver went in the penultimate heat, hauling himself up into contention with a massive 28.5 in red - the best score of the night so far. Drawn together in the final heat, John and Andy both had a crack at pole. The two circulated together at a rapid pace until a mid-race off left Andy's Bulldog in the barriers without a body shell. John went on to to an impressive 28.1 in yellow - enough to beat Terry to pole by  just one tenth of a lap. The top six was super-close, with Oliver and Andy both scoring 77.05 and separated by fastest lap, enough for Oliver to have first pick in the B final.

   
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Fifth on debut was a good result for Andy's out-of-the-box Bulldog, Daniel was top Gen6 runner, Ollie beat Isaac in the junior battle and Stephen was top rookie.

Next we'd have seven full step-up finals.