[woodcote]

Stage Three: The Boulevard

Winner: Andy Player, Ninco Porsche 911SC

   

This is a brand new stage - a test of speed and precision. The low-grip Scalextric Sport track is paired with borders around all the corners, so drivers can really push their cars to the limit of adhesion. Entry to the wooden bridge sections does require precision, as any tank-slapping out of the preceding corner will be punished by a hard hit. A curved cross-over gives an interesting line into the return straight, with a slight crest into the crossroads and the tight Radius-2 roundabout. The Boulevard is a nice bit of suburban duel carriageway in the north of Goring, connecting two roundabouts.

   

Almost the whole field completed the 4 laps in less than a minute. The Scalextric Renault Mégane club car managed a 50.4 stage time in the hands of James - beating Kevin by 20 seconds and taking the club car lead. Jeremy's SCX Peugeot 206 enjoyed this stage, finishing 8th overall but only nine tenths ahead of Andy's Fiat 124, which had been a bit below par on the opening stages. Jeremy's Puma had to make do with third in the Scalextric competition, beaten by John's Puma and Rob A's vintage Ford RS200...

   

In the battle for the junior medal, Ollie was showing good form with his Ninco Subaru Impreza, taking seventh best time on this stage. Meanwhile, Isaac had an impressive run with his Teamslot Alpine A110. Also in the Classic class, Matthew and James T were enjoying the SRC BMW 2800 CS they'd borrowed from Phil...

   

At the front, Andy closed out the top two spots with his final two runs of the night. Quickest was his Ninco Porsche 911SC in 37.48 seconds, the Subaru 0.48 slower. However, with Terry's Scaleauto Ford RS200 in third and Mike's Peugeot fourth on 39.18, the Ninco Impreza would move into the overall rally lead...

   

Here are the results for stage 3...

   

Andy's Subaru led Mike's Peugeot by fifty-five hundredths of a second going into the final stage - 119.35 to 119.9 seconds.