9th-Sep-25, 09:20 AM
Slot Rally GB Round 5 - Abergavenny
With myself and Andy sitting, respectfully, 7th and 10th in the 'Classic' class, 6th and 10th in the '80s/90s' class, and 4th and 5th in the 'Modern' class ahead of the final round of the championship, a trip to Abergavenny was never in doubt. At worst, we would hold onto those positions, and at best, we might sneak a place or two higher somewhere along the way. But perhaps more importantly, I could try and wrestle that 4th place from Andy in the Modern class. So I hit the road at 04:25 early on the Sunday morning for a rendezvous with Andy at 05:45 near the Worthing barn, and we were off to the land of the red dragon and red moon (in a red Alfa!).
Three hours, and five counties, passed by quickly, as talk of the day ahead and of many other slot related matters kept us suitably distracted. A warm welcome was give to us travellers from the Abergavenny team on our arrival at the spiritual home of the Slot Rally GB, if not slot rallying in the GB as a whole. The Worthing mantra of 'no practice laps' meant that once we had unpacked our cars, it was off to the main hall for a visual inspection of the tracks and of the challenges ahead. Six local tracks were all up and running, and we watched on in eager anticipation as the seventh was carried into the room by the Tunnel Lane crew. This was their wonderful Elan Valley stage, which matches a beautifully contoured rally loop with scenery of the highest quality and detail.
So suitably refreshed by a cup of tea and some breakfast biscuits, our grouping was announced and Andy and I met up with Alan, Charles and Keith who we would sharing our highs and lows with for the remainder of the day. And thanks to Phil Barry from Abergavenny for allowing use of some of his photos of the tracks.
First up for us was the 'Ninco Tarmac' stage; a twisty, flowing, high grip, circuit that it was probably good to bank before we got fully immersed into the world of Scalextric Classic tracks that made up the majority of the others in the room. I was first up and definitely drove a bit conservatively with most of my cars, not wanting to cause any de-slots which would loose me time and make the remainder of the day all about making back the lost seconds. Andy however, was more confident in his driving and immediately gained a few seconds over me with all his cars.
Next up was Caerwent Patriot, the first of the Classic based tracks. A smooth, twisty track with plenty of little wiggles squeezes to both temper your top speed, and keep the marshals alert to placing any car back in the right slot. So well balanced cars and precise driving were rewarded on this stage.
Halfway Forest is a new track to the series, based on Classic track. It's another compact, twisty circuit that rewards car control, and cars that can re-slot themselves neatly if taking to the air after the humpback bridge halfway down the straight!
Our first ever laps of the Elan Valley stage finished the morning's racing for our group. As a photo can say a thousand words, here are some to views of the track: -
And in my head, the caption for this picture goes "Jeremy, just check out the time you have just set!"
All that was needed was a slight tweak to the braids of our cars to deal with the recessed braid of this routed track, and we were away. I came away afterwards thinking that you needed to find an optimum speed that kept your cars rolling round the sweeping curves, but not to exceed it! One car in our group ended up on the floor after getting out of shape in the run up the hill past the start/finish line; the steep banking either side of this narrow section launching the rear of the car over the edge. And it was a sound I heard a couple of other times during the day. One of my cars flew into the trees on the hairpin by the house on the descent. I almost wanted to take a photo of it hanging over the edge of the drop into the stream, but my racing instincts quickly kicked in and I got the car back in the slot!
A brief walk into town at lunchtime gave our eyes a rest, and our legs a stretch, and set us up for the three remaining tracks in the afternoon...
The last track you would want to face after a relaxing break is the modular plate of spaghetti that is Pembury 2...so how come we chose that!!!
I have no finger (or eye) memory of running on the track from my last visit to the club, so it was a case of hanging onto the controller with both hands and lets see which direction the slot took my cars. It was definitely a track where local knowledge would help you anticipate the cross overs and rapid changes in direction. Anyway, that's my excuses out of the way. My times were pretty consistent with all four cars, probably because I wasn't pushing them too hard, not wanting to suffer the time losses with de-slots. No such concerns for Andy...
Elevation featured heavily on our penultimate track, Stelvio. The clue is in the name, this is a twisty, hair-pinned, road up and down the rocky mountainside. Despite it's fearsome appearance, it's a fun track to drive, with the tight bends rewarding an aggressive tail out approach, whilst subtle downhill changes in gradients needing precision braking.
Our final track was my personal favourite to drive, Ellam Vannin. I really enjoy the combination of the free flowing single track layout and how it seems to sit naturally in the landscape!
Fun to drive...how can you not love a circuit with cattle grids and double hump back bridges just before a T-junction! How can you take a bad photo!
And all too quickly it was over. Whilst we waited for the last group to complete their final tracks, we took another look at the Elan Valley track: -
Results wise, it was the case that we held our overall championship positions rather than managing to make any gains. With hindsight, probably the more realistic outcome where were had limited experience of the layouts we were running on. So whilst not managing to claim any of the lovely cars on offer to the top three finishes in each class, Andy bagged one 'mystery' envelope for his 4th place in the Modern class, whilst I grabbed two for the 5th and 6th placings...and very useful 3dp storage boxes that are for tyres and gears, as provided by series sponsor Red Dragon Racing products.
So it only left for me to thank Phil Barry and the Abergavenny set up and break down crew for providing a great selections of tracks for us to race on on the day, and to Alan and Sebastian Birchmore for organising the Slot Rally GB series. Looking forward to 2026 already!
And after an evening out in Abergavenny where we enjoyed a very tasty Indian meal followed by a solid nights sleep in a popular brand of roadside Inns, all we had left was a relaxing drive back home...
With myself and Andy sitting, respectfully, 7th and 10th in the 'Classic' class, 6th and 10th in the '80s/90s' class, and 4th and 5th in the 'Modern' class ahead of the final round of the championship, a trip to Abergavenny was never in doubt. At worst, we would hold onto those positions, and at best, we might sneak a place or two higher somewhere along the way. But perhaps more importantly, I could try and wrestle that 4th place from Andy in the Modern class. So I hit the road at 04:25 early on the Sunday morning for a rendezvous with Andy at 05:45 near the Worthing barn, and we were off to the land of the red dragon and red moon (in a red Alfa!).
Three hours, and five counties, passed by quickly, as talk of the day ahead and of many other slot related matters kept us suitably distracted. A warm welcome was give to us travellers from the Abergavenny team on our arrival at the spiritual home of the Slot Rally GB, if not slot rallying in the GB as a whole. The Worthing mantra of 'no practice laps' meant that once we had unpacked our cars, it was off to the main hall for a visual inspection of the tracks and of the challenges ahead. Six local tracks were all up and running, and we watched on in eager anticipation as the seventh was carried into the room by the Tunnel Lane crew. This was their wonderful Elan Valley stage, which matches a beautifully contoured rally loop with scenery of the highest quality and detail.
So suitably refreshed by a cup of tea and some breakfast biscuits, our grouping was announced and Andy and I met up with Alan, Charles and Keith who we would sharing our highs and lows with for the remainder of the day. And thanks to Phil Barry from Abergavenny for allowing use of some of his photos of the tracks.
First up for us was the 'Ninco Tarmac' stage; a twisty, flowing, high grip, circuit that it was probably good to bank before we got fully immersed into the world of Scalextric Classic tracks that made up the majority of the others in the room. I was first up and definitely drove a bit conservatively with most of my cars, not wanting to cause any de-slots which would loose me time and make the remainder of the day all about making back the lost seconds. Andy however, was more confident in his driving and immediately gained a few seconds over me with all his cars.
Next up was Caerwent Patriot, the first of the Classic based tracks. A smooth, twisty track with plenty of little wiggles squeezes to both temper your top speed, and keep the marshals alert to placing any car back in the right slot. So well balanced cars and precise driving were rewarded on this stage.
Halfway Forest is a new track to the series, based on Classic track. It's another compact, twisty circuit that rewards car control, and cars that can re-slot themselves neatly if taking to the air after the humpback bridge halfway down the straight!
Our first ever laps of the Elan Valley stage finished the morning's racing for our group. As a photo can say a thousand words, here are some to views of the track: -
And in my head, the caption for this picture goes "Jeremy, just check out the time you have just set!"
All that was needed was a slight tweak to the braids of our cars to deal with the recessed braid of this routed track, and we were away. I came away afterwards thinking that you needed to find an optimum speed that kept your cars rolling round the sweeping curves, but not to exceed it! One car in our group ended up on the floor after getting out of shape in the run up the hill past the start/finish line; the steep banking either side of this narrow section launching the rear of the car over the edge. And it was a sound I heard a couple of other times during the day. One of my cars flew into the trees on the hairpin by the house on the descent. I almost wanted to take a photo of it hanging over the edge of the drop into the stream, but my racing instincts quickly kicked in and I got the car back in the slot!
A brief walk into town at lunchtime gave our eyes a rest, and our legs a stretch, and set us up for the three remaining tracks in the afternoon...
The last track you would want to face after a relaxing break is the modular plate of spaghetti that is Pembury 2...so how come we chose that!!!
I have no finger (or eye) memory of running on the track from my last visit to the club, so it was a case of hanging onto the controller with both hands and lets see which direction the slot took my cars. It was definitely a track where local knowledge would help you anticipate the cross overs and rapid changes in direction. Anyway, that's my excuses out of the way. My times were pretty consistent with all four cars, probably because I wasn't pushing them too hard, not wanting to suffer the time losses with de-slots. No such concerns for Andy...
Elevation featured heavily on our penultimate track, Stelvio. The clue is in the name, this is a twisty, hair-pinned, road up and down the rocky mountainside. Despite it's fearsome appearance, it's a fun track to drive, with the tight bends rewarding an aggressive tail out approach, whilst subtle downhill changes in gradients needing precision braking.
Our final track was my personal favourite to drive, Ellam Vannin. I really enjoy the combination of the free flowing single track layout and how it seems to sit naturally in the landscape!
Fun to drive...how can you not love a circuit with cattle grids and double hump back bridges just before a T-junction! How can you take a bad photo!
And all too quickly it was over. Whilst we waited for the last group to complete their final tracks, we took another look at the Elan Valley track: -
Results wise, it was the case that we held our overall championship positions rather than managing to make any gains. With hindsight, probably the more realistic outcome where were had limited experience of the layouts we were running on. So whilst not managing to claim any of the lovely cars on offer to the top three finishes in each class, Andy bagged one 'mystery' envelope for his 4th place in the Modern class, whilst I grabbed two for the 5th and 6th placings...and very useful 3dp storage boxes that are for tyres and gears, as provided by series sponsor Red Dragon Racing products.
So it only left for me to thank Phil Barry and the Abergavenny set up and break down crew for providing a great selections of tracks for us to race on on the day, and to Alan and Sebastian Birchmore for organising the Slot Rally GB series. Looking forward to 2026 already!
And after an evening out in Abergavenny where we enjoyed a very tasty Indian meal followed by a solid nights sleep in a popular brand of roadside Inns, all we had left was a relaxing drive back home...
I love puttering with gears
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