13th-Nov-25, 11:51 PM
Race Report
Bonfire night is a big deal in Sussex so whenever WHO race night falls on the 5th November, we sometimes see a small drop off in numbers as members head to Lewes or another big display nearby.
Nevertheless, we still managed a healthy 21 regulars on the grid plus newcomer Paul from Newhaven who joined us for his first taste of club HO racing.
On the agenda for the evening was the AGM where Andy gave an overview of the club finances, our future plans and the astonishing 36 event calendar for 2026 which is the most events ever for us in a single year.
After that main event, there was time for a spot of racing so we dived into the Nascar championship finale! Andy had designed a replica of the Homestead Miami oval, an intermediate length oval that in HO form was 44 feet long. During practice and the heats, laptimes of 2.5 seconds were regularly seen….along with a lot of crashes!
No less than four drivers were in contention for the title from Pete down to Terry and all four were on the grid along with Ollie in 5th place who was now out of contention but with a fast car to race.
We also had the Gen6 Championship shootout which would be held after the Nascar A Final and this would be particularly interesting as the three automatic qualifiers; Keith, Deborah and Daniel were either in Lewes or drunk in a ditch, delete as applicable!
Mike McCann was in prime position to get through to the shootout but it would be dependent on how he and the other Mega G+ runners would score this evening.
One final thing of note for this round was that it was the final hurrah of the mighty Super G+ in Nascar. These cars are so awesome to drive in this class but as they get increasingly hard to get hold, it becomes less and less fair for our newer drivers. It certainly isn’t an appealing prospect to be told to scour the internet for a 40 year old car which may or may not have good enough magnets to make it a challenger. So next season Nascar will become Bulldogs and Mega G+ cars only. Both of these cars are readily available at affordable prices, guaranteeing all drivers have the opportunity to be competitive. I cannot wait to see what happens in Round 1 in February.
Qualifying
With Andy running his SG+ in the first heat we quickly got an idea of what a competitive run would look like, 44.65 laps in white was very impressive. Indeed at the half way point, it was Andy sitting on provisional pole ahead of Terry, Ollie, Jerome, John and Pete who had some work to do.
Paul on his debut was leading the Mega G+ challengers despite (or perhaps because of) driving the club cars.
The Junior battle was an inverse of Mod last month with Ollie B absolutely stomping Isaac. It is always great fun to see these two friends battling each other and to see how much a win over the other means to them. We did have a third junior in the form of Oliver who was delighted to get 3 heats in before having to head off for bedtime. Along the way he also beat his Uncle Adam too.
As we got into the second half of qualifying, Terry, Jerome, Ollie and Pete all thumped in some huge runs to make that pole battle very interesting indeed. Jerome and Ollie treating us to an astonishing two minute battle in one heat which was absolutely mesmerising to watch. It ended in a crash out of T4 in the final seconds which took them both out but it was fantastic viewing.
Sadly one of the title challengers seemed curiously off the pace and that was John. Most drivers on the grid would have given a valuable body part for 126 laps in qualifying but it was still 13 laps off of pole. The Doctor of WHO would need something special in the finals if he was to remain in the title hunt.
Andy’s final heat was in blue and it was a bit of a disaster as he was only managed 42.2 laps for his dropped score. His yellow and red lanes were both 47s so that 44 in white meant he might be vulnerable.
Jerome was next to complete but he fell short by just 1.25 laps. Ollie had 2 heats to go and his red run was an enormous 49 laps. Incredible stuff. Then it was Terry’s turn to shoot for pole in the second to last heat and he blasted in 47 on white to go above Andy.
His jubilation was short lived though as Ollie completed his final run in the final heat and he swept to pole position.
As the dust settled on qualifying, we could see two of the championship protagonists; Pete and John, would be going from the B Final. One or both of them could be out of the title fight before the A Final took place. Tense stuff.
Bonfire night is a big deal in Sussex so whenever WHO race night falls on the 5th November, we sometimes see a small drop off in numbers as members head to Lewes or another big display nearby.
Nevertheless, we still managed a healthy 21 regulars on the grid plus newcomer Paul from Newhaven who joined us for his first taste of club HO racing.
On the agenda for the evening was the AGM where Andy gave an overview of the club finances, our future plans and the astonishing 36 event calendar for 2026 which is the most events ever for us in a single year.
After that main event, there was time for a spot of racing so we dived into the Nascar championship finale! Andy had designed a replica of the Homestead Miami oval, an intermediate length oval that in HO form was 44 feet long. During practice and the heats, laptimes of 2.5 seconds were regularly seen….along with a lot of crashes!
No less than four drivers were in contention for the title from Pete down to Terry and all four were on the grid along with Ollie in 5th place who was now out of contention but with a fast car to race.
We also had the Gen6 Championship shootout which would be held after the Nascar A Final and this would be particularly interesting as the three automatic qualifiers; Keith, Deborah and Daniel were either in Lewes or drunk in a ditch, delete as applicable!
Mike McCann was in prime position to get through to the shootout but it would be dependent on how he and the other Mega G+ runners would score this evening.
One final thing of note for this round was that it was the final hurrah of the mighty Super G+ in Nascar. These cars are so awesome to drive in this class but as they get increasingly hard to get hold, it becomes less and less fair for our newer drivers. It certainly isn’t an appealing prospect to be told to scour the internet for a 40 year old car which may or may not have good enough magnets to make it a challenger. So next season Nascar will become Bulldogs and Mega G+ cars only. Both of these cars are readily available at affordable prices, guaranteeing all drivers have the opportunity to be competitive. I cannot wait to see what happens in Round 1 in February.
Qualifying
With Andy running his SG+ in the first heat we quickly got an idea of what a competitive run would look like, 44.65 laps in white was very impressive. Indeed at the half way point, it was Andy sitting on provisional pole ahead of Terry, Ollie, Jerome, John and Pete who had some work to do.
Paul on his debut was leading the Mega G+ challengers despite (or perhaps because of) driving the club cars.
The Junior battle was an inverse of Mod last month with Ollie B absolutely stomping Isaac. It is always great fun to see these two friends battling each other and to see how much a win over the other means to them. We did have a third junior in the form of Oliver who was delighted to get 3 heats in before having to head off for bedtime. Along the way he also beat his Uncle Adam too.
As we got into the second half of qualifying, Terry, Jerome, Ollie and Pete all thumped in some huge runs to make that pole battle very interesting indeed. Jerome and Ollie treating us to an astonishing two minute battle in one heat which was absolutely mesmerising to watch. It ended in a crash out of T4 in the final seconds which took them both out but it was fantastic viewing.
Sadly one of the title challengers seemed curiously off the pace and that was John. Most drivers on the grid would have given a valuable body part for 126 laps in qualifying but it was still 13 laps off of pole. The Doctor of WHO would need something special in the finals if he was to remain in the title hunt.
Andy’s final heat was in blue and it was a bit of a disaster as he was only managed 42.2 laps for his dropped score. His yellow and red lanes were both 47s so that 44 in white meant he might be vulnerable.
Jerome was next to complete but he fell short by just 1.25 laps. Ollie had 2 heats to go and his red run was an enormous 49 laps. Incredible stuff. Then it was Terry’s turn to shoot for pole in the second to last heat and he blasted in 47 on white to go above Andy.
His jubilation was short lived though as Ollie completed his final run in the final heat and he swept to pole position.
As the dust settled on qualifying, we could see two of the championship protagonists; Pete and John, would be going from the B Final. One or both of them could be out of the title fight before the A Final took place. Tense stuff.
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