[woodcote]

Stage Four: Johnny's Workshop

Winner: Mike Dadson, NSR Abarth Punto S2000

Jean kindly donated this little test track to the club last year and it serves as our regular shakedown stage and occasionally for competitive runs. The track, surround and infield are all 3D-printed and power is delivered via braid. There's a built-in version of his Johnny's Workshop rally timer, using a deadstrip. It really is plug-and-play.

   

Group D started their evening on Johnny's Workshop. Phil was first up, but it took a while to get the track running after the direction change. Phil just had two cars this time (although maybe a dozen of his on loan) and it was the SRC Ford Capri RS2600 that went quickest with a 49.87 second run over 15 laps. That was the time to beat. Kevin got going well with his Ninco Lancer Evo and Steve's Classic Scalextric Audi Quattro was running nicely. Last was Andy, who put his Subaru and Lancia 037 top and separated by a hundredth of a second.

   

Next were Group C. Terry leapfrogged Andy's Nincos with both his SRC Porsche 914 and Scaleauto RS200 clocking 47.22 seconds. Oliver's Porsche 934 was just 0.66 behind, but sat fifth - making it incredibly close at the top. Rob A, Matthew and James set similar times to each other, but were about 7-8 seconds off the leading pack.

   

Could Mike D find a couple of seconds with one of his three cars and grab the win from Andy? His Porsche 914 and Peugeot 205 T16 were both slower than the Subaru, but the NSR Abarth had a sensational 15 laps to jump to the top of the stage timing boards with a 45.97. Would it be enough? Meanwhile, Scott's Ninco challenge hit a bump as his best car - the Subaru - was 13 seconds slower than the Porsche and Stratos. That was in the territory of Ollie's Scalextric Mini Cooper S - and it's always a delight to see this little car being driven to the limit (and often beyond) on our rally stages!

   

Finishing their evening on Johnny's Workshop were Jeremy, Stephen A, John, Rob, James B and Chas. It was another strong showing for Jeremy's TR7 - and his Citroën didn't do badly either. James was right up there with the 3D-chassied Ferrari 308 GTB, as were the Nincos of Rob and Stephen. John was in the race for Scalextric and SCX honours - his Puma took some crucial time out of Rob A's RS200, but would it be enough for the class win?

   

Three stage wins for Mike D - two for the Abarth, one for the Peugeot. Where would that leave him on the podium?

That was it for the action, it was now down to Rally HQ to input and crunch the data. There would be some nervous moments ahead...