[woodcote]

   

We are back at the Barn on Wednesday 4 March for the first HO Formula One race of the year. And there is a minor earthquake about to hit Goring-by-Sea - the start of non-mag, brass-weighted HO racing...

We first started introducing 'sub-classes' or 'minor-championships' to WHO Racing back in 2012 as a way to widen access to end-of-season silverware. The F1 Classic Cup - for older, lower-performance chassis like the Tyco 440x2, Tomy Turbo, Micro Scalextric and Life Like 'M' - was first, followed by WHO Tuners  two years later and Nascar Gen6 in 2016. For a variety of reasons, the F1 Classic Cup field has dwindled, whereas the other two sub-classes have flourished. We decided at the last AGM to re-work F1 Classic Cup to feature the brass-weighted Viper-Jet chassis and custom-converted brass Turbos, Tyco and Super-Gs. They are great fun to drive and it was the perfect place on the WHO calendar to fit them in.

   

We are expecting to see at least half a dozen entrants in Classic Cup this year and they will include some of the club's top racers - including all three previous WHO club champions. The brass-weighted cars will not be competitive with the fastest magnet cars, so there is a big risk of haemorrhaging a lot of club championship points. It'll be great fun for those of us racing the brass cars and create an exciting battle to crown a first-time club champion in December.