[woodcote]

All the hosts have been busy over the past month or so - planning and testing their layouts, cleaning up old classic track, building rally loops and picking up the odd bit of specialist track. Here's a couple of pics from Simon...

       

[Scuderia_Turini]

A hybrid track - very "relevant". (Classic and Sport mix)

Have been deliberating over what cars to send, will make a decision tonight and send my entry form afterwards.

Leo

[Nonfractal]

Getting there, but...
1.Light set doesn't work yet
 - "in the dark" racing cars need lights!   
2. How to choose  tyres for surfaces I've never raced on?
-  Depends on  which packages make it to my doorstep by early January.. 

Alan

[Scuderia_Turini]

Rule Clarification Please

Hello Andy,
Rule W2 of the Slot Rally GB rules states "tyres must be made of black rubber. Silicon and Urethane tyres are not allowed on any stage"
Given that Urethane tyres are allowed in the Scalextric Production classes is the above still valid?

Leo

[woodcote]

Yes. It’s a result of running the National Slot Rally rules and our local Scalextric regs side-by-side...

We didn’t want to mess with the Slot Rally rules at all. However, we use rubber or urethanes at WHO/digital and the two Scalextric classes are based very closely on our digital rules. Silicones strip any rubber residue from the track, but a mix of rubber and urethane works fine.

[Scuderia_Turini]

Hello Andy,

If entrants put urethanes on the "slot rally" cars will there be a penalty?
Really sorry to push this but if urethanes are allowed I will put them on my "Slot Rally" car, if not I will leave it with the rubber tyres that are on it.
Tyres are an important element.

Leo

[woodcote]

On page 4 of the rules document it says...

Class 1 and Class 2 Scalextric Production Rules - "Tyres: Any rubber or urethane tyres are permitted..."

Class 3 UK Slot Rally  - "The UK Slot Rally class cars must be prepared according to regulations on page 5. Please note: rear axle width, rubber tyres and inline motor orientation."

And on page 5: "W2) All wheels must have tyres and they must be made of black rubber. Silicone and urethane tyres are not allowed..."

The scrutineering process will go through each of the relevant rules for each car. At a WHO race, if a car fails scrutineering, it is simply handed back to the owner to change the parts or use another car. It's inevitable that - from time to time - rules are inadvertently overlooked or misinterpreted. With a proxy, it's more tricky because the driver isn't there. I will contact the entrant to come up with a satisfactory solution. I do have plenty of spare tyres and parts. An alternative would be for the car to run, but be ineligible for prizes.

The best thing is always to ask for clarification beforehand

I was going to add a post about tyres, so now is perhaps a good time... Tyres are really important. We have a decent variety of surfaces so a good all-rounder would be the best tyre choice. That might be the (rubber) NSR Ultragrip tyre. However, because there are six stages with Scalextric Sport track, the (rubber) Slot.it P6 compound are an option - they perform really well on Sport, less well on the higher grip surfaces. The P6 also requires little or no truing, unlike the Ultragrips. That's only two ideas - racers might have their own favourites.

The NSR and Slot.it tyres won't fit many of the Scalextric hubs (which cannot be replaced). For the Scalextric classes, urethane tyres (Paul Gage, WASP etc) might be the best option. We find them good on Sport. I'm going to test some WASP urethane tyres and see how they go.

[woodcote]

Oli has sent a picture of how the hillclimb stage will look on top of the South Downs Slot Car Club track...

   

There will be rally loops at each end. It looks quick!

[BAracer]

I think I have my Class A car sorted...i.e. I have managed to get it going, and it handles quite well.

My Class C car however, is in desperate need of grip, but looks the business!

[woodcote]

A first box has arrived already, with 18 days to go 

A couple of people have asked it the event will still go ahead, in light of the increased Tier 4 restrictions. The answer is yes. Our proxy events are designed to work with even the most extreme Covid restrictions - that's the point of them.

We may need to be flexible with timing, depending on when and how the current restrictions change. We can't justify the road stages (ie transporting all the cars to the next venue) as 'essential travel' - and any stages run during Tier 4 restrictions can't have people from different households helping out. But we can work round all that.

Since the cars are arriving in Brighton and six stages are planned for the 'Rally HQ' venue, we can certainly crack on with those - leaving the West Sussex stages until a little later. We also have a couple of key workers who often drive for work between Worthing and Brighton, so they could load up the cars as part of their essential travel, if push came to shove.

Of course, we have already planned very strict quarantining and decontamination when the crate of cars is handed over to the next host - a minimum of 72 hours from when the cars are sealed in the crate to when the crate is opened and cars removed. That was always part of our schedule.

Covid-safe postage. For the entrants, postage can be paid for online (here) and parcels of a suitable size posted in a parcel box (see list here) or be collected from your home by the Royal Mail (here) or any number of courier services. There is no need to go anywhere near a post office - or even leave your home.