[Kevan]

New for 2022 for club members who are paying full fees monthly. 
 'Club Challenge' is a regular double slot on this years race calendar.  

Andy has kindly supplied a set of what was up until Thursday night - a mystery but was revealed to all - NSR Moslers and Truspeed BP2 controllers.

• The cars must be fitted with everything in the box except the magnet.
  
• Tyres can be glued & trued - no tyre treatments are allowed on the tyres
  
• The cars can be tuned with adjustments available on the car
  
• No ballast or removing of any parts will be allowed
  
• Bodyshells can be painted or liveried to personal choice and there will be a concourse prize for the best turned out car
  
• The 3 controllers supplied will stay plugged into the track and used by all of us
  

Anyone who isn't a monthly subscriber can race as normal on these nights with a car suitable for Sports but won't be included in the 'Club Challenge'

   

[Kevan]

One week to go....

A little update on the rules:

• Tape can be used under the chassis for damping purposes
  
• There will be a target overall weight - a 2g allowance is allowed
  

[Kevan]

• Cars to run to MSCC 'Sports Cars' rules: 64mm max front & rear track (to the outside of the wheel/tyres).
  

[Kevan]

CLUB CHALLENGE - 4th February
 
NSR Moslers and Truspeed BP2 controllers kindly donated by Andy Corrin
 
Finally…it was time for this event to take place, all 8 cars were on show for the concourse lineup…wow, we all did an amazing job, many hours of work were on show on the track, to be honest it was impossible to choose just one as the best. We all did an absolutely brilliant job and should be proud of how our cars look.
The votes were in, as the votes were read out each car moved up the track one spot per vote and in the end Mike H’s orange & green ‘Renown’ paint scheme won the concourse prize kindly donated by Andy Corrin.


 
The race entry was randomised 5 times and heat #1 was Mike B, Brian & Andy.  Everyone was allowed 5 setup laps with the controllers then we settled down for a long nights racing with 15 minute heats…which didn’t all go to plan with one or two cars having problems bad enough to stop racing to get them sorted out.  Andy’s ‘Gulf’ car bizarrely suffering jammed front wheels, the reason for which was only realised after the second race stoppage with one of the front headlight moldings being loose and jamming against a front tyre. Once sorted he was quickly up to race speed.
 


Gavins ‘Esso’ car was creating an awful high pitched whine which needed a race stop and investigation, I’m not sure it was fully sorted but sounded like grub screws cutting a channel in the front axle.
 


There was another race stoppage as Kev’s ‘Racing Stickerbomb’ car was nerfed off the track and rolled half way down the main straight along the wall which ended up with handling issues and zero grip…nothing obvious was found but it didn’t run right until the next race.
 


Mike B was the first to do three 15 minute runs consecutively, this shouldn’t have been the case as it was hoped Euro Round Robin would mix the heats up…the race program is being looked into for next time.
There were dozens of incidents during the evening, the marshalls were as busy as they’ve ever been with some cars leaving the track numerous times, sometimes even on the same lap.
 


With 15 minute races there weren’t many close finishes, but heat #2 saw Andy & Kev finish on the same lap.  Heat #6 saw Chris finish 4 laps ahead of Geoff and heat #8 saw Brian finish 4 laps ahead of Andy.
 


Amazingly after 2892 laps all 8 cars were boxed back up for next time still intact…and that will be 24th March.  Until then we’ve got Club BMW’s, Team Italiano, a couple of Slot Rally’s and four normal classes to enjoy.
 


Many thanks to Andy for donating the cars and controllers for this event, I can see it being with us for a long time.
 


   
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 
Next week it’s the first round of Slot Rally 2022

[Kevan]

[Kevan]

Race reports - 24th March - Club Challenge #2 - Two Rounds of 3 x 5 minute heats
 
A good turnout tonight, 6 eligible club members with one working and one away on holiday.
 
Once all the eligible drivers had arrived, the box containing the Club Challenge cars and controllers was opened and the cars handed to their respective owners.
Everyone was given half an hour to check their car over, clean the debris from inside, check for loose parts (headlights), make any adjustments then do a few test laps with their own controller.
 
The heats were set up to mix up the racing somewhat, heat #1 was the fastest three from Club Challenge #1, followed in heat #2 by the other three racers.  After that the heats were mixed slightly.
This seemed to work well with a little teething trouble in ‘round #1’ as the timing program didn’t count the last lap parts which significantly changes the overall results.  I figured out how to work out the missed part-laps and the results table is the final version.
 
To the racing…for some reason, everyone was 2 tenths quicker than last time out with Kev & Brian even managing 5.9” sec laps, this is the first time Brian has done so with any car other than a JK Falcon car on foams.
 
Although the marshalls were busy at times it’s fair to say they had an easier time tonight and as a result the drivers scores weren’t affected as much.
 
We had quite a few lead changes and close races tonight, too many incidents to remember actually.
 
Geoff had a loose gear that he was convinced was a controller problem…shortly followed by other people checking their gears/wheels.
 
We had casualties too, two rear wings…and Gavins fingernail…all fixable with superglue.
 
It's becoming obvious that some tyre management is being used as drivers are aware there's a long season ahead and tyre wear has been noted.

Heat wins in heat order for Kev, Mike B, Geoff & Brian

   
 
---------------------------------------------------------------
 
Next week is GP + Pre-wing (half tonners) followed by Classic F1 + F1

[Kevan]

Race reports - 12th May - Club Challenge #3

   
 
Six competitors tonight.
30 minutes of car checkup, cleaning and final testing before we got started.
5 qually laps then one round of 5 minute heats plus one round of 2.5 minute heats.
 
Round 1.
 
Despite numerous and in some cases unexplained deslots two heats had very close racing.
 
Heat 1 was a race between the top three qualifiers and saw Andy & Kev finish within 1.5 seconds and heat 6 saw Mike B & Geoff finish within 2.9 seconds.
 
Heat 4 saw a close race for 2nd spot between Chris & Kev, both finishing within 5.5 seconds.
 
Round 1: Race wins in heat order for Andy, Brian, Kev &  Mike B
 
Round 2.
 
As time was getting on we ran Round 2 in 2.5 minutes with the top three qualifiers the same but mixed the other drivers slightly.
 
It’s fair to say Geoff’s once pristine Mosler is now definitely race worn whilst Brian managed to avoid a repeat of the full chat crash under the tunnel in Yellow from Round 1.
 
Heat 1 saw Andy & Kev finish within 0.15 seconds, heat 5 saw Kev & Brian finish within 0.17 seconds with Mike B only 2.5 seconds behind.  Heat 6 saw Mike B & Chris finish within 2.3 seconds.
 
Heat 3 saw a close race for 2nd spot between Chris & Mike B within 0.18 seconds.
 
Round 2: Race wins in heat order for Andy, Brian, Kev & Mike B
 
     

---------------------------------------------------------------
 
Next week is GP & Pre-wing + Classic F1 & F1

[Kevan]

Race reports - 7th July - ‘Club Challenge’ #4
 
Another good turnout tonight and a lot of laughter…at least one club member having to hold his side as he was ‘in stitches’.
 
Andy decided the cars were to be swapped around and allowed time for car checks and tuning where deemed necessary.
 
Andy raced Brian’s car - it’s been clear from the first Club Challenge race in February that Brian’s car is the best handling of the bunch, tonight after even more tuning by Andy he managed to get into the 5.8’s.  Five heat wins for Andy.
 
Brian raced Andy’s car - another well set up car and again into the 5.9’s for Brian, he drove really well tonight. Two heat wins for Brian.
 
Geoff raced Mike H’s car - Three heats wins for Geoff - and 6.2s laps.
Mike H raced Geoff’s car - Ignoring the deslots, Mike went well at times, 6.45s lap time is starting to edge towards being competitive. Best runs seem to come in Blue which is understandable as the ‘easy’ lane.
Gavin raced Mike B’s car - Not as many deslots as in the past, a 6.5s lap in the second round is pretty good.  Best runs in Red and Yellow for Gav.
Mike B raced Gavin’s car - Four runner-up scores for Mike - and 6.4s laps.
Kev raced Chris’s car - Four heat wins for Kev - and 6.0s laps.
 
It’s fair to say the marshals got a good workout tonight, the road sweepers were called in to clear up a few bits but there were some really good performances, Andy & Brian’s cars performing exceptionally well.
 
Geoff’s pristine car just didn’t want to go over the line in its own slot no matter how Mike H drove it, the inevitable broken bits that followed that worrying crashing sound was calmly brushed under the carpet by the marshal proclaiming “nothing to see here…nothing to hear…!”  If Andy had laughed any louder he wouldn’t have been able to breathe.
 
Surprisingly there were no close finishes tonight, every race being won by at least one clear lap.
 
At the end of the night I noticed the three club controllers were all set almost identically with brakes and sensitivity at 9 O’clock, this would have been Mike B, Geoff & Mike H. These Moslers seem to like some brakes and a medium amount of sensitivity.
 
   

---------------------------------------------------------------
 
Next week is the ‘Mike Dove Memorial Classic Grand Prix & Pre-wing F1’ team race.

[Kevan]

Race reports - 1st September - ‘Club Challenge’ #5 - Team Race
 
 
Initially there were 7 club members, Paul was offered the chance to race one of the ‘Club Challenge’ Moslers but kindly declined as he didn’t want to damage someone else’s car (to be fair he’s too good a driver to do that).
 
Cars were handed out at 7.30 for a bit of tuning & cleaning.  Once it was announced that tonight's challenge was to be team racing with the teams were decided by the drivers position in the rolling points standings with top & bottom driver being one team, 2nd top & 2nd bottom another and the remaining two the third team some cars were looked at a little closer.  Gav’s car had rear tyres detaching from the wheels, although a quick fix was tried it wouldn’t be fair to race as the tyres wouldn’t be true so a pair were taken from one of the cars not raced.
 
The event was split into two rounds, the first round was to be a car swap between team members whilst in round #2 we raced our own cars. 
 
Every time Geoff got going he was fast, driving Andy’s car in round #1 set the fastest lap time of all the ‘car swaps’, well done…in fact it suited his ‘drive it like you stole it’ catchup style of driving but a few too many deslots meant catchup was the order of the night for Geoff.  His teammate Andy didn’t fare as well with Geoff’s car, only managing 6th place overall but made up for it with his own car in Round #2…and managed the only 29 lapper of the night. 
 
Gavin got his first heat win and it was on merit, a great run that got a round of applause at the end, the 27 lapper in Yellow was only bettered by Kev racing Chris’s car!…greatness it seems is short lived as next time out the marshals were rather busy.
Meanwhile his teammate Brian was trying to focus on clean races and ignoring individual race results…once he got to drive his own car he was flying again, setting the best overall score in Red, 2nd best in Yellow and 3rd best in Blue.
 
Chris seemed more up for it tonight and drove Kev’s car well, in fact better than his own car in Round #2.  His run in Red in Round #1 was only bettered by Kev driving Chris’s car! Kev loved racing Chris’s car in Round #1, in fact it was quicker than his own car in Red and Yellow, Blue lane was where Kev’s car went best, letting Brian past to focus on racing then managed the fastest lap of the night.
 
All in all, this is the first ‘Club Challenge’ I’ve really enjoyed, other club members agreed.                                                 
 
   


----------------------------------------------------------------
 
Next week is Slot Rally…and we have something special to look forward to…a new Rally stage

[Kevan]

Race reports - 27th October - Club Challenge #6 - 3 x 3 minute heats - own cars
 
Only one person couldn’t make it tonight, Paul raced Mike H’s car for the first round and opted-out of round #2.
 
Tonight we saw three cars manage numerous sub-6 second lap times…these cars aren’t slow!  The standard Evo Supergrips with no tyre treatment at all are surprisingly good,
 
The majority of us have got used to driving these carefully and slower than normal, Paul as a newcomer to this event fell into the same trap we all did in Club Challenge #1.
 
Kev, Andy & Brian were ‘on it’ tonight, Andy’s car looking the quickest, Brian’s looking the most consistent and Kev’s somewhere in between.  Overall top spot went to Kev after a good Round #1 but Andy came back strong to finish less than one second behind after 171 laps of racing.  Brian finished a couple of laps further back. 
 
Geoff won a heat in Round #1 and went a fair bit quicker in Round #2.  He was also involved in the closest finish for heat win, Heat #6, Round #2 finishing just over one second behind Brian.
 
Mike is always competitive, five runners-up spots tonight.  His closest races were Heats #7 & #8 in Round #1 finishing a lap behind the winner.
 
Chris comfortably won his first race which was Heat #2 in Round #1 and was unfortunate to be in heats with two of the quick guys most of the night.
 
Geoff, Mike & Chris all finished less than one lap apart.
 
Gav still not used to setting his controller to suit the car but managed three runners-up spots.

   
 
With one Club Challenge left, we’ll have to wait until December 8th to finalise the series.  The plan is to run ‘Club Challenge’ next year.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------
 
Next week is Grand Prix & Pre-wing F1’s plus Classic F1 & F1.