[Kevan]

Sounds like you have a nice but busy couple of days.

[AdeC]

And finally, the footage from Round 4, Event 4:

[Kevan]

What was the problem with the Civic?

[Graham]

What was the problem with the Civic?

I have studied the video (as you can imagine) and would say that initially it was running OK, and then it came off quite hard against a barrier, thereafter the guide definitely hit a particular track joint on the subsequent runs until Ade gave it some attention. So it looks like maybe the guide was sticking or dislodged or even perhaps the guide holder in the chassis has cracked ? Hopefully will be OK on the wood tracks (fingers crossed)

[AdeC]

What was the problem with the Civic?

I have studied the video (as you can imagine) and would say that initially it was running OK, and then it came off quite hard against a barrier, thereafter the guide definitely hit a particular track joint on the subsequent runs until Ade gave it some attention. So it looks like maybe the guide was sticking or dislodged or even perhaps the guide holder in the chassis has cracked ? Hopefully will be OK on the wood tracks (fingers crossed)

The guide appeared to be fine and there was no obvious damage to it. We ran it through the slot by hand many times as our first assumption was that it was catching, but every time the guide ran freely. The only slight protrusion was the screw heads for the motor pod and we think it was these that caught a joint on the track rails. Once we taped over the screw heads the issue seemed to stop. Was one hell of a whack though so I’m hoping there’s no unseen damage to the car.

[Kevan]

I have to admit I was initially nervous when it was time for my Audi RS5 to go in that lane next...

[BAracer]

Thought my Alfa 155 would be painful to watch, but I kept looking. Well driven!

It's obvious to me now that a slight loss of grip at the rear will lead to a massive loss of time...

[Kevan]

It's obvious to me now that a slight loss of grip at the rear will lead to a massive loss of time...

Non magnet circuit racing is all about tyres  

[BAracer]

I kept my Alfa and Capri pretty much box standard. The Alfa is running with its original tyres trued and glued.

[CMOTD]

Round 5 Conington Park

If there is one thing better than playing with other people's cars it is doing it twice! We had a double header this week, Sunday at mine and Monday at Tel's Roughwood track. We normally have a week between the two rounds but, due to the delay with the lost parcel earlier it was necessary to speed up the process. So, a bit hectic but enjoyable never the less.

For those not familiar with my home track you can find the build thread HERE. It is 50ft in length, fairly long straights with enough twiddly bits to make consistent fast laps a suitable challenge. I normally run at 13.8 volts but turn it down to 12 volts for proxy purposes as Graham requests. As a rough guide to lap times - box standard Scalextric saloons would struggle to get below 6.3 seconds at that voltage while an unmodified Slot.It Skyline would lap consistently around the 5.5 second mark.

As Tel (Savage GT) had two cars entered I drove the events that contained them and he drove the other two.

Event 1 - Tourist
This largely went to form with Tel's Mustang and Brumos' Porsche the class of the field and Road Runners' Galaxy taking 3rd place. Unfortunately we had to record the only  DNF of the round when Makem's Sunbeam shed a rear wheel just 5 laps in. Removal of the body was necessary to fix this so that was carried out after the event.

Results and podium:

   

   

Event 2 - Grand

A bit of a shake up to the established order with Deadhead's Rover the class of the field and Green Star's Escort tumbling down the order to eighth. Bangers' BMW was just pipped into 2nd place by .5 of a second over the 25 laps and Makem's Camaro made a significant leap into 3rd place.

Results and podium:

   

   

Event 3 - Super

Tel's Calibra and the Skyline of WVASM were in a different league to the rest with both cars recording fantastic sub 5 second lap times. The Skyline of Manx Brian was no slouch either and took a worthy 3rd place.

Results and podium:

   

   

Event 4 - Modern

There was definitely something amiss with both Honda Civics in this round, both were quite slow and difficult to drive. Nothing obviously broken but they ended up in 8th and last places. Deadheads Audi was well away in 1st place with Mountain View's Astra in 2nd and Bangers' Alfa taking the final podium spot.

Results and podium:

   

   

That concludes the Conington Park round, Roughwood results should follow on soon. It just remains to thank Graham for organising these proxies and the contestants for letting me play with their wonderful creations. I look forward to the next one.