15th-Dec-23, 11:59 AM
Good Morning,yes in the end I am left with a feeling of relief that we recovered the cars from the clutches of DPD and of course that we were able to complete the series rather hurriedly but at least this side of Christmas.
I will spend the weekend getting the cars ready for dispatch on Monday, and then take a look at editing the videos for posting later next week.
Lessons Learnt:
DPD has serious communications problems with their own organisation and Sub contractors. MIC can be blamed for causing the problem, but DPD just had no way to resolve it without having to ask a fellow entrant to ask for a favour from an insider. Otherwise we might still be waiting now for the cars.
On the other hand since changing back to DHL I have been impressed that they seem to have improved their organisation from what it was a year before, yes hosts were getting the collection or delivery information which were sadly lacking the previous year. Their prices have increased to that of DPD, but you do get the options of collection and delivery to their depots which is not allowed by DPD. so DHL you get my
And finally the onboard tracking has proved useful in two ways, you can keep hosts informed as to the progress of the shipment, and also youcan see when the delivery takes an unexpected route, like the Woodland Fort collection went west into deepest Cornwall for 24hrs before appearing back at Plymouth Depot (only a few miles from where it was collected ). Now maybe it was the weather which was quite wintery that weekend or whether it was normal practise I don't know.
Although I can't do much to keep to the schedule should we have a similar incidence (hopefully not), it does mean that that month lost messed up the schedule considerably, so I have made the decision to space out the Rounds more with 2 week intervals which will also allow for hosts or clubs having to run over 2 days/nights to complete their Round. The only problem with this is that 10 Round would take 20 weeks, which is a considerable part of the year, especially if you running 2 proxies in a year. So I think the choice is to only run one proxy a year, or run each one with fewer Rounds. I like 10 Rounds but I think it is not sustainable for the reasons given. So I decided that as from next year there will be only 8 Rounds per proxy.
Number of Cars is also becoming an issue, whilst I am very happy with increased entrants in the last year, it does mean that we are running around 40 (in fact 42 this time) and although hosts have not complained, I do see some cracks appearing in the ability of them to complete the task in some cases. For the GT Sports Cars Slotting proxy I have allowed 36 cars, but thereafter we need in my opinion to reduce the number to around 30 maximum. So I will have a think about ONE car entries in future and therefore less Events in the Proxy series. A plan is forming in my mind but I am need to work it out abit more in the next few weeks. The result of the questionnaire I circulated about the topics suggested was exactly equal in preference. So I think this will be personal choice in the end.
Hosts Rounds
There is a need to have a briefing by the hosts of how they are going to run a Round, whether it is single car run, 2 car running or full on race. And I will need to have conversations about that and how this might influence where a Round is placed into the schedule. And it is important to ensure cars are not exposed to avoidable damage as this can effect how they perform throughout the series. More video would be welcome where possible, but this can be difficult if your not used to it or don't have enough people in attendance etc.
Triple Crown Proxy Series
well it will be the last of this type, Courtney donated his Trophy for the next Series, So I really do have to pass it on this time
It will be awarded to the "Best Team" overall on the 3 Series, So far we have:
Rally Cars Slotting - Bangers Racing
Touring Cars Slotting - Savage GT
so if we get a different winners of the GT Sports Cars Slotting, it might come down to looking at the series details etc.
So many thanks to everyone entrants, hosts and Sponsors who participated in the two series this year, and we will see what next year brings
SPONSORS
Pendle Slot Racing www.pendleslotracing.co.uk
George Turner Models www.georgeturnermodels.com
Truspeed Controllers www.truspeed.co.uk
Amato Slot Car Design
![[+]](https://slotracer.online/community/images/bootbb/collapse_collapsed.png)
