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We're back at the Barn on Wednesday for our second Nascar & Legends Wednesday evening of 2025, with non-stop excitement and also ideal to learn the ropes. Indeed, we do insist that new racers get one or more of these events under their belts before progressing on to the GT Championship and the autumn Digital Saturdays.

Doors open at 6.30pm for practice and digital driving school. Racers are allocated to six teams for the Nascar club car team race - the allocation being seeded to give us a nice, close 60 minutes of racing over three or four sessions. Cars are swapped between teams after each session - the winners swapping with the sixth place team etc. The aim is to get as many laps as possible.

After medals have been awarded to the winners and team photos taken on the podium, we move on to the Legends pairs race. The Pioneer Legends are not club cars, so you'll need a car or an invite to share one. It's a quick-fire format, 8-minute heats with a driver change at half-way and the teams with the best scores qualifying directly for the 8-minute feature race. Before that, there's an 8-minute last-chance semi-final to fill the remaining place(s) in the feature. That usually takes us up to just after 9.30pm.

Entry is £3 for the whole evening's racing (£2 under-16s) and there is a 2025 season ticket for our digital events available (see here).

We ask that racers aged 13 and under bring a responsible adult with them.

Simon has designed us this track to race on...

   

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Race report

Twenty-four attendees made the maths very easy for our February Nascar club car team race. And we welcomed three new digital racers - Kevin, Stephen and James all going through our WHO Digital Driving School, after varying degrees of experience at our HO Wednesdays.

   

Simon's track design went together very nicely and filled the room with a perfect Wednesday night layout - lots of flowing curves with overtaking opportunities and enough challenging sections to keep us on our toes...

   

Five of the WHO Pontiac Grand Prix got an outing this month, giving a slightly different drive to the Tauruses. However, one Taurus snuck in - the white Herbie UPS car made up the set of six. And we were off - the six teams captained by our younger drivers... although at 41, Dean is the oldest 'jadult' to captain at a WHO team race so far. It did make his day...

   

The first of three 20-minute segments saw teams having to tackle just a fuel simulation, keeping the strategy and pit stop complexity to a minimum. Team Three - Isaac, Terry, Duncan & Rob A - took full advantage and banged in a big score of 95 laps, four ahead of Team Two (Oliver, Rob B, John & Steve P) and Team Six (Dean, Simon, Pete & Stephen A). The other three teams were well adrift of the leaders, with Team Five (Daniel, Mike, Mike & James) having a horrible start with the yellow car...

   

One of those struggling teams bounced back in the second segment after cars were swapped around. Team One - Ash, Jeremy, Matthew & Steve C - wrung a sensational 99 laps out of the red Pontiac... and that was with the extra challenge of tyre wear. Their closest challengers were Team Four - Stephen Mc, Andy, Kev & Kevin - who thoroughly enjoyed the blue car, finishing six laps back and five ahead of everyone else. That meant a very close race after 40 minutes... Team One led Team Three by a lap. Teams Two and Four were tied for third, just five laps adrift of the leader. Team Six were another 5 laps behind, with Team Five dead last, 18 laps off the lead...

   
 
It was the last-place team who redeemed themselves with a stunning last segment. They took the blue STP Pontiac into the lead and pulled away from the rest of the field. Their 99 laps was equal best of the race. However, the overall race win was still very much between Teams One (Ash) and Three (Isaac), who also had Team Four (Stephen) in the mix. After a really exciting 20 minutes and lots of position changes, it was Stephen, Andy, Kev & Kevin who rolled in second, ten laps behind Team Four. On the same lap were Isaac, Terry, Duncan & Rob A. Crucially they were a lap ahead of Ash, Jeremy, Matthew & Steve C. That tied the two teams on 272 laps after 60 minutes - the tie-break advantage going to the chasers, they finished ahead on the road in the final segment...

   

Team Four finished comfortably in third, but the big movers were Daniel, Mike, Mike & James, whose final segment performance saw them leap from sixth to fourth and just seven laps off the winners. Congratulations to all our teams and especially to the three first-time digital racers...

       

       

       

Of those first-time racers, James headed home before the Legends race, but Kevin and Stephen would stay on for another taste of digital action.

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There was a full grid of twelve cars for the Pioneer Legends pairs race, Pete driving two cars - sharing his Gulf Chevy with Ash and partnering Daniel's Ford...

   

Two heats would determine the top-six Feature and the Semi Final consolation race - all eight minutes, with a driver change at half way...

   

Heat One was stacked with some fast drivers and lots of experience. It was no surprise to see last month's winners Oliver & Terry being challenged for the win by Mike & Jeremy - and it would be the latter pair who brought their red Chevy home with a massive 42 laps, two laps clear of their rivals. Pete & Ash were another lap back on 39, with Duncan & Simon on 38. There was a good chance they'd make it to the Feature - Isaac & Kev had to sit and wait with their 37 laps score and quick lap of 09:609 seconds.

   

Heat Two had our two WHO digital debutants - Stephen starting Andy's Perrier Dodge and Rob sharing his Chevy with Kevin. The short-wheelbase Legends were yet another new challenge, but both got through their four minute stints and gained yet more pit stop experience...

   

Dean and Steve C monstered this heat, the bright red Ford looking a joy to drive. They crossed the line on 38 laps, grabbing the fifth place in the Feature as their fastest lap was slower than Simon & Duncan. Second in the heat were Mike & Stephen - their score equalling Isaac & Kev's, but the Fuller's fastest lap was better... The McCanns would have to settle for pole in the Semi.

There would be no step-ups from the Semi Final this time, but it didn't make the race any less competitive. The line-up saw only one pair from the first heat - Matthew and John would be looking to make up for the disappointment of missing out on the Feature. Otherwise, the rivalries of Heat Two would be rekindled and our two digital debutants would race again.

   

Stephen started from the front row, just behind the McCann Chevy. He'd drive a steady first stint, conserving fuel until the driver change. Kevin also took the first four minutes in Rob's car, gaining experience and handing over to his team mate a couple of laps off the back. In front of the rookies, Matthew had a storming first stint but was out of tyres at the driver change, putting a slight dent in his and John's lead. Daniel & Pete were second, leading a gaggle of three cars on the same lap. It was that close.

The quicker drivers took over for most of the teams and the competition got fierce. Andy moved the Dodge up from fifth place into the four-car pack that was chasing John. Stephen's fuel economy in the first four minutes meant a stop fewer for the chasing Perrier Dodge, with Andy taking the lead as John emerged from his third and final stop. A late splash & dash saw Andy with a slim advantage and only a few laps to complete. However, his tyres were nearly spent - would they last? Would it matter? A tyre stop would almost certainly drop the car back down to fifth in such a close race... so Andy continued. As the tyres hit zero, the Dodge dropped to pit lane speed and only some desperate blocking managed to keep John behind. They crossed the line nose to tail, but would Andy's lap count? It did - victory went to Stephen and Andy.

That wasn't a bad warm up for the Feature race. And the final 8-minutes of an excellent evening didn't disappoint! Jeremy and Terry lined up on the front row of the grid - driving the only two cars to break the 40-lap mark in the heats. Ash would start Pete's Gulf Chevy in third spot, alongside Simon in Duncan's snazzy red & yellow Dodge. On the back row were Steve and Kev. The race started with plenty of tension and great dicing on track. However, it was in the pits that the big drama unfolded - Jeremy losing ground in the opening four minutes, leaving Ash ahead of Terry at the front as they approached the halfway point and the driver change...

   

Mike was straight into the fray and working hard to close down the gap to Oliver and Pete, who were now in the cars ahead of him. Duncan was close behind in fourth, with Isaac a lap adrift, but Dean four laps back and out of contention. Oliver was finding his car hard to handle, which meant the lead battle came down to Pete and Mike, each on very different pit schedules. Mike had taken the lead when Pete pitted, but it was his turn to come in for fuel and tyres at 2 minutes to go. After they'd lost time in the pits earlier in the race, Mike delivered a perfect stop when he needed it. Pete had a comfortable lead, but would need to stop for fuel before the end - tyres were marginal, changing them would certainly lose them the race.

With just under a minute to go, Pete dived into the pit lane, getting tangled up a long way from the exit. Taking more fuel than was necessary and then having to negotiate nearly the full pit lane meant Mike was just feet behind Pete's car when it exited the pits... Pete spun, the two cars touched, but Mike was through and away.  Three more laps and the chequered flag fell - Mike leading Pete over the line by just a few yards. Those were the small margins between victory and defeat. Oliver rolled in third, Isaac got ahead of Duncan to finish fourth and Dean stayed sixth...

   
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Congrats to Mike & Jeremy on a very entertaining win at the end of a hugely enjoyable evening of racing...

   
 
That was it. Racing over just before 9.30, the track was stripped down and packed away by 9.45pm - massive thanks to everyone who stayed and helped with that. As always, thanks to all 24 racers, especially to the set-up crew and race control team - the whole evening ran like clockwork, just as we like it.

The Nascar & Legends nights return in July and August - and I'll publish the halfway championship tables below. However, next up we have the 2025 GT Championship, featuring 2-hour team races on Wednesday evenings in March, April & May, plus a 4-hour race to wrap things up on our June Digital Saturday...