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News Bury St Edmunds Slot Car Club

2025 Season - Rnd 4 - April 19th - 'Club' Pioneer Legends

As darkness approached numbers dwindled to ten, those more distant having road works and narrow country lanes to contend with. The remainder settled in for the last class, stock Legends Pioneers.  Wheels are glued and trued front and rear, guides held captive and shimmed and finally, although there had been no damage in previous races, all seven (six plus a back-up) are fitted with 3D printed 'unbreakable' bumpers. Having said 'no damage in previous races', racing was so close this time that one mirror temporarily went AWOL! As with the trucks, the Legends were totally reliable, all braids remaining firmly in place at last.

                                                            
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Next meeting - Rnd 5 - May 17th

   

Err? Must be 'Silly Season' but it got your attention.

Mains: 'Club' Policar Maserati's - an agreed single make, single model owner/driver series 

Support: Club Rally Cars

Doors open: 5pm

Gt.Whelnetham Community Centre, 
Stanningfield Rd,
Bury Saint Edmunds.
IP30 0TX
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2025 Season - Rnd 5 - May 17th
Policar Performance Day

This was to be the first 'all Policar' meeting, the support race being for club-owned, Vic-prepared Policar Subaru 'Rally' cars. All were fitted with lead instead of the magnet, oiled where needed and had the front tyres varnished.

The club has built up quite a stable membership now with the usual fourteen drivers turning out to help set up the track for the night.

Support Class: Club Policar Subarus

          

With all cars equal, racing was very close, with Mark J setting the lap record for the new class at 13.278 seconds, to come home in first place 1.6 laps ahead of Shaun, who had sourced ALL the cars for the meeting. Exactly one lap covered second to fifth places, with third to fifth being taken by David, 'Bill and Ben'. (I know, I know - for those of a certain age!)

          

Racing was so close that Vic, who'd set up and tested all the cars and should have been most familiar with them, came home a surprising sixth!

The final heat screen (shown below), which also gives overall positions, shows how closely matched the cars were, with five of the six drivers best lap times being covered by half second.

   

Main race,  Owner/Driver Policar Maserati GTs.

With only a few more mods allowed - mainly a change to trued up tyres of the drivers choice -  several drivers had just stuck with cosmetic alterations, with either a partial or complete repaint and/or added decals. Some cars had been re-shod and run in though and seemed to be going very well.

         

There was one driver who hadn't even touched his car prior to the meeting, opening the box on the night and removing the traction magnet before the race. Much to his surprise he came home the winner in this class, that driver being - Mark J again. Mark set the lap record of 12.529 seconds here too, three quarters of a second quicker than that of the Subaru class.

           

Although tyre truing and a change of tyres was allowed this points to the longer/lower Maserati car contributing to the faster laps and higher lap scores throughout the field.

          

The top nine, who I assume all modded their cars running gear to some degree, improved their 'club car' scores by at least three laps. Most impressively though, Larry and James improved by 6.4 and 7 laps respectively!

          

   

Can any conclusions be drawn from this?

Most definitely yes! The Policars were a HUGE hit!

They definitely provided very enjoyable, cost effective, competitive and race-worthy no-mag cars for both the mildly tweaked 'club stock', or the slightly more open owner/driver class.

They were just as much fun as other leading brands at half to two thirds  the price, so a great big 'BANG for the buck.'

Next race day is on Sat 21st June, 

Support race: Club Scalextric Porsche 911 GT3's.
Mains: Owner/driver Saloon cars, British touring cars, DTM etc. with inline chassis and max motor rpm of 20,000.

(All photos courtesy of Vic King.)
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Next meeting - Rnd 6 - Sat 21st June

   

Main race: Owner/driver Saloon/DTM cars with inline chassis & 20,000rpm max motor.

Support: Club cars tbc. 

N.B. A different circuit & direction will be used. 

Thought for the day, if you don't come off or crash you can't blame the marshal.

Doors open: 5pm at

Gt.Whelnetham Community Centre, 
Stanningfield Rd,
Bury Saint Edmunds.
IP30 0TX
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2025 Season - Rnd 6 - Sat 21st June

Ten club members turned up on a very hot evening to race on a new circuit, set up to run in reverse of the usual direction. What could possibly go wrong?

Support race: Club Scalextric Porsche 911gtr's

       
         

Despite every heat having many crashes while drivers learned the new track and direction there was some very close racing, with Mark J coming home the winner.

     
 
Main race: Owner/driver Saloon/DTM cars.

   
 
Being owner/driver there was the usual varied grid, with many different slot makers and 1:1 cars being represented.   

               

However Slot.it seemed to be the manufacturer of choice, their Calibra proving  particularly competitive.

               
 
Despite running the club cars first, to aid learning of the circuit, some drivers still forgot to slow down on the shorter run to the bridge, with multiple accidents taking out 'innocent' cars. 

       

Drivers who were able to remember the shorter run and not get caught up in the crashes had some very close racing, with Vic coming home in 1st place.

Next meeting - Rnd 7 - Jly 19th

Doors open: 5pm at

Gt.Whelnetham Community Centre, 
Stanningfield Rd,
Bury Saint Edmunds.
IP30 0TX
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2025 Season - Rnd 7 - Sat 19th July

School holidays and great weather saw the lowest turnout for some months, nine gathering to race on the long track. There were just a few wiring issues to sort out before practise could begin.
 
Support race: Club Racer Sideways Nissan sports cars
 
Only eight took part in the support race, Vic standing down to manage things. There was some close racing but things eventually sorted themselves into two groups, with the most experienced driver Mark R coming home in 1st place, just over a lap ahead of Ben, with David another lap back to take the third step on the podium.

         

Main race: Owner/driver Muscle and Nascars
 
Six heats, each of four minutes, produced some competitive racing with three or even all four cars swapping the lead in most of the heats. However, in one of the heats a major crash involving three cars probably caused two drivers to miss out from being in top spot. Steady driving and avoiding (most of!) the accidents saw Vic come home the winner with his blue Camaro. Just over half a lap back was Ben, taking second place in this class too - consistent, eh! while Graham took a great third place.

          
          
         
          
         

Next meeting - Rnd 8 - Sat Aug 16th

Doors open: 5pm at

Gt.Whelnetham Community Centre, 
Stanningfield Rd,
Bury Saint Edmunds.
IP30 0TX
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Next meeting - Rnd 8 - Sat Aug 16th

Which will be - all Rally cars!

Mains: Owner/driver Rally cars with inline chassis & up to 21,000rpm motors.

   
Hard over crest!

Support: Club Policar Rally cars.  
Doors open: at 5pm when some maintenance on the wiring of the track will be made. I.E. Soldering of the loose wires on the start/finish section.

Gt.Whelnetham Community Centre, 
Stanningfield Rd,
Bury Saint Edmunds.
IP30 0TX
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2025 Season - Rnd 8 - Aug 16th

Eleven club members turned up and got stuck in to some track maintenance. The 110 foot 6 lane sport track, built back in 2012, needed some soldering on the spade terminals and the  joints at the end of each modular track needed the loose rails securing. 

Support race: Club Policar Rally cars.

With the evenly matched cars, close racing was the order of the day. The more experienced driver, David, came home in first place - but only by two thirds of a lap ahead of the rest of the field. The next six places were covered by less than a lap, with Shaun second and Vic third. Mark J, Ben, Graham and Bill took the next four spots. There was then a bit of a gap back to Mark W. who plugged the gap less than a lap behind in eighth. The remaining trio of Alan, Wayne and James were three laps down but enjoyed a great battle, the three being covered just two fifths of a lap.

                     
 

Main race: Owner/Driver Rally cars.

Alan and Shaun dropped out of this class, leaving nine to compete for the win. Being the owner/driver class there was quite a mix of 1:1 and 1/32 makes racing, which helped to split the results into four groups. Mark J's newly revamped Metro chassis and 21K motor came home in first position, a tenth of a lap ahead of Ben. Almost two laps back were David and Vic but again the margin between them was tight, just a fifth of a lap, David taking third spot making it a great night for him. There was a two and a half lap gap to the third group but once again it was very tight between them Less than a lap covered Graham Bill and Mark W, in that order, James and Wayne bringing up the rear.

A very successful night on the refurbished track.

                                                            

(All photos courtesy of Vic.)
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Next meeting - Rnd 9 - Sat Sept 13th

Support race: Owner/driver Policar Maserati GTs.

Main race: Owner/driver Sports/GT and Le Mans cars. Any chassis layout & unlimited motor RPM.   

   

Doors open: at 5pm 
Gt.Whelnetham Community Centre,
Stanningfield Rd,
Bury Saint Edmunds.
IP30 0TX     
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The modified wheel arches suit the Cortina...now where's that bodyshell...


[Image: attachment.php?aid=42591]

Life is like a box of Slot cars... Cool Drinkingcheers
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