[Qman]

We are Woodland Fort Slot Car Club, Crownhill Rd, Honicknowle, Plymouth, Devon PL5 3SQ  UK

The club was originally formed by a small group of friends who raced on a 6 lane, figure of 8 Scalextric track, I joined them early in 2018 and with a lot of help from the late Rob Lees we borrowed the old Four Lane Blacktop track (since purchased from Rob), this served to encourage the members and soon after another track was purchased (off eBay), this is the track we currently use (when COVID allowed) and the FLBT track will be used for demonstrations at events etc.
We race a number of classes and try to encompass most forms of slot racing, a standard Scalextric 'style' in Production Saloons to Anything goes 1/32 Sports/GT.
We also have 2 classes run as club cars, i/32 Trucks (brass/pianowire chassis with a vac formed 'Peterbuilt' style body, and 1/24 Sports utilising Parma production chassis & 16D motors within a lexan LMES type shell.
Anyone is welcome on our club nights, under 16's must bring a responsible adult, we have cars & controllers available to borrow or you can bring your own.

Obviously COVID means that we are currently not open but when allowed we will continue racing in a friendly (but competitive) nature

Find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodlandfortslotcarclub

I will end by saying that without Robs help this club would still be sitting on the floor around a Scaley track, Robs friendship (I knew him for 30 years) and obvious enthusiasm for slot racing were the main reasons this club progressed, we will sadly miss you Rob. RIP

[Gordon Steadman]

Welcome to the forum.

Very sad to read that Rob has died. When did that happen? It wasn't that long ago that I was getting bits from him.

[Qman]

It was very sudden, we last saw him in March, just as lockdown came in, he was fit as a fiddle, he was in constant contact with the club through lockdown,  then we got the shocking news early October that he'd passed away, the big C by all accounts, he still had items for sale on eBay that's how sudden it was.

[Qman]

Finally we have been allowed access to our clubroom  
A good cleaning session last night in readiness for the resumption of our 2020 Championship season.
So next week 29th July will see round 2 of our Sports/GT Championship.
The rules are very relaxed, rubber tyres ONLY, 64mm max width (unless standard car is over this ie NSR Mosler which comes at 66mm), any Sports or GT shell in any material plastic, resin, lexan... concrete )

Race format is one minute solo run on your choice of lane to determine qualifying for 4x2minute, segmented, step up finals.


A quick reminder of round one, last year, current championship leader is Graeme Bickford.

   

[Qman]

Just realised that I dodn't post the results from 28th July, oops,
The win was taken by Bernie Lawrance with his debuting NSR Mosler, Graeme had to settle for 4th but it was enough to keep the lead of the series by one point.

We then moved on to our 1/24th Club Cars, Parma 16D powered Flexi2 chassis running spongies, the track is still rubbering in after our extended layoff and coupled with sponge tyres that haven't been used for 18 months things were a trifle slippery, lap times down by 3-6 laps over a 3 minute race.
Ian Chanter surprised himself with the win, consistency paying off on a night where a few people had problems, that result puts him on top of the standings, our season has been extended & shortened (if that makes sense) we are completing our 2020 season but shortening it to best 4 of 5 rounds.
   

Current standings are below, special mention must be made of our late friend Rob Lees who is still leading Production Saloons.
   

[Qman]

12th August 2021

Formula Libre, the fastest 1/32 class we race, rules are minimal, sponge tyres are allowed, lexan bodies also, BUT the track is still VERY slippery, (cant wait for the council to finish work on the windows so we can have some stability).

Anyway, Mike continued to show his dominance in this class, his only real challenger was Graeme running his 'Betta' car from Ian Fitzpatrick, Mike now has 2/2 wins, can anyone beat him next time?

Next week 19th August we move to the opposite extreme Formula One but using only standard Scalextric Start cars, tyres may be trued & weight may be added, apart from that they are box standard, bring your car along and race, or just turn up and borrow one of the clubs cars.
   

[Qman]

FORMULA ONE AT THE FORT
Last Thursday saw the delayed continuation of the 2020 Formula One season, this class is for standard SCALEXTRIC Start F1 cars, the only allowed modifications are additional weight, and truing of tyres, the idea is that anyone can come 'off the street' and race their homeset cars.

The format is everyone has 4x1 minute qualification heats, the best single lap time counting for quallie, this is followed by 3 minute 'step-up' finals.
 
 Qualification started with Graeme quickest, soon overtaken by Bernie, then Bob came storming in to take pole.

 The finals started with Graeme moving up from the C into the B final where 2 places were waiting to meet Bob in the A, Graeme & John stormed away but had a couple of 'offs' which allowed Bernie into a one lap lead which he controlled until about 20 seconds from the end, his car just stopped coming down the hill, it briefly started again then died over the start/finish line which allowed John (Down Jrd) & Graeme to pass him and move up to the A final.
 Bobs car had looked unbeatable in qualifying but in the final he lost grip and struggled to keep up, John took control and claimed his first win of the season, by nearly 3 laps from Graeme, a very deserved victory, Bob regretting his choice of tyre cleaning method.
After the race Bernie put his car back on the track and it ran faultless, strange but that's racing.
   
   

[Qman]

Belated report from last Thursday's Club Truck event.
   
These trucks are beginning to show their age (35 years+), some have very little brakes but it's the same for all drivers, except the red truck got SO hot in heat one that it melted the solder on the leadwire, it was replaced at the end of the heat with the spare car so it just needs a bit of TLC.

Anyway on to the racing, quite a few members had prior engagements so there was only 5 of us racing, 3 in a heat with just 2 marshalls made for an interesting evening.

The format is best 3 of 4 heats, totalled, and then a handicap is added based on previous results, the target for the 3 heats was 110 laps which nobody managed but the track is still quite slippery.

Honours went to Bernie, who narrowly beat Bob, which after 3 rounds brings Bernie into the joint lead with Graeme, Anthony is only 3 pts adrift in 3rd.

   

This week sees round 4 of our saloon championship which is split into 2 classes, Production is for standard Scalextric, SCX or Ninco cars, tyre trueing, ballast and body rock the only allowed mods, and then the Pro class, which covers all your Slot-it, NSR etc and scratchbuilds, drivers can enter both classes and results are determined on each and every race result, winner gets 4pts, 2nd 3pts, 3rd 2pts & 4th 1pt, the races are arranged so that no 2 races have exactly the same drivers, points are cumulative, the idea is an attempt to copy BTCC, every race in the whole season gives points.

[Qman]

BATTLE OF THE TINTOPS

A very competitive round of Saloons last night at the Fort, the computer decided that it didn't want to calculate the results!! but I have now fixed that and can congratulate Graeme Bickford for winning the Stock class, and Anthony Daw on winning the Pro class, I think I'm right in saying that it was Anthony's first win at the club and richly deserved.

Championship standings show that Graeme has moved to the top of Production, whilst Michael Stonehouse & Bernie Lawrance share the lead in Pro, but Anthony's win moves him up to 3rd.

   

Club members received their NSR Porsches and have just under a month to build & paint them before the start of the 'Back to Race' Championship which starts in October, in the meantime next week is Sports/GT

[Qman]

1:24 Club Cars

A record breaking night at the Fort, the track had been very slippery after the 18 month layoff combined with workmen replacing the windows creating a lot of dust so after a couple of 'sighting laps' I decided to give the track a light spray of our Koford goop mix...... WHAT A DIFFERENCE, the cars took on a new life and all the single lap records, and all bar one 3 minute record were shattered, it felt (almost) like the Open Sports final at the BSCRA Nats, but these are just Parma Flexi2 powered by Parma 16D motors.

   
Bernie had a couple of nightmare races which when the total of all 4 races count meant that despite taking all the single lap records he could only manage 6th overall, the win was taken by Ken Kinski by the slender margin of 0.64 lap from Ian Chanter with  Anthony Daw a fine 3rd (we're seeing a constant improvement here).

This means that Ian now has a commanding lead in the championship from Mike Stonehouse & Ken who share 2nd.