[woodcote]

Category 2 - SCX

Driving responsibilities for this last group of cars was left to me. BARacer recorded the times and marshalled the cars, when necessary.

First out of the blocks was my SandBuggy. This old-style SCX TT car usually loves the really bumpy stuff, but wasn't as predictable as expected. A time of 100.70 seconds, plus a fastest lap of 17:33 were okay though...

       

James' Mitsubishi was smooth, but twitchy over the obstacles - not uncommon with the newer SCX cars. The clocked stopped at 105.60 for the 5 laps and a fastest time of 18:87...

       

Another SCX/Scalextric TT car, this time Hotlap's Peugeot 405. Its fantastic action over the obstacles is captured in the video at post #184. Despite one hiccup, the yellow Peugeot was quickest so far through the stage with a time of 98:34 seconds and a best lap of 18:33...

   

Next was Paul C's Red Bull Touareg. There was something not quite right with this car - a wiring issue, perhaps? However, we managed to squeeze a decent 5 laps out of it, timed at 108.00 seconds and a best of 18:58...

       

The final car of an excellent evening of Extreme Slotting was Jim's RNLI Peugeot 405. A great runner, it had only a couple of issues over the big bumps. That gave it second best time for the class - 98:75 seconds and a 18:37 best lap...

       

The Category R2 results looked like this...

1. Hotlap - Peugeot 405 - 98:34 seconds (best lap 18:33)
2. Jim S - Peugeot 405 - 98:75 seconds (18:37)
3. woodcote - SandBuggy - 100.70 seconds (17.33)
4. James A - Mitsubishi - 105.60 seconds (18.87)
5. Paul C - Touareg - 108.00 seconds (18:58)

And a final class podium for the stage...

   

We both had an enjoyable evening racing these fabulous cars. A big thank you to everyone who sent cars for us to drive. The first two classes were a nice warm-up, but when the obstacles went in, the fun certainly ramped up to eleven!

Just for interest, the best 5-lap runs on the Extreme version of the layout were:

1. Graham - Odyssey (R3) - 87:84 seconds
2. Groundhogs - AA van (R4) - 93:50
3. BARacer - Touareg (R3) - 95:42
4. MYST - Porsche 959 (R3) - 96:59
5. Graham - Mercedes truck (R4) - 96:88
6. Hotlap - Peugeot 405 (R2) - 98:34
7. Jim S - Peugeot 405 (R2) - 98:75
8. James - Porsche 959 (R3) - 98.84

That's incredibly close between the top guns in each class, apart from the amazing Odyssey. The top two had metal chassis, so even closer amongst the top R2 and R3 plastic chassis cars.

For the record books, the fastest lap of 17:33 was shared by Graham's Odyssey and my SandBuggy!

As we were packing away, Jeremy and me did talk about hosting a local, three-stage Extreme Slotting proxy over a weekend next year. And there are also some murmurings about introducing live slot rally and SlotNav racing to Worthing in 2024. Watch this space...

In the meantime, the Extreme Slotting cars (minus mine and Jeremy's) will be returned to Nottingham for dispatch back to their owners. I'm sure Graham will be busy working out the final results!

[BAracer]

Thanks for the invite to join you Andy!

As you say, the fun really started when the obstacles were added and the vehicles were tested to the limits of their performance, both on the track and off it when launched by the bumps!

It's a format of racing that has a place in our hobby, in my humble opinion.

[Gpa113]

Big thanks to both of you for an excellent final stage, complete with reports on each vehicle,  plus photos.  Good job

The difference between the classes is all part of the fun, but the big Trucks were  just so different....and amazing to drive 

If that is the last Extreme Slotting Rally-Raid Proxy,  then it's been great fun.  Big Thank You to Graham for once again putting it on, and well done to all who sent an entry or two, or three!!

Pip

[Graham]

 Good evening,
A great job by Andy & BARacer with the very last Round of the Extreme Slotting Proxy 23 

Is it happens I am away in Southampton this weekend at a live competition so sorry to say that I will not be able to post the final results until Monday. But I had a chance to glance through the results and I think the running order overall is not changed very much since the previous Round. 
So hopefully the front runners can rest on their laurels until Monday and feel reasonably secure.

But just hold off opening the champagne until then 

[Graham]

 Good morning,

Many thanks again to Andy and BARacer on running a splendid Final Round 

Dakar Chat
Ninco (R1)
1st Place - Hotlap (Mitsubishi)
2nd Place - Woodcote (BMW X5)
3rd Place - Gpa113 (Touareg)

Hotlap's Mitsubishi made it into 1st place, Woodcote's BMW feeling at home back on the Ninco track for a 2nd place Podium with Gpa113 showing that it has not lost that Podium feeling in 3rd. Surprisingly not a good run for the 3 Nemesis on this layout.

SCX (R2) 
1st Place - Hotlap (Peugeot 405)
2nd Place - Jim S (Peugeot 405)
3rd Place - Woodcote (Sandbuggy)

Another good run for the 2 Peugeot's, on the right kind of track they certainly do run well. Hotlap's car only just made it into 1st place with Jim's car very close behind.
The Sandbuggy of Woodcote having a good run on the final round.

Lightweight Vehicles (R3)
1st Place - Graham E (Odyssey )
2nd Place - BARacer (Touareg)
3rd Place - MYST (Porsche 959)

A great run for the RoadRunners (Odyssey) to come home fastest in category and fastest overall in Round 8. I thought the modified SCX of BARacer did very well to stay ahead of the Porsches for 2nd place and MYST Porsche once again outperforming the others for 3rd.

Heavyweight Vehicles (R4)
1st Place - Groundhogs (AA Van)
2nd Place - Graham E 9 Merc Truck)
3rd Place - MYST ( MAN Truck)

Way ahead in a league of it's own the Groundhogs AA van continued on its road to 1st Place. My Merc Truck seemed to fair better on the wider Ninco track to make it into 2nd. And MYST's MAN's dual motor Truck managed a 3rd place.

Dakar Sprint
1st Place - Graham E (Porsche 911SC)
2nd Place - Mike Scott (Porsche 911SC)
3rd Place - Groundhogs Austin A 30

Possibly the most surprising Category result of the series, The Porsche's obviously found something about the Ninco track that suited them, for first and second places. And conversely ChisK will be scratching his head (and so will I ) as to what happened to the Landrover ending last and behind the Seat Panda 

So its all over now and so to the final results......

[Graham]

THE FINAL RUN 

And so the Winners of the Categories

   

Winners are:

Ninco (R1) - Mikes Scott's (Nemesis)
SCX (R2) - Paul C (Touareg)
Lightweight Vehicles (R3) -Graham E (Odyssey)
Heavyweight Vehicles (R4) - Groundhogs (AA Van)
Dakar Sprint (R5) - ChrisK (Landrover)

Final Conclusions
Ninco (R1) - very well deserved win for Mike Scott, his Nemesis run well over all 3 seasons.

SCX (R2) - Similarly Paul's Touareg run best over the 3 seasons.

Lightweight Vehicles (R3) - what can I say, I expected the Odyssey to do very well although I thought it might struggle more against the Avant types in this Category which was changed from last year. But the car will now be quietly retired to the shelf I think 

Heavyweight Vehicles (R4) - Conversely I thought the Merc Truck would be a sure winner, but not counted on Groundhogs run away AA Van 
I think the Merc suffered due to the width of the rear wheels especially on the SCX track where it would fall off the side of the track on corners. And I think the MSC motor was too fierce. The CNC cut fiberglass chassis had been the main attraction to me because I thought it would be lighter and hence quicker than the Mitoos, probably it would have if set up better by me.

Dakar Sprint (R5) - this was a kind of experimental Category, introduced to perhaps widen the scope of the entrants who might have entered. I had not quite anticipated just how much advantage there would be with ChrisK's Ninco chassis Landrover over the rest of the field, in fact it would have been almost a winner of the Ninco Category if it had been classed as such.

[BAracer]

Guilty as charged for driving the Dakar Sprint vehicles. The Landy kept rolling off the track on the tight corners. Maybe it was too different to the others in the class and I didn't adapt my driving style quickly enough to cope.

[Graham]

Guilty as charged for driving the Dakar Sprint vehicles. The Landy kept rolling off the track on the tight corners. Maybe it was too different to the others in the class and I didn't adapt my driving style quickly enough to cope.

I think ChrisK will forgive you, even if the Landrover had been given a DNF default time, it would still have finished first overall in the category  

[Graham]

Closing Thoughts.....

This Proxy was great fun to run and it is a shame to close it down as an annual proxy run by myself. But on balance as the "Wye Valley Club" intend to continue with the theme as perhaps a one day Proxy event and they do have the benefit of having a variety of the different Raid tracks all in once place, it makes more sense to hand it over to their care. And I know that alternatives are being discussed.

As for me I decided that feeling committed to running 3 regular Proxy series is taking up too much of my time right now, although I I don't entirely rule out running something similar in the future as a one off where elements of the Extreme Slotting might be involved. 

There is another proxy idea in the wind unrelated to the Raid theme that might possibly be a motivation for me to backtrack on my desire to limit my proxy organising, but at the moment it is a remote one.

[BAracer]

Graham

Having been the recipient of one of your 'Boxes of Proxy Joy', I can see how much arranging that takes, let alone organising the event, let alone coming up with the rule set that satisfies the technical piranhas, let alone keeping us all updated with your result sheet and commentary.

Enjoy your couple of weeks rest till the next one!