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WHO Racing Modified - January 2024
#1

   

Our first action of 2024 is the tradition WHO Mod season-opener - guaranteed to blow away any holiday hangovers.

WHO Mod is our fastest class, featuring mostly Viper chassis and lexan bodyshells. Hard-bodied cars run alongside, competing in the WHO Tuners sub-class.

The four rounds this year will feature some of Simon's best Mod tracks from the archives, starting with this one...

   

Doors open at 6.30pm for practice, with heats beginning at 7. We had some good New Year publicity in the 'All About...' magazines delivered to 33,000 local households, so fingers-crossed we are able to offer some rookie racers a very warm WHO welcome...

   
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#2

Race Report

We started 2024 with our best post-covid HO attendance of 23 - and that was despite being missing five WHO regulars. We welcomed David, Harry, Nathan and Ethan, plus Roy would have made it 24, but he had to head home sharpish just before the heats began. There were also returns for John, Alex, Dylan and Gareth for their first WHO races since 2020. What a great way to start the year at the Barn.

   

The track build was a little more of an ordeal than usual, including the inclusion of a chicane - necessary to fit the power taps! This was a tweak we did in January 2018 and gives the track a certain character... Next time we use it, we'll keep the chicane, but run the track in the reverse direction. The marshal at the chicane - mostly Alex or John - was kept very busy all night...

   

The layout was a very satisfying challenge for both the ultra-fast Mod cars and the hard-bodied WHO Tuners. Gareth had a pair of Life Like T Porsches for him and Dylan, breaking a strong field of Mega-G+ Nascars, including five racers using the club cars. With the big field and plenty of WHO champions and A Final winners on show, the racing  was incredibly competitive for the top ten places - scores upwards of 15 looking good, until Pete started breaking the 18-lap barrier. It was our 2023 F1 champ who led the way on the first two heats, Andy second and Jerome third. Gareth was sitting top of the WHO Tuners field and not too far off the top ten. David and Harry left after their first two heats, it being a late night for young Harry - but both had performed very well on their debuts.

   

The scores kept creeping up in the second part of qualifying. The three automatic A Final spots went down to the wire - Andy pipping Pete to pole in a head-to-head in the penultimate heat and then Oliver clinching the third spot in the very last race. That bumped Jerome down to the B Final, where he'd face four-time Mod champion John and a very rapid Alex, who had the second fastest lap of the heats. Reigning Mod champion Terry had first lane choice in the C Final, up against Ryan and Daniel...

   

Ollie rounded out the top ten and was top junior qualifier, just one place ahead of Isaac. In twelfth was top Tuner Gareth, four places ahead of his nearest rival Ash. Nathan was our top rookie on his debut - a great performance with the club cars to put him eighteenth overall and in the F Final with Ash and Kev. Here are all the heat scores and fastest laps - remember only the best three heats count towards a racer's total...

   
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Next it was time for seven frantic finals...
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#3

With David and Harry having gone home during the heats, we were left with seven races to end the evening, starting with Kevin, Dylan and Ethan in the G Final...

   

This one started with Dylan off at the first corner and Kevin de-slotting at the chicane. However, Alex's rapid marshalling - he'd had plenty of practice through the heats - meant that Kevin's red club car just led Ethan's white club car through the line after lap one...

   

After that eventful opening, the race settled down and Kevin managed a pretty clean and consistent race as Ethan and Dylan exchanged quick times and offs behind him. That did make it an exciting race for second - and there was always the chance Kevin would hand his pursuers a chance... However, he kept his cool and wrapped up the win. Ethan concluded a successful WHO debut by taking second place...

   

That meant Kevin stepped up to Yellow in the F Final...

   

It was another all Tuners affair, fellow rookie Nathan driving the Red club car and Ash and Kev having their own Mega-G+ Nascars. That Red club car was off again at the chicane on lap one - and it wasn't the last time the wicked wiggle caused problems in this race. Alex was kept busy...

   

Ash was the pick of the bunch and banged in thirteen super-consistent laps which left second-place Kev half a lap adrift, despite one of his better races of the night. Nathan wasn't far behind and, most importantly, beat Kevin to top rookie points and rounded off an excellent debut...

   

It was Ash who stepped up into the E Final - which he'd have to win to have a crack at Gareth for Tuners honours...

   

That was a tough ask, up against the three Mod cars of Tracy, Mike and Rob. The first lap red lane curse continued, with Rob exiting stage left at the chicane - a wry smile crossing his face as his car ended up halfway across the room... It was a pretty good two minutes for Rob after that, but so it was for Mike and Tracy - both going through the race without incident in red and yellow lanes...

   

This was a simply magnificent battle - Mike having the best of the early stages, but Tracy faster in the middle before Mike pulled away again. However, it was still very close and Tracy was clearly enjoying being the hunter - Mike feeling the pressure in the closing stages. On the penultimate lap, Tracy made the pass, leading through the line and finishing a just a couple of feet ahead as the power was cut. I'm guessing this race will be remembered fondly in the McCann household for years to come! Rob remained on the pace and finished on the same lap - that early chicane incident costing him dearly...

   

Tracy remained in Yellow lane for the D Final, which featured the junior medal battle between Ollie and Isaac, plus Gareth's top Tuner...

   

Ollie and Isaac's Mods were the first of the really quick sub-6 second cars - and they went hell for leather for the win. Ollie got the better start, but Isaac managed to squeeze some amazing pace to chip away and then take the lead on lap five. As often happens, he was maybe pushing too hard and a couple of crashes in quick succession - one knocking Gareth off - handed Ollie a huge advantage...

   

Although not on the same pace, Tracy was putting together another great run in yellow to hold second. A late off did spoil a perfect run, but didn't threaten her runner-up spot. Ollie won by a very comfortable two and half laps - the gap between Gareth in third and Isaac in fourth was just a few feet after a chaotic final few laps for the two of them...

   

Ollie stepped up to the C Final and had the chance to get a decent haul of junior points. However, he was up against three very rapid racers - Terry, Ryan and Daniel...

   

It didn't surprise anyone to see Ollie blast away and lead the first four laps - he really is one of the quickest racers at WHO just now. However, a big off on lap 5 required some lengthy repair and the young man decided to call it a day on the following lap. A sensible move - 45 points in the bag, the junior medal secured and no risk of any further damage to his car...

   

That left Terry and Ryan dicing for the lead, Daniel already having lost ground with an off. Terry seemed to have the better of Ryan, finally getting the sort of performance he'd been searching for all evening. However, having created a decent gap to Ryan, disaster struck for Terry with a power issue robbing him of victory with just seconds to go. Ryan slipped through to win by a lap and a half. Terry was safe in second, with Daniel third - only two racers left on the drivers' podium when the race ended...

   

Ryan had lucked into the B Final, but was determined to make the most of it...

   

In a line-up worthy of an A Final, Ryan, Alex, John and Jerome served up some awesome racing. Jerome got the jump at the start and made himself the target for the others to chase. It was relentless - all four swapping fastest times and mostly staying on, although Ryan eventually dropped off the pace with a couple of offs...

   

Jerome stayed in front, John and Alex vying for second and always close enough to capitalise on any errors from the leader. The pressure finally got to Alex, who handed the challenge to his dad. John was driving full tilt, eyes out on stalks - but the late error came from him, allowing Jerome to confirm his win by a lap. Alex was a quarter of a lap behind and Ryan coasted home, happy with his points tally for seventh overall...

   

All we have left is the A Final - which will follow soon, together with some video highlights of all the finals...
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#4

The A Final promised to be a cracker with the fastest four from qualifying lining up in four winnable lanes...

   

The first race of the year is always a great one to win and a springboard for the rest of the season. However, the pressure is very different to a championship-decider - it's a race to go out and enjoy...

   

Pete was quick off the line, but Jerome succumbed to a first lap chicane slip-up. Thankfully, Gareth had him going in no time. The other three were locked together, Pete leading the first three laps, Andy second and Oliver third. Pete was off at the chicane on lap four, leaving Oliver to chase Andy...

   

It was rapid stuff, Andy pulling out a half-lap lead and managing it. Behind, Pete threw caution to the wind to make up for lost time. Oliver kept him at bay until the final stages, Pete slipping past with just few laps to go. And then - on the penultimate lap - Andy span out on the chicane...

   

It was enough to let Pete through and win the race. Pete's error had been at the start, Andy's at the end - the difference, a third of a lap. An incredibly dramatic end to our first HO evening of 2024...

   

Huge congratulations to Pete on an excellent victory, to Ollie for winning the junior medal and Gareth for taking WHO Tuners honours...

   

Here are all the stats for all the finals...

   
Click image to make it bigger

Congrats to all our new racers - especially Nathan for finishing top rookie!

And here are some video highlights of the finals - thanks to Ollie and Rob for their superb camerawork during the A Final...



A big thank you to everyone who came along for an awesome start to our 2024 season. Special thanks go to the set-up and race control crews and to all those who stayed behind to help pack away.

We're back in two weeks for a Scalextric Digital night and then a Nascar HO evening on Wednesday 7 February. Sadly, the Christmas decorations will be gone by then. Details of all our 2024 racing can be found here: https://slotracer.online/community/showt...p?tid=3920
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