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We start our WHO/digital year with a pair of Nascar & Legends Wednesdays. These are an ideal introduction to Scalextric digital using RCS64 software and give everyone the opportunity to get up to speed, ready for an action-packed season of racing. They are also a lot of fun!

●    The evenings feature a Nascar club car team race, followed by a bring-your-own Pioneer Legends pairs race.
●    You don’t need to buy any cars to enjoy these Wednesday events.
●    During the evening we gradually introduce the tyre wear, fuel consumption and (maybe) weather features of our RCS64 race management software. Team captains will help you with the nuts and bolts of digital racing - and to the subtleties of race strategy.
●    Doors open at 6.30pm for practice and digital driving school. Teams are allocated and we start racing with evenly-matched club cars as near to 7pm as possible.  
●    An hour of action is divided into three or four segments of either 15 or 20 minutes, including driver changes every five minutes.
●    Teams swap cars at each break - winners with last place, second with fifth etc. After an hour of racing, total laps are added up and prizes awarded at around 8.30.
●    The Pioneer Legends cars are Digital Plug Ready (DPR) so are easy to convert to digital. To compete, racers must have their own - or the offer to share another driver’s car. There are no club cars available.  Full build guidelines are explained in the WHO/Digital 2024 Guide pdf here: https://slotracer.online/community/showt...9#pid34539
●    The usual Legends format is two 8-minute qualifying heats, with a driver change at half-distance.
●    The cars completing the most laps in their 8-minute qualifying heat automatically for the feature race, the other six battle it out for the remaining places in an 6-minute ‘B-Final’.
●    In the unlikely event there are only six legends cars (or fewer), a single twenty minute race is held - a driver change window straddling the half-way point of the race.
●    And that usually takes us up to 9.30pm - or sometimes a little later.
●    Once you have a couple of Nascar & Legends Wednesdays under your belt, then our GT Championship and Digital Saturdays will be a more gentle learning curve!

The January race will take place on a new track layout designed by Simon...

   

Entry is £3 (£2 under-16s) for the whole evening of racing. We ask that racers aged 13 and under bring a responsible adult with them.

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25 racers gathered at the Barn last night for the first WHO/digital event of the year. 

Simon's track was massive - filling the width of the Barn and offering our six digital debutants a suitable "wow!" when they walked through the door...

   

Sadly, I had to sit this one out - so massive thanks to Rob, Ollie and Ash for sending images and data, plus Oliver and Mike for filling the details. It was a busy digital driving school session - six new racers, plus Steve, John and Alex all requiring a recap. And then it was straight into the Nascar Team Race...

   

There was a mix of experience and expertise across the teams - each having at least one Gold or Silver rated driver. Ethan and Nathan had one HO event under their belts, but for Mick, Mike P, Dexter and Ray it was a completely new experience...

   

Team Six looked strong - Stephen, Alex F, Simon and Kev all WHO veterans. So it was no surprise they finished the first 20 minute segment top of the pile with 83 laps in the Blue Valvoline-sponsored Ford Taurus. Close behind were Teams One & Five on 81 laps. Team One - Dexter, Dean, Mike D and Rob - fared very well with the Green John Deere car. Team Five - Daniel, Jean, Mike M and John - had lots of experience too and their 81 lap score was with the Yellow DeWalt Taurus. Two laps back were a youthful Team Three - Ryan, Nathan, Isaac and Ash - racing the Orange Tide Taurus. In fifth place, Team Four scored 77 laps - Ollie, Ray, Steve and Oliver driving the White Herbie-themed car. Bringing up the rear with an impressive 71 laps were rookies Mike P, Mick and Ethan, alongside Alex and Terry.

Segment One was simulation-free, the following races would feature pit stops. Not surprisingly, those teams with learner-drivers faced the biggest challenge as the racing became more complex. Nonetheless, Team Two improved their score in Race Two and again in Race Three - Alex and Terry obviously working hard to get their inexperienced team mates up to speed. The coaching was less intense for the others... The youthful Team Four won Race Two, this time driving the DeWalt Taurus. Team Six took the Red CitGo car to second, maintaining their overall lead. They'd finish with the John Deere Taurus, again finishing second - this time to Team One, their closest rivals. It was a nailbiting finale to the hour of racing - the two teams separated by just one lap overall!

   

Congrats to all the teams for some fantastic performances...

       

         

         

Next up is the Legends pairs race...

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It was a great line-up of nine cars for the Legends race. Seven took the opportunity to head home or to sit back and watch the 18 racers in two 8-minute qualifying heats, with driver changes at half distance...

   

Some of the Legends are looking a little worse-for-wear after two seasons of hard racing - but we also had some new models for 2024...

   

Heat one was a five-car battle, qualification based on all nine pairs being ranked on their scores. A triumphant return - and Legends debut - saw John and Alex beat a strong field...

   

1. John & Alex F - Gulf #15 - 28 Laps - Best lap 10.730 seconds - 1 pit stop
2. Rob & Ollie - Sunoco #7 - 27 Laps - 10.461 - 2 pit stops
3. Terry & Daniel - Gulf #44 - 25 Laps - 11.281 - 3 pit stops
4. Mike D & Ash - Sunoco #2 - 23 Laps - 10.154 - 2 pit stops
5. Kev & Isaac - Rockstar # 52 - 19 Laps - 11.538 - 2 pit stops

The second heat was no less fiercely contested - the top two finishing on the same lap, Alex and Dean just ahead...

   

1. Alex S & Dean - Rockstar #90 - 27 Laps - Best lap 10.523 seconds - 1 pit stop
2. Simon & Ryan - silver & orange #9 - 27 Laps - xxx - 2 pit stops
3. Stephen & Mike Mc - Rockstar #69 - 22 Laps - 12.098 - 3 pit stops
4. Steve & Ray - Jim Beam #13 - 20 Laps - 11.896 - 1 pit stop

That put the top four directly into the feature race - all those on 27 laps and above - with the other five pairs battling it out for the remaining two spots in a 5-minute last-chance race...

   

And it was an extremely tight scrap for that final step-up...

1. Mike D & Ash - 24 Laps - 10.305 seconds - 1 pit stop
2. Isaac & Kev - 20 Laps - 11.082 - 2 stops
3. Stephen & Mike Mc - 20 Laps - 11.651 - 2 stops
4. Daniel & Terry - 18 Laps - 11.382 - 1 stop
5. Steve & Ray - 15 Laps - 13.657 - 1 stop

Giving us a full 6-car line-up for the final action of the evening - the 8 minute feature race. And what a race!

   

1. Mike D & Ash - 37 Laps - 9.646 seconds - 3 pit stops
2. Simon & Ryan - 37 Laps - 10.623 - 2 pit stops
3. Alex S & Dean - 36 Laps - 10.257 - 2 pit stops
4. John & Alex F - 33 Laps - 10.822 - 2 pit stops
5. Isaac & Kev - 32 Laps - 10.142 - 4 pit stops
6. Rob & Ollie - 30 Laps - 10.418 - 3 pit stops

Congrats to Mike and Ash on a scintillating Legends performance!

   

Huge thanks to everyone who came along for a superb start to the 2024 Scalextric digital season. Special thanks go to the set-up and tear-down crews - and to Ash, Oliver and Ryan for their awesome work on Race Control, plus Ollie & Rob for their camerawork.

We're back for more Nascar & Legends action next month, before the start of our four-race GT Endurance Championship in March. A couple of Gold drivers (BARacer and myself) desperately need to get some practice in!