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We're back at the Barn for the start of our 2024 HO F1 season - four rounds taking place on the first Wednesday of March, June, September and December.

This is another 'box-stock' class, with racers favouring mostly Tomy AFX Mega-G+ and Super-G+ cars, although rumour has it an original Mega-G chassis may run too. The older Tyco 440X2, Tomy Turbo, Life Like M and Micro Scalextric chassis compete for the F1 Classic Cup sub class. All the build regs can be found on our website here.

We build layouts for F1 that are inspired by real-life circuits - although not always Grand Prix tracks. This season is a case in point, Mike coming up with an inspired choice of three from North America and one from Australia...

   

We start the season IndyCar-style on the streets of St Petersburg, Florida...

   

The layout has one of the highest number of 6-inch inner curves we've seen at the Barn, so is likely to favour the middle two lanes.

As always, doors open at 6.30pm for practice, with F1 heats beginning at 7. We aim to finish the finals and present medals by 9.30pm, but that does depend on numbers!

Entry is £3 (£2 under-16s) and club cars and controllers are available for no extra cost. We ask that racers aged 13 and under bring a responsible adult with them.

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It was an excellent evening of HO F1 racing at the Barn last night...

       

A tricky track tested the 29 racers, but Keith and Ollie held their nerve to bring home the medals...



Keep an eye out for full results, reports, stats and more images over the next 24 hours.

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Race Report Part One - Qualifying Heats

29 racers started the evening's qualifying heats, although that dropped to 28 when Brian had to head home. The St Petersburg street circuit was as tricky as predicted - the inner red and blue lanes both a good drive, but the gutters needed a huge amount of respect...

   

When it came to the finals, little progression would be possible - so like any street circuit race, qualifying would be absolutely vital. Two good scores in red and blue, plus hooking things up in either white or yellow was the ideal scenario, only the best three scores counting...

   

The heats threw up some excellent line-ups, including three McCanns (above) and three women drivers...

   

Deborah battled for top spot with Keith - their Mega-G+ cars absolutely loving this layout. No-one got close. In the end, a disaster for Keith on white lane didn't matter as he'd wrapped up pole with three 20+ scores, including 23.75 laps in red - the best of the heats. Deborah was less than half a lap behind, but the gap to Pete in third was over three laps. But then is was extremely close - and qualifying position would matter in this race more than ever...

   

Darren was making a very rare F1 appearance and with his machinery dated back to a pre-Mega-G+ era, he chopped and changed between his original Mega-G and his Nascar Super-G+ chassis. It was with the Super-G he set a big 22.65 score in red to grab fourth place and top pick in the B Final. From Andy in fifth down to Daniel in eighteenth, drivers were separated by exactly eight laps. In that midfield pack, Kev qualified ahead of Ryan only on having a better top score. Ollie was top junior, just missing out on an automatic B Final by 0.15 of a lap. However, Isaac wasn't far behind and would still have a chance of challenging for the junior medal...

   

Lined-up from fifteenth to eighteenth were the four McCanns - Stephen just beating Mike for family bragging rights. The bottom half of the qualifying table included some big scores on red lane - most notably Nathan's 19.35 - but it was inconsistency on the other lanes that left those drivers staring at a mediocre points score at the end of the night... the street circuit offering little hope for redemption.

Here are all the qualifying scores, updated with fastest laps...

   

A very big thanks to Ash for his meticulous pen & paper record-taking on a very busy evening - otherwise we wouldn't have any results this morning.

The report of the finals will follow this evening...

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Race Report Part Two - Finals I to E

28 drivers reached the finals - giving us nine step-up races to finish the evening. As is WHO tradition, Brian was awarded championship points for completing one heat. That left Nathan, Dylan, Dawn and Ethan in the I Final...

   

When the drivers chose lanes for their finals, eight of the nine first-picks had been for red lane - Nathan followed custom, with Dylan choosing blue, Dawn yellow and Ethan left with white. Both of those gutter lane drivers came off on the opening lap - Dawn at the first corner. However, this wasn't the crash-fest that some might have predicted. That's not to say there weren't any crashes! Unsurprisingly, Nathan looked good in red lane, but it was Dawn who emerged as his main challengers rather than the two juniors...

   

After that first lap crash, Dawn was super-focused on the race and staying on track round the extra-tight sections of the track. That tunnel vision may have paid off as she was totally oblivious to leading the race going into the final stages - taking the chequered flag with delight and a little bemusement. Nathan was second, Dylan third and Ethan fourth.

A win from a gutter lane in the opening final had certainly turned the form book on its head! Steve in red and Kevin in blue were going to be looking over their shoulders for Alex (yellow) and Dawn (white) in the H Final...

   

Alex had tried several cars in the heats and plumped for his dad's veteran race-winning Tyco for his final. The only Classic Cup car on show this time, Alex wouldn't be eligible for Classic Cup points as he'd raced full F1 models in the heats. However, it would be interesting to see how it went. It was carnage at the start - Kevin was briefly stranded on the line, Dawn crashed at the first corner (again) and Alex was off mid-lap. That left Steve with a sizeable lead after just one lap...

   

This was a scrappy race - with more action for the marshals, lower scores and slower lap times. Steve was the best of the bunch and got the most out the best lane, finishing a lap and a half up on Alex, who'd always been in with a shout with the Tyco, but couldn't quite make it a second yellow-lane victory in a row. Kevin rolled in third, with Dawn less than a lap behind in fourth. Turning 27th on the grid to a 25th place finish overall would make Dawn one of the highest movers of the finals.

The favourites for the G Final were Rob (red) and Russell (blue), although John in yellow and Steve in white would certainly give it a go...

   

The blue club car was again tardy off the line, leaving Russell with ground to make up. Rob led the way in red, chased by John and Steve. Like Alex, John had used a few F1 cars during the night and had gone with the Super-G for his final - quite an ask for the challenges of yellow lane...

   

The multiple champion he is, John drove the car and the lane with speed and precision, meaning that Rob could never entirely relax. A smooth run from Rob and a few late offs for John at the chicane gave us a two lap winning margin. Russel came in another lap and a half back, with Steve fourth.

We'd had three McCanns in a couple of heats - and now we had three of them in the F Final...

   

Mike lined-up in red, Tracy in blue and Daniel in yellow. Rob crashed the family party in white lane. This was a much quicker final and - apart from Daniel - the drivers did a fine job keeping their cars on track. Mike made red lane count, but both Tracy and Rob kept the pressure up in the early stages...

   

More often than not, Mike closes out a race well these days and he stayed focussed to bring home his blue Formula-N bodied Mega-G+ nearly four laps ahead of Tracy's similar car. Mike's score was the first to break the 20+ lap mark during the finals. Rob came home third and Daniel had a race to forget in fourth.

Mike stepped up to white in the E Final to challenge Stephen (yellow) for McCann family honours. Challenging for the win would most likely be Terry in red and Ash in blue...

   

It was almost a clean opening lap, Mike falling at the chicane, but Terry leading Stephen and Ash in what would be a fast and furious start to the race. That chicane would be Mike's Achilles' heel - keeping the marshals busy, including Pete having to rescue the car from the floor...

   

In trying to keep the pressure on Terry, Ash had a few offs going in to the mid-lap loop - and that allowed Terry to get away. Ash ended up having his hands full fending off Stephen, who had hooked up yellow lane rather well. Yellow lane challenging blue - that was becoming a pattern. As the chequered flag fell, Terry stormed home to a three-lap win, Ash grabbed runner-up spot by a third of a lap, but Stephen was delighted to have crushed his father. If it wasn't for a fire near St Mary's stadium, Stephen would have been watching Preston vs Southampton instead.

Before we go on to the rest of the finals, a brief thought about F1 cars. Our F1 grid has certainly been a bit 'samey' in recent years - AFX releasing just a handful of generic schemes on their lovely Panoz DP01 ChampCar body. Some WHO racers have stripped and decorated the bodies and Gareth's re-livery on Dylan's car was my pick of this month's line-up...

   

Alongside the Panoz, the rather bulky Formula-N car is an ugly duckling - although it does look better in the flesh than in pictures... and the two liveries can be grabbed for a bargain £25 at Slot Cars Direct at the moment...

   

However, we do have a brand new open-wheeler on the way very soon - and it's an officially licensed 2023 Alfa Romeo F1 car...

   

Slot Cars Direct will be stocking these, but probably best to email them to reserve one or both of the cars.

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Race Report Part Three - Finals D to A

Terry joined Isaac (red), Ozzy (blue) and Gareth (white) in the D Final...

   

Gareth got off to the worst of starts with his Super-G - two offs on the first lap - and it didn't get any better... the WHO veteran soon calling time on a frustrating night and bagging the points for thirteen place overall. In the other gutter lane, Terry led the first lap, but then binned it at Turn 1 - that let Isaac and Ozzy through and start a great scrap for the win...

   

Terry found a good rhythm in yellow and made it a three-way battle - all three drivers in with a shout. Isaac looked in control, but an off handed the lead to Ozzy... Could the rookie hold on for a landmark victory? In the end, Isaac was just too strong, coming back and winning by 0.90 of a lap. Ozzy was second, 0.70 of a lap ahead of Terry.

That gave Isaac a crack at the junior medal in the C Final - although he'd be in white and Ollie was in red lane...

   

They were joined by Kev in blue and Ryan in yellow - both of whom had been squeezed out of the B final by Andy and Oliver's late charges in the heats. This was a chance to get back in the mix. Ryan was off on the first lap - like so many yellow lane racers, the chicane caught him out. Kev led Ollie and Isaac through the early laps, Isaac gradually falling away as the inner 6-inch curves slowed him down or launched him off the track...

   

Ollie and Kev had quite a battle - an off for the youngster handing Kev the lead, before Ollie fought back. It was nip and tuck as the chequered flag approached, but Ollie kept his nerve to win by 0.45 of a lap. Ryan got the better of Isaac in the gutter lane contest, but ninth overall was ultimately disappointing. That meant Ollie took the first F1 junior medal of the year. With a 15 point deficit already, Isaac has work to do to defend his championship...

Ollie stepped up to white in the B Final. He was in the company of three F1 race winners - Darren bucking the trend and choosing blue, Andy in red and Oliver in yellow...

   

A first lap coming-together between Ollie and Andy saw Darren and Oliver lead the way. Andy was nearly two laps down by the time he got going again, but set off in pursuit of the others. Ollie was having a tough time in white lane and was soon passed, but at the front Oliver was keeping Darren honest...

   

In fact Oliver was putting together a magnificent drive in yellow lane. Although Darren was gradually easing away, Oliver kept Andy at bay for as long as he could. Inevitably, red lane prevailed, although only for second place - Darren was long gone, driving a near-perfect race in blue lane with his Super-G.

That moved Darren inside one lane for the A Final. On a normal track that might have given him a chance, but on the street circuit all eyes were on Keith (red) and Deborah (blue), with Pete only looking to pick up any scraps in yellow...

   

Keith and Deborah had been the outstanding performers on this tricky track, so it was utterly devastating to see Deborah's car stranded with a pick-up shoe missing on the very first lap. Whether it was a coming-together or self-inflicted, Deborah remained stoical - but it soon became clear Deborah's race was over before it had really started. Robbed of a tasty encounter at the front, we watched an F1 masterclass by Keith...

   

There was no way he was backing off, banging in a series of sub-4 second laps to completely annihilate the opposition. Behind him, Darren wrung everything he could out of white lane as Pete did in yellow. But they were in their own battle. Out front, Keith stormed through the finish line, scoring an absolutely massive 24.50 laps - smashing his best from the heats - and drawing a round of applause from those who'd stayed to the bitter end. Darren's 20.85 in white was impressive, beating Deborah's heat best in that lane by nearly one and a half laps. Pete rolled in with a 18.90 in yellow, not quite matching his heat score. But this race was all about Keith...

   

Huge congratulations to Keith on his first race win of 2024. Congrats also go to Ollie for another junior medal and to Ozzy for finishing top rookie by some distance.

Here are all the results from the finals...

   
Click on the image to make it bigger.

We have a big debt of gratitude to Ash for recording all the scores and best laps on paper.

Next, we'll have the updated club championship and rookie tables...

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Here are those tables - as always, click on the images to make them bigger...

   

Pete leapfrogs Oliver and Andy to lead the club championship at a quarter distance - but there's a long way to go! The dropped score puts Keith and Deborah squarely in the frame. And there are racers like John and Gareth who are still rusty after a long lay off from racing and I expect to score strongly as the season goes on. Plus, if Darren decides to make the Barn his monthly slot car racing fix, he'll always be there or thereabouts in F1 and Nascar, only needing a Viper to be a bona fide championship contender.

   

The Rookie championship looks equally tight. The scoring system rewards rookie racers in relation to each other - so Ozzy only got one more point than Russell, despite being ten places ahead in the finals. That's going make sure it's a fascinating battle for the prestigious titles of 'Rookie of the Year' and 'Junior Rookie'.

So that's a wrap on Wednesday's F1 action. Huge thanks to everyone who came along to race and especially to the set-up and tear-down crews. The absolute star of the show was Ash - who kept the evening ticking over at a good pace and kept those all important paper back-ups of the race data. 99 times out of 100, we don't need the back-up... but when we do, it's invaluable work done. Thanks Ash!

The next HO event at the Barn is the return of WHO Mod on Wednesday 3 April, which is our Easter holiday race this year. The lexan-shod Vipers compete for the win and the hard-body WHO Tuners sub-class includes the Mega-G+ club cars. The track is another of Simon's from the archives - this time from April 2018...

   

And before that, our Scalextric digital racing shifts to the 2024 WHO GT Championship, starting with a 2-hour team endurance race on Wednesday 20 March.