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Our 2024 WHO/digital GT Championship takes place over three Wednesday evenings and an all-day Saturday. We'll be racing on four tried-and-tested layouts this year...

Wednesday 20 March - Silverstone 2-Hours
Wednesday 17 April - Easter 2-Hours on an updated version of Mike's February 2018 layout
Wednesday 15 May - O'Connor 2-Hours
Saturday 22 June - 4-Hours of Suzuka

Following on from the success of last year's new format, we'll continue with six Pro-Am teams led by each of our Gold-rated drivers, who also supply the cars. A deputy (or two) assist with running the team - additional drivers are allocated at each event...

   

Mike is planning to run four different sidewinder cars this season - and other teams may also chop and change. Cars can swapped right up until the 2-minute Super-Pole session.

Here's a summary of the format...

• CARS: DiSCA GT4 Scalextric Clubman regs.
  
• DRIVERS: Must have completed a Nascar + Legends event. Pro drivers rated Gold & Silver for 2024. All others Bronze.
  
• TEAMS: Gold drivers captain the Pro-Am teams & provide cars. A deputy helps run the team. Additional drivers are allocated at each event - up to 6 drivers per team.
  
• QUALIFYING: 2-minute Super-Pole. Driver starts race.
  
• RACE: Driver-change window every 20 minutes. A 2-hour race has six stints - 3-driver teams race two stints each, 4, 5 or 6-driver teams must allocate at least three stints to Bronze-rated drivers. The 4-hour race has twelve stints, which must by allocated evenly across all drivers.
  
• MARSHALLING: Each team is allocated a marshal post.
  
• REAR WINGS: Must be repaired in pits within 5 laps.
  
• PENALTIES: Can be awarded by Race Control for poor driving standards, marshal post desertion or missing rear wing.
  

We start with a 2-hour race on Simon's Silverstone-influenced track that he designed for last year's Birkett Relay Saturday...

   

Doors open at 6.30pm for practice. Entry is £3 (£2 under-16s) for a whole evening of racing. We ask that racers aged under 14 years old bring a responsible adult with them.

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Race Report - Part One

28 racers assembled at the Barn on a beautiful spring evening for round one of our 2024 WHO/digital GT Championship. This would be a two-ish hour team endurance race on Simon's Silverstone-influenced layout that was first used at the Birkett Relay Saturday last October and returned in a slightly revised format this time...

   

Like the real thing, it's a big track and fills most of the Barn. We certainly gave ourselves a challenge setting it up for a Wednesday night - a couple of issues would come back to bite us in the early stages of the race. However, it is a glorious digital racing track - taking the fast-flowing nature of the 'old' Silverstone and using the modern tweaks to give some handy overtaking areas. Both lanes are very useable to encourage the very best digital driving skills...

   

As Simon and Mike were fixing pit lane entry issues, Andy and Ash were sorting the 28 racers into six teams. It was by far our largest attendance for a GT championship event. Each team already had its nucleus and it was a case of allocating one of the six rookies on the grid, seed those left over and come up with four teams of five and two of four. Each Pro-Am team would need to run Bronze drivers for at least half of the six scheduled stints. This was the official line-up going into qualifying and the race...

   

There were a couple of car changes - Astone Mosdell's new McLaren not firing up, so Alex and Dean reverted to last year's Mercedes; and Sidewinder started the championship with Mike's big green Bentley. That gave us three Mercs, two Bentleys and an Aston Martin Vantage - the three sidewinders operating with vac-formed interiors for our 2024 BoP regulations.

Driver-wise, Gearzilla Racing nabbed the returning Scott and so had two newbies on their team, with Ethan racing at only his second digital event. Stuart only practiced last time out, but was given a discretionary pass to race with Écurie Escargot. Father-and-son Rob and Ollie were back as Mike's core team at Sidewinder, with John and Alex playing a leading role at Escargot as Andy had his hands full on race control. New Gold driver Jeremy led one of the teams of four at WHAM! Racing - Astone Mosdell were the other - both would have a little more flexibility in their driving schedule.

As for the weather, our new algorithm gives us a 33% chance of a fully-dry race - and that's what the dice roll gave us this time. Strategy would be all about the basics - minimising pit stop time and getting the most out of your driver line-up.

After a final practice session we went into the 2-minute Super-Pole shootout. The six drivers competing for pole position (and an extra championship point) would then start the race. Last year, Super-Pole was usually a showdown between Ryan and Ollie. This time, Ryan's Mercedes seemed a little off-form and Super-Pole ended up a three-way fight between Dean, Ollie and Oliver - they all set sub 12-second laps...

   

Congrats to Oliver for his pole position run. That would put the Gearzilla Racing Mercedes on pole...

   

Not that the starting order ever has a huge impact on a 2-hour digital slot car race.

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Race Report - Part Two

   

The start of a GT race has a very different buzz to other WHO digital formats - a hush descends and then the cars circulate calmly, embarking on a marathon, not a sprint. That said, none of the six drivers was hanging around - the cars were quickly up to pace and ticking off the laps. Oliver led a trio of Mercedes after 5 minutes, Dean for Astone Mosdell in second and Ryan for Smooth Operators in third. Ollie and Ash were a lap back in the two Bentleys and Stephen was easing in the newly-upgraded Écurie Escargot Aston, three laps off the lead...

   

At 15 minutes, Ryan, Oliver, Dean and Ollie were all on the same lap. Stephen had got the better of Ash to move up to fifth - those two three laps adrift of the leaders. Shortly after, Dean brought the yellow Mercedes into the pits and Alex took the car directly to the work bench to fix some gearing issues - they'd return in last place, but limited their losses  as a full-course-yellow came out for more repairs on the pit lane entry. When we returned to green-flag racing, it was time for the first driver change - Ryan handing over the leading Mercedes to Mike. Gearzilla were three laps back, Scott taking over from Oliver. Russell jumped into the third-place Sidewinder Bentley, with Escargot up to fourth and Stuart about to experience his first digital racing stint. Andy Phillips took over from Ash in the WHAM! Bentley, with Steve easing into the Astone Mosdell Merc - they'd lost eight laps in the pits...

   

We were just three minutes into the second stint when we had a yellow flag for a short-circuit - but we were soon underway again. In a field of Bronze drivers - including three rookies - Scott was the stand-out performer, bringing all his experience of analogue club racing. He ate up the deficit to Smooth Operators and put Gearzilla into a five lap lead at the half-hour mark. Stuart had a superb start to his stint, dragging Écurie Escargot up to third - the three sidewinder cars having a really close scrap for that final podium position, despite being twelve laps off the lead of the race. Steve was plugging away with the delayed As-Mo Merc, trying to reduce the deficit to that mid-field scrap...

   

The race at the front settled down, Mike finding a better rhythm and holding the deficit at five laps. That's how the battle for the lead stood at 40 minutes, as Scott handed over to Kev and Duncan took over for Smooth Ops. WHAM! Racing were the best of the rest - albeit sixteen laps off the lead - Sidewinder fourth, Écurie Escargot fifth and Astone Mosdell six laps adrift at the back...

   

Five minutes into the third stint and we had another pause to rectify a short - it was proving an unusually glitchy evening, but what GT race isn't punctuated by yellow flags? Kev had stretched the race lead by another lap over Duncan. Rob was driving beautifully for Sidewinder and had the Bentley in third - and already chipping away at the two Mercs in front. Steve for WHAM! and Alex for Écurie Escargot were just behind, with Isaac now in the As-Mo Mercedes at the back...

   

Five minutes after the resumption of racing disaster struck for the Escargots. An innocuous punt up the rear from another car stopped the Aston Martin dead in its tracks. A wire sheared at the forward ferrite man was diagnosed - and swift some stripping and soldering by Mike eventually got the car back in race, albeit losing seven minutes and 35 laps... 

   

Meanwhile, Rob was putting on a masterclass - his 91 laps in 20 minutes proving the best score of the night - and Sidewinder were suddenly right back in contention for the win after an hour of racing. As the cars came in for their third driver change, Gearzilla led by eleven laps, but Smooth Operators now had just one lap on the Sidewinder Bentley. The gap back to WHAM! Racing was nine laps, Steve having put in a very good shift for his team. They were four laps ahead of the recovering Astone Mosdell Mercedes in fifth. Having been dead last, Alex, Dean, Isaac and Steve would now have their sights on a possible podium place - sitting just 14 laps of second place and having nearly half the race still to run...

   

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Race Report - Part Three

Both Andy Phillips and Stephen had to head off as we entered the second hour of the race. It wouldn't be exactly two hours - RCS64 insists on a lap race for anything over an hour - but the original 500 laps should have lasted 120 minutes, based on last October's action on this circuit. A reduction of 30 laps due to our late start meant we'd be looking at a short final stint - maybe 10-15 minutes - and the team strategists would already be looking at the implications of that...

   

Six minutes into the second hour and Astone Mosdell's recovery was cruelly halted. With top-gun Alex driving, the car stopped dead - caused by a similar wire break to the Escargots. Alex's soldering skills got them back on track after just six minutes - a loss of 31 laps. That put Alex four laps behind John's Écurie Escargot Aston Martin - and in a tasty battle for fifth place. Everyone else still had hopes of a race win. With 15 minutes of the stint gone, Mike had trimmed Terry's lead for Gearzilla down to just 9 laps - the Sidewinder Bentley was flying. Jeremy was third in the WHAM! Bentley, having usurped Nathan - a rookie driver up against five WHO champions! First to fourth were covered by 27 laps...

   

That gap had stretched to 35 laps by the end of the stint - Terry fighting back against Mike to leave the gap at the front at 12 laps. Mike would hand over to Matthew - a Silver driver -  and Terry to Ethan - a rookie. Everyone was expecting a lead change before the next 20 minutes was over. The gaps in the midfield were lengthening - 13 laps between Sidewinder and WHAM! Racing in third, then ten laps back to the Smooth Ops in fourth. Escargot were 21 laps behind, John's lead over Alex just two laps at the driver change...

   

The five-driver teams saw their fifth driver finally get on track! Simon, Andy, Ethan and Matthew all had jobs to do, with Dean back on for As-Mo and Steve for WHAM! At the back, Dean and Andy had a furious scrap, running on the same lap for almost all the 20 minutes. Their scores of 88 and 90 laps eclipsed everyone apart from Simon, whose 86 laps got him right behind the WHAM! Bentley by the end of the stint. That would set up two titanic battles for the closing stages...

   

However, what about the battle for the win? No-one gave Ethan a chance against Matthew - yet the youngster pulled out possibly the best performance of the night under immense pressure. With Oliver and Terry coaching him, Ethan maintained a sensible pace, kept the car on the track and executed efficient pit stops. Yes, Matthew trimmed the lead, but the anticipated overtake never happened. Ethan stayed calm and that heaped the pressure back on to Matthew. It was Pro-Am GT racing at its best. As the final driver change came round, Ethan handed over the Gearzilla Mercedes with a priceless 4 lap lead - something Oliver could be confident to defend against Mike in the Sidewinder Bentley...

   

At the back, Alex had the task to take fifth place, Andy double-stinting to try and stop him. Both cars had their share of bad luck during the evening - the time and laps lost dropping them out of almost certain podium contention. And neither car was firing on all cylinders during the final stint, possibly a result of hasty electrical repairs. In the end, Andy comfortably held off Alex to take fifth place by seven laps. Astone Mosdell and Écurie Escargot will be hoping for better luck next month...

   

Mike was going all out to chase Oliver down for the win - but there was also a tight battle going on for third. Ryan fancied his chances of grabbing that final podium position, despite the Smooth Operators Merc not being quite as quick as last season. Sadly for Ryan, Ash was driving the WHAM! Bentley much better than his opening stint and managed to double the gap to two laps by the end of the race. A disappointed Ryan had enjoyed the chase...

   

And that left Oliver's quest to hold off Mike. It looked like the WHO veteran might have a chance early on, but thanks to Ethan's magnificent drive, Oliver was never under too much pressure - and the Mercedes gradually pulled away from the Bentley. At the end of an exciting race, Oliver took the chequered flag at 471 laps, finishing 8 laps ahead of Mike...

   

With a couple of absentees, here are all the teams...

       

       

         

Huge congrats to everyone on a great race and some superb performances throughout the grid, especially by our newer Bronze drivers.

These are some useful stats for the team strategists to see where laps can be gained next time...

   
click on the image to make it bigger

A big thank you to everyone who came along and made it such an enjoyable GT team race. Special thanks goes to the set-up team, to the Race Control and track maintenance crews for their hard work under pressure and to all those who stayed late to pack away. Round Two of the GT Championship is next month - on Wednesday 17 April. Before that, we're back at the Barn for some HO action in the Easter holidays, with a WHO Mod & WHO Tuners race on Wednesday 3 April.

   

[BAracer]

Too much time in the pits again! 100 seconds wasted. 

I need to speak frankly to the Wham team captain...

[woodcote]

Maybe not enough to make up a place this time, but potentially 8-9 laps to be added to your total...

   

With better pit stops for WHAM! and no broken wire for us, the three sidewinder cars would have been with a couple of laps of each other at the end. Two Bentleys on the podium is pretty pleasing though. Mike will go with another sidewinder model next time - either a Corvette C6R or McLaren MP12. The best of the three will get a run-out in June. Hopefully the Astone Modsell McLaren will race next time too.

Here's some video...



Thanks to Rob for his camerawork in the final two stints.

[Scott]

Thank you for another fun night of racing this new fangled digital malarky. 

Thanks especially to those who set up and ran the evening - as the saying goes, we couldn't do it without you - and to my team mates for proving that lightning (or a winners medal) can strike twice.