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We're back at the Barn for the first of a pair of Tin Top Saturdays. These two events feature our 3-race BTCC weekend format, a Bathurst-style late-80s Group A team race, Classic Carrera Nascars and the Muscle Car Mondiale race. The timetable will look something like this...

   

Mike has been tweaking his Meadowdale-inspired layout that was first used at our development day in April...

   

Entry is £6 adults, £4 under-16s for the full day of racing. This is not a suitable event for Digital newbies and we do ask that racers have at least one Nascar & Legends evening under their belts. No club cars are available.

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Race Report: Group A Team Race

Seventeen of us gathered at the Barn for our November Tin Top Saturday. Ryan sat out the early stages, feeling a bit under-par but hoping to perk up as the morning went on. That left us with 16 racers getting to know the circuit and preparing for the team race...

   

As expected, the Meadowdale-inspired track was wonderful to drive, with two very equal lanes...

   

Practice over, we had six Pro-Am teams (four threes and two pairs), three Sierras, two BMWs and our first Commodore...

   

The usual two-minute super-pole shoot-out saw qualifying specialist Ollie put the AST One BMW on pole with the only sub-11 second lap...

   

Our WHO Random Weather Predictor gave us a maximum 4 weather changes for the 30-minute - starting damp, but probably clearing up. With the drivers who qualified the cars taking the first stint, we were ready to go...

   

It was Isaac who jumped up from fourth on the grid to challenge Ollie in the early laps - the Sierra passing the BMW and controlling the race until the first pit stop. Sadly, Isaac stopped a fraction too late, running out of fuel and losing a lap. The Écurie Escargot Sierra sat second to the AST One BMW after that first pit stop cycle. The two youngsters battled well for the remainder of the 10-minute stint, Isaac handing over to Frankie still just one lap adrift of Ollie's leading BMW...

   

Behind the leading pair of cars, Simon handed the Ardingly Aces Sierra to Kev in third place, the WHAM! Racing BMW sat in fourth, the Commodore was in fifth and Fundamentally Barley's Sierra was in six - the whole field separated by just four laps.

Out front, Alex took over at the half way stage - the team's score 64 laps and having a one lap lead over Écurie Escargot, for whom Frankie was driving brilliantly for only his second WHO Digital event. WHAM! and Ardingly Aces were three laps off the lead on 61 laps. Fundamentally Barley had overtaken Gearzilla's Commodore, their halfway scores 59 and 57 laps respectively. Then came a brief rain shower, soaking the track and making the Intermediate tyres a bit of a struggle. The track soon started to dry and no-one went for Wets.

   

The final driver change at 20 minutes saw Alex firmly in the lead, having a three lap lead over WHAM! Racing in second and four laps over Écurie Escargot and Ardingly Aces.  Fundamentally Barley remained five laps off the lead, with Gearzilla another two laps back.

Alex was firmly in control of the race, Andy moving the Écurie Escargot Sierra back to second spot ahead of Ash in the WHAM! BMW. As the race clock moved towards the half hour mark, it looked like the podium places were sorted. However, late drama saw the Sierra wiped out entering the pits for a splash & dash by the Fundamentally Barley car. The Sierra hit the deck and that was game over. Ash took full advantage, claiming second spot, five laps behind the winners. Fundamentally Barley finished third, ahead of the disappointed Écurie Escargot who'd run in the top two for much of the race thanks to superb drives by junior racers Isaac and Frankie. Ardingly Aces just failed to overtake the stricken Sierra and finished fifth, comfortably ahead of the Commodore.

   

Bravo to Alex and Ollie for a great win to start the day...

       

       

       

And here are the stint stats...

   

Next up is the start of the day's BTCC action!

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BTCC Qualifying

The seventeen BTCC cars were collected, scrutineered and programmed during the team race...

   

Sadly, Ryan had to head home, taking Frankie with him. The rearranged qualifying gave us three groups of five, each driver having two minutes to set a fast time. Drivers also nominated the race they'd use the Option (Soft) tyre - Rob chose Race One, Daniel, Andy, Simon and Stephen chose Race Two and everyone else Race Three. The Soft tyre is grippy at the start, but does wear quickly with a loss of grip - and potentially does not make it to the end of 16 laps if treated too aggressively.

There was some controversy in the first qualifying group as reigning BTCC champion Alex tangled with Mike. Alex's BMW ended up on the floor and was unable to set a competitive time. Going in group two, Andy grabbed pole position and a bonus championship point with a 10:260 second lap...

   


Second was Oliver (Group 2) and third Dean (Group 1) - they would be the three with a guaranteed place in the A Final. For everyone else, there was plenty still to play for...

   

BTCC Race One

Fifteen racers gave us four finals and three step-up places up for grabs in each. Everyone would score championship points too.

   

Alex started at the back of the D Final, but soon worked himself up into the lead. Ollie did well to keep in contact, driving his big BMW 330i nice and consistently. The battle for third spot was intense - Simon, Daniel and Stephen locked together at half distance. Kev was already struggling with his Civic, which he'd retire before the end. Ollie kept Alex honest, finishing on the same lap. Simon managed to pull away from the others, taking the final step-up.

   

There were only three cars ahead of Alex in the C Final and, again, he scythed through them into an early lead. This time, Ollie was a bit ragged and found himself out the back of the field. Alex already had nearly a lap on Terry by half distance, followed by Simon and Rob in a close fight for the step-up places...

   

Simon battled hard, getting the better of Rob - who was running the Option tyre for this race - and then past Terry to grab runner-up spot. Terry held on to the final step-up, followed by Rob, Isaac and then Ollie.

   

It had been plain sailing for Alex so far, but the B Final looked a much sterner challenge. Yet again, he got his nose in front early on, but an uncharacteristic error allowed Mike through into the lead. Ash was driving a fabulous race in the MG, keeping in touch with the leading pair. Jeremy had work to do in fourth, but also had Terry breathing down his neck. The scrap at the front was very close. Alex managed to get past with three laps to go, but a last lap pass handed the victory to Mike. Ash finished on the same lap to take the final step-up place. The others would have to be satisfied with their championship points and prepare for Race Two.

   

Andy, Oliver and Dean hadn't turned a wheel since qualifying. The others in the A Final had at least 16 laps more running (48 laps for Alex!), but the top three on the grid were nice and fresh and focussed. Pole-sitter Andy was first away and soon built up a handy lead. Behind, Alex was working his way through the pack into second place. The blue & grey BMW has managed sub-10 second laps in each of the four finals and was slowly eating away at Andy's lead. At half distance, Alex still had work to do, but it only seemed a matter of time... For a short while, the gap stabilised before Alex made a final push for the line. As the two cars passed the chequered flag, it was close - but Andy got there first by a few car lengths. Oliver has driven well for the final podium place, beating Dean in a close fight. Mike was a lap back after a bit of a scrappy race, sixth place went to Ash.

   

Here are the results of Race One - click the image to make it bigger...

   

That was the end of the morning session, time for an extended lunch break and more practice.

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BTCC Race Two

The line-up for Race Two is the finishing order from Race One. Success ballast is also added to to the top five finishers, so Andy's power was reduced to 65%, Alex to 70%, Oliver 75%, Dean 80% and Mike 85%. Four drivers had chosen the option tyres - Daniel, Stephen, Simon and Andy would start on the Soft compound.

   

The D Final-ists were raring to go after lunch. Ollie was fully focused and had all but lapped the field by half distance. Rob was the only car on the same lap, the all-important final step-up being fought over by the others like a shoal of piranhas. Daniel managed to hold off Isaac and Stephen to progress with Ollie and Rob.

   

Ollie started the C Final in good form, working himself past Terry, Jeremy and Simon in short order. Only Jeremy managed to stay in touch. By half distance, Terry was in third and he seemed comfortable going into the final stages, before a very late off let Rob slip through and grab the step-up.

   

Rob and Ollie were on a fine run - could we see another trip from D to A?

   

Dean was in pole for the B Final, but was beaten to the first corner by Mike's BMW. Mike proceeded to build a lead, chased by Ash and with Dean, Rob and Jeremy all fighting for third. Ollie had a couple of early offs and was last. Rob faded in the second half of the race, eventually overtaken by Ollie. Mike was controlling the race from the front, leaving  Dean, Ash and Jeremy to decide the two remaining step-up spots. At the chequered flag, Dean came in second and Ash third.

   

The A Final began with the front row pair - Andy and Alex - circulating side-by-side and essentially blocking the more powerful cars behind. It was a strategy that seemed to work as first Mike and then Dean and Ash made errors and dropped back. The pressure from behind having been shaken off, the truce at the front ended - Andy pulled a small gap and eventually Alex made an error out-braking himself at the end of the long straight. Andy took full advantage, pushing on without any mistakes. Despite a late scare when his Soft tyres were wearing out, Andy stayed in front and made it two-out-of-two for the Civic...

   

Alongside Alex second and Oliver third, we had the same podium as before lunch...

   

Here are all the results for Race Two - click the image to make it bigger...

   

Colin was visiting from Lancing to see what our racing is all about. He was invited to draw the pole-sitter for Race Three. Dean's number (five) came out of the hat - meaning he'd start first, followed by a reverse grid of Mike, Oliver, Alex and Andy. The rest of the would follow in finishing order.

Before the final BTCC race, it was time to change the vibe and race some Carrera Classic Nascars...

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Carrera Classic Nascar

   

After some demonstration races over the past 12 months, the big Carrera Nascars finally have their own official class at our Tin Top Saturdays. Ten cars lined up for the first race - nine models of early 1970s cars, plus one 50's interloper running to St Mary's Trophy rules. We had five Plymouths - two Roadrunners & three Superbirds - three Ford Torino Talladegas, a Dodge Charger and a Chevy Bel-Air...

   

Qualifying in two groups of five saw Alex take pole with his Richard Brickhouse Superbird...

   

Mike, Oliver and Dean also qualified for the 20-lap Feature Race automatically. The other six would need to grab one of two step-up places in the 10-lap B Final...

   

Simon and Andy cruised away from the rest of the field from the start - the yellow Superbird and red Bel-Air running in close formation. Terry tried to hang on, but was slowly gapped. Isaac, Rob and Ollie were a lap behind by half distance. The ten laps were over in a little less than two and a half minutes - Andy eventually taking the win, followed by Simon, Terry, Rob, Isaac and Ollie.

   

The 20-lap feature race was full of excitement, punctuated by a fuel stop for all but the '57 Chevy and with all six runners staying on the same lap for most of the race. Dean, Alex, Oliver and Mike battled for the lead early on - Dean's Torino first at half distance, followed by Mike and Alex. Then there was a gap to Simon and Oliver, who'd dropped back from the lead group. Andy was finding the narrow, tippy Chevy a bit of a handful and was fighting to stay on the lead lap.

The big cars looked superb going round the track in close formation. Ollie took this video footage of the race...



Alex looked like he could just make it to the end on fuel and he inherited the lead as Mike and Dean pitted for a splash of fuel. Oliver and Simon also came in - Simon losing ground taking more fuel than he needed. As the chequered flag loomed, Alex was forced to pit for fuel - he rejoined in third, with Mike edging Dean for the win. Andy's Chevy did make it to the end without refuelling - he jumped Oliver and Simon into fourth place and wasn't far behind Alex for a podium spot.

   

Here are the results from qualifying and the two races...

   

Next, there's more BTCC action...

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BTCC Race Three

The line-up for our final BTCC race of the day is variation on the reverse grid theme. The pole-sitter is drawn at random from between the 5th and 10th place finishers in Race Two. We then reverse to the Race Two winner and add in the rest as per their finishing positions. Colin drawing the number 5 gave Dean pole and landed Alex and Andy in the B Final - a best-case scenario as they'd also be carrying the top two 'success ballast' power reductions.

Option tyres were on the cars of Dean, Jeremy, Mike, Kev, Alex, Terry, Ash, Isaac, Ollie and Oliver - two thirds of the grid.

   

Simon found himself down in the D Final, but was soon leading the race ahead of Terry. The other four - Stephen, Daniel, Isaac and Kev were battling for third and a step-up to more championship points. At halfway, Stephen was ahead of Isaac. By the end, Stephen had comfortably escaped the D Final for the first time today - even overtaking Terry to grab runner-up spot. Daniel was a lap back, with Kev beating Isaac for his best finish.

The C Final was an incredibly close race. Jeremy got in front and drove smoothly to stay there, but any slip up could drop him out of contention. At half way, everyone was on the lead lap - Jeremy chased by Simon, Terry, Rob, Ollie and Stephen. Errors crept in as the pressure mounted - Simon slipped to fourth, giving the step-ups to Jeremy, Rob and Terry.

   

The B Final saw Alex line-up against Andy at the front. Along with those two, Ash was aiming for a third successive appearance in the top final - Jeremy, Rob and Terry were hoping to spoil the party. Despite their power penalties, Alex and Andy got away from the chasing pack at the start. Ash didn't have the race he was looking for, but the others kept the pressure on the frontrunners - any slip-up might be very costly. At halfway, Rob led the chasing pack - and he was still there at the end for an excellent result and a crack at the A Final.

   

With track position and more power, Dean and Mike got away at the start of the A Final - Alex getting round Andy and Oliver to sit comfortably in third. Andy's Civic suffered its first offs of the day, dropping him half a lap back at half distance. Alex had closed up on the leaders, but Dean looked very good in the lead and only needed a clean run to the line to taste victory. However, disaster struck in the final three laps. Rob had an off in just the wrong place (the esses) at just the wrong time (as the leaders approached). Dean and Alex got caught up in the incident, Mike got through unscathed. Then there were more errors trying to recover - Mike was home and dry, with Andy sneaking through into second. Alex grabbed third, with Dean ruing his luck back in fourth - although he did grab his second fastest lap of the day and another bonus point...

   

Here are the results from Race Three...

   

And the WHO BTCC table after three rounds gone...

   

The conclusion of the championship will be at the December Tin Top Saturday.

However, there's still the Muscle Car Mondiale race to go this time...

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Muscle Car Mondiale

The final race of the day is the chilled-out Muscle Car Mondiale format. We get to drive any car we want from a vast range of Scalextric saloon and touring cars in 10 minutes heats. The top two finishers from each heat meet in a six-car feature race. Ten of the 14 cars (Oliver had departed for work) were American - five Camaros, two Javelins, two Cougars and one Corvette L88. Representing the rest of the world, there was a Ford Falcon XB from down under, plus an Escort, a Sierra and a Rover...

   

Alex (Sierra), Jeremy ('79 Camaro Z28), Terry (Javelin) and Isaac ('86 Camaro IROC-Z) lined up for Heat One. Alex had certainly given himself a challenge with the Sierra, but settled into a perfect rhythm from the early stages and gradually pulled away...

   

After 5 minutes, he led Jeremy's Bastos Camaro by half a lap with almost identical fuel consumption and tyre wear. Isaac was a lap behind, followed by Terry. The second half of the heat saw the front two circulate on a similar pace, both finishing with a score of 48 laps. Isaac was two lap back and Terry four.

   

Heat Two was a group of five - Mike ('71 Camaro), Ash (Escort Mk1), Dean (Camaro IROC-Z), Ollie ('71 Camaro) and Daniel (Cougar) promising us an exciting ten minutes. Mike's Camaro was the pick of the bunch early on and he was able to control the race from the front. Behind, the battle was close for that runner-up spot...

   

Ash's slim-can powered Escort is both quick and extremely economical on fuel, meaning he could go to the end with just one fuel & tyre stop. Although dropped by Dean and Ollie in the Camaros, the Escort  was right back in the mix as the other made a second stop...

   

Dean was clearly feeling the pressure and cut his re-fuel a little short. He came out just in front of Ash, but would he make it to the end? By this time, Mike had the race wrapped up, but Dean, Ash and Ollie were neck-and-neck in an exciting run to the line. As feared, Dean had to peel into the pits right at the end, leaving Ollie the opportunity to pick off Ash and grab second place. It was a breathless final 30 seconds and bitterly disappointing for Dean. Mike's 49 laps was the best so far.

Heat Three saw a really diverse grid with Andy's Rover SD1, Simon's Falcon XB, Rob's Javelin, Stephen's Corvette L88 and Kev's Cougar...

   

The early stages saw Simon cruise away from Andy and Stephen - the Rover a little tippy and thirsty on fuel, the Corvette looking super-smooth and pretty nippy on its new tyres. Rob and Kev were having a great battle behind. Simon's Falcon was really piling on the laps - finishing on 49 and matching Mike's score from Heat Two. In the end, Andy got the Rover to behave and followed Simon home a lap behind. Stephen was third, Kev fourth and Rob fifth.

   

The feature race was extended from 5 minutes to 10 as we were ahead of schedule. Five of the six qualifiers had hit 48 or 49 laps, so it promised to be very close. The race started with the cars in close formation. Andy and then Ollie dropped back after offs, leaving us a fantastic battle between Mike, Alex, Simon and Jeremy. Alex gave us another perfect 10-minute run with the Sierra, stopping twice for fuel and tyres. Only Jeremy spent less time in the pits. Both Mike and Simon had the quicker cars over a lap, but were undone by the time they were stationary - Mike giving away half a lap with four stops and Simon's two longer than anyone else. So that was the outcome of the race - Alex winning with 49 laps, Jeremy almost exactly a lap behind, being chased by Simon and Mike...

   

And here are the results...

   

And that's it for another awesome Saturday of digital racing at the Barn. A big thank you to everyone who came along, especially the set-up and race control crews and to all those who stayed behind to pack away.

We'll be back on Saturday 14 December for an almost identical format, but expect a Christmas feel - the decorations should be up and there is a long WHO tradition of wearing festive jumpers.