[woodcote]

   

Although Pete has wrapped up the club championship, it's all to play for in the race for the F1 title...

   

Pete leads Darren by just 30 points, with 160 for a win and 130 for second. Should Darren and Pete finish 1-2, Darren would grab the trophy having won more races. It would be a third title for either racer, Darren's last one coming in 2013.

We'll be racing on a new layout, loosely based on the Rattlesnake Raceway in Texas, the test track of Jim Hall's Chaparral team...

   

Doors open at 6.15pm for practice, with the F1 heats beginning just before 7. We aim to finish by 9.30. Entry is £3 for adults and £2 for under-16s. We ask that all racers aged 13 and under bring a responsible adult with them.

[Gareth]

   

Enamel plus acrylic clear layer do not mix so my rear wing isn't as good as it once was. But here is the first of the resin F1 bodies!

The great thing is that I can have another go.

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Race Report - Qualifying Heats

We had eighteen racers on the F1 grid for our end-of-season HO race. The Christmas decorations were freshly installed in the Barn, Ash kindly brought us some festive chocolates and there were three Christmas jumpers in attendance. Stephen joined us for his first taste of HO racing and hoped some decades-old muscle memory of Scalextric home racing would help him out...

   

The Rattlesnake Raceway inspired circuit proved to be bigger than expected when built. It was fast and flowing, but seemed to give equally to both the Super-G and Mega-G+ runners. With Darren a no-show, Pete was F1 champion without turning a wheel. He decided to give his Super-G a rest and ran one of his rather quick Mega-G+ chassis. Next season, the Super-G+ must have a minimum wheel & tyre height of 11mm - Andy decided to try that 2025 set-up and gather some useful data.

However, Isaac and Ollie were still fully focused on this season and the junior F1 and club championships. Ollie led Isaac by 13 points for the 2024 WHO Junior title and by 14 points for the F1 Junior championship. It would be a highly-competitive evening for the juniors, with Ethan and Dylan also gunning for memorable end-of-year performances.


   

The start of the heats proved the hunch from practice that the track was perfectly balanced for the two main chassis types. The Super-Gs had the legs along the two long straights, but the Mega-G+ cars caught up round the back section of the layout. Two-minute heat scores and fastest lap times were very similar. After nine heats - with everyone completing their first pair - the two Mega-G+ cars of Pete and Ollie led the Super-Gs of Andy and Oliver, with Isaac's Mega-G+ fifth. Pete's provisional pole position was just over two laps better than Ollie, who was a lap and a half ahead of his junior championship rival.  Steve was top rookie in eighth, just ahead of Ethan in ninth.

   

The second half of the heats saw some exciting scores. Pete and Andy went head-to-head in Heat 16 - their fastest laps separated by just 0.001 of a second, 4.298 to 4.299. That heat summed up the Mega-G+ vs Super-G+ battle with Pete going clean through the two-minutes, whereas the usually crash-free Andy had two offs and finished three-quarters of a lap behind. It was those two who stood first and second going into the final pair of heats, yet neither were safely in the A Final line-up. Gareth, Oliver, Isaac and Ollie all had one last chance to leapfrog into the top places. Heat 17 saw Isaac and Gareth have disappointing runs and miss out. Oliver and Ollie did much better in Heat 18, but when the parts were added and the final order sorted, Pete was comfortably in pole by 2 and a half laps, Andy had shaded Oliver by a third of a lap - Ollie missing out by a mere 0.05 of a lap!

   
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Other notable performances were Kevin's exceptional seventh place - by far the best of his rookie year - and Stephen's 14th on debut with the club cars. Ethan had managed a pretty good evening so far, qualifying 11th and seven laps ahead of his dad.

   

[Gareth]

The Viper Formula V bodies don't like being dropped on the floor. Which I did just before my final.

   

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Race Report - Finals F to C

The F Final was a three-car affair, with Nathan (red) lining up against Tracy (white) and Dylan (yellow)...

   

Dylan had raised some eyebrows choosing yellow over blue, but it had been his best lane in the heats and he'd scored more laps than many, including his dad. It was Dylan's Super-G that led the first lap...

   

Nathan had a catastrophic off on lap 4, losing nearly five laps. Tracy came off too and found herself a lap behind the leader. I was now Dylan's race to lose. All three drivers knuckled down and put in some impressive laps...

   

The trio were approaching the final 30 seconds when Dylan had an off. Another error two laps later saw his lead evaporate and Tracy right back in the hunt for the step-up. Dylan kept calm and recovered with six clean laps, whereas Tracy crashed twice in her final three laps. Dylan's score of 23.75 was easily his best of the night, with Tracy also beating her best in second.

Dylan remained in yellow lane for the E Final. Could he overcome Mike (red), Stephen (blue) and Kev (white) to make more progress?

   

Stephen had enjoyed an excellent debut so far - driving the club cars with good speed and excellent care. Heats are one thing, but there's more pressure and adrenaline to contend with in the finals. Stephen, Kevin and Dylan all crashed on the first lap - the debutant suffering the longest delay and returning three laps down. Mike was out front in his Super-G and his lead grew as the others crashed more...

   

Dylan was Mike's main challenger - he was quicker over a lap, but a string of crashes kept dropping him back. An off for Mike just after half distance did make things interesting and Dylan kept things clean to narrow the gap. However, two late race crashes for Dylan meant Mike could relax again - and a crash on his penultimate lap didn't matter. Kev beat to Stephen to third.

It was the turn of Mike to stay in lane for the D Final. He'd be the only Super-G up against Ash (blue), Ethan (white) and Rob (yellow)...

   

The start of this race was the complete opposite of the previous one - all four drivers circulating together for the first couple of laps with Ethan in the lead. Rob and Ash couldn't hack the pace and both crashed twice, dropping them a lap back of the duelling leaders...

   

This was an incredible battle between Ethan and Mike, never separated by more than a few feet - Mike's Super-G having the advantage through the fast section, Ethan's Mega-G+ cancelling that out through the esses. Their concentration was intense and lap times almost identical. Mike held the lead through the line on lap 5, but Ethan was straight back. Mike grabbed the lead on the line again on lap 12 and held it next time round - but Ethan fought back and repassed the WHO veteran...

   

Surely one or both of the leaders would crash before the end? But no, this momentous scrap was decided on the track, Ethan bringing his car home just 0.05 of a lap ahead of Mike's and their fastest laps separated by 0.058 of a second. What a race! The battle for third was almost as close, a crash for Rob on the penultimate lap ending his pursuit of Ash.

Ethan stepped up into yellow for the C Final. This was unfamiliar territory for Ethan, but also for Kevin (red) and Steve (white). Only Isaac (blue) is a regular at this end of the grid...

   

Isaac needed to win to challenge Ollie and keep alive his hopes of the F1 and Club Junior championships. The others had dreams of a B Final appearance...

   

Steve led the first two laps, Isaac overpowering him to grab the lead on lap 3 - but all four runners were still all in with a shout. Ethan was first to crash on lap 5, followed by Steve and Isaac two laps later. That left Kevin, who'd had a slow start, at the front and going quicker than anyone else...

   

We then witnessed a metronomic masterclass from a driver who has had a solid, but not outstanding debut season at the Barn. Lapping in the low 4.4 seconds and never looking in danger of an error, Kevin kept notching up the laps. Without the benefit of any lucky 'extras', we all watched as red lane recorded 24, 25 and then amazingly 26 laps. Finishing with 26.6 laps gave Kevin the second highest score of the night so far, just short of Gareth's 26.75 during the heats.

A magnificent win for Kevin, who was followed three laps back by Isaac and Steve in third, five laps behind the winner.

That all meant Ollie could relax, having won the junior medal, plus two championships. He'd go next in the B Final...

[woodcote]

Race Report - A & B Finals, Results & Championship Tables

Kevin was delighted to step up into white lane in the B Final. There's he'd meet Ollie (blue), Gareth (red) and Matthew (yellow)...

   

Matthew had sorted out a tyre issue on his Super-G that had undoubtedly cost him at previous F1 rounds. Qualifying in sixth place was due reward for a fast car and some consistent heats. He was hot on the heels of Gareth and Ollie in the early stages, Kevin having made a characteristically leisurely start to his race...

   

We watched some more exhilarating formation flying during the first few laps, the two Super-Gs of Matthew and Gareth being matched over a lap by the two Mega-G+ runners. Then Ollie, Matthew and Kevin all crashed on lap 5 - and we were back to close running, but with Gareth a lap ahead...

   

When Gareth had a mid-race wobble, Matthew was closest to try and take advantage. However, Gareth was quicker and as long as he didn't repeat his error he looked good for the win. Both Ollie and Kevin were pushing too hard, crashed and dropped back - neither exploiting the consistency and superior road-holding of the Mega-G+. Matthew banged in a superb 4.211-second lap near the end, but there was no stopping Gareth, who finished not quite a lap ahead of Matthew. Kevin pipped Ollie to third right at the last.

Gareth stepped up to white lane in the A Final, one of three Super-Gs up against Pete's pole sitting Mega-G+. There was a quick change of Gareth's body shell after a shattering experience on the way to the start line. Pete had chosen red, Andy blue and Oliver yellow...

   

It's not uncommon for the top final to be a scrappy couple of minutes, but this race certainly bucked the trend. Pete led the first lap, but Oliver, Andy and Gareth were straight back at him, the lead changing almost every lap...

   

Gareth led a couple of times through, but was first of the A Finalist to fall out of the pack on lap six. Oliver has also led two laps when he crashed on lap 10 - leaving the battle at the front to Pete and Andy. Pete's superiority through the twisty stuff kept pegging Andy back. The Super-G went ahead round the straights, the Mega-G+ getting it all back through to the start line.

Eventually Andy broke the tow with a succession of quick laps. But it was hard work - running his Super-G on next year's 11mm minimum tyre height made it very difficult to push consistently. The leader set about managing a lead of about a quarter of a lap. A late assault by Pete made things extremely close - the two cars crossing the line 0.18 seconds apart the final time round and coming to rest separated by 0.15 of a lap. With neither having a crash, it must go down as one of our closest A Final results at the Barn...

   
(gap not to scale!)

Oliver grabbed third place, but fastest lap - and a sub 4-second one at that - went to Gareth.

   
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So that was an unexpected end-of-season winner's medal for Andy and another junior medal for Ollie - his seventh of 2024. Kevin's B Final appearance made him top rookie for the night.

The 2024 WHO F1 champions were Pete and Ollie, with Duncan ending up the Classic Cup winner as he was the only eligible runner during the year. Next year, all pre-2000 AFX and Tyco chassis are included for F1 Classic Cup points.

   

   

AFX are supporting our F1 championship in 2025 and there will be lots of goodies - Pete and Ollie get their AFX caps a few months early.

All twelve HO rounds are now complete, with Pete clinching his first WHO club title, Ollie his second junior crown...

   

That's a whopping 52 racers who joined us for at least one HO race this year. Five racers - Nathan, Rob, Ollie, Isaac and Oliver - all had perfect attendance. Bravo!

Those 12 races helped Nathan claim the 2024 WHO Rookie of the Year award, taking home an AFX Formula-N car to help him on his 2025 WHO journey. Kevin and Steve complete the rookie podium, with Ethan getting a spot in the WHO Hall of Fame as our 2024 top junior rookie...

   

Congrats to all our champions!

   


A huge thank you to everyone who came along to what was a delightful end-of-term evening at the Barn. Special thanks, as always, to our set-up and race control crews and to all who stayed behind to pack away. We couldn't do it without you.

Our 2025 HO season starts on Wednesday 8 January (NOT New Years Day) with a WHO Mod race. The existing website will be updated over the next couple of weeks with the 2025 rules, plus work starts on a replacement website. In the meantime, all next year's regs are here. The club's 15th birthday falls in the week of our February Nascar race - so expect some cake and modest festivities.