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WHO Racing Nascar - February 2025
#1

   

We're back at the Barn on Wednesday 5 February for our first HO Nascar race of 2025. It will also be an opportunity to celebrate the club's fifteenth anniversary - our opening night was on 3 February 2010. There will be cake.

This season sees the introduction of the Bulldog BDR7887 to our Nascar racing. That is the chassis with the single 'bar' magnet. The Tomy SG+ will have a final hurrah in this class, but must run with a minimum wheel & tyre height of 11mm.

The HO Nascar season will take place on these four layouts...

   

November's Homestead-Miami inspired oval will feature the Gen6 Cup championship shootout. This is for Afx Mega-G+ cars with a Nascar Gen6 body shell. The four places in the shootout go to regular season Gen6 Cup race winners, with any spare places going to non-race winners with the best Gen6 points score. To qualify for Gen6 Cup points and wins, a Mega-G+ Gen6 car must be used in all four heats and all finals for that driver.

Doors open at 6.15pm on Wednesday for practice. Heats may start before 7pm, depending on numbers. We aim to finish the step-up finals by 9.30. Race fees are £3 (£2 under-16s) for a whole evening of racing. Club cars and controllers are available for no extra cost. Racers of all ages and abilities are very welcome - we ask that those aged 13 years and under bring a responsible adult with them.
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#2

Does that mean the responsible adult has to act at least 13 or older too?  Wrench
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#3

Adults behaving like adults? No chance  Bigsmile 

The '13 & under' request has worked very well for us over the past 15 years, together with a simple, but effective safeguarding policy. What we hope is that parents understand - and feel comfortable - that the club is a place for families to have fun together and not a baby-sitting service for their kids. Occasionally, youngsters prefer to attend without parents, but that only happens when they are a bit older (14+) and after discussion with the family.

We have twin brothers who attended with their dad from our first season, aged 10 - and the three of them still join us regularly, the boys having been to university and now working full time. Plus their mum has recently started racing at our HO events, making it a full-on family night out. The twins are just two of seven former junior racers now in their 20s who still race with us, either every month or when they are back home.

And our 2013 WHO Junior Champion has said she will bring her two children when they are old enough - the experience of racing at the Barn with her dad was such a memorable part of growing up.
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#4

Race Report

In the past 15 years we've had a few challenges - most notably the pandemic, but also snow, broken heating and renovation work on the roof. This time, we found ourselves locked out of the cupboard where we store all the HO track and equipment. It took us an hour - and permission to use 'any means necessary' - to get past the seized-up lock, leaving us 20-minutes to set everything up before practice began at 6.15. We very nearly did it... and cars were circulating by 6.30...

   

We added in an extra 3 straights on each side, giving a track length of 77.5 feet - probably the biggest oval we've raced on at the Barn - and a quick lap time of just under 4 seconds at a speed of  20 feet a second for our box-stock HO Nascars.

   

22 racers joined the Nascar grid, with 2010 veterans Mike D and Simon stopping in for cake. Keith and Deborah would pop by later to say hello on this 15th birthday celebration night. It was also Matthew's birthday, so we got him cutting cake...

   

And then - around 7.15 - we got the heats rolling. Four Bulldogs made their debuts in the hands of Kev, Dylan, Ethan and Andy. Super-Gs dominated the grid as usual, but will need to run a minimum wheel/tyre height of 11mm for their final season in Nascar and also from next month onwards in Formula One. Duncan ran his Life Life and Steve P a Turbo, plus six Mega-G+ cars competed for Gen6 Cup honours.

Everyone ran twice in the first eleven heats, Terry leading the pack with his Super-G, Andy top Bulldog in fourth and Daniel top Gen6 runner in seventh. Isaac had a small advantage over Ollie in the junior competition, with Phil top of the rookies...

   

The rule changes had certainly evened out the field, even on such a big, fast oval. The Super-G drivers were having to lift more - as were the Bulldogs - with the Mega-G+ Gen6 cars making up significant ground at each end of the oval. The Bulldogs are a different driving experience, which will take some time to get used to - those making the jump now will hope to have a big advantage for 2026. There were certainly a lot of crashed keeping the marshals busy and the scoreboard suggested fastest lap times didn't necessarily deliver the top scores...

   

As we approached the end of qualifying, Terry still held provisional pole, with Matthew close behind. Oliver went in the penultimate heat, hauling himself up into contention with a massive 28.5 in red - the best score of the night so far. Drawn together in the final heat, John and Andy both had a crack at pole. The two circulated together at a rapid pace until a mid-race off left Andy's Bulldog in the barriers without a body shell. John went on to to an impressive 28.1 in yellow - enough to beat Terry to pole by  just one tenth of a lap. The top six was super-close, with Oliver and Andy both scoring 77.05 and separated by fastest lap, enough for Oliver to have first pick in the B final.

   
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Fifth on debut was a good result for Andy's out-of-the-box Bulldog, Daniel was top Gen6 runner, Ollie beat Isaac in the junior battle and Stephen was top rookie.

Next we'd have seven full step-up finals.
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#5

The G Final featured a group of four who'd had a less than satisfactory qualifying...

   

Kev lined-up his Bulldog in blue lane, Dylan's Bulldog in red, Nathan's Mega-G+ in yellow and James with white club car. It was a clean first lap, with Kev leading the way. Then it got a big crashy - Dylan off on lap 2, the other three all off on lap 3 and then Dylan and James on lap 4. The race did eventually settle down, Kev maintaining the race lead after the early carnage...

   

Nathan was looking good in yellow lane, until a big off lost him 30 seconds. Instead, it was James who was Kev's closest rival, albeit finishing two and a half laps back. Miraculously, Nathan returned to the action with just a lap to go - and that was just enough to pip Dylan to third.

Kev stepped up into yellow lane in the F Final, up against Kevin (blue), Steve (red) and Ethan in white...

   

Both Bulldogs - Ethan and Kev - crashed on the first lap, leaving Steve and Kevin out front in the early stages. Steve's Turbo was going nicely, just easing out the gap to Kevin's Gen6 Mega-G+. A crash dropped Steve back to second on lap 6, but Kevin was off the next time round and Steve was back in control of the race...

   

Steve kept things clean to the end and Kevin simply had no answer. A couple more offs meant a winning margin of exactly three laps. In the battle of the Bulldogs, both lost bodies and spent a long time off track... Kev's body went back on rather more quickly, so he grabbed third.

Steve was delighted to step up to the favoured blue lane in the E Final, where he'd face Isaac (yellow), Stephen (white) and Phil (red)...

   

Isaac, Phil and Steve all had sloppy first laps, leaving Stephen with a decent lead in the white club car. Isaac responding with a storming lap and his Super-G+ took the lead, which he held for 3 laps before another off handed first place back to Stephen...

   

The club car runner plugged away in the outside lane, but Steve's Turbo gradually cruised up and took the lead on lap 8. Isaac had lost nearly a lap, but gradually chipped away at Steve's advantage by a tenth or two of a second a lap. Steve responded well, holding the gap in the closing stages after it looked a mere formality that the youngster would catch and pass. Those final few laps were a compelling watch, both driving magnificently. A late lunge by Isaac left him a tantalising twentieth of a lap behind at the end. Phil put together a good run to grab third and top rookie honours, Stephen's race having got rather ragged after losing the lead.

Two wins for Steve and he stepped up to white in the D Final. He faced stiff opposition from Duncan's Life Like (red), Ollie's Super-G+ (yellow) and Mike's Gen6 Mega-G+ (blue)...

   

Ollie was quickest off the line, with Duncan close behind. Steve binned his Turbo on lap 2, dropping to the back and finding the pace ahead just too hot to handle. Duncan grabbed the lead on the following lap, when Ollie had a wobble, but the junior racer was straight back through on lap 4 - that was before two crashes on consecutive laps dropped him right to the back...

   

Duncan's legendary Life Like was now in front and lapping almost half a second a lap quicker than Mike's Mega-G+ in second. With neither making errors, the lead grew and grew. By the time the chequered flag fell, the gap was a lap and a half, such was the Life Like's advantage in Duncan's masterful hands. Behind, Ollie made short work of Steve, even though a late and lengthy off dropped him back to within a lap and half of the Turbo.

Duncan's evening would continue into at least the C Final, which we'll get onto next.
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#6

Duncan (red) wasn't the only non-Super-G runner in the C Final, Daniel's Mega-G+ was in yellow. They faced the Super-Gs of Rob (blue) and Pete (white)...

   

Reigning champion Pete had been struggling with his car on the higher wheel/tyre diameter and just couldn't get near the pace of the front-runners. Whereas Daniel had discovered a Mega-G+ rocket ship - and driven it very well. Rob was quickest off the line and settled into an early lead ahead of Pete and Duncan. Daniel was off on lap 2 and just couldn't get into the rhythm that had made him top Gen 6 driver in the heats...

   

After a gentle start, Duncan ramped up the pace, catching and passing Pete for second. Those two both had offs around the half-way mark, which was frustrating for Duncan as he'd had Rob in his sights...

   

Duncan recovered well and reeled in Rob again, before another brief off undid all his hard work. Rob delivered a trademark metronomic two minutes to finish on 25.65, exactly 0.6 of a lap ahead of Duncan. Pete rolled in a lap behind, Daniel a long way adrift, but taking home a large haul of Gen 6 points and automatic qualification in November's championship shootout.

Rob stepped up to white lane in the B Final, where he'd meet the rapid Super-Gs of Oliver (blue) and Gareth (red), plus Andy's Bulldog in yellow...

   

Rob binned it at the start, leaving Gareth to lead Oliver and Andy through the first two laps. Oliver's pace dropped sub-4-second on lap 3 and he took the lead. Feeling the heat, Andy was off on lap 3 and Gareth on lap 4 - they wouldn't see Oliver again...

   

An impressive series of 13 sub-4-second laps (Gareth managed six) saw Oliver power away. An error-free run gave him an extraordinary total of 29.65 laps at the chequered flag. If you have that sort of performance in you, the finals is the place to deliver it. Gareth crashed twice to get to 27.35 and Andy was off four times with Bulldog for his 25-dead. Rob recovered well after his first lap off, but was simply blown away on pace.

Oliver stepped up to white for the A Final, pole-sitter John having chosen yellow, Terry blue and Matthew red...

   

This was the only Super-G-only final tonight. And it was a truly memorable battle for the race win. Terry got the jump on the others at the start, leading Oliver and John through the line for the first time - Matthew already having slipped up. Oliver would follow on lap 3, leaving Terry in blue being tailed by John in the inside lane. It has been a while since we've seen John in a Nascar A Final, but he is a legend on the WHO ovals and a master of running yellow lane. He slowly worked his way up to Terry's car and overtook on lap eight...

   

Edging out his lead by a few hundredths of a second each lap, John took control - but there could be no easing off. Terry's car remained a fixture just a few feet behind. These were super-quick laps, most in the 4.0s...

   

With around thirty seconds left, Terry started to attack, taking a couple of tenths out of the lead. John responded and Terry went again, clocking two sub-4-second laps before pushing things too far and crashing on lap 25. John could now see Terry's car in front of him - three quarters of a lap adrift - and at last he could breathe. Three more times round and it was the end of the race, John winning his first HO A Final since August 2019...

   

The winning margin was three-quarters of a lap, Oliver finishing two laps behind Terry and Matthew another two laps back...

   

Huge congratulations to John on his race win, to Ollie for a hard-fought junior medal, Daniel for his Gen 6 Cup victory and Phil for finishing as top rookie...

   

Here's the data from all the finals...

   
click the image to make it bigger

The club championship tables will follow, together with some video.

Massive thanks to everyone who came along to make it such an enjoyable night at the Barn. This time, the biggest thanks must go to the lock-breaking crew - especially Stephen. Big thanks to everyone who mucked in with a rapid set-up, the race-control team and to all those who stayed behind to pack away.

Our next action at the Barn is a Scalextric Digital Nascar & Legends night on Wednesday 19 February, followed by the first round of our AFX Formula One Championship on Wednesday 5 March.
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#7

Here are the first two championship tables for 2025...

   

   

You can click on the images to make them bigger
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