[woodcote]

   

We're back at the Barn for the first HO Nascar race of the year - the day after the club's sixteenth birthday. It's the start of a new era for our Nascar class. Gone are the Super-G+ and Life Like chassis,  these races are now a straight fight between two currently-produced HO platforms - AFX Mega-G+ and Bulldog BDR (with the standard bar magnet).

   

The first battleground is a large 65-foot rectangle, with one end featuring the widest AFX radius corner (15 & 18"), funnelling down to a tighter 9 & 12" radius at Turns 1 and 2. It should be a fun evening of HO oval racing!

As always, doors open at 6.15pm for practice, heats begin just before 7 and we aim to finish all the finals by 9.30. Entry is £3 for adults and £2 for under-16s. We ask that racers aged 13 and under bring a responsible adult with them. Club cars and controllers are available for not extra cost.

[woodcote]

   

Gareth's race report will follow soon, but just to reassure you - there was cake (lots of it) and a car with the number 16. It was our first WHO birthday cake with a rally car.

   

The cake was good, but the racing was even better...

[Gareth]

Race Report

   

WHO at Nascar in 2026 has received a massive shake up of the rules.  With the chassis restricted to just the Bulldog with bar magnet and the Mega G+, the playing field has been levelled and no one knew how the pecking order would look come race day.

But first of all we had to celebrate the club’s 16th birthday with cake.  While the club has seen much churn in drivers over the years and there aren’t many left on the grid from 2010, it is testament to Andy and Robin’s vision, drive and determination that we all get to enjoy this wonderful club week after week.   

Twenty drivers would be racing at Gateway Motorsport Park, a mid length oval in reality but in HO it had decent straights and a very tricky T1 and 2 that were noticeably tighter than T3 and 4.  It was a punishing layout that rewarded precision braking and good rhythmic driving skills.  Perhaps Mike McCann’s famous headphones would propel him to pole position!  

   

While most people were racing the usual Johnny Lightning Monte Carlo or an AFX body, Andy had chosen a beautiful classic retro Chevrolet Chevelle body to hark back to Nascar’s golden years.

   

But he was out-vintaged by Keith who was racing a ‘57 Chevy!  Keith assures me that we’ll see the body completed with numbering for round 2 as he represents the very earliest days of Nascar racing.  

   

As we worked our way through the heats we saw some familiar names putting in big scores in the form of Andy, Terry, Pete, John, Ollie Bean and Matthew. Dominating all though was Oliver as recorded huge scores across red, blue and white to secure a 9 lap lead on his way to pole.  We rarely see such a crushing performance and it felt like the win would be a foregone conclusion...  

   

Behind this leading pack we had some big hitters like Keith, Mike, Gareth, Rob, Kev and Gary who made a welcome return and was really enjoying life with a borrowed Bulldog.  

   

Further back James, Stephen, Tracy, Kevin, Adam and Oliver were finding the track a bit more challenging.  

   

   

[Gareth]

F Final 

   

With Adam and Oliver finishing early as usual (Adam winning their battle this time out), it was Stephen (yellow), Tracy (white) and Kevin (blue) who would be first to race in the finals.  Stephen led them away in the tight yellow lane with Tracy and Kevin in hot pursuit.  Kevin was in second for a few laps before a big off allowed Tracy through.  Sadly that would be the tenor for Kevin’s whole race as he struggled to find that crucial rhythm and trailed home 3rd.  Stephen crashed on lap 8 which allowed Tracy through into the lead before her own crash which allowed Stephen back through to 1st which he was delighted to convert into the win!

   

[Gareth]

E Final

   

Stephen remained in yellow for the E final where he would be facing James in red, Isaac in blue and Kev in white.  The form book is so topsy-turvy this season as Isaac and Kev were in the Mod A final last month and Isaac took the win!  It would not be such a happy race this time as he led for just 3 laps before a crash broke the car and sent him into retirement.  That promoted Stephen into the lead with James in 2nd and Kev in 3rd.  No one was having a clean race with multiple crashes for all but James lost 2nd to Kev with a big crash in the second minute and 5 laps later his final crash ended his race allowing Kev to cling onto 2nd.  But it was Stephen with the win and a double step up! 

   

 Let’s go Stephen!

   

[Gareth]

D Final

   

Stephen’s next opponents would be pole sitter Gareth in blue, Rob in red and Gary in white.  The second edition of the Battle of the Superdry Spectacles was on!  Gareth immediately crashed in T1 and after just 7 laps (3 of them completed without a crash) decided to retire.  Rob and Gary meanwhile were engaged in a very close battle which went in Gary’s favour courtesy of Rob’s 4 crashes to Gary’s 2.  

   

Neither of them though could do anything about the Win Machine himself in yellow lane as Stephen cruised to a 3rd emphatic win on the trot!  He said before the heats that tonight could be his night for winning and who could doubt him now!!

   

[Gareth]

C Final

   

Stephen was now in unfamiliar territory for him as he arrived at the pointier end of the grid.  I will say that I hope it becomes familiar territory for him and can’t wait to see how he does in May. He would be staying in yellow for the 4th race in a row with Mike (red), Keith (blue) and Ollie (white) his new combatants.  

   

Mike got off the line quickest but Ollie overtook him on lap 2 and then Mike suffered a huge crash which sent him to the back.  Keith had a big one at the same time which left Ollie leading Stephen from Keith and Mike.  As you’d expect from a multiple race winner like Keith, he was absolutely flying after that accident but he had lost 2 laps to Ollie.  He clawed one back on pace alone but it wasn’t enough as Ollie drove a beautifully measured race to the flag. 
 
   

Stephen had a great race here too but several crashes including a long one on lap 18 meant the fairy tale ended in this race and Mike recovered his race to regain 3rd and relegate Stephen to p4.  What a brilliant evening of driving it had been for Stephen though.  

   

[Gareth]

B Final

   

Ollie would take over Stephen’s beloved yellow lane and take on pole man Andy in red, Pete in blue and John in white.  John had given up a middle lane to gamble on the long but fast outside lane.  

   

It was a disastrous opening lap for both Andy and John who both crashed in the first corner.  Ollie followed them off the road a lap later to leave Pete with a commanding lead of about a lap over Andy.  We were then treated to an epic duel as lap after lap, Andy began to cut that lead down.  A tenth here, two tenths there, the chairman of the board was on the hunt and his prey was the man who I would rate as the fastest driver in the club right now.  As the race eased past 90 seconds, it was Pete who blinked and crashed but a lightning bit of marshalling meant he had lost less than 2 seconds.  But that was all the encouragement Andy needed as he was now on the same straight and still lapping quicker.  As the power cut, the Chevelle nosed past the Monte Carlo and Andy clinched an epic win.  This was a brilliant race.

   

Behind these two, John fell a lap behind with a total of 3 crashes while Ollie’s race ended early on lap 20 as he came home 4th. 

[Gareth]

A Final

   

It was Andy’s turn in the Stephen Atkinson Party Lane (aka yellow) for the A final.  Oliver would be going from pole in blue after his domination of qualifying, Matthew in red and Terry in white.  

   

Sadly it was not a vintage final like the B with Andy, Oliver and Terry all crashing on lap 1; Andy and Terry for lengthy bits of time as well.  Andy was really struggling in yellow with car repairs meaning he was off the road for over a quarter of the race.  Eventually, a red flag was thrown in order to examine the track and make some hasty repairs.  

When the race resumed we had Matthew in the lead but Oliver was setting the timing sheets on fire with his laptimes. The lead changed hands four times in the space of four laps before Oli finally established himself out front but with just 20 seconds to go, disaster struck and he crashed.  That was all the encouragement that Matthew needed to storm through into the lead and on to his first ever A final win.  

   

Terry meanwhile came home a distant 3rd while Andy trailed in an even more distant 4th.

   

It was a chaotic and messy race but that takes nothing away from Matthew’s absolutely brilliant win.  What a pleasure it is to see someone scoop their first one.  

   

Thanks as always to the set up crew, marshals, race control and pack away people.  F1 is just around the corner.