Club News 2011

Dowty Club Move

Following our very successful 1/32 British Open Championship on 19/20 November 2011, we have to move to the rifle range, which is on the same site but right at the far end. We have to do some structural work to the room as well as cosmetic stuff so the track will probably be out of action for a couple of months depending how much help we get. The track will fit without modification but the drivers rostrum will be at the end although we haven’t decided which end yet.

Dave Coward

Empty Shed

Farewell to the old club room before and after. - below the track ready for its new home

track in bits

Photos copyright Dave Coward

North Wales Slot Car Club
A new club has been formed in North Wales. Their clubroom is at Unit 11a, H.T.M. Business Park, Rhuddlan, Denbighshire. LL18 5UZ They have the Bolton's 5 lane 95 ft track which they have re-assembled in their clubhouse and are currently refurbishing. (The track became available because Bolton are moving to a smaller room.) For more details contact Dave Vine on 01745 592111.

Cotswold Challenge - October Round

Round 9 of the 2011 Cotswold Challenge took place on Friday 21st October, with Neal Callaghan representing Swindon against the Dowty regulars, Dave Coward, Rob Harris, Phil Mitchell & Mark Jackson, whilst Mike Broad, Funky & Graham Fryer also put in an appearance.

Championship leader Dave Coward qualified top from Rob Harris, Phil Mitchell & a surprised Funky, followed by Mike Broad, Mark Jackson, Neal & Graham.

That meant three step-up finals, with Mark keeping his cool to win the C Final from Mike Broad ahead of an out of sorts Neal Callaghan & Graham Fryer who was handicapped by not being able to find his glasses. (Luckily they were found before his having to drive the 60 odd miles home. Begs the question - How did he find the clubhouse in the first place??) Mark again won from in the B Final from Phil, Funky & Mike Broad. DC took the A Final with Rob 2nd & Phil narrowly ahead of Mark contesting his first A Final.

Next months round could be our last for a while as we are losing our clubhouse to the Groundman and his tractor!!

Funky

Championship Table

Name	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Rd 9	Rd 10	Rd 11	Rd 12	Total Points	Best 8	Overall Position
Dave Coward	30	30	30	27	30	30	C A N C E L L E D	30	30				237		1st
Rob Harris	25	27	27	30	27	27		27	27				217		2nd
Phil Mitchell	22	24	24	25	24	24		25	25				193		3rd
Mike Gibbon	23	25	23	24	23	25			23				166		4th
Mark Jackson	19	23		23	22	23			24				134		5th
Rob Lees	18	22		22				23					85		6th
Gabe Fernandes	20		20	21		22							83		7th
Neil Callaghan	27		25						21				73		8th
Mike Broad			22		21				22				65		9th
Graham Fryer			21			20			20				61		10th
Noddy Lockey	24				25								49		11th
Andy Whorton		21						24					45		12th
Marc Townsend		19						22					41		13th
Mike Perkins		20		20									40		14th=
Roger Townsend			19			21							40		14th=
Chris Steele		18		19									37		16th
Pete	21												21		17th
James Davey			0										0		18th

Cotswold Challenge - September Round

Dave, Phil & Rob, were joined by Marc, Rocky and Andy for the Swindon round of the championship.

Qualifying went as expected with Dave was on top with 79, from Rob with 75, Phil on 73, Andy 67, Marc 66 and Rocky 65. Dave was farther ahead of Rob than usual as 'Old Faithful' was sorted out before the S32 and continued to show how good it is.

Phil lead the B final throughout to beat Andy by two laps, while Rocky and Marc had a good dice for third until Marc's tyres wore out and he retired. Dave won the A final by 3/4 lap from Rob. Phil was nerfed by Rob on the first lap and couldn't quite close the gap ending up about 20 feet behind with Andy bringing up the rear.

Thanks to all who came and look forward to more of you for the next round on Friday 21st October

Dave Coward

Slot Racing at Gurston Down Hill Climb with Brayspeed

The bank holiday saw more racing at a hill climb - this time Gurston Down in Wiltshire - see Gurston Down web site for pictures and news

Slot Racing at Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb with Brayspeed

The Brayspeed portable track was at open for public running and attracting big crowds on 20/21 August. Great to have slot racing as part of "The Big One" meeting, at Shelsley Walsh well done Tony Bray and his crew. Here's some photo's from BSCRA's PRO Nick Thrower who was supporting the event.

For more news on Brayspeed events - see the Brayspeed web site

Brayspeed at Shelsley 1 Brayspeed at Shelsley 2 Brayspeed at Shelsley 3 Brayspeed at Shelsley 4
Photos Copyright © 2011 Nick Thrower, all rights reserved

Brayspeed Portable track

Here's some photos from Tony Bray of his just completed Brayspeed Portable track. The first planned public outing is at the Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb on Saturday/Sunday 20/21 August. There will be plenty of chance for the public to try slot racing and some demonstration runs by quicker drivers.
Also see Brayspeed on Facebook.

Round 6 of the 2011 Cotswold Challenge

Friday 17th June saw Round 6 of the Cotswold Challenge taking place, replacing the traditional Double Header due to be held on Sunday 19th June.

Despite being rearranged to avoid a Swindon HO meeting scheduled for the Sunday, the short notice meant again no Swindon racers present with Dowty regulars Dave Coward, Rob Harris, Phil Mitchell & Mark Jackson being joined by promising junior Gabe Fernandez & occasional racers Funky, Roger Townsend & Graham Fryer.

Once racing finally got under way, qualifying was fairy uneventful & predictable with DC top qualifying from Rob, with Phil 3rd ahead of Funky whilst Mark was ahead of the returning irregulars, Roger & Graham and Gabe brought up the rear.

The first of the step up finals saw an upset Mark taking the win ahead of a very mature drive from Gabe, ahead of Roger & Graham. The B Final went to Funky ahead of Phil with Mark 3rd & Gabe 4th. The A Final was won by DC from Rob, Funky & Phil.

Round 7 has been cancelled meaning the next round is not until September, but we have the annual round of Southern 32 at Dowty's next month if you cannot wait to race Production.

Funky

Brayspeed club

Tony Bray held the first race night on his new club track in Blackfield, Hants (near Southampton water on the SE side of the New Forest) on 28 May. The routed MDF track is around 70ft / 21.3m lap length with copper braid and 4 lanes on 102mm /4 inch centers. Club nights are on Wednesdays. Tony is keen to encourage younger racers. Racing is mainly with house cars (Falcon powered JK 1/24 cars) but members will be encouraged to start building their own cars. Contact Tony by e mail on info@brayspeed.co.uk or by phone on 07900 911411.

Chris Frost

Round 5 of the 2011 Cotswold Challenge

Round 5 of the 2011 Cotswold Challenge saw the worst turnout for a very long time with 7 Dowty members taking a clean sweep as no one from Swindon could make it!

Dave Coward continued on his winning way from Rob Harris, Noddy with a DC refettled car for the finals & Phil Mitchell. Funky was 5th from Mark & long time racer Mike Broad making a return still using a Demon chassis!!

Please let me know what you want to do regarding next months scheduled "double header"

Round 4 of the 2011 Cotswold Challenge.

Tuesday night & it's a Swindon round albeit still at Dowty's until the bugs have been eliminated from Swindon's new track.

Pretty much the usual gang of suspects with Dave Coward making a late appearance due to a hospitalised Mrs Coward (All the best for a swift recovery Julia), Rob Harris, Phil Mitchell, Funky, Mark Jackson & Gabe the latest in a long line of promising juniors. Swindon had Rocky, Mike Perkins & Chris Steele racing.

With the track needing a long overdue clean I think everyone had their best run on yellow & Rob Harris TQ'ed from DC, Phil, Funky & Mark, followed by Rocky, Mike P, Gabe & Chris.

Again with a clear advantage to just one lane the step up finals were to follow qualifying with the exception of Mike Perkins having to retire, leaving Gabe to move up one place in the overall results, a good result for a young man using a borrowed car! The A Final sprang no surprises with Rob taking his first win of the year from DC, Phil & Funky

Cotswold Challenge Round 3

Friday 18th March saw Round 3 of the 2011 Cotswold Challenge take place at Dowty's. With a number of absentee's from the regulars including Rocky who was moving house, (pretty good reason, I have to say!) Swindon were represented only by Neal Callaghan to take on most of the Dowty membership, including Dave Coward, Rob Harris, Phil Mitchell, Funky & James Davey, with Graham Fryer & Roger Townsend putting in an appearance, long time member Mike Broad making a welcome return & Gabe Fernandez our promising junior also coming along.

Qualifying threw up no surprises, with DC from Rob Harris & Neal edging Funky & Phil in a close battle for third.Graham 6th, Mike Broad proved to have lost any of his speed in 7th with a borrowed car, Roger 8th & Gabe 9th after James did only one heat & then decided the stress & strain of it was all too much & disappeared into the night without so much as a cheery goodnight!

Step up finals saw Gabe put in a sterling performance under pressure to beat Roger in the D Final but he & Graham were the unlucky non-qualifiers in the C Final. Best race of the night was the B Final with all four drivers leading at one time or another. Funky went off on the firt corner & then played catch up whilst Mike Broad had a short spell in the lead. Neal & Phil were then swapping lead positions until Funky came through to make it a three way race for the lead which HAD to end in tears. Phil & Funky's cars touched & from thet Neal & Phil took the vacant slots in the A Final. DC won, again from Rob, Neal & Phil, but another good night with no hassle & plenty of cheerful banter.

Next round is Tuesday before Easter, lets have a few more entries please!!

FLBT New track

I am very pleased to announce that FLBT has now acquired East Devon Slot Car Club's portable four lane wooden track, meaning that we now have a 'proper' slot car track for use at our premises in Marlborough.

We are a little way away from hosting Cotswold Challenge rounds but this is a step in the right direction.

We have also at last secured a new webmaster and www.flbt.co.uk is up to date with our information.

Our new location is

Church Cottage,

Silverless Street

Marlborough

Wilts

SN8 1JQ

Track deteils 4 lane MDF

Classes raced: Hard body and BSCRA, with HO drag and slotstox events also held, full calendar on the FLBT website, www.flbt.co.uk

Club night - Tuesday nights 7.45pm

Rob Lees

Cotswold Challenge Round 2

Tuesday 22nd February saw Round 2 of the 2011 Cotswold Challenge with Dowty regulars Dave Coward, Rob Harris & Phil Mitchell joined by Funky & ralative newcomer Mark Jackson whilst Swindon matched Dowty for numbers with stalwarts, Rob Lees, Mike Perkins, Andy Whorton & Marc Townsend dragging along real newcomer Chris S.

Qualifying started in the absence of Marc Townsend who nonchalantly strolled in through the door as his first heat was due & this set the tone for the evening with relaxed calm racing , no aggro & everyone having a good laugh. The heats didn't really see any major surprises with reigning champion Rob Harris having to give best to deposed multi CC Champion Dave Coward having been stubg into preparing his cars to a faster standard than in 2010 in an effort to reclaim the title. Phil took 3rd from Funky, Rob Lees the first of the Swindon racers, Dowty novice Mark Jackson, then Mike Perkins, Andy Whorton who was having a "character forming" evening having soldered, glued, blue tacked & ultimately I think welded his motor back in after an earlier shunt, Marc Townsend (paying the price for a SERIOUS lack of practice) & Chris, taking part in his first race evenig.

The first of the step up finals saw Chris eliminated along with Marc Townsend, followed by Mike Perkins & Andy Whorton. This left Rob Lees as the sole Swindon racer to take on Dowty novice Mark Jackson, along with Phil & Funky who had qualified 3rd & 4th respectively. The B Final went more or less to form with Phil winning from Funky while Mark edged Rob for 3rd. The A Final saw DC disappear into the distance to beat Rob Harris by a lap while Funky reversed the B Final result to finish half a lap in front of Phil.

A good nights racing with a reasonable entry, let's hope it continues.

Funky

Entries Invited for the Bentley Legends 2011 Slot-it group C class 24 Hour event. June 11th/12th 2011

Venue
As the name suggests the event will be at Bentley Motors Crewe using the facilities at Legends Conference & Leisure Centre
Legends have excellent facilities with a sports hall, the size of 4 badminton courts this is where the track and our pit area will be located.
The sports club also has a lounge area with bar facilities, 2 large screen TVs and showers. There will also be catering with a varied menu to look after our dietary needs including breakfast services. For those that need some quiet time we have an area away from the main activities.
The venue is well served with motorway network & public transport links. Accommodation is also available close by
Location of the venue is Sunnybank Rd, Crewe, Cheshire CW2 8WD

Track
The track will be Pendle Slot Racings Ninco Track in the 16 lane configuration.
The format will be the same as the Wolves event and rules to remain similar. practice time will only be available on the Saturday morning,

Date
Bentley’s history has very strong links with The Le Mans 24 hour so the date for our event is June 11th/12th 2011. We intend to have the Le Mans TV link running during our 24 hour event.

More details of the event and how to enter

Dave Maddock

Cotswold Challenge January

The 2011 Cotswold Challenge got off to a slow start with only two racers from Swindon turning up, Neal Callaghan & Rob Lees, to face a Dowty's contingent consisting of Rob Harris, Dave Coward & Funky who were the top three in the 2010 championship, regulars Phil Mitchell & Noddy & newcomers Pete Bridgeland & Mark & promising junior Gabe Fernandes.

The Christmas 6 hours was held on 29th December 2010, The winners were team Modified, drivers Brian & Jamie Galpin, Jon Penn and Lee Parsons See Nigel Barrow's full report