[woodcote]

   

Our first stage was Plastic 2 - mostly Ninco off-road and some beastly R1 esses. This track surface is something we're very used to at WHO Slot Rally events, our off-road Jupp's Farm stage a regular feature of our club and SRGB events. We got on and scored some good times, noting during the day that most other groups hated it. Oliver was a smidgeon away from going quickest on debut...

   

After all 20 cars were through Plastic 2, we made the short step to a new stage: Snowy Hill. This replaces one of my favourite Farnborough stages - Mini Hill Climb - and shares the same construction: single lane Scalextric Classic track and lots of elevations...

   

Sadly, a lot of cars struggled to get round a downhill hairpin on the track - cars were too low, too wide, too long, too light, too heavy, too fast, too slow or a combination of any of these. The only car of the 20 in our group to get round the hairpin all seven times was my Ninco Porsche 911. Its time of 45.06 seconds was easily the quickest of the bunch and put some serious time gaps on the three Porsche 914s which de-slotted each lap. The offending turn can be seen better in this shot of another group...

   

It is the corner at the end of the long right to left downward slope, where Wayne is looking. This feature of Snowy Hill would certainly make the results interesting at the end of the day.

Another short shuffle and we were at Plastic 1 - a Carrera track with a single crossover - so the 5 laps were ten times round in total. The surface was super-slippy, which made it a challenge for drivers wanting to go too fast on the wrong tyres. Mike made some uncharacteristic errors on this one...

   

The final stage in the first classroom (Gymkana) was in use, so we popped next door to finish the morning on Car Park and Mc Wayne...

   

The Car Park evolves each time - a bare board two years ago, some white lines and retaining walls last year, but now fully decorated. It also ran more smoothly this year, although cars that were particularly low had issues at the board edges. The series of loops are fun to drive five times in a row and looked great with the props in place.

Mc Wayne is a tribute to Oxford's Wayne's World - routed into a folding paste table. Easy to store, easy to set up and a challenging layout where rhythm and momentum are crucial for a really fast time over the seven laps...

   

It was here that my best car, the Ninco Subaru Impreza, ground to a halt on the tightest hairpins - something happening with the gearing. Thanks to everyone who loaned me tools at lunch, as I fixed a slipping brass pinion, sitting in the staff room...

   

However, on the very next stage, a front wheel fell off, the hub cracked and the Impreza's day over...

   

We were down to 19 cars for the afternoon.