Last Wednesday evening saw the 2013 season opener for the Micro Scalextric and Super F1 classes.

The Track

With 2 club stalwarts missing it left 7 racers lining up on the grid. With the expected lower numbers Tony had laid out a track that required minimal marshalls but with a tricky hairpin to catch out the unaware. With last years double champion absent people were keen to make a good start to the season.

Micro Scalextric Club Class

Qualifying

Lee continued his impressive recent form by putting in a big score in white in the opening heat signalling his intentions. He went on to dominate qualifying by claiming the highest score in every lane. Club supremo Tony had by his own admission been struggling recently but he seemed to have regained his mojo as he put in some impressive scores to finish second only 2 laps behind Lee. Jim claimed the last automatic spot in the A final with some consistent scores. Roy put a big score in the red lane which helped him to just pip John to 4th by only 2 tenths. Club newcomer Bruce made a good account of himself on his first outing with these cars to claim 6th. After winning the last Micro Scalextric round at the end of last season Nick was struggling a little and a poor heat in red saw him drop to the back of the grid. Jim claimed the fastest lap of the night during qualifying in the white lane.

B Final

The B final saw Roy take red, John in blue, Bruce in white and Nick left with the unfavoured yellow lane. Roy could not quite repeat his performance in qualifying and suffered a couple of early offs in the red lane which left him too much to do to chase down John and Bruce up front. Nick improved his score in yellow by almost 3 laps but had to settle for 4th. John led virtually the whole race with Bruce hot on his tail but a late off allowed Bruce to surge past at the death and claim the win.

A Final

The A final was delayed initially by a car failure as the white car had developed a serious fault. As these chassis were club ones and not prepared by individual racers it was deemed fair that the race be restarted. The restart was abandoned as all the club members were required in the car park to help push Clifford (John’s big red van!) out of the snow. The final eventually got underway at the third time of asking. Bruce struggled in the yellow lane after having white the final before but didn’t have to worry about Jim as his car didn’t even make a lap before stopping. Lee led from start to finish in the white lane putting in the biggest score of the night with almost 31 laps to take the victory. Tony followed up on his impressive qualifying and kept Lee honest but a couple of late offs gave Lee a little breathing space at the end.

Super F1

Qualifying

After a few minutes practice Super F1 qualifying got underway. 3 different chassis – Mega G, Super G+ and SRT were on the grid to contest this one.

The opening heat saw Tony’s resurgence continue with a massive score in the red lane that remained unbeaten and saw him take the fastest lap of the night as well. Although putting in the most laps overall this years new rule of taking the best 3 heat scores saw Tony slip to 2nd on the grid behind Jim with Lee close behind in third. John took 4th spot in his SRT with Nick in 5th, Roy in 6th and Bruce in 7th.

B Final

John, Nick , Roy and Bruce lined up on the grid for the B final. John’s SRT had impressive straight line speed and he eased away at the front to take the victory from a hard charging Nick close behind in second. Roy took 3rd from the white lane in a borrowed car from Bruce in 4th. Although finishing last Bruce was getting used to his new SG+ and improved his heat score in yellow by 10 laps.

A Final

Jim had pick of the lanes and took red with Tony making the surprise choice of the yellow lane. Lee was in blue with John taking the hop up in the white lane. This A final did not yield any huge scores but was a very close affair from start to finish. Jim got off to a slow start and found himself at the back with Lee and Tony leading the way. Lee was looking like he would take a double win but a late off allowed Jim to take the lead and the win. Tony almost overhauled Lee at the finish but fell short by just 2 tenths. John finished 3 laps back from Tony. With lap times in the mid to low 4 second region the top three all finished within less than a lap of each other.

Thanks to all that attended and made it another enjoyable evening’s racing.