A slightly overcast August evening formed the backdrop to the fourth round of the Micro Scalextric Club Class and Super F1 Championships. Paul had encouraged along Greg and Stef to visit for the first time, bringing the number of drivers on the grid up to eight.
The Track
Al had built a relatively short track with a fast sweeping first sector. The long back straight finished with an uphill right hander leading to a bridge and then down into a fast left hander. After the track emerged from under the bridge there was a winding esses that could be taken surprisngly quickly despite a number of 6″ bends. This lead back on to the short start finish straight.
Micro Scalextric Club Class
Qualifying
The classes reigning champion Paul took his thrid pole of the season 2.5 laps ahead of Al. Ray lined up third a lap behind Al. Steve took the fourth grid slot just a single tenth ahead of Nick. Stef lined up 6 after setting some competative lap times and scores. Aston only really seemed to get into his groove on the blue lane and lined up 7th ahead of Greg who also set some good laps times but was still working on his consistency.
C Final
At the wheel of his favourite car in the Blue lane Aston took a straight forward win from Greg beating him by 7.5 laps. Greg improved on his best lap time though and seemed to be enjoying himself.
B Final
Aston was much less keen on the yellow XJ220 after hopping up to the least favoured lane. He held his own well in the opening laps before dropping back to take fourth. Ahead of him Stef in red emerged as the early leader with Nick in blue and Steve in white hot on his heels. A couple of offs for Steve midway through the race dropped him back behind the leaders so he had to settle for third. After a close battle between Nick and Stef that almost went to the final minute of the race, an off for Stef left Nick to take the win. Despite the off, it was a very impressive first performance from Stef.
A Final
Once again the hop up yellow lane did no favours to its latest driver and Nick was unable to keep with the pack for longer than the opening laps. Ahead of him Paul in blue jumped lanes before flying off. Ray in red also had an early incident that left Al with a narrow early lead. Ray was the first to recatch Al but both he and Al came off midway through the race allowing Paul to take the lead. Paul consolidated his cushion and went on to take his third class win of the session. Behind him Al came off at the esses and managed to slip under the catch netting and on to the floor. By the time Al was back on track Ray in second had a considerable margin. A final late off for Al reduced his lead over Nick in fourth to just a single tenth.
Super F1
Qualifying
Ray took first Super F1 pole of the year by a comfortable 5.1 laps from Al in second. Al was surprised to find himself second after switching to his ‘B’ car after seeing how fast it was around the night’s track in the hands of young Aston. Steve took the final guaranteed place in the A final with his Super G+. Paul wasn’t happy with his recently fettled Mega Gs and had to settle for fourth ahead of Aston who had been driving Al’s SRT really rather well and had even set the fastest lap of quali with it. Stef with a borrowed Mega G was just a fraction of a lap behind Aston and ahead of Nick and Greg.
C Final
An early off for Stef in blue put him on the back foot early and left Nick with a fairly straight forward job of just keeping it in red to take the win.
B Final
Nick hopped up to the white lane and after an early off, by lap 7 he had the lead from Stef in red and Paul in blue. Paul still seemed to be struggling with his car and dropped back behind Stef. A few late offs for Stef made it a close finish with him pipping Paul to second by just a single tenth. Aston in yellow couldn’t recreate the impressive 37.8 laps that he racked up in that lane during quali (the joint highest score in that lane) and seemed to be struggling to keep it on the track. Despite finishing fourth it was certainly another memorable performance from the young driver with sparks of real brilliance showing throughout the evening.
A Final
An unusually good start for Al in blue left him a few inches ahead of Ray in red and Nick in yellow. Steve in white dropped back fairly quickly while Nick did a better job of holding on to Al and Ray, only falling back only gradually. Al and Ray were properly steaming around the track seperated by just a matter of inches for the first two minutes of the race. After the race was over, Ray admitted to deliberately holding back behind Al believing he had a bit of pace in hand. As the race entered its final minute Ray unleased his remaining pace and pulled out a few feet a head of Al. Al too then dropped the hammer and the two of them tradded fastest laps until Ray came off leaving Al with the lead and his first win in the class.
Congratulations to both winners and thanks to all who attended another cracking night of racing!
Join us next time for F1 and Mod on September the 2nd