News and Updates

Open Meeting - July 2022

On the 29th July we held our first Open Meeting, which attracted 14 racers. During the day we raced two classes, in the morning Classic GT and after lunch Racer Group 5, the class specifications being a hybrid to allow participants to race their normal club cars, with minor changes such as guides and tyres.
The meeting started with an hours practice session followed by 15 lap heats and finishing with step-up finals based on everybody's total time for the heats.
It was an enjoyable meeting and we are planning to hold similar events towards the end of September and October, racing Classic GT and a second class yet to be decided.
It is hoped that during the winter months we will be able to run two meetings each month, and could even consider introducing an additional racing class which is unique to these meetings

Open Meeting - September 2022

On 30th September we held our second Open Meeting, at which we had 14 racers. We followed the same format as the previous meeting of a class in the morning with an afternoon session after a short break for lunch.
For this meeting we raced Classic GT cars in the first session however, for the afternoon session we raced for the first time Group C cars, Steve Street had the fastest overall total time and also won the A Final racing a Slot-it Alfa Romeo 33/3.

Classic GT A Final
The lineup for the start of the 'A' Final which was won by Conal Walters racing a Slot it Ford GT40 Mk1 in Blue Lane

Open Meeting - October 2022

For our Open Meeting on 28th October we had 13 racers for the Classic GT class and 12 for the Grp 5 session in the afternoon. Apart from the usual group of attendees we also welcomed Russell Hallett at the club's new premises for the first time who was accompanied by his son Gregory who experienced the delights of club slot car racing for the first time.

Despite some computer glitches, due to operator setup issues, we had another good days racing, however we did reduce the morning session to 10 lap heats across 5 lanes rather than the normal six lanes. Conal Walters topped the overall times and also won the A Final racing a GT40 Mk1.

For the Grp5 session we raced 15 lap heats across 4 lanes, dropping Red and Green lanes. Ray Kinghorn, pictured below,

had the cumulative fastest time and also won the A Final racing his Racer BMW M1 car

Open Meeting - November 2022

For our Open Meeting on Friday 25th November we had 11 racers for the Classic GT morning session, for the Group C racing in the afternoon there were 10 racers.

For the Classic GT heats and finals we had 15 lap heats across 4 lanes, Red and Green lanes were excluded. Steve Street topped the leader board, but the A final was won by Conal Walters racing a Ford GT40 Mk1.

For the afternoon Group C class we raced over 5 lanes, Red was excluded.

The fastest overall time was set by Steve Street who also won the A Final

The Group C 'A' Final in progress, the concentration !!!

Open Meeting - February 2023

Our first Open Meeting of 2023 was held on a very cold 24th February, when we raised Classic Sports GT and Racer Grp 5. Unfortunately some of our regular attendees were unable to attend we had 9 racers and therefore chose to only race on 4 lanes with 20 laps per heat/final.

In Classic Sports GT class John Shorter topped the overall times followed by Noel, Andy and John English. The A Final was won by John Shorter racing a Ferrari 512M, in the B Final Ray was the winner, and the C Final was won by Jim.

In afternoon session for Racer Grp 5 again John Shorter topped the overall times, followed by Ray, Noel,and Nigel, The A, B, and C finals were won by John Shorter, Nigel, and Jim.

Jim's C Final Winning Car, a Porsche 908/3 is shown below

Open Meeting - March 2023

Our March Meeting attracted 9 racers from either GT Raceway and Southend Slot Car Clubs, therefore we raced on 4 lanes with 20 lap heats and finals and whilst we had some close racing the computer gremlins paid us a visit during the day which affected the results for the final heat and first final for the Classic Sports GT session, however normal service was resumed after lunch for the Group C racing

In the Classic Sports GT session the reported total times placed John Shorter as the overall winner, followed by Nigel, Conal and John English.

Winners of the A, B, and C finals were John Shorter, John English, and Ray respectively

The Group C session resulted in Conal being the fastest overall, followed by Nigel, John Shorter and Dave. In the finals, the A Final was won by Conal, the fastest racer in the B Final was Ray and for the C final it was Andy.

There were two notable achievements at this meeting, firstly it was the first race for Bethany and secondly, John English reached achieved his objective of getting into an A Final.

New Class Introduced

Going forward we are introducing an additional racing class, Goodwood Sports. The first racing for these cars will be the April Open Meeting.

This is for pre-1967 fronted engined cars, using either 25K S can or 22.5K Flat 6 motors.

Open Meeting - April 2023

This meeting was the first to race our newly introduced class Goodwood Sports, with several regulars unable to attend and only three from SSRC we had 10 racing in Classic Sports/GT and Goodwood Sports.

For the first session we used 5 lanes and raced 20 laps on each, for the second session we only used 4 lanes and reduced each heat to 15 laps due to a sensor issue.

The Classic GT A Final race was won by Steve racing an Alfa 33, who also topped the qualifying heats.

Steve was also the top qualifier for the Goodwood Sports races, racing a NINCO XK120 fitted with a JS chassis and Slot-it 6RS motor. Below is the lineup of the cars we had available to race.

Future Open Meetings

With regard to the continuation of our monthly Open Meetings, of late we have struggled to achieve a minimum of 9 attendees to make the meeting operational, therefore these have been suspended until further notice

2024 Car Specification Changes

During November and December 2023, members completed the annual review of Classes and Car Specifications, which are effective from 1st January 2024, the key points are;

The number of classes increases to 14 with the return of Club Cars and the introduction of Goodwood Sports for pre-1967 front-engined cars
For Open GT, the replacement of a free choice motor up to 25K rpm for the BRM Evo 25K rpm as the class standard
The introduction of peer scrutineering, based on total times for the top 3 finishers in the first racing session each club night.

Club purchases New Club Cars

Following polls and discussions among members the club has purchased a set of six new club cars. The chosen model was the Team Slot Ford Escort MkI, unfortunately we were unable to buy six different livered cars, therefore we are very grateful to Ray for his time in repainting them to match our lane colours.

3D Printing

John has been busy printing Moggies !!!!

2025 Car Specification Changes

During November and December 2024, members completed the annual review of Classes and Car Specifications, which are effective from 1st January 2025, the key points are;

The NSR Classic and Slot-it Classic classes have been merged for form the Open Classic class. The car specifications for the combined class are the same as they were individually, however appropriate Thunderslot and MR Slot models can now be raced in this class.
The number of classes has been reduced to 13
To maintain a full 7 week racing cycle a Members Choice has been added to the calendar, members will agree 4 weeks in advance of the session which class will be raced or if it will be a test session
For Open GT, the BRM Evo 25K rpm is to be replaced with a free choice motor up to 25K rpm
Due to the reduced availability of spares for Xslot models, an alternative motor and gearing has been introduced
The General Club Rules have been modified to make them clearer and also a detailed section on chassis types has been added