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| The
GetSlotted Scalextric Festival at Phoenix 28th March 2004 by Matt Tucker |
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| It
was the Sunday the clocks go forward - one hour less in bed which
meant it had to be a 5.30am start. It did not feel like a good idea
at that time. I loaded up a truck with my rally track and headed off
to Brum to meet the rest of the GS crew to load up with stock and
then head out to the country and The Phoenix Scalextric Club. We arrived at 9am and after I saw a row of Caterhams, heard nitro RC cars screaming round a field and noticed over 50 people being very busy I really perked up. It was obvious Jon Sword had put a huge amount of effort in to this and I could not wait to see how it looked when all the other participants were here.
Normally the only time slot car enthusiasts get together is at a club race event or a swap meet. Well by 11am there must have been over 150 people and we had a new type of slot car event - the festival! Real life race cars, in the form of the British GT Ultima (sponsored by Phoenix), a BAR F1 car, 250hp Go-Kart and a stunning row of Caterhams. Nitro RC cars, 4 slot car tracks to test your cars out on (including a digital track that went down a storm), quality slot products available, an excellent stand from the National Scalextric Collectors Club (NSCC) and some stunning early hand made Pre-Ad F1 cars by max Pinches. Also the main track at Phoenix which is a 6 lane Ninco track that takes 12-14 seconds to get round - it looks great and racing 6 at a time is huge fun. Also, for those who like a celebrity, the ex-Boyzone singer turned race driver Shane Lynch was there. Not just as a pretty face but actively taking part in the races and signing loads of the Scalextric TVR 400 model he raced in the 2003 British GT series (and nearly won) .
We set up the stall and put out the rally track which had happily survived the trip. We got power, and from 10.30am to 2.30pm it felt like I was thronged by people wanting to have a go at setting the fastest lap time round the track. In the end Rob Skupski got the fastest lap of the day at 18.53 seconds and was presented with a well raced Ninco Pajero. It was close and a few of the local Phoenix youngsters got close to winning the car.
At 2.30pm I decided I needed to race - my trigger finger was getting twitchy. I put the rally track away and got out my car. It should have stayed in its box - after 3 laps of my second race (No Magnets Snr) a wind snapped inside the motor bring it to a grinding and smelly (overheated) halt. It was terminal as I had no spare motor. I borrowed Jon Swords Slot-It Audi and came 3rd in one race just managing to stay on the lead lap behind two excellent local racers (Skippy and P1 Darbs). That was my high-point, a series of lower placings led me to conclude that I needed lots more practice as there are a lot of drivers who are significantly better than me. Note to self "must practice more".
Scalextric prizes (kindly donated by Hornby) were given to the 1st to 3rd places in all the classes and finally Adrian Norman from Scalextric did a Q&A session, which, unfortunately I missed as I needed to get back home to say goodnight to my son (I'd never be let out again if I didn't). Overall it was an excellent day and I hope only the first of many even bigger and better GetSlotted festivals. Our thanks to Jon Sword and all at Phoenix for hosting and organising this event, and a well done for raising nearly £1000 for a lung charity. |
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