The Worthing HO Racing website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (except where otherwise noted) 2012-24

WHO Racing WHO/digital RCS64 Where we race

Our September Digital Saturday was a lot of fun with some extremely close and competitive racing. Fifteen people raced at some point during the day and we also welcomed Patrick for a good natter and an update on his digital home track.

All the results and some pictures can be found on the right of the page, with more pictures via the Flickr button. Click the images to make them bigger. A video of some of the action is available via the YouTube button.

Race Report

Simon served us up a monster 132-foot track for our September Digital Saturday. It was a big three-man effort to get the track ready for 10 o'clock - the new earlier starting time aiming to give us a more relaxed day of racing.

BTCC Qualifying & Race One

BTCC qualifying started a little after the advertised 10.30am with seven racers setting times. Despite no practice and the full success ballast - a 25% reduction in power - Gary grabbed pole, nearly half a second quicker that Mike in second. Matthew was four tenths behind Mike in third and those three would be the automatic qualifiers for the A final.

Andy, Terry, Jonathon and Alex qualified fourth to seventh and would take part in a B final that would eliminate only the last place car. Jonathon and Andy fought for the win, Andy's MG slipping past Jonathon's Civic at the start of the final lap. Two laps back, Alex and Terry had tricky races, Terry having to recover from a stop-and-go penalty for a false start. Ultimately that cost him a place in the main race.

Gary got away at the start of the A final and never looked back. His wonderful A-Class Mercedes was certainly the quickest car over a lap, but he also drove in flawlessly in the early stages. Behind him, there were simply too many crashes. Andy avoided most of the trouble and found himself comfortably in second ahead of Jonathon, who was the best of the rest. By the end, Gary had lapped everyone apart from Andy. A late off for Jonathon allowed Mike to slip through for the final place on the Race One podium. As Jonathon's Civic lay stranded, Alex and Matthew grabbed fourth and fifth. At least Jonathon would be 'ballast-free' for Race Two.

GT Club Car Rotation

Following the BTCC podium ceremony, we moved on to the GT Club Car Rotation. Ash and Jean joined us for the nine-heat race that saw each driver spending three minutes with each of the six Scalextric club cars. There was a new addition to the fleet to try out - a yellow BMW Z4. After the customary race control confusion and unplanned race-cum-practice session, we started again. On the long track, a good score looked to be eleven laps and a top score might be twelve. The first couple of heats saw nines, tens and elevens until Andy hit a twelve in his fourth heat, followed by a thirteen in his fifth. Andy was the first to finish with a grand total of 70 laps.

Spurred on by those big scores, all the later drivers managed twelves and Mike, Gary, Jonathon and Jean all managed thirteen laps - Mike and Gary twice. Going into the final heat, Mike had a modest target of 10 laps to draw level with Andy, anything more would take the win. A score of 11.75 did the job. Gary's final score of thirteen laps put him third, just a quarter of a lap ahead of Jonathon. After a win last time out, Jonathon had to make do with the junior medal this time - and a prize courtesy of Slot Car Magazine.

Lunch

We broke early for lunch and with Simon still finishing off at work, there was a dash to the local chippy and supermarket for provisions. Back at the Barn, Mike was presented with his prize for setting the best time on the Scalextric track on the Friday of the Goodwood Revival - an impressive performance. Patrick popped in for a natter and gave us some updates about his digital track. He went home happy with a bottle of INOX from the club shop.

BTCC Race Two

Our numbers grew to ten for the start of the afternoon and BTCC Race Two. Unfortunately, Dean couldn't get his Passatt running, so did not start. Jean had got his new BMW 125i prepared and joined the back of the grid for the B final. It was starting to drizzle outside so RCS64 was set up with a damp track - Alex, Matthew, Jonathon, Terry and Jean all chose Intermediate tyres.

It was another frantic race, with the Civics of Jonathon and Alex having a magnificent fight for first place. Jonathon ended up disappointed again, a late trip to floor whilst leading handed Alex the win. Thankfully, Jonathon was quickly returned to the track and finished second. The final place in the A final went to Terry, who was beginning to tame his new eBay-liveried BMW and pipped Matthew to the line.

More rain had fallen outside, so the track was now officially wet and all six drivers chose wet tyres. Gary, with maximum ballast after winning Race One, was cleanly off the line and into the lead - staying out of the inevitable trouble behind. Mike got caught up with Alex and Terry, allowing Andy and Jonathon to set off after Gary. The battle for second was intense, but it slowed the two drivers down - Gary was romping away and Mike closing in. A coming-together between the Honda and MG with five laps to go allowed Mike's BMW to get through into second. The battle was no less compelling now it was for third, Andy and Jonathon crossing the finishing line side-by-side. Andy was fractionally ahead and took the final spot on the Race Two podium. Alex beat Terry to fifth place.

DiSCA GT4

Simon joined us just in time for a five-car, twenty-minute DiSCA GT4 Trophy race. He joined Ash and Andy in Andy's Aston Martin Vantage. Dean finally got some competitive laps sharing Alex's Gulf McLaren 12C, Jean partnered Mike in his AMG Mercedes and Gary and Matthew drove Gary's superb 'high-detail' conversion of a Scalextric Nissan GT-R. Gary's race-winning Vantage from June was loaned to Jonathon and Terry.

Starting on a damp, but drying track, the Mercedes and McLaren were the early leaders - Jean and Alex driving hard. Ash held a strong third place before handing over to Simon for his first action of the day. Matthew was finding the Nissan a bit of a handful, but was still in contention, just ahead Jonathon in the Aston Martin.

At half distance, the track was still damp but everyone had anticipated dry conditions and had switched to hard tyres at the driver-change pit stop. Mike now held a two lap lead over Dean and Andy, who were neck-and-neck for second. Terry and Gary were battling for fourth just a lap further back - all five cars separated by just three laps.

Then disaster struck for Dean and Alex. Pushing the wrong button at the end of the main straight sent the McLaren over the barrier and onto the floor. The car no longer worked and something was rattling inside. A lengthy pit stop eventually saw the car back on track, but Dean and Alex had lost twenty laps.

That put Andy (and then Simon) in pursuit of the Mercedes. Simon put in a great final five minutes and shaved the lead to just a little over one lap at the end, thanks in part to ten seconds less time in the pits. Three laps behind came Terry and Jonathon, exactly a lap ahead of Gary and Matthew's Nissan. Terry enjoyed driving Gary's Aston Martin so much that he bought it straight after the race.

Interlude

A brief mid-afternoon pause coincided with a visit by Andrew, Nicky, Lucy and James who fancied a quick digital race and we obliged with ten minutes of GT pairs action. Andrew looked pretty keen to make a return visit - hopefully he can convince the rest of the family to join him.

Goodwood Revival

The main event of the afternoon was a 30-minute Goodwood Revival race. Teams were selected from the finishing order of the morning's Club Car Rotation. We'd practiced and qualified before the interlude and the Chaparral 2F of Terry and Jean had taken pole, a quarter of a second ahead of the George Turner E-Type of Mike and Matthew. Then came three Ferraris - Simon and Gary qualified their yellow Scalextric 330 P4 in third, ahead of the Carrera 365 P2 of Andy, Ash and Dean, and the Fly 250 GTO of Alex and Jonathon in fifth. Before taking to the grid, the E-Type was withdrawn due to body damage. The replacement George Turner Ford Falcon started from the back of the pack.

It was another damp and drying track, with all five cars starting on Intermediate tyres. Simon got his Ferrari out in front, ahead of Jonathon in the 250 GTO and Terry's Chaparral. Matthew was gradually getting to grips with the Falcon after a slow getaway and Ash was finding the Carrera Ferrari a little off the pace - particularly down the main straight.

A round of pit stops at quarter distance saw Simon re-emerge in the lead, two laps ahead of Terry in the Chaparral. Jonathon had dropped from second to fourth at the pit stops - and worse was to come as the GTO's right rear wheel came loose. Some superglue fixed the problem, but put Jonathon three laps behind Dean who had taken over the 265 P2 from Ash with twenty minutes to go.

Meanwhile, Matthew had moved the Falcon ahead of the Chaparral into second place and handed a four lap deficit to Mike at the driver change. Everyone had chosen to change to hard tyres, anticipating a dry track. Dean was driving really well, getting the Carrera Ferrari up to third place, a lap behind Mike and just ahead of Jean. Alex was four laps behind the Chaparral.

As the race approached the final ten minutes, Gary pitted four laps ahead of Mike. Jean had moved ahead of Dean, who was about to hand over to Andy. After a frustrating day of mechanical woes, Alex was on a mission and closing in on the little Carrera Ferrari. With five minutes left, he was just a lap behind. At the front, Gary pitted again, now five laps ahead of the Falcon.

If the lead was growing, then the battle for third was narrowing - the Chaparral, 365 P2 and GTO covered by a little over two laps. With just over a minute to go, Jean had to pit for tyres, but he'd been pushing hard and a slick stop got him out with his two-lap lead preserved. Alex was still a lap back and getting marginal on tyres and fuel. Andy kept the P2 on track and took fourth at the chequered flag. Gary had been getting faster and faster, finishing with a huge eight-lap margin of victory as Mike faltered.

BTCC Race Three

As usual, the day had flown by, but we still had one race left - BTCC Race Three. This was the reserve grid, with the Race Two winner starting second to last, just ahead of Simon who was racing in BTCC for the first time today. The reverse grid B final is the high-pressure race - all the fast guys desperate to grab the step-up places. And it was a cracking race on a wet track.

Mike and Andy both got dumped off track and stranded on the opening laps, Mike suffering the worst. Gary quickly got in the groove, moving ahead Jonathon who was also driving a great race. Simon and Alex battled hard for that all-important third place. Andy clawed his way back, driving fast and reasonably error-free. It took him nearly ten laps to catch Simon and Alex, making it a three-way battle for third. Mike was gradually closing in too.

The final stages were exciting. Gary closed out the win ahead of Jonathon, Andy dispatching Simon and Alex who then got tangled-up and let Mike slip through. It would be Gary, Jonathon and Andy who joined Jean, Matthew and Terry in the A final.

Starting fourth, Gary failed to get a clean start this time, getting shunted off by Andy's MG going into the first corner. By the end of the first lap, it was the MG that had the lead, followed by Jean, Jonathon and a fast recovering Gary. Before long Gary was closing in on the lead, the Mercedes quicker round the first part of the track but the MG stretching the lead through the final third. It was a close battle, but only very briefly - Andy crashed in the switchbacks and Gary was through.

Andy continued to push, but his composure and his race fell apart, dropping right to the back. As in the B final, Jonathon proved fast and consistent and the closest challenger to Gary, who was simply unstoppable today. Jean and Matthew had a great tussle for third, Jean prevailing at the end and taking his place on a BTCC podium for the first time.

That was the end of a superb day of digital racing at the Barn. Huge congratulations go to all the day's winners, especially to Gary on an amazing BTCC hat-trick and a Goodwood Revival win. That gives Gary a very healthy 24-point lead at the top of the BTCC table and maximum success ballast for the start of the next round. Our other championship leaders are Ash in GT4 Trophy, Andy in the GT Rotation and Simon in Goodwood Revival.

A very big thank you goes to the set-up team of Mike, Terry and Andy and to everyone who stayed to help pack away. We are indebted to Mike for loaning his digital kit - without which we wouldn't be racing digital at the Barn. Thank you Mike!

Out next Digital Saturday is on 17 November. Expect three BTCC races, a club car rotation a short Goodwood pairs race and a long GT4 trophy race. I can’t wait!

- Andy P