The four lane Ninco track can be deceptive. A model which runs fine on SCX, Scaley and Carrera can become bogged down on the high grip corners, and models which previously demonstrated good track manners will ‘turn turtle’ as the track refuses to let them slide. Mmmmm? So, what was to be the winning formula?? Well, you could rely on the Slotcar Legends’ to try everything, and they did!!
DTM’s were the main contender I think and some good times were set by the Carrera models. The Eggmeister was to be contrary all evening and I’m not sure if he ran any one car for all heats. But I mustn’t knock it. After all, variety is the byword at a Legends meeting.
Bob set the trend for the evening with a very profound statement, aimed I suspect at the hardcore of board track racers coming to grips with the high downforce situation
“All board track racers will die of lead poisoning!! No one ever dies from magnet poisoning!!!â€
And on that profound note, the first heat got underway
The first heat showed a good cross section of sensible choices but it wasn’t long before marshalls were diving in all directions. My brand new, straight out of the box BMW had responded well to some pre race fettling but no amount of fettling would get it past somebody else’s body screw firmly wedged in the plastic liner of my slot! Marshalls to the rescue again and within a short period of time, the Eggmeister’s immaculate SCX Brock Volvo SRS2 took a side swipe fair and square in the guts and body parted from the chassis, leaving marshalls to struggle once again!
Another paranormal experience was when the other John set off from the start with a DTM and crossed the finishing line in a V8 supercar ?????. Mmmmmmm? No matter. A good race and plenty of action, just like the real thing. And a good show of Volvos too with an SCX S60 doing its fair share of obstructing people’s progress!
Greg was putting in some serious hard work with his V8 and eventually after coming to grips with the track he was settling in to some good placings. The fact his model had a 28,000 rpm motor played very little in his achievements I’m sure. I had taken two models to race for the event but for obvious reasons I had stuck with the Bimmer, winning my first three heats. As a four door sedan swan song, I decided to race my second choice which was the Revell Simca 1000. Yes guys, it is a true four door sedan! And I have waited eighteen months for this moment! Not only that, it knocked a whole second off the fastest lap time for the event.
Finally the carnage stopped and it was ever so nice……and pieceful!!
Event 1 Four Door Sedans – open motor (exc rally) 1. Phil 13’ 22.046†2. 1 Bob 15’ 32.582†3. John 15’ 54.075†4. Alan 5. 2 Bill 6. 3 Greg 7. 4 Ken 8. 5 Eggy 9. 6 Peter(second number is group B placings)
Next up was a set class. This was JGTC GT500 class for Japanese cars. This was to be a Scaley versus Ninco derby and initially my money was on a Scaley victor but some very skilful driving (and slight of hand) was going to leave the end results wide open. I must admit I am still wondering which Japanese car company produced the Mosler, Peter!??? Mmmmmm?
No matter It didn’t turn out to be a threat, fortunately. Heat one underway and plenty of pace, but this time, probably due to the general good handling of the models, there was a decided decline in marshalling activity. My choice of Xanavi Nismo, which had blitzed races from here to eternity decided to loose pace and get slower and slower ‘til eventually, Ken lent me his Ninco racer. Two laps later the front axle shot across the track to become yet another statistic in the scheme of things.
More collusion saw a decidedly suspicious performance of one of Eggy’s models in the hands of the other John. No swab test was called for so we let that one ride. Best of the rest was when Bob and Eggy went head to head for twenty four and a half laps. Both finally deslotting together. As the closest marshal, I reslotted them both and released them simultaneously for the last half lap, Bob taking the heat by less than a car’s length (I think?). The final results were representative of true home track advantage with Bob taking full advantage of the several thousand hours he has raced this track!
Event 2 JGTC GT500 class 1. 1 Bob 13’ 07.431†2. Alan 13’ 12.887†3. 2 Eggy 13’ 22.722 4. John 5. 3 Greg 6. Phil 7. 4 Ken 8. 5 Peter 9. 6 Bill
A good performance from Al who tired early after straining a muscle in his back earlier in the day and another good run from Greg who was fast learning the track. One conundrum solved before the end of this event was that if you had a loose wheel on your Toyota JGTC should you use Supra glue to refit it!!??
Last up was the first round of the Trophy event. This is for GP cars up to 1962 and as expected, a good turnout was a pleasure to behold. It was discovered that the Scaley models had an almost immovable magnet, so, to deter folk from damaging their model it was decided to let them run with their magnets in but to score them after all the non magnet runners. This proved to be very successful and all were in agreement. Also as expected, the field was predominantly Scaley with a minor spattering of Cartrix. Exceptions being Eggy’s ‘Race Tuned’ re issued Scalextric BRM P25 and my Ocar Mercedes W196.
The magnet cars took off into the distance and the odd lone non mag racer plugged away, lap after lap, to the finish line, with the only consolation that no matter how fast the mag racers went, they weren’t going to beat them!. The Scaley cars have tremendous straight line speed on this track and when they do decide to let go in a fast corner, they tend to jump the barrier too and end up on the floor. Even Eggy’s semi priceless non mag BRM wasn’t to escape this fate.
Once again the paranormal was at work. The model Ken was racing chose time and time again to leave the slot on the last turn and travel a full metre and a half down the track and strike the timing light gantry off the edge of the track??
Event Three Historic GP Non mag 1. Phil 2. 1 Bob 3. 2 Eggy 4. 3 Ken 5. 4 Bill Magnet 6. John 7. 5 Greg 8. Alan 9. 6 Peter
And an extra special thanks to Bob’s wife Julie who kindly laid on a barbeque supper for the guys. It is always appreciated.
