1998 Hornby Hobbies - NSCC - VSCC Special Weekend Competition.
Reports.
Results.

Special Weekend Report : March '98

A report on the NSCC-Hornby Hobbies 1998 Special Event on 14^th & 15^th of March.

A year a go I found Hornby Hobbies and myself getting in to discussions about a collaborative event. Not really knowing what we were letting ourselves in for we let the idea germinate for a few months and eventually when conditions were favourable the idea eventually blossomed. Little did I realize how much energy it would take, advertising, selecting a venue, Hotel bookings, meals, maps, information leaflets, itinerary details, costing, accounting, organizing, etc. - but it was all worth it in the end.

The event was to be a unique social weekend and race meeting with the accent on social. Meeting some of the staff from Hornby Hobbies was, for many members, a chance in a lifetime not to be missed. The meeting took place mid March on a glorious weekend. The weather couldn’t have been kinder. The Hotel overlooked a flat-calm English Channel at Sandwich Bay. Whilst guests arrived during the morning those early birds amongst us took the opportunity to walk along the cliff top towards Ramsgate Harbour. Guests came from far and wide, some from Holland, Switzerland, Scotland and all corners of England.

The event started at Noon with an introductory speech by Simon Kohler welcoming the guests to this unique occasion, and hopefully first of many, to enjoy a social get-together for like-minded people - racers and collectors able to talk and share ideas between members and Hornby staff.

After refreshments and food it was time to start the competition heats. The track, a four lane Brands Hatch circuit, was provided by Hornby Hobbies. I had fitted infra-red sensors to each lane to monitor laps and lap times on computer. Courtesy of Hornby Hobbies, we were to use Vauxhall Vectras for the Saturday heats. We had colour coded each car roof to match the lane colour and each car remained on the same lane throughout the competition. Almost everybody took part, it didn’t matter whether the guest was a hardened racer or a beginner - the idea was to have fun and enjoy. There were about forty competitors and we had to work efficiently to get everybody through their heats. Fortunately, capable ‘race manager’ Clive Pritchard and the invaluable ‘SlotMaster’ software (see last months report) made this an easy task and every guest had four 10-lap heats, each heat being in a different lane and against drivers not raced against in previous heats! (The race report is printed separately).

During the afternoon the guests kept the Hornby staff constantly busy with a barrage of questioning. Now that Hornby have described what goes in to producing a new car I know that many of you are now aware of the problems in getting cars on to the market as quickly as you want them. One of the highlights of the afternoon was the demonstration of how computer aided design now helps Hornby in the production of new models. The software is also used by McLaren engineers!

By 6 o’clock it was time for guests to retire from the raceway and freshen up for the evenings entertainment. We all assembled in the function room for a modest three course meal followed by a trivia quiz on our favourite subject (Yes, Scalextric cars!). The quiz was written and conducted by the trivia maestro himself, Phil Etgart. It’s quite amazing just how much you forget about your favourite pastime after a few drinks, I think I scored no more than 10 out of the 50 or so questions! Some of you did a lot worse than that. Shame on you! But some teams did particularly well and took some nice prizes back to their hotel rooms. To finish the night off each member collected a unique car, a Renault Megane in dark blue, with the inscription, tampo printed in gold, reflecting the ‘Hornby Hobbies NSCC special weekend March 14/15^th 1998’ occasion.

Weary eyes awoke to another glorious sunny morning. After breakfast we all assembled at the racetrack to begin the second wave of heats. The same format was followed, however, this time everybody would race the Audi A4 cars provided by Hornby. By now, of course, the competitors realised that the best way to accrue points was to stay on the track even if it meant driving a little slower. This tactic was proved by the eventual winner and is a valuable lesson to learn. After the heats were completed we drew the raffle. More prizes were handed out, including some unusual goodies such as the massive colour prints of the Porsche GT1 and Jordan F197 cars, which had been on display throughout the weekend.

Being ahead of schedule we had time to run a special race event for our Dutch friends. They had traveled a fair distance and were keen to race against each other in a head-to-head. So be it!, but they had to wave Scalextric flags at the same time as racing. Henk was the eventual winner, but was nearly disqualified for not waving the flag vigorously enough!

By Noon we were on to the semi finals and things were hotting up! There wasn’t much room for error on the track now. The competitors were now racing for the final and hopefully some prizes. Racing was tough and it was nice to see one of the juniors, Master Green, beating his elders soundly. In fact, all of the juniors did very well and the ladies also raced very well.

Although some people had to leave early to start their long journeys home, the majority stayed to watch the finals. The ‘B’ final, and ‘A’ finals were excellent. Not just because of the car control and race craft either! For me, I was impressed by the good nature of the race competitors and it is this that made this the perfect event. I couldn’t have wished for more and I was now able to un-wind.

Prizes were awarded to the finalists, Sean Fothersgill taking overall 1^st prize and Fastest Lap (7.19 seconds, well done Sean), Alex was second and Alan, third. The junior winner was Alan’s son Richard (an excellent racer) and Liz won the ladies competition. All drove very well and, above all else, in the spirit of the event. Well done everybody! I hope we will have another event like this one next year.

Simon Kohler brought the proceedings to a close with a short speech remarking upon the good will and invaluable exchange of ideas from NSCC members that is so important to Hornby Hobbies.

Last but not least, through this article, I’m sure I echo all of your thoughts in saying a very special ‘Thank you’ to the Hornby Hobbies staff who gave up their time and weekend to help make this unique event possible. THANK YOU.

Results Table