Our final Digital Saturday of this year saw twenty-three people take to the grid
for a day of fabulous Scalextric digital racing. The results, stats and some pictures
are on the right, plus there’s a video over on YouTube. Updated championship tables
are on the 2019 season page.
Race Report
Our final Digital Saturday of 2019 had a typical festive feel - most definitely helped
by the fabulous decorations at the Barn and a generous supply of mince pies on Simon's
menu for the day. Mike got us working hard early on, building his magnificent version
of the Nürburgring - which was renamed the NerdBarnRing for the day.
The track was powered up and ready for practice at 10am - digital newcomers Jeremy
and John partaking in our Digital Driving School. Gary made the trip down from the
Midlands to give him a perfect attendance at this year's digital Saturdays. That
gave us twenty-two racers for the morning, with Jerome joining us at lunchtime. Our
biggest Saturday attendance so far.
Race One - BTCC Qualifying and Race One
By the end of the day, a record-breaking eighteen people would take part in a BTCC
race, with sixteen lining up in three qualifying groups at 10.30. The pole position
battle went down to the final seconds of the final group - Gary and Mike swapping
top spot and they were the only two to drop below the fourteen second mark. Gary
eventually grabbed pole - making it three out of four this season. Simon was third,
Andy fourth and Alex fifth - they would all be in the A final.
After qualifying eleventh, Peter bossed the C final from the start - his Civic leading
Rob's BMW. Ryan was third early on, but dropped back with handling problems that
would hinder his Civic all day. Peter and Rob finished on the same lap - everyone
else at least one lap back. Peter stepped up into the next race.
John and Jonathon fought for the B final lead from the start. Although it was Jonathon's
first digital Saturday of the year, he certainly wasn't looking rusty - pushing Jean
hard in the early stages of the sixteen lap race. Dean had made a poor start, but
dispatched Ash to take third by half distance and then passed Jonathon for second.
He'd finish on the same lap as Jean, holding off a hard-charging Peter who grabbed
third at the end. Only Jean stepped up to the feature race.
The A final continued the Gary-Mike battle that had started in qualifying and would
continue throughout the day. Mike had the early lead, Gary got past by half distance
and just about hung on. It was close behind too - a very clean race for so early
in the day. Alex held third until Andy slipped past with three laps to go. The top
four finished on the same lap. A fastest lap for Gary gave him maximum points - not
that he needed them, having wrapped up the championship in November.
Race Two - Club Car Rotation
Bang on schedule, the rotation race started at 11.30 and with twenty-two drivers
- and therefore twenty two heats - it would take us up to lunchtime. Mike had mixed
up the cars nicely. The new Scalextric Chevy Monte Carlo made its WHO debut alongside
some GT favourites and a Ford GT40. Each driver raced for three minutes with each
car, getting to know the track and needing to pit at least once.
Peter was the first racer to complete their six races with a 48.75 lap total. That
was eclipsed three minutes later by Gary's 57.75 - a score that looked formidable.
Jean immediately went close (a 55.50), but then scores dropped into the low 50s and
40s. There were good battles between the newer racers and between the juniors. Jeremy
and Rob tied as best of the 2019 digital newbies, with John just behind and Harry
making a big leap compared with his first rotation score in November, finishing just
a lap behind his dad.
As we headed towards the end of the session, it was looking good for Gary - Mike,
Simon and Andy had all fallen short of his total. It came down to the final three
minutes - Alex and Dean both needed record-breaking twelve-lap runs to win. Unlikely...
but it's never over until it's over. Both managed ten laps, which gave Gary the win
- a lap and three-quarters ahead of Alex and Mike in equal second. Ryan was top junior
and an excellent seventh overall. Medal presentations complete, it was time for lunch...
Race Three - BTCC Race Two
After another of Simon's fabulous cooked lunches, we were ready for the second BTCC
race. Jerome had joined us, boosting the numbers to seventeen - so there would be
no step-up from the C to B final and only the B final winner moving up to the feature
race.
Rob drove brilliantly from the start of the C final, lapping the rest of the field
by half distance. Terry, John, Jerome and Oliver were locked in a close battle for
second place, but it was Oliver who came through at the end - ahead of Terry and
John. Jerome's challenge faltered and he finished behind Ryan.
Dean got the best start of the B finalists, but the others never let him get away.
Jean had the lead at half distance, but Dean came back to grab the win and the all-important
step-up. Jean was second, Jonathon third and Peter fourth. Although Matthew set the
fastest lap time, he finished in sixth, behind Ash's MG.
The A final was a bit of a humdinger. Mike and Gary fought for the lead from start
to finish. Andy was their closest rival early on, but struggled as his soft tyres
lost grip. Alex took over third place, but the front two were in a class of their
own. Mike led at half distance and at the chequered flag - he was utterly delighted
to get his first BTCC win of the season. The other four finished a lap down, Dean
passing Andy for fifth on the final corner.
Race Four - Slot.it Group C
Having missed out on some Group C racing last month, nine cars took to the grid for
our third race of 2019. That included Rob's yellow BP Lancia LC2 which was picked
up at September's Havant swapmeet. A BTCC-style qualifying session saw Mike, Matthew
and Dean qualify automatically for the 40 lap feature race. The others would fight
it out for the remaining three spots in a 15-lap knock-out race. It was a fast and
clean race. Andy grabbed the early lead, but came a cropper lapping Terry. That put
him back in the pack and, when the race ended, he was fourth of four cars on the
lead lap. It would be Rob, Alex and Simon who stepped up to the feature race.
If anything, the feature race was scrappier than the B final. All six were racing
hard, but struggling to put together consistent laps. Perhaps it was something to
do with the weather - the track starting dry and then turning damp, before drying
out again. Simon's Toyota held the early lead, with Rob at the back. By a quarter
distance, Mike and Alex were in a close battle at the front and Rob was up to third.
The track was just turning damp and everyone was still on Hard tyres...
It was still damp at half distance - Alex had the lead, Mike was second and Rob still
third. Only Matthew and Dean had made their pit stop, Dean changing to Intermediate
tyres. Dean's early stop seemed to pay off - he had the longest use of the correct
tyres before the track began to dry. Simon also used Inters, but then retired shortly
after his pit stop with a broken wire. Rob was the only driver to choose Softs -
everyone else took new Hard tyres at their stops.
At the end of the race, Alex had a comfortable one lap lead over Mike, with Dean
grabbing the final place on the podium. Matthew beat Rob to fourth place. Alex's
second win of the season earned him the inaugural WHO Group C championship. We thought
we'd struggle to fill a grid of six, so we're delighted to have had ten cars compete
and more on Christmas wish lists to enter in 2020.
Race Five - WHO GT Championship
The WHO GT cars - running to DiSCA GT4 regs - were back for the final 45-minute race
of the season. An astonishing seventeen cars took part in qualifying, looking for
a fast lap in three-minute sessions. Gary's new AMR 007 Aston Martin came out on
top with a 12.842 pole time, two tenths ahead of Mike's Corvette C6R. Alex's McLaren
Gulf 12C was another two tenths back, just ahead of Dean's Gulf Racing Porsche 911
and Andy's Massive Motorsport Aston Martin. Jonathon's DBR9 was an excellent sixth,
but he was unable to stay for the race.
It was decided to put the top four in the championship into two pairs - Gary and
Ash were battling for the title, Alex and Dean for third place. Gary paired with
Dean in the Aston Martin, Alex with Ash in the McLaren. Mike was joined by Mark and
Jean in the Corvette; Andy recruited Jeremy, Rob and Matthew to drive his Aston.
With Dean's Porsche and Jonathon's DBR9 withdrawn, that let in Oliver's Sun Energy
AMG GT3 and Jerome's MSW Aston Martin. Oliver was joined by Ryan and Simon, Jerome
drove with Peter and Terry.
The opening laps of the race were incredibly close. The 45 minutes started in the
rain on a wet track. Gary held the early lead, although Andy and Mark stayed on the
same lap for the first ten minutes, Mark moving into second after the first round
of pit stops. Andy handed over to Jeremy after eleven minutes and the three-driver
teams changed after fifteen. Gary pushed to extend his advantage, opening up a two
lap lead over Jean in the Corvette by the time he handed the Aston to Dean.
At half distance, the sun was out and the track drying - the lead car, plus Alex's
McLaren and Oliver's AMG were all on Intermediates and the others still on Wets.
Alex had a six lap deficit to make up on Dean in the leading car, but he was just
a lap ahead of the SunEnergy AMG in fourth. Matthew was now in the Massive Motorsport
Aston and in fifth.
By the time of the final driver change for the three-driver teams, the race was bunching
up. Dean's lead was down to just under two laps over the Corvette - but he had just
pitted and those GT pit stops are lengthy! Mike took over the Corvette and Simon
jumped in the SunEnergy car. Alex was in between the two - the top four separated
by six laps.
Simon was the first to risk Hard tyres and when the others pitted a few laps later,
he was just a lap adrift of Alex's McLaren. Further pit stops created a concertina
effect on the gaps, but with five minutes to go it looked like Simon had finally
overhauled Alex for third place. At the front, Dean was driving magnificently and
stretching out a comfortable gap over Mike. The Corvette was starting to get a bit
crashy, although Simon was a little too far back to take advantage.
As the clock ran down, Dean crossed the line to take an excellent victory for the
2018 Nürburgring 24 hour AMR Aston Martin on the NerdBarnRing... The Corvette finished
second, the Mercedes-AMG third and the Gulf McLaren fourth. That gave Gary the 2019
WHO GT championship title and Dean the runner-up spot - just half a point ahead of
Ash.
Race Six - BTCC Race Three
We tried out our 2020-style reverse grid for the final race of the season, Jeremy
pulling the pole-sitter out of the hat (proper BTCC style). Simon would be on pole,
Alex second and Gary third. With Jeremy buying a BTCC car from Mike and both Jonathon
and John gone home, we had sixteen racers and one step-up from each final.
There were plenty of racers on the Soft option tyres for Race Three - they'd all
notice a lack of grip by the end of the 16 laps. It was Oliver on Hard tyres that
led from start to finish in the C final, but not far ahead of Jerome. Terry and Rob
battled for third, with Rob prevailing at the end. Jeremy finished his first BTCC
race ahead of Ryan.
Jean made a swift getaway on Soft tyres in the B final, pursued by Andy on Hards.
As the grip equalised at half distance, Andy closed right up to Jean's rear bumper.
However, he got caught up in another racer's drama, got stranded off track and Jean
managed to defend his advantage to the end. Ash had been running in third early on,
but dropped to the back - Peter coming home third and Matthew fourth.
The final action of the year would be another intense battle between Gary and Mike
in the A final. Gary did have the advantage from the start, but Mike wasn't giving
in, pushing our 2018 and 2019 WHO BTCC champion pretty much to the end - until an
off on the penultimate lap gave Gary a little breathing space. Jean had a very strong
drive to third - his second podium of the season. Alex came in fourth and just missed
out on beating Andy to third place in the BTCC standings by four points.
And that was it for 2019. Huge congratulations to all today's winners, podium-finishers
and our WHO/digital champions. A big thank you to everyone who came along and made
it such a fabulous day of racing. Special thanks goes to the early-morning set-up
crew, to Simon for his wonderful catering, to Ash, Ryan, Mike and Andy for a slick
team effort on race control and to all those who stayed behind to pack away. A very
special thank you goes to Mike, without whom we'd never have started racing Scalextric
digital at the Barn.
We'll be back on Wednesday 22 January for our first WHO/digital event of 2020. Expect
the 2020 WHO/Digital Guide to be published soon - including the driver seedings for
next season.
