Round 1 25/26 January Dumfries Slot Car Club
We were honoured to be asked to host another BOC at Dumfries and despite the early season we attracted 11 racers and would have been more except that owing to family illness a couple of drivers had to pull out, we hope all is well with them.
After a good afternoon of practice we all reconvened at the infamous Cavens Arms for a great meal with plenty of shared nostalgia and banter. Some stayed up to watch the Daytona 24 Hour race – but not all of it I must stress!
Sunday was more relaxed as there were no Sunday arrivals and with only Gavin Scott racing from the Club, it was down to Ant to keep things moving.
With remarkable levels of promptness and unselfishness we were never short of marshals and the day went so well that we completed two classes before a 1.30pm lunch break.
Saloon
Saloon was first and with few, if any, scrutineering issues we got under way with qualifying on red lane. Everyone was under 5 seconds with Martin Ellis, Michael Ovens and James Noake setting the pace at closer to 4 seconds, with home driver Gavin slotting in an excellent 4.4 to take 5th.
The heats ran with 3 in the first and four in the other two and it was Keith Gibson who upset the order of things by climbing to 4th from 6th, leaving James in 5th just 18 sections ahead of Gavin. After TQing with a 4 second lap (just under a second faster than JC last year) Martin was unable to fend off a flying Mickey Ovens who finished three laps clear on 162 laps. Paul Harwood started his consistent weekend with a third place after qualifying 4th.
Steve Sargent was the unlucky man in this race with what looked like a gear issue but was eventually identified as a motor out by Martin Guru Ellis. Pat Skene was running well but amongst other adventures he tried to get a close up by landing on the TV crew’s scaffolding – not his fault I’m told! You’ve probably seen the pic already…
F1
On to F1 and with cars sailing through tech – several very underwidth – we got qualifying. A similar picture emerged but with only 5/11 cars running brushless it would be interesting to see how things went. As expected a brushless qualified top, Martin (4.3 seconds to James Cleave’s 4.195 last year) with brushed James sneaking into 2nd. Mickey was third with Paul taking 4th and the next couple of spots were taken by Ian and Gavin, one brushless and one brushed. The first heat saw Pat demonstrate that his brushless F1 should have qualified higher. Despite some quick laps he beat Colin Jackson by just under half a lap!
The next heat saw Keith and Gavin set the pace with Paul looking very fast. This race was close throughout but Paul eventually put a couple of laps between himself and Gavin with Keith and Steve having their own battle slightly further back. In the end Paul’s run was good enough for another fine 3rd place and Gavin retained his 5th quali position through some very consistent driving.
The fastest heat was relatively untroubled for Martin who ran faster than in qualifying but the most notable part of this race was the handling problems developed by James’ car, leading to a drop overall from 2nd to 6th. Mickey was always in the mix but couldn’t stay with Martin and Ian retained his fourth quali position.
1/32 BOC 2025 British Open Championship
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Saloon |
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F1 |
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Sports |
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1 |
Michael Ovens |
Visitor |
1 |
Martin Ellis |
Visitor |
brushless |
1 |
Martin Ellis |
Visitor |
brushless |
2 |
Martin Ellis |
Visitor |
2 |
Michael Ovens |
Visitor |
brushless |
2 |
Michael Ovens |
Visitor |
brushless |
3 |
Paul Harwood |
Visitor |
3 |
Paul Harwood |
Visitor |
brushless |
3 |
Paul Harwood |
Visitor |
brushless |
4 |
Keith Gibson |
Visitor |
4 |
Ian Fitzpatrick |
Visitor |
brushless |
4 |
Keith Gibson |
Visitor |
Brush |
5 |
James Noake |
Visitor |
5 |
Gavin Scott |
Home |
Brush |
5 |
Gavin Scott |
Home |
brushless |
6 |
Gavin Scott |
Home |
6 |
James Noake |
Visitor |
Brush |
6 |
Ian Fitzpatrick |
Visitor |
brushless |
7 |
Ian Fitzpatrick |
Visitor |
7 |
Keith Gibson |
Visitor |
Brush |
7 |
James Noake |
Visitor |
Brush |
8 |
Colin Jackson |
Visitor |
8 |
Steve Sargent |
Visitor |
Brush |
8 |
Steve Sargent |
Visitor |
Brush |
9 |
Pat Skene |
Visitor |
9 |
Pat Skene |
Visitor |
brushless |
9 |
Pat Skene |
Visitor |
brushless |
10 |
David Wood |
Visitor |
10 |
Colin Jackson |
Visitor |
Brush |
10 |
Colin Jackson |
Visitor |
Brush |
11 |
Steve Sargent |
Visitor |
11 |
David Wood |
Visitor |
Brush |
11 |
David Wood |
Visitor |
Brush |
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main grade |
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premier grade |
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Copyright © 2025 British Slot Car Racing Association photos copyright A.Hawkes All rights reserved |
Sports/GT
After a lunch break and some sports practice we started the last event of the day in good time and qualifying was fast and clean. We had five brushed and six brushless in this class.
Once again Martin and Mickey were quickest and it looked like the top heat would be quite a race! Martin’s 3.4 was just shy of James Cleave’s 3.3 from last year but was only .04 faster than Mickey.
This time Paul qualified 3rd, a couple of tenths off the top pace with an inspired brushless run from Ian and brushed James and brushless Gavin taking 5th and 6th. Pat came good in quali this time with 7th, just 1/1000th of a second slower than Gavin!
Steve once again made the second heat with Keith not having much fun and Dave Wood taking 10th ahead of Colin, this time.
The first heat saw Keith get his act together (sounded like a brushed car but I’m not sure) and set a good target for the second heat drivers and, as it turned out, was good enough for 4th overall. Despite lapping faster Dave couldn’t keep a very consistent Colin at bay. The second heat was very closely contested with James, Gavin, Steve and Pat all lapping around 3.8 seconds. After a run in which only James seemed to struggle with handling issues it was Gavin who took the top spot – but three laps behind Keith’s excellent run. Pat was going very well but slipped back after a wheel came loose, quickly fixed by friendly neighbourhood Guru but too much time had been lost.
The last race of the day was easier for Martin than expected as Mickey couldn’t quite
match his quali pace and Paul was concentrating on keeping ahead of Keith’s distance.
Ian was less consistent in this race and looked to be in danger of losing places,
eventually finishing 6th and giving Gavin a well-
So with a brief prize-
Thanks again to all drivers for supporting the event and for being so helpful with scrutineering (Thanks Paul) and marshalling. Hope to see you all soon, somewhere!
Ant Hawkes