1/32   Nationals   2024

F1    Sunday 5th May

F1 racing was on Sunday.  This was the 60th anniversary of the first slot racing Nationals and the 60th annual running of the event (the 2020 event was cancelled due to covid).    As always, in this class there’s a free choice of chassis and motors.  This year a quarter of the drivers were using brushless motors, a big increase on last year

Best presented was won by Mick Metalfe with this Alpine paint job on a Ferrari shell.    Kolhoza Mercedes bodyshells were most widely used.

James Cleave was top qualifier with a 6.103 second lap ahead of Will Stemman and Martin Ellis.  The top 3 were running brushless motors, Josh Bryant was the top strap motor runner in 4th.  Simon Scott was the top main grade driver in 10th overall. The 44 entries were seeded into 5 heats,  4 with 9 drivers and 8 in the top group.

The 8x3 min heats saw James take top spot from Will and Josh.   The top in main grade was Simon Scott who qualified for the overall final so Paul Shepherd was top qualifier for the main grade final and 12th overall.

Main Grade Final

The main grade final was again Paul Shepherd from Barry Gilzean.  Unlike the previous day, Steve Sargent had a trouble free run and took third.     Pete Clarkson took 4th ahead of Richard Mack, Mark Witham and Chris Aldridge

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Full F1 Results

© Copyright British Slot Car Racing Association  2024  Photos copyright C.Frost 2024 All rights reserved

Main grade final

Barry    Mark         Chris     Mick          Richard       Steve             Pete               Paul

Barry’s brushless and Sheps’ strap  powered car

The top 2 main grade cars

The F1 final

The winning F1

Chassis - Modified  Horky 2021

Brushless motor with Remora Ecom

Gearing 5:30

Rear tyres - Mid America

Body - Kolhoza Mercedes

Weight 78.2 gms

2nd -Will - brushless - weight 71.9 gms

3rd - Josh - strap powered - weight 80.6gms

4th - Simon - strap powered - weight 76.3 gms 80.6gms

5th - Greg - strap powered - weight 73.1 gms

6th Mark -  strap  - 81.1 gms                  7th Martin - brushless - 69.7 gms 8th         Chris - brushless - 75.2 gms

Overall Final

James Cleave led the overall final by a slender margin from Will Stemman, by the end James retained his title by just over 2½ laps from the 2022 champion.     There was over 14 laps gap to Josh Bryant with the first strap powered car in third.  Then came Simon Scott making his debut in an overall final, ahead of Greg and Mark Harwood.   The brushless cars of  Martin Ellis and Chris Thomas took 7th and 8th.

Congratulations to James, further extending his record as the most successful driver in BSCRA racing.

The margin between the two brushless cars that had trouble free runs and the first strap powered car might suggest a big advantage for the new technology in F1.   However, James and Will finished 1-2 last year with higher totals using strap powered cars so maybe the advantage isn’t all it appears??