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By Dave Wisdom

Now in its 5th year the Pendle Slot Racing sponsored Earlybirds, or EBs as its also known, has become one of the most popular slot car scratchbuild events in the UK attracting entries from around the globe including Belgium, France, Greece, Singapore and the USA. The event, held each February, initiated the popular ‘Wolves Classic’ events and effectively starts the Wolverhampton Clubs season of ‘Classic’ meetings, including the Can-Am/SCCA in May, Pre 1976 Euro Saloons in October and Half Tonner (1961–65 1.5 litre GP cars) in November.

The Earlybirds event is for models of pre-war Grand Prix cars up to and including those raced in 1960. It represents a scratchbuilders’ delight, in that many iconic and beautifully prepared cars were raced, during what was arguably one of the most romantic (and dangerous) periods in motor racing. Cars such as Alfa Romeos, Ferraris, Maseratis and Mercedes Benz present modellers with the challenge of re-creating them in 1:32 scale. The standard of model building increases year by year and the concourse trophy is a highly regarded award.

Body shells are cast by hand in fibreglass or resin; purchased from numerous makers/suppliers; modified from readily available kits or taken from ready to race cars. Most cars run on hand built brass chassis, but some people use ‘Penelope Pitlane’ kits or the popular plastic ‘PCS’ kit.

To help shed some light on how Earlybirds began, the event founder and organiser, Mac Pinches kindly provided the following background history;

Where did EBs come from?

”My main interest has always been in the building of scale cars, right back
to the dark ages of the hobby.

Although I did my own thing at home by building cars I liked, there was little
or nothing in the way of races for scale cars.

I got back into competitive racing in the 80’s and 90’s, but the rules and
classes produced cars with almost identical performances. The models started to look better, but the main interest was how to get the cars as close to the track as possible, fastest lap times and outright performance.

Around 1998/99 ‘Electric Dreams’ (Slot car trader based in America) put on an International Proxy race in the United States.

It was a mix of performance and scale cars. I entered two cars but, these did not do too well in the races. However, they did create genuine interest, being true to scale. I also made a ‘master’ for Mark Gussin; a Maserati 8CTF. Mark created a superb cast of the model to successfully win the overall concourse trophy.

I then started to produce a range of pre-war GP cars; this was extended to include cars up to 1960, being made under the name of "Pre-Add". It took off big time and what started as a hobby soon became a full time occupation!

At this point someone asked if there was a meeting for this type of model, I said there seems to be an interest in these ‘Early birds’ (that’s where the name came from).

So, I went on Slot Forum and asked if there were enough people interested in a small meeting for pre 60’s GP cars, which could also include RTR car of a similar type.

Expecting may be 15 - 20 guys the response was alarming!! Within a few days. I had 40 plus entries with a reserve list!! That was 2005 since then it has grown into what we have today”.

Early Birds 2009

This year’s event once again attracted a highly competitive entry of racers/modellers and was fully subscribed shortly after its announcement in October 2008.

After the initial qualifying heats, Dick Smith emerged the overall victor, followed by Chris Adams in 2nd and Robbie Davies in 3rd.

The Concourse saw Chuck Lawrence from Seattle in the USA bring along his beautiful Cooper F1, featuring brake pedals and intricate suspension detail, which consequently took the Concourse Trophy. David Lawson’s Osca came 2nd followed by John Princes Ferrari 500 in 3rd. All were superb scale recreations and miniature works of art.

Winning competitors in both racing and concourse events also receive generous prizes donated by the events sponsors, Pendle Slot Racing.

Next Classic meeting at Wolverhampton will be the Pre ’68 Can-Am/SCCA event. Pictures and comment to follow soon.

earlybirds 2009 photos