April 17th 2010

By Dave Wisdom

The Tendring Slot Car Club in Colchester, Essex was the venue for the latest in the ever popular themed slot car events based upon classic motor racing periods of the past. This particular meeting was for ‘Tourist Trophy’ pre 1963 Sports and GT cars using PCS chassis components. Support races took the form of European Classic Saloons long and short wheelbase cars from the 1950s up to 1972.

The journey from Yorkshire down to Essex involved a 4 and a half hour drive, therefore I decided to travel on the Friday and take up Pete Shepherds (event organiser) innovation of joining him at the club in their weekly evening club night. I’ve never driven on Carerra track before, so it gave me chance to try out my cars in advance of Saturday’s main event. I received a very warm welcome from Pete’s fellow club mates and was able to join them in a few heats of their ‘Goodwood’ class racing championship. The track was reasonably easy to get to grips with, although I soon realised the gear ratios on my Ferrari 250SWB would require some overnight work to get them more suitable for race day.

Race day
A beautiful bright and sunny day greeted competitors on the Saturday morning. The paddock area soon filled with an excellent collection of period kit and scartchbuilt cars. Proceedings began with early morning practice. Pete dutifully provided scrutineering facilities alongside fellow organiser and club founder, ‘Honest judge’ Fred Gallone (aka on slotforum as ‘honestjudge’).

Once practice had concluded, competitors were invited to line up their cars for the concours ceremony. It probably represented one of the best line ups of kit and scratchbuilt cars seen for a long time in the UK. It was evident judging was going to be a challenge, but after half an hour or so, minds were made up and voting slips were handed in.

1st Event: Pre 1972 European Saloon Cars
Racing commenced just before 11.00am. The saloon support races kicked off the days events and from the very first lap of the first heat; it was plain to see we were all in for a very entertaining day. The racing throughout all the heats was close and great fun. Most excitement appeared to be provided by the short wheelbase saloons with Pete Shepherds Mini Cooper and David Lawson’s Riley Elf being the chief protagonists. As far as the Pendle presence was concerned, Martin De’Ath drove his excellent Alan Mann Escort to great effect managing a 2nd place in his ‘D’ final. Eventual overall victory went to Alan Shawe with his Capri RS2600 following a spirited final dueling with Dave Farrows Alfa GTAM and Steve Carters similar Capri. The performance of my Renault Dauphine steadily improved through the heats and I even managed to scrape together one win, coming back from a start line penalty. However, my driving skills were once again brought into question as when under pressure, I seem unable to resist the temptation of nose diving into the scenery at every possible opportunity.

more photos CLICK HERE

Main Event: PCS Tourist Trophy for Pre 1964 Sports & GT Cars
As expected, a very glamorous field of classic Sports & GT cars from the period took to the track for this event. Marques ranging from C & E Type Jaguars, Chevrolet Corvettes, MGBs, Lotus Elites and various types of Ferraris lined up for a series of heats and step up finals. Fred Gallone, Dave Farrow and Pete Shepherd headed the leader boards throughout the heats and together with Bill Chaters, lined themselves up for the grand final. Martin and I enjoyed reasonable performances with our respective cars; Martins Corvette and my Ferrari 250GTSWB. I managed to win the ‘D’ final stepping up into the ‘C’ final where I enjoyed a good battle with Dave Farrows Mercedes 300SL until binning it big time and relegating myself to last place…an increasingly familiar environment.

more photos CLICK HERE

Concours
As previously mentioned, the concours competition provided those voting with something of a headache. The standard of presentation was second to none with some very beautifully made cars in attendance - it was almost impossible to make any clear choice with regard to ‘which was best’. However, people did make their decisions and even though I say it myself – all voted very intelligently by placing Martin De’Aths Jaguar MKII as winner of the Pre 1972 Saloon Concours category and my 1955 Ferrari Monza 750 as winner of the Pre 1964 Tourist Trophy Concours category. All in all a resounding success for the boys from Pendle!

The handing out of trophies, prizes and thanks concluded what had been a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining day. Congratulations must go to Pete, Fred and the rest of the Tendring team for organising the event, which ran like clockwork from start to finish.

Additional thanks to Pete for his ‘start line’ photos that accompany this article.

Next up is the Wolverhampton Invitation Le Mans Classic on May 8th – 9th. Pictures and words to follow soon.