News

17-04-15 Apologies for the lack of news last week. I simply ran out of time as it was my good ladies birthday. Now I am not too bothered about my birthday, I have had a few now. But dare I not make a bit of a fuss on Lyndas birthday and I am in trouble. I was anyway because I didnt make enough effort, but I survived... Just. Not a lot to report this week. We have had two short weeks due to the easter break and I have managed to rivet up the Bizz on one side. All the sundry bits are done, wipers, lights etc. so I have no excuse but to get on, finish on and get it moulded. It is surprising how many people have never heard of the Bizzarini but have been impressed with how beautiful a shape it has. So we have already got a few ordered. Of course, it being a Le Mans car helps. Le Mans seems to be the main interest for Sports cars, which is understandable. Le Mans has a charisma which no other race has. It has world wide appeal and an incredible history. Not always good, as in 1955, but it has survived. At the moment I think it is not going through a good period. The cars are somewhat boring, well in my view bloody boring diesels and hybrids. Most of the cars look naff, apart from the Astons and Corvettes which also sound awesome. The last great days of Le Mans were definitely group C. If anyone disagrees with that you are wrong and weird, very weird in fact. I am a great fan of Slot it group C cars. My car that I race at our club is a silk cut Jag, which is looking a bit battered now. I do love these group C jags. I usually go to Le Mans every two years now, but I still have mates that go every year. As for the actual race, we watch the start and all the build up. Always a good laugh but a million squillion quid for a grand stand seat is a little much when your only there for ten minutes. The start is great and very exciting but then we watch a few laps get bored and head back to search for beer. Never to return to our really expensive grand stand seat. Le Mans is now a lot more corporate, it is a lot more upmarket than it used to be but fortunately the real fans are as roudy and scruffy as ever. The funfair is smaller now and no strippers or freak shows any more. Thirty years ago we didnt think too much about political correctness (I still dont) and we were also in our thirties. The strip shows were basically box back lorries. You went in one end, watched the show, which was very artisitc and went out the other end of the truck. There were usually two at Le Mans in the 80s and yes we went to both. Obviously now we are older and wiser and wouldnt dream of doing such things. Hold on yes we would. We get just as drunk now as we did then, but we would feel bad on Sunday. In fact most times we leave Le Mans about 10am on Sunday, Audi are going to win anyway. But if you have never been to Le Mans nothing beats sitting up at the Esses at midnight with a beer, watching the cars swoop down under Dunlop bridge with lights ablaze. Especially with the sound of the big US Corvettes, pretty damn bloody awesome. I know Ive said this before but the older you get the more you repeat yourself, I ran out of stories years ago. I spoke to Tony at Pendle and the 19 inch wire wheel is well underway so hopefully it will be available in around a month. A new addition to our accessories page is a pack of three pieces of photo etch. As you can see in the pic, it includes a windscreen and two types of bonnet catches. So if you should lose bits in racing or are scratch building this should help. As you can see the Bizz is nearly done, another couple of days of rivets. I dont like rivets. The other pic shows the M6A taking shape as is the Porsche. These two are modified plastic shells but will make good slot cars when finished. The Revell M6A now looks a lot better for having been fattened up a bit. And if I can get Mr Mack to make a chassis for it it, it should be very nice. Still got a bit of work to do on the Porker, which is based on the Ninco model, but nearly there. Dont forget if you wish to come down to Shoebury for our open meeting on the May bank holiday Sunday, please visit the South Essex Slot car club website for details. I am going to race a ford anglia in the saloons and a Chap 2D in the Sports GT.