25th August 2002 was the first National meeting at the newly surfaced and re-designed Tibshelf track. Many people will know the old Tibshelf circuit, especially the banked corner at the end of the uphill straight and the movable chicane at the bottom of the back straight. They are both still there, but much better designed. The infield has also been redesigned and lengthened by about 40mtrs with the introduction of another banked corner, although not of the "Wall of Death" type.

All this, coupled with a very smooth finish, has resulted in a very fast but fair, track. The lap times are into the 13 second region for the likes of Steve Lander and Glynn Beal. They were actually quicker (Just) with the Scale Saloons than they were with their wide tyred 4WD machines.

The day started with a fine mist of rain in the air, but by the permitted start engine time of 10am, the track was reasonably dry. As normal no practise and straight into heats. The club was represented by 10 drivers out of the maximum 30 allowed in the scale saloon class.

In heat 1 were Ian Craig, James Trenchard, Mick (or Nick as in listings) Harris, George Paradelis, Graham Bowen and John Lithgo. Ian had one of his best 5 minutes with his new Associated TC3, winning with 18/ 313 or so. There seemed to be a problem with the first laps but this was not sorted until a bit later.

Heat 6 saw Paul Cook and Pete Watt up against Steve and Glynn. Paul found his borrowed car a bit of a handful and decided to call it a day. Pete was using a one-way in the front but found it undrivable and changed for round 2.

Heat 7 had Peter Craig and Adam Darcy representing the club. Peter had "interference" problems and Adam's engine was off song.

A problem with the computer program had led to most of the first 2 rounds' times being suspect. Each drivers clock had been started on the beep rather than when the car first went over the loop. This was put right by round 3 but no adjustments to previous rounds were made. Make sure you do better in the final 2 rounds!

Rounds 2 and 3 had things settling down and problems mostly sorted. At the start of the final round Pete Watt was 7th in the A, Peter Craig was 9th and Adam Darcy 10th. Ian was 1st in the B with Graham in 3rd. We (Ian & Peter) felt we had sorted minor problems and were hoping to secure A final places. However Ian's car decided that it had been good for long enough and refused to run properly. No improvement. Then Peter chunked a rear tyre in warm-up and we could not get it drivable before the start. Another No Improvement. Had anyone else improved. YES. 2 drivers had sneaked into the A final and pushed Peter and Adam into pole and #2 in the B. Pete Watt had stayed in at #10.

The C final had George, John, Mick and James although Mick and James did not run because of breakage and a banana chassis respectively. George had severe handling problems but made it to the end of his 15minutes.

The B final had Peter on pole with Adam at #2, Ian at #4, Graham at #5. Adam stormed off at the start and was edging away from Peter with Ian in hot pursuit. But at the first re-fueling Adam and Ian's cars started causing problems which saw them both effectively out of contention, Ian continued and finished 5th, Adam stopped and ended in 9th. This left Peter well infront and inspite of a couple of minor incidents which could have been much more damaging, finished 2 laps ahead of 2nd place after 20minutes and Graham was 3rd

The A-final started badly for Pete with his car not performing well and it did not improve. He came off after just 1 lap..

Overall an enjoyable and I feel informative event. I certainly learned a few things to help with the running of our club's meetings. We will not be running in the final round in Aldershot so see you next season.

Trackside report