The Leicester Slot Car Club

A personal overview by Trevor Tennant. (October 2005)

My own experience of the Leicester club goes back to the early 1964 when a very raw 16 year old attended the open meeting at Ecurie Spa Leamington Spa. Here I bumped into the fearsome Mrs Lillian Hinton who attended and looked after the interests of the then fledging Leicester Miniature auto racing club. Along with her Husband Nev the club boosted some real up and coming drivers. Gordon Hewitt, brother Dave along with Dave Roythorne known as the Torinado Man, Dick Hood, Ray Phipps were going to make a big impression in later years. Dave Face, the Rogers’s brothers and Graham Pepper whose Dad run the Model shop Apex Craft made up the gang. The club did well but Leamington was in those days very much a Microperm motor circuit and the Leicester lads did not feature in the finals. Later that year the club at very late notice when Birmingham club had a big row amongst themselves meant they withdraw from the Worlds first model 24hour Le Mans race at Leamington. The Leicester lads entered a Pitman DC195 Lola GT car and came last but they finished. In the local area racing the Leicester club were always competitive and developments in 1965 were to improve things no end. When I first raced at Leicester it was at the Bedford Pub near the Tigers ground. A very strange track with all manner of odd features such as 360 degree loop bowl. It was here that Nev Hinton exposed the Dave Lord Kys Motor myth. Lord always claimed he had special motors that was exposed as a lie. What He was doing was using a large capacitor to convert the spare AC ripple in the rectified power supply into extra volts. He was firing nearly 19 volts to the motor, little wonder the things were fast. The club had to move owing to the room being required for other uses. The club moved down the road to the All souls Church hall in 1965. A small group of the members build a real tour de force of a track. With 162 feet and 6 lanes it was some challenge. What sorted the men from the boys was the 27 feet main straight. With other decent straights and fast corners the track bred some great drivers. One oddity of the new super track was the trouble with one irate local resident that complained about Television inference. So all the cars had to be fitted with stupid suppressors. The open track was very difficult to master without a lot practice but the club had a membership of over 40 with a waiting list. As   a result of the numbers another club known as Leicester Model Auto Racers was set up in a club room just off the now A47 near the town centre. They produced some really good drivers who when problems with the room caused the track to be sold to a writer called Robin Rew near Towcester. Meanwhile the standard club car became the Pitman 196B with a MRRC steering unit. MRRC hard diamond tyres fitted to suitable wheels worked well at first then the soft Cox tyres as used on the Ford GT cars gave better grip on the sandtex matt track surface. By this time the club dominated Area 5 racing with Nev, Dick and Ray Phipps winning most things. 1967 was a real milestone for the club with Nev winning the Nationals in dramatic fashion on Cox sponge tyres. The widespread use Of Sponge rubber tyres with the benefit of hindsight was a bad move for the future of the club. Because with sponge tyres you could use the expensive American motors that came on the scene. It killed off the Pitman cars and made many not so skilled drivers leave the club. Meanwhile with the falling numbers there was no problem joining the club. I joined in 1968 so it was a case of racing at Leamington on Tuesday then racing again on the Friday at Leicester followed by some late night Chess playing sessions at the Hinton house. Round about 1968 Rob Budge came on the scene and did very well indeed. With Steve Blow, John Riley and George Cutting the club had a strong racing membership, which resulted in them finally winning the club team championship I believe around 1970.

My highlight came when in the big shake up in 1969 several of us left the club and supported Leamington then Warwick clubs. The 1970 Leicester open meeting saw a great entry and I beat them all in formula 1.

However the club by then with the track not being looked after only the middle 4 lanes were used with poor turnouts. I believe the end came around 1980 when most of the remaining members turned to radio stock cars but that is another story. Me; after a gap of 20 years it is great to race on a Leicester track again. Unfortunately my Mate Nev. cannot be there He died from a brain tumour in December 1999 and is greatly missed.

Postscript November 2005

Some detective work has discovered the whereabouts of several original Leicester and Leamington Members.

Dick Hood is well and living near Exeter. He has returned to his first hobby of model railways.

I have spoken to Dave Face and whilst his deafness is a problem, He is well and threatens to come and see us all.

Dave Pledge and Den Groom of Leamington are both well and may well come and visit the club in the New Year.

L

S

Scout Hut, Blaby Road, Enderby, Leicester