Grub Screws.

Not since January 2019 had a Molesey race night hummed with the sound of an oversubscribed grid, so it was great to see thirteen drivers turn up this week, equalling the thirteen assorted slot car fanatics, misfits and weirdos who arrived just over three years ago. The faces hadn’t changed much. Gone were Dale Burton, Phil Upton and Stephen Donnell, replaced by Steve Eaves, Martin Wikner and Simon Scott, but that was it. Josh, Julian and Lee shared the podium again, although in a different order – Julian, Lee, Josh in 2019 – with David 4th both times.

Not much had changed with the racing either, other than the track direction. There was still plenty of nerfing, plenty of track-calls and plenty of hanging around waiting for Lee to fix his car. Mind you, at least Lee was open about his dismal race-prep, shamelessly demonstrating it to all when his car’s front wheels parted company with the rest of his car mid-race.

Openness wasn’t the choice of the owner of three orphaned grubs screws found laying on the track after one of them had messed up Julian’s race by launching his car on a high-speed airborne display of “what-the-f*ck-happened-there?” Whose grub screws they were remained a mystery, their owner sensibly deciding that keeping schtum was better than being the butt of the inevitable barrage of mickey-taking that would follow an admission of ownership. Wise man.

The new Molesey GT class again provided excellent racing. Closest battle of the evening was between Steve and Martin for the honour of not finishing last, which eventually fell to Steve. The final 19-second gap doesn’t tell the whole story. Seeded into seven-man Group 1 meant they raced together only five times, but they could barely have been closer, Steve 0.193 ahead in Heat 1, 0.094 in Heat 3 and a mere 0.001 in Heat 6. It doesn’t get much closer than that.

Midfield was hectic too. Returning after several weeks away spreading rocks and muck over the country’s roads, Ed the Gritter (we’re assured that’s not rhyming slang for something) just had the edge and took 5th overall. Terry was unlucky to fall to 6th after being held up by someone else’s crash in his last heat, while behind him Neil, Graham, Simon and Frank swapped places numerous times. Despite a few mechanical mishaps, this was slot car racing at its best.

Now Terry, where did you put those grub screws you were given?