BOAC 500

"Announcing our next big charity slot racing event"

If you are reading this for the first time, then you have missed the first BOAC 500, but dont panic, because we will be running another later this year. Thank you everyone who attended the last event, we aimed to raise £500 and we easily more than tripled that target, so thank you all.

So what is the BOAC 500? Well its a charity fund raising event that is held on the Bletchingly Or Alternatively Coulsdon model car club track in which is based in Bletchingly, Surrey although we started out in Coulsdon, and with a target of raising £500 the name BOAC 500 was born!

The original idea came about after we ran a race day for one of our club members Mike Thomas (that is his smiling face on the right) who is suffering from PSP (google it, its too complex to explain here!). This rare disease is slowly taking away his ability to race or walk, so we organised a race day where he would still be able to drive. That event was a success so we decided to expand the idea to make it a slot racing day to remember for everyone.

The race day is based around our 1/24 scale club cars (larger than the normal 1/32 scale cars), so all anyone has to do is turn up and race as we provide everything that you need, we even include a top rated fully experienced club driver so that each team will have an expert on hand to ensure that everyone will know what to do, how to drive and what tactics you might need to win!

The Charity you will be raising money for this time is the Motor Neurone Disease Association which is a charity offering support to people with MND whilst also supporting research into treatments and ultimately a cure. The MNDA is a registered charity in England and Wales (294354) Click here for a direct link to their website.

We are still in the early stages of the event now and are sure that we will get some sponsors on board in the coming weeks, but all monies raised on the day from driver entries etc will go directly to the MNDA.

"Just bring yourself along for an exciting days slot racing"

The BOAC 500 The race day will start with practice at 10am and racing starting around 11am. All drivers will be given instruction on driving and team tactics by their club team leader, and will be given plenty of practice track time on each of the 4 lanes. This is a PRE ENTRY race only as this allows us to arrange the qualifying and the racing before the event so saving time on the day. Each team must consist of 4 drivers, with the option of being able to use your club driver. We have a number of past National champions at the club who are guaranteed to be capable of fast times! It will be up to each team to decide team tactics and who races when etc. The club driver will be there for you all the way through and you will have the option of using his driving skills although there may be a penalty to pay! There are no age limits etc so each team can be made up however you decide, as long as its 4 people. Each team can be young or old, large or small, male or female its entirely up to you. 100% of the entry fees plus any monies raised on the day via any raffle etc will go directly to the charity. Depending on numbers, and these will be limited, every entrant will get to practice on each of the 4 lanes, plus qualifying rounds which will help to grade drivers, and then the finals.Read More

Date: 01/04/2026 12:08 PM
Location: High Street, Bletchingley, Redhill RH1 4PE, UK (Map)

The cars that we use are the same cars that we use on our monthly "Club Car" night. These are a 1/24 scale steel chassis which are designed and made to be almost indestructible! and we race these on the first Thursday of each month (your first night is free if you want to pay us a visit and get some extra practice!). Its always a good evenings close racing, and with no car prep to worry about there is always more time for a chat or gossip. Lap times are normally around the 6 second mark which is very competitive, and racing is always very close as the cars are very evenly matched.

Maintenance is taken care of during racing by our resident expert mechanics Mike Read and Tony Mills, both of which are past National Champions. We have six of these cars available so there are no real issues regarding reliabillty on a race night.

Our 4 lane track with a separate variable power supply to each lane was custom built and assembled by Lars Harrysson around 15 years ago. It has undergone a couple of changes in that time with a couple of new sections added around 5 years ago, one was again made by Lars, and a new section to smooth out a corner going under the bridge was designed and fitted by that well known track maestro Lee Parsons. These minor but worthwhile changes made the track a little easier to both drive and marshal.

Lap length is 123 feet fully braided and colour coded all the way round.

We have recently added new carpet to the floor and have re painted the entire clubroom. We also have a kitchen for tea/coffee etc and we even have toilets for both ladies and gents too! Hot and cold food and drinks will be available on the day although you are welcome to bring your own.

Parking is not an issue as we have a free hardstanding car park right outside the door. There is also a pub a short walk across the main road.

Last years race was a real nail biter with plenty of very close racing all the way through the qualifying and the heats. It was billed as “Probably the best days racing you will ever have” and certainly achieved its aim in every way.

This is a brief rundown of how the last event went.....

"It was intended that if the correct number of drivers had turned up, then the best home drivers would not race, so giving the away drivers a better chance of taking home the spoils. But as this did not happen some of the home drivers had to fill the gaps left, rather than concentrate on running the event, and anyone who has held an event will know that running an event and driving in it will always cause some issues, and so it did here. However, almost every possible issue was built into the plan, with the result being only being a slight loss of time on the day.

Starting half an hour late, the qualifying rounds were a run on all 4 lanes with the best single run to position you in the heats. With each heat being based on your qualifying run, there was some very close racing indeed, each one consisting of 2 x 3 minute runs on an inner and an outer lane. The heats then sorted you even further into semi finals with the racing getting closer as when got nearer the final.

But before the final, the 12 slowest from the heats were then given more racing in 3 consolation races with a single lane run, with each person in the consolation races receiving a medal.

The final turned out to be the original 4 fastest qualifiers Dave Stevenson, Tony Mills, Peter Kerr and Garry King, who all managed to stay ahead of the rest through the semis which was also a great testament to the reliability and equal performance of the club cars put together by Mike Read. The 4 segments were a very close run thing with every driver getting down to a lap time of between 5.5 and 5.7 seconds per lap. The racing really came down to how quick a marshal was in replacing a car, so if you came off a couple of times the chances are that you went from first to last!

Mr Consistent, Dave Stevenson eventually took the lead and never lost it, although the other 3 were biting at his heels all the time, with Garry King getting down to 5.512 to set the fastest single lap of the day and all this was after the same cars had been running almost non stop since 10.30 in the morning. The final places were Dave, Tony Mills, with Peter Kerr just losing out to Garry by a few parts.

All of the cars survived the day without any issues at all, and were very ably managed by Mike Read and Tony Mills who ensured that the cars were changed and maintained on a regular basis to ensure all were of equal performance. Interestingly (or maybe not!) each car was on the track for an average of 1113.62 laps (not including warm ups) and they travelled a total of 155 actual miles during the day and never even needed a change of tires!

The event team would like to say a big thanks to the team on the day including Nick Lake who stepped in at the last minute on race control, and to our sponsors who both made the race possible and provided all the prizes, they were Simply Famous, Autografica, Won-O-Won, Betta Bodies, K-Slotcar, Richard Mack, Missile, Knutz Lubricants, Model World of Sittingbourne, CatVacs and Sprays by Mac. and not forgetting Farmview Butchers of Rochester who provided all the bacon and sausages eaten during the day. Various other people also chipped in with help and support in many ways, they know who they are and we are very thankful for their help. All of these helped us to raise a total of well over our £500 target, which with the gift aid added meant that the total raised on the day just exceeded £2000 not bad for a one day event!"

Garry King

Event Organiser

Garry has been racing since he was 14 and for many years ran One-O-One with Dave Harvey. He has organised many events and charity functions, has been an International judge for the F1 in Schools events supported by Ross Brawn and F1 teams, and also built and maintains this website.

Keith Wale

Event director

Keith is directing the event and has a lifetime of experience in model cars both slot and R/C. Both Garry and Keith raced at Eltham and other clubs in the late 60's early 70's and Keith's enthusiasm for slot racing is undiminished. Keith will be Dave's back up on Race Control.

Mike Read

Car Maintenance

Mike (now a National Champion!) is the lead man at Coulsdon and runs the club almost single handedly. He is the chief mechanic for our club cars which will be used for the BOAC 500. Mike runs every club night and will be keeping a very close eye on the cars on the day.

Les May

Graphics & Social Media

Les has been a member at Coulsdon for the last ten years after starting his slot race with a tinplate Scalex set! Les is our graphics man having trained at the same art college as Ian Barker. Les will also be seen on Race Control on the day.

Dave Stevenson

Race Director.

Dave is well known to many within slot racing and is a past National Champion. Dave has spent many hours with MIke Read working on the best way to run the racing to ensure it runs as smooth as silk on the day.

Tony Mills

Car Maintenance

Tony has been racing for many years and is a past national Constructors Champion. Now well known for building retro and classic cars, Tony will be assisting MIke Read in the maintenance and repair of the cars.

Do i need to bring anything other than my controller?

in short no, just bring yourself and will provide everything else. If you want to bring any food or drink then please do, although tea coffee atc will be available on the day. If you are driving and bring your Ferrari with you, then we have hard standing right outside although there are a few speed bumps on the drive in. There will be someone on the day to direct the car parking, and only Ferrari's will be allowed on the main car park. Parking for 'ordinary' cars will be behind the club house or on the tennis courts.

How much racing will we get on the day?

A full race schedule is now being prepared for the day, and our aim will be to give everyone as much racing as possible within the time limits. There will be qualifying, plus heats and finals but our aim is to give everyone as much race time as is possible. Final details will be confirmed once we have some idea of the entry numbers, which please remember, will be limited.

How much is the entry fee for the day?

Entry fee for the day is not yet decided but £20 100% of this money will go directly to the charity. We should have a link to the GoFundMe charity page for payment, so that if you are a tax payer then the charity will receive the tax you would have paid on that amount via Gift Aid, so helping to push the amount up even further.

What times are start and finish?

We anticipate that doors will open on the day at 9am for driver entry with a driver briefing shortly after. Practice will of course come first and everyone will get the chance to practice on each lane and your pro club driver will be able to give you all the help you need. Final timings will all depend on numbers on the day, but our timetable will be planned around fitting as much racing into that schedule as possible. We will also have a half hour lunch as well. By having only advance booking it allows us arrange much of the racing before the event starts.

Is my place guaranteed on the day?

If you have paid your entry fee either via the site or direct to us, then your race place on the day is guaranteed. If you have requested a 'reserve' place, then your entry is not guaranteed on the day, although we have made provision for those 'reserve' places to take any place for any driver that does not arrive by 9.30pm.

Will you be serving food on the day?

Yes. We have a kitchen and will be offering a hot and cold drinks, plus the usual snacks, crisps, sweets and cakes etc, and will also be offering a limited range of hot items as well.
But if you want to bring your own food, then that is fine. There is a pub across the road, but in all honesty by the time you have walked there, ordered food or drink and returned, you will will have probably missed some racing as our experience tells us once you have a had a couple of beers you may struggle to get back to the clubroom!

I have not pre booked, will i be able to attend and race on the day?

In short no! Unless you have pre booked then we cannot guarantee any race place on the day. However, there may be some drivers who have paid but may not be able to attend, and those places will be offered to those drivers who turn up on the day.

We will do our best to accept any late entries on the day, but this cannot be guaranteed, priority will be given to those who have already paid in full. So if you have any interest in driving on the day, then please get your name on the list now! Just call Garry on 01634 830062

I have a question, can i call someone?

Yes of course. You can call Garry on 01634 830062 during office hours if you have any questions regarding the event.

Can i attend before the day and get some practice?

Yes, if you are keen you are welcome to attend any of our club nights (First Thursday of the month) at any time up to race day. We race various classes every Thursday but these nights are for those with suitable cars.
Our Club Car night, again, first Thursday in the month, is the night when anyone can come along and have a drive of one of our club cars, and you first club night is free as well. If possible call Garry first who will be able to tell you more.

What prizes do you have for winners?

At the BOAC 500 we hope that all drives will be winners! But as yet we are still very much in the planning stage but are confident that a nice array of prizes of some sort can be found.

We had support great support last year from Richard Mack who very kindly agreed to supply some chassis as prizes. Dave Harvey at Won-O-Won and Ian at Betta Bodies plus many others with Missile making a direct contribution to the charity. Eddie Macdonald also painted all bodies for the race and also donated 2 ready painted 1/32 bodies as prizes too. The best model shop in the country Modelworld gave us a nice stack of various tools etc as prizes too.

As this years event is based around thsoe who do not normally race slot cars, we will be looking mainly elsewhere for sponsorship, so who knows what we might have in the prize fund!

Do you have car parking?

Yes, we have plenty of free car parking right outside the clubroom. Our car park which was grass has recently been made into hard standing with excellent drainage and we have also been given a new disabled access as well.

Are you easy to find?

Our club is situated within the Grange Meadow sports area with other club buildings. To locate ours simply use the What Three Words app to find our front door, and those What Three Words are organ.cheese.crust

There is also a map and full address and postcode on the site. If you are coming off the M25 junction 6 then we are less than ten minutes from the junction, just follow the signposting for Bletchingly until you see the Bletchingly Arms Public House which is on the right hand side, entry to our site is opposite.

Coulsdon Club. Bletchingly. RH1 4PE
Club house is opposite the Bletchingley Arms, with ample free parking. What three words! organ.cheese.crust

+44-01634 830062
garry@garryking.co.uk
Our Club night is a Thursday, with club car racing on the first Thursday of each month.

The race date has still to be decided. If you wish to attend this exciting charity event please phone or email to request a place on the reserve list as the entry is now full.