WCRCCC was formed around 1977 and started by racing 1/12 scale cars. The
racing took place on a wooden floor in Basset School in Camborne. To
enhance grip on the slippery floor the car tyres were coated with
silicon rubber (same as bath sealant) but this made the floor slippery
after racing and the racing then moved to Leedstown village hall (where
it stayed until 2001)
Laps were counted using pencil and paper and a stopwatch. As most the
people racing were also members of Hayle Model Boat Club, it was agreed
to finance the purchase of some carpet (Industrial underlay - some of it
is still in use today). When the carpet was purchased the foam tyre's
needed a bit of help for grip and someone found out Wintergreen would
work, it smelt lovely!
During the mid-eighties the club switched to racing off road buggy's
indoors and outdoors. The buggy's used minispike tyres on the carpet at
first, later switching to foam tyres for better grip. Laps were counted
manually on a laptop.
The Mardave Ministox were introduced around the late eighties, they cost
£35-00, I remember this because I bought my son and daughter one each.
They were the solid chassis type and were not the easiest to drive but a
lot of people bought them.
In 1995 the club re-introduced Mardave Ministox as a class but this was
short lived as the cars did not handle well!
The club used an off road track at Guildford Road in Hayle for many
years and then around 1990 the club moved it's off road racing to the
Baripper track. In the year 2001 a switch was made to 4WD touring cars
for indoor racing and the club moved to the larger Camborne school hall.
In 2005 we then moved to Redruth school hall to race. In 2001 a club
member lent the club the money to buy a transponder based lap counting
system.
Recently there has been a revival in the use of 1/12 scale Mardave V12
cars indoors due mainly to their low cost and fun factor. The V12 cars
have basic suspension and can now produce some decent lap times on the
right track.
Many thanks to Phil Morcom for his help in writing this article.