Unsteady Nostalgia Part II: South Coast/Bournemounth Circa 1992?

[Dudders]

Hello All,

Been dragging through my memory banks and I remember a few of us (Lee Mullen, Hatton's, Scott Gorge + others) went camping in the new Forest and went racing somewhere near Ringwood, possibly Bournemounth. The track was in or beside a pub just off the main road.

I have the name Thor in my head but cant locate anything...

Anyone remember this place?, is it still going?

Neil

[carrot]

I remember racing there.It was in the grounds of the pub and was a good track,well it would be if it has a pub 50 feet away.

Thor racing was the local shop run by the legend Aris Tellier

[Andy71]

Sorry to hijack your thread Neil but seeing Aris' name appear reminded me of a place I raced at quite a lot in Christchurch called Wessex Off road Models (WORMS).

It was a dust track with a table top and a bomb hole in the corner of the public park.

Timewise it was somewhere around 1982/83.

Anybody got any memories or pics of that one too? I can't find my pics

[Dudders]

Dont recall WORMS at all. It was Thor Model Shop - nice to know where the name came from!. Is the pub/track still there? Any idea's on location?

[robelmes]

Turbury park??

[carrot]

the wessex off road models w.o.r.m track at christchurch was previously used for cycle cross.There used to be loads of clubs/tracks in the south and west all running open meetings and then the swords series.

[aristellier]

Hi all, The track you are trying to remember was at Longham near Ferndown and was located behind the Angel Inn, sadly no longer there as it had to make way for a housing estate. A great track and always very popular. On a personnel note I felt the best meeting there was a Std class meeting put on by myself (Thor Racing) and Lesro Models where your entry fee included a 27T Stock class motor which you picked yourself and were supplied by Lesro Models, you also had the option to purchase 1 other for the price of £12 if I remember correctly.

The club from the early eighties was Wessex Off Road Models or WORMS for short and had the tag line 'Worms do it in the dirt' We raced at a disused cycle speedway track at Iford playingfields. The club really took off when we were featured on local TV with myself being interviewed. The top cars at the time was the 2wd Kyosho Tomahawk and 4wd Kyosho Optima. Heady days but oh so much fun. A decent battery pack cost £15 and that was for a Sanyo 1300SCR, yes 1300mah Ni-Cad.
From there the SWORDS (South West Off Road Drivers Series) was formed and open meetings were held around the South-West to dertermine the SWORDS champion.

Fond memories from all those years.

[carty]

cycled from parkstone to watch you guys at iford, all those years ago, always wanted to race my marui (from gk models) never had the bottle as a 13 year old with no idea, would have been around 86

[Dudders]

Thanks Aris,

Good to know you are still knocking about and I wasnt going nuts!.

Are you still involved in model racing?

Neil

Originally Posted by aristellier

Hi all, The track you are trying to remember was at Longham near Ferndown and was located behind the Angel Inn, sadly no longer there as it had to make way for a housing estate. A great track and always very popular. On a personnel note I felt the best meeting there was a Std class meeting put on by myself (Thor Racing) and Lesro Models where your entry fee included a 27T Stock class motor which you picked yourself and were supplied by Lesro Models, you also had the option to purchase 1 other for the price of £12 if I remember correctly.

The club from the early eighties was Wessex Off Road Models or WORMS for short and had the tag line 'Worms do it in the dirt' We raced at a disused cycle speedway track at Iford playingfields. The club really took off when we were featured on local TV with myself being interviewed. The top cars at the time was the 2wd Kyosho Tomahawk and 4wd Kyosho Optima. Heady days but oh so much fun. A decent battery pack cost £15 and that was for a Sanyo 1300SCR, yes 1300mah Ni-Cad.
From there the SWORDS (South West Off Road Drivers Series) was formed and open meetings were held around the South-West to dertermine the SWORDS champion.

Fond memories from all those years.

[Decal Designs]

Nice to hear you are still around Aris. Great days all those years ago in SWORDS and your crazy antics! Iford track was great even though it was a long way from Plymouth.

Kev Waite