Let’s make tracks [Part 1]

Could you introduce yourself to the readers please?

My name is Tony Bolwell. I’m a Bench Joiner by trade. I spent twenty years in the shopfitting trade, into my early 40’s, but for the last fifteen or so years, I’ve concentrated mainly on local building works. I own and run the Slot Car Club here in Clanfield.

What’s your carpentry business name?

Antony Bolwell Carpentry and Building services

And the Slot Car club’s name is Bolwextric?

Yes, it used to be the company name when I did corporate events, but now it’s just the club name.

A clever choice for the name?

Actually, it has nothing to do with me! [laughs] When I started in 2002 I needed a Website. One of my mates, Will Brown, who used to run Alton Trial Bikes [now Alton & District Motorcycle Club] was putting together Websites. This was still the early days of the Internet and it wasn’t as easy to create websites as it is now. Anyway, I asked him to make me a site as a favour. The next thing I knew was that he’d created a website combining my name Bolwell with Scalextric to get ‘Bolwextric’. Everyone used to ask me to explain the name, but they never forgot it, so it worked out well in that respect.

Is the website still active?

Not at the moment; it’s not needed because I no longer run the club as a business

‘Slot Cars’ is the generic name for racing model cars, but Scalextric is a brand name?

The best way to explain it is that Scalextric is to Slot Cars, what Hoover is to vacuum cleaners. For most people who are not enthusiasts, this is all Scalextric, but to us, it’s Slot Cars.

When did you first get interested in Slot Cars?

Like many young boys, I had Scalextric at home when I was growing up. I gradually bought more and more sets, and made the track as big as I could at the time. but then, as I got older, I lost interest. That all changed when I bought my first house. It was like, hang on, I’ve got a big attic space, what can I put in that? So out came the Scalextric again. Once again I started to build up the track size and had mates round for racing nights. Geoff Spencer, the dad of one of my friends at the time Jonathan Spencer used to run the Folly Models shop in Petersfield, which helped quite a bit.

Is the model shop still around?

No, that closed years ago. Geoff retired, but he’s actually my father-in-law now [laughs]

And Geoff had an interest in Slot Cars?

He had started a club in Camelsdale Church Hall, just over a mile to the southwest of Haslemere.

Question?

Geoff invited me along to the Home Farm club to race with them when they were in Liphook. I went there for quite a few years. Sometimes I would also race at the Farnham Club for variety.

… It was around this time that I was working with another joiner in the workshop, who introduced me to the benefits of CNC machining.

CNC being computer-controlled cutting and shaping of materials?

Yes, for example, it’s used in furniture manufacturing to cut out shapes and holes in cabinetry. I had the idea of creating a hand-built Slot Car track using this method because the grooves would be a lot more accurate and consistent compared to other methods of track building.

Presumably, it’s a lot quicker to build a track this way?

Definitely. The CNC machine automatically cuts 8mm deep by 3mm wide guide grooves, or slots, on an 8×4 foot wooden sheet of MDF, following a predefined template. It then cuts grooves on either side of that, 6mm wide by 1mm deep, where the copper tape is inserted, which acts as the electronic contacts for the cars.

Was this going to be for a club?

Well, first of all, I built a mobile set-up out of six sheets of MDF. I had a big van at the time, and I thought I would take it around a few school fetes to test how well it would work.

How did it go?

Very well. The mobile set-up enabled me to do Christmas parties in hotels, schools and similar venues. I made a decent bit of money from it. Then one day I was doing a village fete here in Clanfield. The local farmer, Ian Rook, who had been watching, approached me at the end and asked if I would be interested in using one of his outbuildings to set something up.

When was this?

Around 2002

So that was the start of the Bolwextric club?

Basically yes. This building was a run-down cow shed at the time, but one thing led to another and twenty-two years later I’m still here. [laughs]

Thanks very much for your time Tony, what’s the best way for potential members to get in touch with the club?