Tour Dates
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13th – 14th June 2009:
@ A E Harris, Birmingham
A seemingly ridiculous experiment […] which became almost legendary.
Matthew Linley
Once you have unfettered use of a large industrial space thoughts naturally turn to what fun you can have in the space that no one else would allow you to have. The obvious answer was that you could build a massive Scalextric track. With a very long track it made sense to have a very long race, which in turn suggests 24 hours and a shadowing of Le Mans. Thus far very good, but the nagging question remains: where’s the art in that? The answer was to provide a live commentary on the race, unbroken and webcast.
So that’s what we did.
A large quantity of second hand Scalextric track was bought and large circuit built. Stan’s Cafe members were allocated shifts as drivers but the event was open to the public to take on shifts with priority over company members. 7 Inch Cinema & Outer Sight screened films alongside the race, Hamfisted! ran car making workshops and Collin Wallace ran car drawing workshops, small practice circuits were set up. The event was watched live from a small seating bank and listened to live over the internet. It caused a good stir over twitter and eventually evolved into a race for the fastest lap.
The commentary proved so popular that the two commentators developed their own spin-off series and the event proved so popular it generated a number of commissions for education projects.
Credits
The Commentators: Craig Stephens & James Yarker
Screenings: 7 Inch Cinema & Outer Sight
Workshops: Hamfisted! & Collin Wallace
Back-Up: Stan’s Cafe
Web-Casting: Rhubarb Radio
Catering: Kitchen Garden Cafe
Administration: Charlotte Martin
