1July 2007

EditorEditorEditorEditorEditorBrian Rogers

27 Paige CloseWatlington

King’s LynnNorfolk

PE33 0TQTel:- 01553 813090Fax:- 0870 7051127

e-mail:- editor@nscc.co.uk

TTTTTrade Advertisingrade Advertisingrade Advertisingrade Advertisingrade AdvertisingAdrian Leggett

RosevilleWestwood Lane

NormandyGuildford

SurreyGU3 2JG

Tel:- 07773 967333between 09:00 - 18:00

01483 810102 eveningse-mail:- sales@nscc.co.uk

ContentsContentsContentsContentsContentsEvents & Competitons...............2Diary Dates................................5Messages From Margate............7Fly On The Wall......................11H:O World...............................15Ebay Watch..............................17From The Archives..................19Kits ‘N’ Bobs............................21Slot Classic Review..................26Fly Review................................29Ninco Review...........................32Easy Braiding...........................36SCX Review.............................39Wolverhampton Classic...........42

NNNNNOOOOO. 304 J. 304 J. 304 J. 304 J. 304 JULULULULULYYYYY 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007

Congratulations - you are a winnerCongratulations - you are a winnerCongratulations - you are a winnerCongratulations - you are a winnerCongratulations - you are a winner

I buy my National Lottery tickets on-line and I received an emailtoday asking me to log into my account for some exciting news.

This I did to discover that I had won the princely sum of £10!Somehow other people’s idea of the English language does not seemto match my own conception of it. Winning a tenner is definitely notmy idea of exciting news.

The word ‘rare’ also seems to be a tad overused these days,especially in eBay auctions and particularly in those of the slot carvariety. A search for this particular word just turned up 98,713 itemsof this nature up for sale on eBay.co.uk at the moment. Amongstthese were no less than 20 Scalextric ‘Dunlop’ and ‘Goodyear’bridges - one of which was alleged to be ‘extremely rare’!

The problem with this constant hyperbole is that, whensomething out of the ordinary turns up, writers run out ofsuperlatives - which brings us, via a somewhat tortuous route, to thecurrent F1 sensation that is Mr Lewis Hamilton. Now he is, as faras I can judge, more than a teensy bit special, although there couldwell be an alternative viewpoint that for a rookie to have performedso superbly then the others might not be as good as we havepreviously been led to believe. If I were a double World Championbeing comprehensively stuffed by a lad with just seven GPs to hisname then I would spend less time moaning about ‘team bias’ andmore time trying to bring my own game up to scratch!

The press have gone so far over the top with this particular story- one sports writer even proclaimed Lewis to be a better driver thanFangio, Senna and Schumacher combined - that they will have toinvent entirely new words if his career really reaches the stratosphere.

Personally, I rather liked the letter in the Telegraph whichsuggested that young Lewis should be given a tennis racket andshipped off to Wimbledon forthwith! I trust Scalextric have trebledtheir production order for the forthcoming Hamilton McLaren!

Till next month

Brian

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C2787 Ferrari P4 330 YC2787 Ferrari P4 330 YC2787 Ferrari P4 330 YC2787 Ferrari P4 330 YC2787 Ferrari P4 330 Yellow No11ellow No11ellow No11ellow No11ellow No11It is nice to discover that not all Ferraris are redand this yellow P4 makes a pleasant change,especially with its blue wheels. There isconsiderable debate over this car’s officialnomenclature but I believe it to be the 330P3Écurie Francorchamps car from 1966-67. Thiscar has a V12 engine with 6 twin Webercarburettors, making it officially a P3.

C2790 Aston Martin DBR9 No5C2790 Aston Martin DBR9 No5C2790 Aston Martin DBR9 No5C2790 Aston Martin DBR9 No5C2790 Aston Martin DBR9 No5This is the FIA GT 2006 of Deltraz and Pucciniwhich was run by the Phoenix Racing team.The team finished third in the championshipwith some strong finishes but without thatelusive win. The Scalextric version is a beautifulrecreation of this very busy livery.

Hornby, please let us have some moreliveries. ➳

3July 2007

C2825 James Thompson Seat LeonC2825 James Thompson Seat LeonC2825 James Thompson Seat LeonC2825 James Thompson Seat LeonC2825 James Thompson Seat LeonBTBTBTBTBTCCCCCCCCCC

The first of this year’s Collector Centre limitededitions is the BTCC Seat Leon of JamesThompson. Visually this is almost identical toJason Plato’s car, C2705, in yellow and silverwith race number 14. The limited edition is of1200 and this time it is limited to the UK!

C2799 Ferrari 312T No 2 & C2800C2799 Ferrari 312T No 2 & C2800C2799 Ferrari 312T No 2 & C2800C2799 Ferrari 312T No 2 & C2800C2799 Ferrari 312T No 2 & C2800McLaren M23 No 40McLaren M23 No 40McLaren M23 No 40McLaren M23 No 40McLaren M23 No 40

The latest historic Grand Prix cars from Hornbyare just superb. The details are so fine and theprinting very good. The red paint on the Ferrariisn’t as glossy as it could be though. My favouriteis the Ferrari of Clay Regazzoni and for thosethat don’t know his story:

Gianclaudio Giuseppe “Clay” Regazzoni(September 5, 1939 – December 15, 2006) wasa Swiss racing car driver. He competed inFormula One races from 1970 to 1980, winningfive Grands Prix. His first win came in his debutseason, driving for Ferrari. He remained withthe Italian team until 1974. After a single seasonwith BRM, Regazzoni returned to Ferrari for afurther three years. After finally leaving Ferrari,Regazzoni drove for the Ensign and Shadowteams before moving to Williams in 1979, wherehe became the first driver to win for the Britishteam.

He was replaced by Carlos Reutemann atWilliams for 1980 and moved back to Ensign.Following an accident at the 1980 United StatesGrand Prix West he was left paralysed from the

waist down, ending his career in Formula One.Regazzoni did not stop racing, however: hecompeted in the Paris-Dakar rally and Sebring12 hours using a hand controlled car during thelate 1980s and early 1990s. In 1996, Regazzoniwas refused entry into the World SportscarChampionship by the FIA and became acommentator for Italian TV. He died in a caraccident in Italy on December 15, 2006.

In comparison with the Ferrari, theMcLaren of Gilles Villeneuve is quite plain,though just as beautifully modelled with the rearsuspension and gearbox detail worthy of specialmention. Of course, Villeneuve went on tobecome a legendary driver whom many believeto be the best. Gilles Villeneuve (January 18,1950 – May 8, 1982) was a Canadian FormulaOne racing driver. An enthusiast of cars and fastdriving from an early age, he started hisprofessional career in snowmobile racing in hisnative province of Quebec. He moved intosingle seaters — winning the US and CanadianFormula Atlantic championships in 1976 beforebeing offered a one-off drive with McLaren atthe 1977 British Grand Prix. He was taken onby reigning world champions Ferrari for the endof the season — in only his fifth season racingcars — and from 1978 to his death in 1982drove for the Italian team. He won six GrandPrix races in a short career at the highest level.In 1979 he finished second by four points in thechampionship to team mate Jody Scheckter.

Villeneuve died in a 140 mph crash with theMarch of Jochen Mass during practice for the1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. The

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accident came only two weeks after an intenseargument with his team-mate, Didier Pironi,over Pironi’s move to pass Villeneuve at Imola.At the time of his death, Villeneuve wasextremely popular with fans and with manyjournalists, on whom his death had a profoundeffect. Since 1982 he has become an iconicfigure in the history of the sport, renowned forhis car control, aggressive driving style, and a‘never give up’ attitude

C2823 Ford GC2823 Ford GC2823 Ford GC2823 Ford GC2823 Ford GT RT RT RT RT Road Voad Voad Voad Voad VersionersionersionersionersionThe Ford GT is proving very popular forHornby and this release is finished in metallicblue with twin silver stripes.

News from SpainNews from SpainNews from SpainNews from SpainNews from SpainSuperSlot have produced a 2007 catalogue inSpain – somewhat predictably with Alonso’sMcLaren on the front. Produced in Spain andnot by the UK parent company the catalogue isnicely produced and in the style of the UK

version. Disappointingly there are no hiddengems of Spanish only releases to be found.

There is to be a SuperSlot exclusive onlyavailable to members. This is a Porsche GT3Rand can be seen on the SuperSlot web site.

Maserati WMaserati WMaserati WMaserati WMaserati WingsingsingsingsingsThe short winged Maserati appears only to havebeen released in digital form as a second batchfor sets. The reference is therefore C2630DW. ➳

5July 2007

Coming SoonComing SoonComing SoonComing SoonComing SoonFirstly the new packaging. This looks very goodand reminiscent of the old 70s hinged plasticbox. Of course, that is exactly what it is with ablue or black base and hinged plastic lid. Thehinges appear quite robust and should last well.Information about the car is on a card standingat the back with barcode stickers etc on the back.It displays the car well and should be liked byboth retailers and collectors.

The final production version of the newMini has arrived for approval. It looks great inthe red and white Monte Carlo 1967 livery withnumber 177. It is tiny, especially compared withanother production-ready car - the road goingRange Rover. This has beautiful silver paint butstrangely no number plates. The LamborghiniGallardo drift is also production-ready. In atypical Lambo colour of orange the shape looksperfect - shame it’s not a fully detailed version.With the Gallardo now racing in GT3 aroundthe world perhaps we can expect a track version.

Exclusive to the Mercedes 50th anniversarytwin pack is a 722 version of the McLarenMercedes SLR. This differs from the originalversion only by its new chin spoiler and differentwheels. The Chaparral is nearing completionand the huge rear wing will be a push fit andtherefore removable to prevent damage on thetrack. The Porsche LMP2 is also a runningprototype now. The body work detail is very fineespecially the louvres over the front wheels.It’s nice to know that R&D continues at Margateat a furious pace and not only are the newmodels for 2007 coming together, the plans for2008 are also being formulated. Expect plentyto please the collector but I can’t say more - yet!

Cancer CareCancer CareCancer CareCancer CareCancer CareIn June I met Mrs Maureen Jones from theCancer Care Appeal to hand over a chequefrom the NSCC for £3530.50. This was themoney raised at the 2007 Hornby/NSCCWeekend from the raffle and auction of itemsdonated to us by Hornby. Maureen wasdelighted with our gift and I am to pass on herthanks to all of you who bid so generously on theitems on offer.

At the beginning of June the Cancer CareAppeal opened a day centre in Margate toprovide nursing and support for cancer patientsin Thanet. The centre provides chemotherapyand blood transfusion services together with allof the care which is required. These places neverhave enough money and the Appeal is nowlooking for a further £100,000 to finishequipping and running the centre over the nextfew years. Hornby and the NSCC will continueto support this very worthwhile charity in thefuture.

Which Ferrari?Which Ferrari?Which Ferrari?Which Ferrari?Which Ferrari?NSCC members have a perfect opportunity toinfluence a future Scalextric model. Please votefor which Ferrari Hornby should make next. Itmight be road, GT or F1 and it might bemodern or classic. Let me know by post or emailwhich Ferrari you would like to see produced.Remember that it must be possible to producethe car in a variety of liveries so one offprototypes are unlikely to get made. My vote isfor a remake of C69 – the 250GT but what doyou think? ■

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Seven new models to report on this month,including the exciting brand new March761. Also this month there is another

‘Racing Films Collection’ car available and newsof further planned releases leading up to theAutumn.

RRRRRecent Recent Recent Recent Recent ReleaseseleaseseleaseseleaseseleasesAudi Quattro A2 “HB Audi Sport” #1

(88258)Safari Rally 1984, driven by Hannu Mikkolawith co-driver Arne Hertz to 3rd position. It isdecorated in white with yellow parallel stripes

running down both sides. Included with thismodel is a decal sheet of the cigarette sponsorsfor you to apply. It has front bull-bars withspotlights incorporated and is mounted on asand coloured plinth.

PPPPPorsche 911 SC “Gitanes” #3orsche 911 SC “Gitanes” #3orsche 911 SC “Gitanes” #3orsche 911 SC “Gitanes” #3orsche 911 SC “Gitanes” #3(88261)(88261)(88261)(88261)(88261)

Rally Monte Carlo 1978 winner, driven byPierre Nicolas with co-driver Vincent Laverne.An eye-catching livery mainly in blue, with awhite roof, gold bumpers and wheel arches. Likethe Quattro previously mentioned, it also ➳

7July 2007

comes with a decal sheet. When applied thiscompletely transforms the car into a cigarettepacket on wheels. The car has spotlightsmounted on the bonnet, which have yellowlenses incorporated.

Ford Capri RS TFord Capri RS TFord Capri RS TFord Capri RS TFord Capri RS Turbo “Kokurbo “Kokurbo “Kokurbo “Kokurbo “Koken Ten Ten Ten Ten Tools”ools”ools”ools”ools”#50 (88262)#50 (88262)#50 (88262)#50 (88262)#50 (88262)

Decorated in an attractive white with redchequered flag graphics. Although this is agenuine racing livery it has been released as partof the lightweight evo racing series. As with allthe current cars in this series, it is in the new stylebox with the usual racing accessories etc.

Saleen S7R (Blue) #55 (88260)Saleen S7R (Blue) #55 (88260)Saleen S7R (Blue) #55 (88260)Saleen S7R (Blue) #55 (88260)Saleen S7R (Blue) #55 (88260)Driven to 1st place by Stephane Ortelli andSoheil Ayari, competing in the GT1 class of the1000 km at Spa Francorchamps in 2006. Thecar is mainly blue with light blue, red and whitestripe graphics.

March in JuneMarch in JuneMarch in JuneMarch in JuneMarch in JuneJune saw the release of the brand new March761. This is Fly’s first attempt at producing anF1 car, and has been eagerly anticipated sincethe first prototypes were shown at this year’sNuremberg toy show. It features an intricatefront wheel steering system, incorporatingsuspension and camber movement. The motorfitted is a “slimline” Mabuchi type and is similarto the one fitted into current Scalextric classicF1s. I am currently compiling a review and firstimpressions are of an extremely fast, nimbleracer.

88256 - “88256 - “88256 - “88256 - “88256 - “John Day Model Cars” #34John Day Model Cars” #34John Day Model Cars” #34John Day Model Cars” #34John Day Model Cars” #34Driven by Hans Stück and was originallyplanned as the car he drove in the British GP in1976, but has been changed to the CanadianGP of the same year. Decorated in white with asilver rear wing and red and blue sponsorgraphics on the front. The model is presented inthe normal crystal case with a blue backing card.

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A new dimension here is that it has beenmounted on a light grey plinth, representing atrack surface and has a start-grid markingpainted on.

99042 - “First National City99042 - “First National City99042 - “First National City99042 - “First National City99042 - “First National City” #10” #10” #10” #10” #10Italy GP 1976, driven to victory by RonniePeterson. Decorated in red, white and blue witha silver wing. This is a limited edition model,restricted to 1000 units and is presented in aspecial box. This is made of sturdy cardboardand is slightly larger than the normal crystalcase. A hinge on one end allows you to tilt thelid and display the model. Imagine one of theScalextric Sport boxes, but slightly larger withthe hinge on one end, as opposed to along theback.

Live Fast Die YLive Fast Die YLive Fast Die YLive Fast Die YLive Fast Die YoungoungoungoungoungPPPPPorsche 908/2 “orsche 908/2 “orsche 908/2 “orsche 908/2 “orsche 908/2 “TTTTTergal” #2 (99035)ergal” #2 (99035)ergal” #2 (99035)ergal” #2 (99035)ergal” #2 (99035)

This is the second car in the “Racing FilmsCollection” and is presented in a special box,together with a DVD and booklet. The box setis a dedicated memoriam to the Swiss driver JoSiffert. The DVD shows footage of Siffert at thewheel of the various cars he drove (mainlyPorsches) and interviews with friends andmembers of his family. The Porsche 908/2model included represents the car he and JuanFernandez drove to 3rd position in the 6 hourrace at Jarama in 1970. Many die-hard Flyclassic collectors will recognise this car from thepreviously released C12 model. Although theyare the same car and race details, this latestversion does have some livery differences and

now looks more like its real-life counterpart.Decorated in yellow with a green front valanceand side skirts.

AnnouncementsAnnouncementsAnnouncementsAnnouncementsAnnouncementsFly have announced their production schedulefor July and August. In catalogue referenceorder, they are as follows: -

88268 – Porsche 935 K3 – 24hr Daytona 198188269 – BMW M1 – DRT 82 – Jagermeister88270 – Porsche 917K – 24hr Le Mans 1970 –David Piper88271 – BMW 3.5 CSL – 24hr Le Mans 197688272 – Venturi 400LM – 24hr Le Mans 199488273 – Porsche 935 K3 – 24hr Le Mans 198088274 – Porsche 911 Carrera – 24hr Le Mans197399037 – Porsche 911 Carrera – Targa Florio1973 – Racing Films Collection99049 – Porsche 911 GT1 – Playboy series99050 – Porsche 911 GT1 – Playboy series99073 – BMW M1 – 1000km Nurburgring1980 – Mythical Circuits99075 – Porsche 911 SC – Spanish RallieChampionship special edition

Further to the above there are also someadditions to the June schedule, previously listedin the April Journal: -99077 – BMW M3 E30 – Monte Carlo 89Spanish Rally Championship99078 – BMW 320i – Alpine edition

Fly have also announced that they will beproducing a new kit series. They will be verysimilar to the ones released last year, only thistime they will come packaged as a “duokit” andinclude two body shells with one completechassis. The first two in the series are as follows:

88298 – BMW M3 E30 – “Rothmans” and“Fina”88300 – Renault 5 Turbo – “Europcar” and“Elf ” ➳

9July 2007

One point of note is that one of the twobody shells included in both sets has beenpreviously released as a standard edition model,whereas the other is totally new. The good newsis that the kits will retail at less than the price ofa standard edition model, but will not come witha display case. If you prefer to display the newlivery car and add on the price of a display box,the overall price will be the same or slightlyhigher than usual. This will depend solely onwhere you purchase your cars from of course.

Another previously unannounced specialedition car in the pipeline is a Ferrari 365 GTB/4 (96045). This will be very similar to the“MiniAuto” special edition previously releasedand will not be available in any shop.

AmendmentsAmendmentsAmendmentsAmendmentsAmendmentsFinally, following last month’s confusionconcerning the catalogue number changes tothe new March 761. Well, the same appears tohave happened again, only this time concerningthe next “Racing Films Collection” release. Itwas originally planned that #3 in the series wasto be a Ferrari 250 GTO, together with “TheCobra/Ferrari Wars” DVD (99036). This hasnow changed to a Porsche 917K with the “100Anos de Targa Florio” DVD. A Porsche 911Carrera has been listed as #4 in the series(99037 - see list above). One can only assume the250 GTO will now be #5. Watch this space forfurther developments, until then happy Flycollecting. ■

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I, like many others I’m sure, have always beenturned off by shows of patriotism whichwander into jingoism. This has what has

made ITV’s coverage of F1 this year bad evenby their low standards and the whole LewisHamilton at Monaco ‘event’ so unpalatable.Nonetheless, kept in check there is nothingwrong with having some pride in a fellow Brit’sachievements and this is where the Panoz LMP1body shell from SCD comes in. In the interest offairness, of course, it has to be stated the car inquestion is American and the body was notmade in the UK. But just like Don Panozhimself, SCD had the courage to go forsomething off the mainstream and get thatvision through to reality.

For starters, it would have been easy to makethe body from resin, but SCD have gone themuch more intense (and no doubt much moreexpensive) route of ABS plastic. Then too, thebody is fully licensed (and more Panoz models

are promised for the future) and presented in ablister pack with a printed insert. Both theseelements add to costs, but give the SCD releasea much more professional ‘feel’.Looking at pictures of real LMP1s it is clear thatSCD have retained a lot of detail from the fullsized 6 litre, front engined monster, especiallythe sides and nose. If I had to pick a fault I thinkthe mirrors are a little high, but this is easily fixedand a very minor quibble and I’m sure fullypainted up cars will look absolutely on themoney. Thankfully, Patto’s make about 7 sets ofdecals for the LMP1 and I’m sure this was afactor for SCD in their decision to make the carand to leave it decal free (the body is available inred or white, with black rear wing and mirrors.

Unusually, SCD have chosen the narrowversion of the Tomy SRT chassis, usually usedfor open wheel cars, as the mounting platform.Presumably there is a good reason for this,although I imagine that this will not stop ➳

11July 2007

people modifying the bodies to fit them to otherchassis. Mounted on the chassis, the body has areally sturdy ‘quality’ feel to it and the fit is totalperfection, as is the ride height. In fact some ofthe serious players in H:O could learn a lessonor two on that front. Unfortunately, thissturdiness comes at a price and the 7.3g of myexample, if typical, could hold the Panoz backin the heat of a racing battle when you considerthe 3-5g is more the norm.Nonetheless, early signs are the H:O fraternityare not put off by this, any new player in theH:O market is always welcome and maybe SCDwill address the weight issue on future releases.With one body costing just £4.95, you reallycannot go wrong especially if you are skilful witha Dremel! You can buy the Panoz direct fromSCD (http://www.slotcarsdirect.co.uk/) oncethey return from holiday on July 23rd. ■

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Well, how many of you have tried outthe snipe method of biddingmentioned last month? I am finding

it a useful tool to complement normal biddingand have used it to great effect this month toassist in buying a Fly T1 Porsche. At just under£700 this is the highest price I have ever paid fora slot car, but as it was on behalf of one of ourmembers, who will hopefully pay me for it whenit arrives, I will not be in trouble with my otherhalf if she reads this!

This past month has seen UK listings hoveraround 3700 and then get boosted by some 2000on the one cheap listing day during the month.It seems there is a lot of run of the mill stuff outthere and people are waiting for these cheaplisting days to move items on so buyers who arepatient can get some good bargains. That is onlymy opinion and as I have said before you can seemore comments on Slotforum from time to timefor a different view. (I did note someone said theother day if you want more commentary oneBay then join the NSCC and read the Journal.That’s me I thought!). Despite having said thereis a lot of run of the mill stuff, there are alwaysinteresting gems or themes cropping up and thismonth was no exception.

The Name is..The Name is..The Name is..The Name is..The Name is..Bond. James Bond. There have been several“Bond” auctions this month besides the modernCarrera ones with, at the time of writing, aScalextric Aston and Mercedes pair for a BINprice of £1295 (there is no decimal point forthose unfamiliar with Bond values) as well as anauction listing for the pair at £500 with five daysto go. Completed listings showed one Astonunsold at £850 and one sale at £622 for anexample with repro sunroof and passenger.There was also a set complete with cars but witha couple of bits missing and marked box lid thatwent for £1150.

CataloguesCataloguesCataloguesCataloguesCataloguesThere seems to have been a new wave of seldomseen (I try not to use the ‘R’ word as no doubt Iwill be proved wrong!) Scalextric literature thispast month, with several collections listed ofindividual items that have appealed to one ortwo buyers/collectors it seems. Besides a lot ofprice lists and leaflets from Holland, Mexico,Canada, USA and Australia to name but a few,there were some interesting Scandinavianversions of 70s catalogues which fetchedsubstantial prices. Having got all the Englishcatalogue versions myself, a few more foreignexamples would be nice but not at some of theprices I have listed below. English versions seemto have fallen from previous reported price levelswith, for example, near mint number 13catalogues making around the £30 mark,though one example admittedly did have twopunch holes. Prices do vary considerably forcatalogues during any one month even with thenear mint examples fetching considerably more.So, for those on a limited budget, just wait tillthe right one turns up.

Varying prices can also be seen with themore modern yellow Dunlop bridges that fetchanything from £3 to £13. On the Slot.It frontone of the first Audis hit £113.11 which was anew record as far as I have seen. This was thefirst ‘Made in EU’ version of the car no. 10SICA01b/EU. However, best top dollar prizemust go to the refreshment stand that reached£465. Mind you there were only two bidders onthis, so I wonder if the sale was actuallycompleted especially as there was no sign of aTea Urn, brown “board” or box for this item!

Unique?Unique?Unique?Unique?Unique?One particular listing that caught my eye was forone of the new Impact resistant Scalextric blueMinis that fetched £200. It had been donated toTop Gear magazine. Rather a lot you may ➳

13July 2007

think even if all the proceeds were going to theBBC Children in Need charity. It was liveried upwith “ibuyeco” on the sides of the car. A raremodel perhaps but bear in mind that enquiriesto the seller indicated that this was only a stickerput on the side not a tampo print. So I thinkmost of us would give it a miss or make our ownversion if wanted rather than paying that much.Staying on the Scalextric Mini theme there wasalso a C7 Mini type 1 in black with a black roof,RX motor and possibly unique according to theseller. The roof had not been painted and theseller quoted Roger Gillham as saying it was anovelty possibly missing the roof process. Thiscar went for £79. In a similar untampoed vein,a Scalextric single seat F1 high nose in whitefetched £21.01 in comparison and went to oneof our members I believe.

This monthThis monthThis monthThis monthThis month’s prices’s prices’s prices’s prices’s pricesPrices as listed and spelt on UK eBay unlessstated, with the time and auction ending day.

Scalextric Swedish 5th Catalogue Mega RareIssue VGC £54 (Could have been anotherScandinavian country and same for othersbelow. Punch holes, Saturday Afternoon)Scalextric Swedish 6th Catalogue Mega RareIssue VGC £53 (Sellotaped cover and punchholes Saturday afternoon)Scalextric Swedish 7th Catalogue Mega RareIssue VGC £63 (No punch holes! Saturdayafternoon)Scalextric Swedish 8th Catalogue Mega RareIssue VGC £52 (No punch holes! Saturdayafternoon)Scalextric Swedish 16th Catalogue Mega RareIssue VGC £27.99 (No punch holes! Saturdayafternoon)Scalextric Swedish 20th Catalogue Mega RareIssue VGC £27.77 (No punch holes! Saturdayafternoon)Scalextric Triang Railways Australian ColourLeaflet VGC £18.77 (60s 6 page colour leafletprinted in Australia showing trains and carsincluding green Australian issue motorbike.Thursday night)

Scalextric Rare Finnish 1976 Catalogue NearMint Cond £64.00 (Thursday night)7 Scalextric catalogues £27 (Including no 261985 new releases and others from 80s onSaturday night but different seller from aboveitems)The Biggest Collection of Scalextric NascarEVER £1300 (56 cars including all L/Eaccording to seller on Weds night with £70P&P! – I would want a pallet load delivered forthat P&P price)scalextric 1929 bentley black C.64 £83.26(Boxed broken headlight included exhaust loosedamaged on Weds evening)early triang scalextric boxed set model motorracing £42.05 (yellow Porsche Spyder and blueJaguar D type looked in very good condition nomarks on Weds evening)Rare Vintage 60’s MINT Scalextric AlpineA210 Slot Car $92.01 (Mint example with sparemint body according to seller on Saturday nightUS eBay)7 Scalextric catalogues £27 (Including no 261985 new releases and others from 80’s onSaturday night)Scalextric Porsche GT3r Silver Plated Prize CarMint £155.67 (Silver chromed car in plain caseand no sleeve “Made as prize for 2006 racingseries” Saturday night)Very Rare Triang Scalextric Chrome BentleySlot Car! £435.63 (Canadian seller ending onMonday night)Scalextric Ford Focus Police Car C2488 £44(Picture showed lights blazing which may havedazzled the bidder here I think! Thursdayafternoon)SCALEXTRIC NSCC LTD ED C.380DATSUN 260Z - MINT BOXED £88.60(Sunday night)VINTAGE SCALEXTRIC BOXED SET£536.50 (Expensive for a VG Tinplate no 2 setbut for the eagle eyed it included a boxed RedTinplate Healey. Sunday evening)

Lastly on the Dr. Who front again and toillustrate the art of buying patience, last month’sDalek high price was exterminated, well almost,with one listing just beating the £15 mark. ■

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A Look Behind The Scenes At TheA Look Behind The Scenes At TheA Look Behind The Scenes At TheA Look Behind The Scenes At TheA Look Behind The Scenes At TheMinimodels Factory In HavantMinimodels Factory In HavantMinimodels Factory In HavantMinimodels Factory In HavantMinimodels Factory In Havant

By Malcolm ParkerFirst published February 1994First published February 1994First published February 1994First published February 1994First published February 1994

I doubt many of you will have heard of FrankBuckland but from 1966 to 1970, Frankwas employed in the high security design

department at Minimodels in Havant and wasinvolved in both the design and development ofseveral well known Scalextric cars and features.

Frank’s interest in slot racing began in thelate 50s, stimulated by several visits to Good-wood, where displays of the tinplate modelscaught his eye. He set up his own club, usingconverted 1/24 Merit cars to run on a hard-board/copper tape track and believes it wasphotographs of this track that helped secure hima position with Minimodels.

The design department at the time consistedof 14 full time staff, including four draughtsmen,four modelmakers (including a trained watch-maker) and a tracer. Although this team carriedout some work for other divisions of the Triangempire, their main concern was with Scalextric.At this boom time for the industry, it’s perhapsnot surprising to find that the output from othermanufacturers across the globe was examined indetail, and that there was a secret room full ofall the latest cars from Cox, K&B, Airfix,Strombecker etc. for reference.

One of Frank’s first designs was the handcontroller for the new Race-Tuned range in1966 which proved to be extremely popular.(Catalogue No.7 shows an earlier rejectedprototype.) This was quickly followed by a newdesign for the standard hand controller, theexterior of which remains unchanged to thisday.

Although he was never involved with any ofthe design or development of the Bugatti, Frankdid shed some light on the true storysurrounding its production and a simpleexplanation for its extreme rarity today. After amodest success with the Bentley and Alfa,normal production was planned for the Bugatti

and Auto Union and all the parts were mouldedfor a fairly standard sized run. The problem wasthat there were very few advance orders for theAuto Union and virtually none for the Bugatti.The Auto Unions were assembled as usual, butwith the Bugatti’s rather fragile front end, it wasdecided to build them on demand to specialorder, and rarely more than six were everassembled at any one time.

Quite simply, if you wrote in, they would putone together for you, but otherwise the unbuiltparts just sat in boxes gathering dust. This alsogoes some way toward explaining the scratch-built appearance of examples of the C95 Race-Tuned version. When Frank started up anotherslot club a little later on, the Bugattis providedan excellent source of parts for experimentationand several sledge powered Bugattis were builtalong with Bentleys and Alfas.

When the Havant factory closed in 1970,the remaining Bugatti mouldings were dumped,along with about another five skips full ofredundant spare parts!

1968 bought with it the Powersledge, aradical concept, the design for which was closelyguarded prior to its release. Not surprisinglythere was hell to pay when the hand builtprototype went walkabout during the first weekit was on display at the Triang showrooms.Although a second prototype was quickly builtup to replace it, the performance never quitematched the original and perhaps this in turnled to the rather disappointing performance ofthe production version.

A lot of time was also spent developing aslotless Scalextric system which never actuallysaw the light of day. It worked, but even for thedesigners, controlling the cars proved nearimpossible to master and there were alwaysdoubts about the reliability of the Stone-ageelectronics. ➳

15July 2007

Frank also designed the Electra, based on anassorted bunch of Can-Am photographs and hisown imagination. I’d always felt that the reasonfor these two non-prototypical designs must havesome connection with the licensing fee thatmanufacturers of the full size vehicles had begunto demand around this time, but apparently thiswasn’t the case and the reason for these weresimply a request from the board for a unique in-house design.

For 1969 all eyes at the factory were on theChequered Flag Formula 3 Team, as for the firsttime Minimodels, through Scalextric, becamethe sponsors of a full scale racing car.

The Minimodels design team were given aspecific brief that when it was launched, theScalextric model version should outperformeverything else in the range. This is the reasonit was fitted with the Johnson blue can motorand is also the reason why this model is so muchout of scale (1/32 plans were drawn up butquickly rejected.). Anyone who has had thechance to race a Team car against any otherScalextric F1 car (barring magnatraction) willknow that this particular goal was successfullyachieved.

Frank also had a hand in the design of theFerrari V8 and Lotus Indy and was responsiblefor adding the wing to the latter (they wererather fashionable at the time!). The MatraMS11 which accompanied these two wasactually designed by the French factory.

Around this time there was also someexperimentation going on with 1/24 - 26Dpowered Vacform bodied cars. Utilizing a verysimple flat plate chassis design, both a TVR andLamborghini Mura were built (by anotherdesigner called Ron Aaron) but these neverreally got any further than the concept stage.

Although he wasn’t directly involved withthe design of the rear wheel drive C7 Mini,Frank did make a contribution when his 1965Hillman Minx was immortalised by donating itsregistration number to the model. But his prideand joy for this year were the Ferrari P4 and theLamborghini Mura. These differed in severalminor details from the final production versions,perhaps the most notable were that both were

fitted with separate wing mirrors and flat ratherfeatureless driver platforms. If you examine a P4closely, you can just see the filled in square holewhere the wing mirrors would have gone. Sometest shots were pulled of both cars with the holes,but they never actually made it to productionand the tooling was quickly modified. Thesewere also the first models to include a separatetransfer sheet.

Many hours were spent hand cutting thelouvres on the Mura from plastic sheet and thenumber of these on the model had to beidentical to the real car. After spending manyhours hand building the prototypes, the originalMura was accidentally smashed in a car doorwhile being rushed to the Chicago Toy Fair,rather frustrating for Frank but a chance forsome very lucrative overtime!

Frank also has fond memories of runningthe Scalextric display at the Triang showroomson the Edgeware Road in London (moreovertime!). Hours of practice meant Frank couldeasily beat off the sales reps around the layout,particularly when it came to the Flying Leap.

“You Steer” arrived in 1970, the result ofsome imaginative thinking by a chap calledDave Dipnall (who also designed much of theworkings on the 1/24 GP cars) along with theJump Jockey system which was much moreFrank’s work. The other two models Frank wasconcerned with were the Dart and Cougar, bothdetermined efforts at economy from the factorywith very simple tooling - slab sided with noundercuts and both designed to use the veryminimum of plastic. The Cougar in particularwas a design Frank loathed, having started withsomething he felt acceptable, he then had tohack bits off till virtually all that was left was astump!

Frank has many, fond memories of his brieftime at Havant, doing a job that must be theenvy of all modelmakers even though the end,when it came, was extremely sudden. “Everyonewas called up for a meeting on the shop floorand told that the factory would close at 12.00that same day!” He is now happily retired anddevotes much time to his main hobby ofbuilding and flying model aircraft. ■

16

As promised last month we start July’s Kits‘N’ Bobs with Avant Slot’s first release,the Audi R10 TDI. The Avant Audis are

available either as kits, which are virtuallycomplete, just requiring a motor to finish them,or as ready to race versions.

Due to time I bought one of the ready torace versions from Pendle Slot Racing and wasduly impressed by its performance straight fromthe box. The stiff plastic chassis contains apunchy, open face, boxer style, in line motor ina floating cradle, which also houses the rear axleassembly. There is a brass pinion and nylon/alloy crown gear with a decent quality steel axle;the chassis has plenty of weight low down butthe body top is incredibly light. Straight from thebox the Audi managed respectable 8.5 – 9

Kits ‘N’ BobsKits ‘N’ BobsKits ‘N’ BobsKits ‘N’ BobsKits ‘N’ BobsA round up of recent kit and resin releasesA round up of recent kit and resin releasesA round up of recent kit and resin releasesA round up of recent kit and resin releasesA round up of recent kit and resin releases

By Phil Insull

second laps at Wolverhampton and I’m surewould do even better with a deep wood trackguide, alloy rear wheels and some bettergripping tyres. The quality of finish and detailon the body is good with decent tampo printingand, best yet, mine stood up to a right old highspeed shunt from behind with no damagewhatsoever, so it’s pretty strong too. Other newsfrom Pendle Slot Racing is that they will bestockists for the new BRM 1/24th scale Porsche962C kits, due out in July/August. These will bepre-painted and come with all the parts youneed for some very serious 1/24th scale racing.Hopefully I will be able to build and review oneof the very first ones to hit these shores in nextmonth’s edition. ➳

AAAAAvvvvvant Slot Audi R10 TDI and LMM Bentley EXP 8ant Slot Audi R10 TDI and LMM Bentley EXP 8ant Slot Audi R10 TDI and LMM Bentley EXP 8ant Slot Audi R10 TDI and LMM Bentley EXP 8ant Slot Audi R10 TDI and LMM Bentley EXP 8

17July 2007

June was a busy old month in my house - inaddition to a trip to Spain to acquire a newhouse, and being at the Goodwood Festival ofSpeed, I also managed to build some of thebacklog of slot kits ready for this month’s Kits‘N’ Bobs. One of the ones that took a lot of timewas Le Mans Miniatures new Bentley EXP8 LeMans 2003 winner of Capello, Kristensen, andSmith. This is a most excellent and highlydetailed kit but the number of tiny metal partsand decals meant it seemed to take forever tobuild. As a runner it’s a bit heavy and slow,thanks mainly to the resin chassis and body butagain not many folks build these kind of kits forserious racing.

Last month I also mentioned ReineckeMotorsports fantastic 1/32nd static FordTransporter kit, well I’ve worked my little socksoff and here it is in all its glory. I’ve decaled mine

up with Bud Moore livery, but the decal sheetincluded from Slot Cars 4 U allows you to do aChrysler/Plymouth, Brabham, Lotus, Ferrari,Shelby, Tyrrell, Alfa Romeo, Holman Moody,March, Abarth, Dodge, McLaren or Chevrolettransporter instead. This kit is a must for anyonewith a sixties or seventies themed track andalthough I stuck to creating a static mainly dueto time constraints it wouldn’t be too difficult formost scratch build guys to motorise it.

Another pair of cars promised forcompletion this month were TRRC’s latest 1939Auto Union D type, modelled on the car drivenby the legendary “flying Mantuan” TazioNuvolari. The kit is designed for the SM1mchassis from Penelope Pitlane, and mine uses theMoto GP Scalextric motor with Slot.It axles,gears, and guide. From Penelope Pitlanethemselves comes confirmation that the next in

Reinecke MotorsporReinecke MotorsporReinecke MotorsporReinecke MotorsporReinecke Motorsports Fts Fts Fts Fts Fororororord Td Td Td Td Trrrrransporansporansporansporansporterterterterter

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their 2.5 litre GP range will be the 1960 Scaraband also announcement of the 1930 BirkinBentley. Both of these resin kits should beavailable very soon having just gone from thewooden masters stage to the pre-productionmoulds, both of course are designed to fit ontoPenelope Pitlane’s own chassis and I understandthat new photo etched wheels for the Bentley arealso in the pre-production stage.

Now out from France is Proto Slot’s 1967Paxton Turbine STP car known as “WhisperingSam” driven by Parnelli-Jones and leading theIndy 500 with just 3 laps to go when sidelined bya $6 ball bearing failure. This kit has beendesigned to fit their brand new PY02 steelchassis, which is also available from stockists asa stand-alone item. Powered by the Scalextric F1motor, the pre-painted kit came complete withwheels, guide, axles, etc. although for mine I

chose to substitute the rear axle for a Slot.It witha green crown gear. Again the kit looks fabulouswhen complete and handles well enough but itis unlikely to frighten many people with its ➳

PPPPProto Slot Proto Slot Proto Slot Proto Slot Proto Slot Paxton Taxton Taxton Taxton Taxton Turbine, TRRurbine, TRRurbine, TRRurbine, TRRurbine, TRRC Auto Union D TC Auto Union D TC Auto Union D TC Auto Union D TC Auto Union D Type and OCAR Type and OCAR Type and OCAR Type and OCAR Type and OCAR Triumph TR3Sriumph TR3Sriumph TR3Sriumph TR3Sriumph TR3S

MMK Alfa SV and MatrMMK Alfa SV and MatrMMK Alfa SV and MatrMMK Alfa SV and MatrMMK Alfa SV and Matra-BRM 620a-BRM 620a-BRM 620a-BRM 620a-BRM 620

19July 2007

outright speed. Proto Slot should have releasedtheir new Alfa Romeo 33/3 LM70 by the timeyou read this and will quickly follow with twoversions of the Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato,these being the green Goodwood ’62 Jim Clarkcar and a blue Le Mans ’62 version. Stickingwith French manufacturers, MMK are followingup last month’s Alfa Romeo SV and MatraBRM 620 with the release of a Matra 640 anda ’56 Talbot Maserati in 1/32nd scale and a ’52Lago Talbot T26GS and Aston Martin DBR1in 1/24th scale ready to run and kit forms.

Here in the UK, World Classics now havetheir Triumph TR3S kit out, although mine isn’tquite finished, still lacking its driver. MaxiModels have just released the stunning lookingMark Donohue Can Am Sunoco pinstripeliveried McLaren M6B, this car was heavilymodified by entrant Roger Penske and won inDonohue’s hands at Bridgehampton in 1968.

Our friends at AA Bodies don’t have any newreleases this month but they are offering a new“build it for you” service via Slot Car Portal.Next we jet over to the States where ResilientResins have a Porsche 908 F1 body out for thoseof you who are thinking of taking part in thePenelope Pitlane sponsored “half-tonner”Grand Prix later this year and were luckyenough to be able to get hold of any of DavidJones’s exquisite resin 1.5 litre F1 bodies duringthe MRE Le Mans weekend. For those of youwho have and need decals, don’t forget Patto’sPlace in Australia who does just about every 1.5litre GP car ever built along with his own rangeof plasti-card moulded bodies. While finally onthe resin kits, news comes to me that BeardogRacing are almost ready to release their Lotus34 Indianapolis car. As with previous releases,numbers will be very limited and will beavailable in the UK via AB Slot Sport.

Spirit BMW 2002 and Auto ArSpirit BMW 2002 and Auto ArSpirit BMW 2002 and Auto ArSpirit BMW 2002 and Auto ArSpirit BMW 2002 and Auto Art Pt Pt Pt Pt Peugeot 307 WReugeot 307 WReugeot 307 WReugeot 307 WReugeot 307 WRCCCCC

20

On to ready to run slot cars and first up isnews that Artin have released some fine looking1/32nd scale DTM Mercedes, these beingavailable from our friends SlotCarWorld.com inTexas. Spirit’s second BMW 2002, this time asthe 1973 RAC version driven by Waldegard andThorszelius, is now available as is Auto Arts new1/32nd scale Peugeot 307WRC as driven byMarko Martin and the late Michael “Beef ” Parkat Monte Carlo 2005. Slot.It’s 84 Martiniliveried Lancia LC2 is now very definitely hereat last, along with the ’86 Burago liveriedPorsche 956 and ’85 Schlesser liveried Porsche956KH.

Finally in this jam-packed month is thesecond release from Catmark, following on fromtheir Lunar Rover they bring us the 1991 Paris-Tripoli-Dakar Mitsubishi Montero. This reallyis something of an unusual beast coming in a

very smart presentation box. The car itself ismoulded in plain red or white plastic with ablack rear wing and has old-fashioned vinylstickers to decorate the car with. Available in theUK via Pendle Slot Racing this is the previouslyunreleased raid car from the SCX-Exin range ofthe 1990s and really fits in with the old SCX-Exin Nissan Patrol and Peugeot 405 raid cars.SCX-Exin went bump at the time and theprototypes never hit the shelves - well here theynow are courtesy of Catmark. The originalSCX-Exin raid vehicles fetch good prices oneBay these days and are much sought after anddon’t be put off by the 90s styling and finish

these are still by far the best rally raid carsavailable, knocking the modern Ninco stuff intoa cocked hat for tackling proper raid slot tracksand obstacles. ■

Catmarks Mitsubishi Montero rCatmarks Mitsubishi Montero rCatmarks Mitsubishi Montero rCatmarks Mitsubishi Montero rCatmarks Mitsubishi Montero rally rally rally rally rally raideraideraideraideraider

21July 2007

Cesar Jimenez of Slot Classics makessome of the most desirable slot cars inEurope, if not the world - a bold

statement. Well not if you consider theyextended the production run of their latestrelease, the Ferrari TR59/60 “Le Mans 1960”,from 300 to 500 units and still managed to sellout during the pre-production period. In fact thereason behind the increase in numbers wasmainly to put a stop to profiteering speculation,but sadly I feel that this will still occur and somegenuine collectors will be forced to pay over theodds for these cars. The best way to avoiddisappointment is to pre-order an allocated carfrom each new release, not cheap but these carsare hand made top quality items.

The ready built versions come in a nicelydecorated box with the issue number stampedon it and, as I had signed up for an allocated carfrom each new release, a rather fetching plaquewith my name and collectors number on it.

The car itself is based on the 1960 Le Manswinning number 11 Ferrari TR driven to victoryby Belgian racers Olivier Gendebien and PaulFrère. Gendebien had previously won in 1958with Phil Hill in a Scaglietti bodied TR, but the59/60 cars now sported more aggressive lookingcoachwork by Fantuzzi. Other changes from the1958 winning car included a slightly shorterwheelbase, a new five-speed gearbox made inunit with the De Dion rear axle, and disc brakesin place of drums. The V12 2,958 cc motor

Slot Classic Ferrari TR59/60Slot Classic Ferrari TR59/60Slot Classic Ferrari TR59/60Slot Classic Ferrari TR59/60Slot Classic Ferrari TR59/60By Phil InsullBy Phil InsullBy Phil InsullBy Phil InsullBy Phil Insull

22

remained but it was now reliably pushing outjust over 300 bhp. Gendebien was to go on torepeat his victories again with Phil Hill in both1961 and 1962. Back to 1960 however and thecontemporary race reports describe Le Mans assomething of a dull affair. Once MastenGregory’s leading Maserati had retired in thesecond hour the Gendebien/Frere car assumeda lead it was never to relinquish.

Fine details abound on the TR59/60 withGendebien depicted at the wheel wearing hisdistinctive yellow helmet; clutching the woodensteering wheel with its Ferrari three spokepattern and badge. There is a metal short throwgear lever on his left, black dials on the silverdashboard and the tiny rear view mirror sitscorrectly on top of the middle of the dash. Thewindscreen is a tall, full width wrap aroundaffair as was dictated by the rules in 1960, withmetal screen supports and a wiper. The bonnetscoops are perfectly and correctly placed with asmall Perspex air deflector on the driver’s sideand a Perspex cover over the engine inlettrumpets. The bonnet latches are photo etchedmetal, as is the radiator grille and protective grillover the mouth of the inlet cover. Theheadlights sit behind Perspex covers, and thespotlights can just be seen through the blackradiator grille as on the real cars. Moving roundto the side, the alloy wheels contain fabulousphoto etched wire inserts, and the hot air exitsin the bodywork have photo etched two bargrilles over them. At the rear there are two little

jewel type tail lights and photo etched towinghooks, while the metal fuel cap sits in the aerofairing behind the driver’s head. Finishing thewhole thing off are two gun-metal twin pipeexhausts running along the length of each sill.

Mechanically the TR sits on the nowfamiliar Slot Classic Chassis so similar to thePCS32; power is provided by a standardMabuchi driving through a 9/27 pinion andcrown wheel.

On to the track at Wolverhampton, andrather unsurprisingly performance is statelyrather than exciting, partly due to myunwillingness to risk any damage to my preciouscar. The best lap was around thirteen seconds onthe routed track, but I did manage some twenty-five laps without one single off. Yes the TR couldbe made to go quicker but to some degree that’smissing the point a bit, the car looks so good justgently drifting round that if you went any fasteryou’d no longer be able to see how beautiful thisslot car is. Not one for the racer then or thegeneral collector but most definitely one for theslot car connoisseur. ■

23July 2007

The 1000 Lakes Rally has been an eventsince 1951 and was renamed in 1994 tothe “Neste Oil Rally Finland” due to

Neste Oil becoming the main sponsor. It iscolloquially known in Finland as the JyväskylänSuurajot or Jyväskylä (Great Drive) and is heldin the Jyväskylä area in Central Finland. RallyFinland is the biggest organised public eventheld in the Nordic countries, gathering over500,000 spectators every year.

From 1951 to 1972 the event was held as anational competition and since the introductionof the World Rally Championship in 1973, asFinland’s WRC race. It is known as the “GravelGrand Prix” due to it being the highest average

speed rally in the whole WRC calendar. Themost famous stage is Ouninpohja, with itsspectacular high-speed jumps. However, thesection was modified after the 2004 event whenPetter Solberg exceeded the FIA’s maximumaverage speed of 130 km/h. Rally Finland hasbeen voted “Rally of the Year” 4 times (1998,2002, 2003 and 2004) by WRC teams.

In all its 56 year history the Finnish rally hasonly been won twice by non-Scandinaviandrivers. These are Carlos Sainz in 1990 andDidier Auriol in 1992. Hannu Mikkola holds therecord for the most wins with seven with MarkkuAlén and Marcus Grönholm on six apiece. ➳

Audi Quattro A2 – 1000 LakesRally 1983 (A1901/88226)

By Simon MossBy Simon MossBy Simon MossBy Simon MossBy Simon Moss

24

“Flying Finn“Flying Finn“Flying Finn“Flying Finn“Flying Finn”””””Hannu Mikkola was born in 1942 and enjoyeda career in rally driving spanning 31 years. Hestarted off driving a Volvo PV 544, but enjoyedmuch success in a Ford Escort during the 1970s.His most successful period was during the 1970sand 1980s, often driving an Escort, but in 1981switched to the new revolutionary Audi teamwith the Quattro. It was with this car that hewon his first and only world title in 1983alongside fellow Swedish co-driver Arne Hertz.On their way to the championship they notchedup 4 wins and 3 second places. In 1984 theyfinished 2nd behind team mate Stig Blomqvist,but finished in 22nd place the year after due tostiffer competition in the group B class fromPeugeot and Lancia. Mikkola remained withAudi until 1987, before switching to Mazda. Heremained with Mazda until 1991 when he wentinto semi-retirement, but continued to makesporadic appearances in international rallies,until retiring fully in 1993. Hannu Mikkola wasinvolved in the only international rally to end ina dead heat. He and Russell Brookes finishedequal on stage times competing in the 1978Burmah International Rally, but Mikkola wonthe event by virtue of being faster than Brookeson the opening stage. Overall, Hannu Mikkolatook part in 123 world rallies, with 18 victories,629 stage wins and finished on the podium 44times.

The ModelThe ModelThe ModelThe ModelThe ModelAs you would expect from Fly, this is a very goodreproduction of the actual car. Although theQuattro has been modelled before by the likes ofSCX and Teamslot, none are as detailed andcomplete as this version from Fly. Exteriordetailing includes front and rear light lenses,front and rear grilles, individual wing mirrors,twin wiper blades, roof aerial, tow hooks,burnished grey exhaust pipe and silicon mudflaps. Unlike some Fly car models in the range,the door handles have only been tampoed blackover the body moulding detail. The overalltampo finish is crisp and sharp with the finerdetailed lettering being legible. The only gripehere is some of the paint from the tampo doesnot fill in all the panel lines and shows some ofthe white under-colour through. It would alsohave been nice if the car had been given anoverall coat of lacquer. What you end up withis a two-tone finish; a scale shine finish on thewhite areas and a semi-shine/matt finish on thetampoed areas. Internal detailing includes a rollcage, detailed dashboard, steering wheel, rear-view mirror, gear stick and fire extinguisher. Thedriver and co-driver are held in by individualseat belt harnesses which are anchored to therear of the cabin. Incidentally, the co-driver isholding a notebook with detailed pace notes.

25July 2007

The chassis is secured to the body with threescrews; two at the front and one at the rear. TheMabuchi motor is set in an in-line configurationand situated just aft of the chassis’ centre-line.On each end of the motor is a drive shaftproviding a positive 4WD system. The frontshaft protrudes approximately 33mm, with therear approximately 10mm. The front shaft hasbeen extended by fitting a spring to secure theextension shaft to the motor’s own shaft. This isexactly the same procedure as any of the frontengine cars produced by Fly in the past (only inreverse of course). Each axle has a plastic 27tooth contrate gear fitted, meshing with a 9tooth plastic pinion giving an overall gear ratioof 3:1. The axle and drive shaft bearings are alsoplastic and make for a smooth but noisy runningsystem. The magnet position is situated directlybehind the motor and just forward of the rearaxle. One other feature of this model is thedrop-arm guide blade system. The whole arm isjust over 50mm in length and pivots just forwardof the motor. When the car is lifted off the trackthe arm drops down at an angle ofapproximately 20°. Rather than use gravity toenable the arm to drop, a small spring isattached to the hinge and is just the rightstrength to avoid making the car sit up when onthe track. When the car is placed back on thetrack the weight of the car overpowers thespring and the arm sinks into a recess in thechassis. On the end of the drop arm is astandard Fly guide blade, which has a very wideturning arc.

On the TOn the TOn the TOn the TOn the TrackrackrackrackrackThe “out the box” performance was predictableand to be honest quite boring. I intended to driveit for a number of laps and build up the speedon each. After a handful of laps I removed thecar from the track and disposed of the magnet.The reason for this was for the high percentageof time I had the throttle on full power duringthe lap. The drag from the super strong magnetjust overpowered the motor and completely tookall the enjoyment away. In fairness, the drag

effect was probably emphasised by the magnetbeing a little closer to the rails, as my track isbuilt from the older “Scalextric Classic” system,which is not renowned for being perfectly flat!Once the magnet was removed the car becamemuch more fun to drive. This was helped furtherby the hard tyres fitted and made the car handlelike the real thing. With the 4WD system, Ifound power-sliding not so easy to do as a rear-wheel drive car. This was down to the frontwheels pulling the car round the corner, whichtended to counteract the rear wheels pushing thecar. Despite this, with over exuberant driving theback-end could be swung out of the corners intrue rally fashion and fish-tail down the straight.At first the car seemed relatively slow comparedto other Fly cars I have, but after 500+ laps itloosened up and quickened.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a dedicated rallytrack, so I was unable to test its full off-roadcapabilities. I set up a small oval track with twohigh-hump bridges incorporated. This proved tobe great fun, as it was possible to lift the car offthe track slightly on the downward slope of thehump. Anybody who has one of the latest SCXoff-road sets or Exin TT sets will know what Imean. With a slight burst of the throttle at thetop of the hump the cars front end would lift offslightly. As the drop arm is not as long as theSCX off-road cars the jumps were lessspectacular, but fun nonetheless. It would begreat to have a high speed camera to film thejumps and see the drop arm working.

ConclusionWith some slot cars the tendency is to upgradethem in some way, either with softer tyres orfaster motor etc. With the in-line motor, 4WDand hard tyres, for me the Quattro drives prettywell and will remain in its current configuration.It’s fun to drive (once the magnet is removed)and accurate enough to collect. A brave attemptby Fly to produce a proper 4WD car and onewhich will prove very popular. ■

26

Ascari. The very name brings to themind’s eye images of early 50s GrandPrix cars flashing by, with one of the

masters at the helm of the mighty Ferrari.Alberto Ascari, son of 20s Grand Prix driverAntonio Ascari, began his career followingWWII with the Maserati team, winningregularly. In 1949, Alberto joined the Ferrariteam and became its first superstar. In 1952 hewon every Grand Prix in which he was entered,and won half of them in 1953, setting a recordof nine consecutive Grand Prix victories. Thefirst double World Champion (1952 and 1953),he left Ferrari in ’54 and went to drive forLancia, with little success. A week after crashinghis Lancia into the harbour at Monaco in May1955, Alberto was killed at Monza while testinga Ferrari.

Ascari, the carAscari, the carAscari, the carAscari, the carAscari, the carEstablished in Dorset, England in 1995, AscariCars was named in honour of the Italianchampion, and took inspiration from his career.They set out to build limited edition supercars,and a race resort in Spain where owners couldexperience both the exhilaration of driving theircars at the limits and also enjoy luxuriousrelaxation. Their second car, the KZ1 has beencompeting in the Spanish GT race series,generally finishing highly in the standings. Quitean accomplishment for a young company andteam. For further info, their website is:-

www.ascari.netAnd now with the history in mind, let’s have

a look at the latest Ninco release, the AscariKZ1. The car is available initially in two liveries,the silver and red #45 Gigawave sponsored racecar (Ninco # 50444) and the all yellow withblack stripes “10th anniversary show car” (Ninco# 50458). We’ll be looking at the Gigawave carfor this review.

Ninco has packaged the Ascari in their usualdisplay case, secured to the plinth by a smallplastic “tee” retainer. Upon removal of the lidand initial inspection of the model, the overalllook is stunning. The metallic silver and redlivery is very attractive, and the clearcoat isuniform and very shiny. The only flaw I couldfind in the paint was a few specs of dust andsome minor “fisheyes” in the roof, but I neededto be wearing my 4x magnifiers to see it. Withthe naked eye, they are totally unseen. Thetampo printing is clean and sharp; with the onlyflaw I could find being in the hood emblem,which was missing a tiny speck of paint from thetop of the grey part of the emblem. Again,without the magnifiers, it looks perfect. It’s quitedifficult to get metallic paints to look good inscale without appearing to be “metalflake”, butNinco has done an admirable job. Bravo.

Exterior detailing is quite nice, with the headand taillights very convincing, and the rear wingseems sturdy and easily replaced if it pops offduring a crash. The side mirrors look especiallynice, and appear durable.

The interior is nicely done, with the pilot(Scott Turvey, according to the side windowmarkings) in a red uniform and all white helmet.I do wish that he was in a flat red uniforminstead of a semi-gloss one, but that’s a minorissue to say the least. The bars of the roll cagethat go past the side windows are a bit too low,and don’t follow the interior of the roofline.

50444 Ascari “Gigawave”50444 Ascari “Gigawave”50444 Ascari “Gigawave”50444 Ascari “Gigawave”50444 Ascari “Gigawave”50458 Ascari 10th Anniversary50458 Ascari 10th Anniversary50458 Ascari 10th Anniversary50458 Ascari 10th Anniversary50458 Ascari 10th Anniversary

By Jim ButtBy Jim ButtBy Jim ButtBy Jim ButtBy Jim Butt

27July 2007

Detailing of the dash is very well done, andclosely matches the photos of the real car’s dashI found. A fire extinguisher bottle is on the floor,and the intake plenum of the engine is visiblethrough the rear window. Again, it is veryconvincing and representative of the real car.One minor source of amusement for me is thelack of a gear shifter, either floor or paddles.One must assume that Mr. Turvey is drivingwith an automatic gearbox.

Comparing the silhouette of the body tophotos of the real cars, it appears that Ninco hascaptured the shape quite well. In fact, I wonderif the Ascari folks may have shared some CADdata with Ninco, it looks that close. Breaking outthe calipers, I found that my initial impressionswere quite correct; the dimensions are almost allspot on. The wheelbase (82.5mm), length(134.5mm), and height (35mm) are exactly 1/32of the dimensions of the car as posted on theAscari website. The width however, at 62mm, is4mm too wide. Not a huge margin, but with therest of the car exactly scale, one must wonder ifit was really necessary to stretch the width toachieve scale appearance, or performance.Either way, the car is visually a masterpiece.

I did find a couple of minor issues with thebody that didn’t really bother me, but mayannoy a collector of “shelf queens”. The frontof the body has some heavy mould parting linesthat run across the nose and back along the sidesof the front bumpers. They are a bit morenoticeable than they could be, I don’t see anyparting lines anywhere else on the car.

The other item was pointed out to me; Ididn’t notice it at all. The left side door is 1mmlonger than the right side one. This is onlyvisible when viewing the car from directly above,at the leading edge of the door where it meetsthe windshield A pillar. I’m certain that 99.99%of owners would never see this, leave it to mynit-picking co-driver to find something like that.

The overall conclusion was that this is a reallooker! Beautifully done.

Mechanically, Ninco has built on theiranglewinder platform, with the chassis lookingvery much like the one in my Mosler andMégane Trophy. Power is from the 20k RPMNC-5 speeder motor, through the usual red 12to 32 gearing with brass bushings on the axle.Wheels are standard Ninco fare, and the reartyres appear to be a silicone compound, very softand grippy. Strangely, the left rear wheel andtyre were sticking out of the wheel arch by about2mm, with the right side being flush. The wheelwas fully seated on the axle, so the onlyconclusion I could come to was that the axle isa bit too long. This was really a shame from thevisual standpoint, as it detracted from the looksof the car from that angle. However, as we shallsee, it didn’t appear to affect the handling at all.I’ll remove the wheel and trim the axle a bitsomeday. ➳

28

On removal of the body, I was delighted tofind that Ninco have stiffened the chassis bymaking the vertical ribs deeper than previouscars, and cross bracing the centre and rearsections of the chassis pan. I have always felt thatthis style chassis was too flexible, and the crossbracing will stiffen it so that it doesn’t rely on thebody screws being tight to add torsional rigidity.It has the usual Ninco button magnet mountedamidships. A bar magnet would give moreconsistent grip as the tail slides out in the turns,but they’re being consistent with the rest of therange. Besides, one of the first things I do withmost of my cars is install the magnet on the sideof the fridge anyway.

Only a bit more data, then we’re off to thetrack to see how this baby performs! I decidedto benchmark the Ascari against a NincoMosler, a Ninco Mégane Trophy, and an NSR

Mosler. The Ascari and the Ninco Mosler weretested both with and without magnet, while theMégane kept its magnet and the NSR did nothave one installed. All 4 cars weighed about thesame, roughly 83 grams. (The Ninco Mosler wasa bit more at 100 grams, I have a bit of leadadded) On my Magnet Marshall, the Ascariregistered 223 grams of downforce, the Mosler240, and the Mégane 146.

First testing was performed on a roughly 8-metre circuit of Carrera plastic track. TheAscari was a bit noisy, but I’ll attribute that to itsnewness. As the evening’s testing wore on, thingsquietened down a bit. The Ascari was a delightto drive, handling well, and able to really hustlearound the plastic course.

As you can see, the Ascari with the magnetinstalled was faster than the Mégane withmagnet, which is no great shock. The Méganeis taller, and a bit tippier. Once the magnet wasremoved from the Ascari, things got moreinteresting. The Mosler was a tiny bit faster, but

Carrera circuitFast Lap Lap Average

Ninco Mosler, no magnet 2.87 2.95Ninco Megane, magnet 2.62 2.8NSR Mosler, no magnet 2.59 2.72Ninco Ascari, magnet 2.34 2.46Ninco Ascari, no magnet 2.94 3.03

29July 2007

recall that I have a bit of weight added to it tohelp settle the chassis. However, as the Ascariloosened up, I could feel it getting faster, and I’mcertain with another couple of hundred laps itwould have been passing the Mosler regularly.The NSR was still a bit quicker than the rest, butits smaller tyres, lower chassis, and the fact thatits very well “run-in” helped. The Ascari andMosler would make great running mates onplastic, either with or without the magnets.

And so, on to the wood! The remainder ofthe testing was done on my 87’ (27.5 metre)routed wood track. The Ascari was reallybeginning to come into its own, as it loosened upand began to really fly! It was great fun to drive,very controllable, and rock steady.

First, I ran the Ascari with the magnetremoved, but otherwise still as it came from thebox. The best lap time was 8.326, which was 2tenths of a second faster than the race preparedMosler. I then sanded the tyres just a bit,rounded the outside edges of them slightly, andbacked the body screws out about one full turn.The Ascari really woke up then, shaving another2 tenths off the lap times, with a fast lap of8.129. Driving it was a delight, it was totally

Flying Cow RacewayFast Lap Lap Average

Ninco Mosler, no magnet 8.553 8.75Ninco Mosler, magnet 7.396 7.52Ninco Megane, magnet 7.72 7.95NSR Mosler, no magnet 7.819 7.99Ninco Ascari, no magnet 8.326 8.42Ninco Ascari, no magnet, tuned 8.129 8.25Ninco Ascari, magnet, tuned 7.225 7.35

controllable, you could put the tail anywhereyou wanted, and traction was excellent. It hada tiny bit of tyre chatter coming off the exit ofthe turns, but it didn’t seem to hurt anything.

With that, I re-installed the magnets in bothhe Mosler and the Ascari. Both cars had thetyres trued slightly, and were run with the bodyscrews one turn loose. The lap times were veryclose, with the Ascari being about a tenth faster.The Mégane was about 4 tenths off the pacenow, and wouldn’t be a contender in a race withthe others.

In conclusion, Ninco have got themselves atrue winner here. From both a modeller’s andracer’s standpoint, the Ascari is a delight. It’s abeautiful model of a very appealing car, andgoes as well as it looks. I was truly impressed withits track manners in all situations, plastic orwood track, with and without magnet. The carwas well behaved straight from the box, andcontinued to get better as the testing progressed,with no problems at all. I fully believe that you’llnot go wrong adding one or more of thesebeauties to your stable. ■

30

One of the things I always found ratherdifficult to cope with on model slotcars was how to braid and wire up a

car. Usually it was an easy way for me to destroya perfectly good set of braids before they evengot used. Eventually I found out how to do itwithout destroying the braids, using as little ofthe materials as possible, with hardly any waste.

This is the method I use - it entails the useof my well worn and often used mini vice, plusa few tools to make it easier. The tools I use (notalways for the job they were intended for) are:• A mini vice• Guide• SCX special braids pro part No. 50020• Ninco 1 mtr lead wire and eyelets part No.80107• Pair of scissors• Wire strippers• Pair of small needle nosed pliers.• Screwdriver - I use the NSR large Allenkey screw driver, but a small normal one will dothe same job.• Soldering iron, solder and flux.The method is as follows:1) Feed one end of the braid through thehole in the guide, decide how long the braidshould be. I normally go to about 1/16” fromthe end of the guide blade. Put the guide bladeinto the vice as far down as it will go and lock itin so that it doesn’t move around and damagethe braid. This also stops the braid from beingpushed through the hole while inserting theeyelet. The braid should be bent over the frontof the guide.

2) Take the length of lead wire, strip offenough of the sheathing to allow the exposedwire to be double the length of the eyelet.Thread the wire through the eyelet and bendover. For the best method of stopping eyeletsfrom coming out of the guide during a race Ialways put them behind the braid instead of infront. This makes a much tighter fit.3) Using the Allen key I push down into theguide braid hole to make the braid roughly theshape of the guide and, using the pliers, pushhome the eyelet.

Easy BraidingEasy BraidingEasy BraidingEasy BraidingEasy BraidingBy Terry Blackmore

31July 2007

4) Using scissors, I then cut the braid as closeto the eyelet as possible.

At this stage I don’t cut the lead wire, but ratheruse the other end for the second braid.

5) Repeat method on the other braid makingsure that the braids are the same length.

➳

32

6) I always cut the wire to length when theguide is in the car and the lead wire in position.There is no wastage this way. When making arough guess of what the length should be iteither turns out to be too long or more usuallyfar too short.

7) Strip a short piece of sheathing from theend of each wire, then solder the wires to themotor terminals using as little solder and flux aspossible.

One bonus is not having to trim the braidafter fitting, which usually results in braids ofdiffering lengths, as often or not with a crookedcut across the braid. The result is a pair of neattidy flat braids that work properly from the start,with only the occasional minor adjustment toheight to pick up the power from the track. Ifound that the two commercial products I use tobe the best for my purpose, as well as beingreliable.

My thanks to Dave Picknell, for originallygiving me the idea of putting the eyelets behindinstead in front of the braid. ■

33July 2007

After the successes of daughter Lanciawith their Fulvia, Fiat decided, in thelate 1960s, to enter also in international

rallying. The two seater 124 Sport Spider wastheir first attempt after supporting someprivateers in 124 and 125 saloon cars. With only1438cc the engine was too small to be a winner.But in 1972 Italian Pinto became EuropeanChampion with the bigger 1608cc engine whichdelivered 155 bhp.

Next year they redesigned the car with wingextensions and vents. The engine capacity roseagain. From 1756cc they got now 165 bhp. TheFiat Abarth 124 Rallye was born. Finally, in1975, a 16 valve cylinder head and 1832ccproduced 210 bhp at the rear wheels.

In Portugal, the Spyders were now un-beatable. Pinto and the Finnish driver MarkkuAlén won the event in 1974 and 75. But mostlyFiat had less luck.

Despite the big efforts of the factory, to enteras many cars as possible, success was still veryelusive. They entered the San Remo Rally in1974 with seven cars. In the first stage, fourretired through crashes, including hitting eachother! At the finish they only got second behindthe Stratos of Munari. The quality of theSpyder was not what it should be and the heavycar had to struggle against rivals with two litreengines.

Nevertheless, the Spyder was the basis ofsuccess for Markku Alén. After his debut and ➳

62530 Fiat 124 Spyder62530 Fiat 124 Spyder62530 Fiat 124 Spyder62530 Fiat 124 Spyder62530 Fiat 124 Spyder

By Hub HabetsBy Hub HabetsBy Hub HabetsBy Hub HabetsBy Hub Habets

34

finishing third with the works Ford EscortRS1600 in the RAC Rally of 1973, he went toItaly and stayed there till 1990! For a Finn, hewas very special. Outside the car he was verynervous, talking his own language to his servicecrew, including a mixture of English with Italianwords. “Maximum attack” was often his device,when he stepped into his car to drive to the nextspecial stage. He was too tall for the Spyder, hishead came up against the inside of the roof but,behind the wheel, he was superb.

SCX launched the first version of theSpyder at the end of 2005. The red and yellowcar was driven by Italian Mauricio Verini. Inwhich rally he took part is not clear, because therally plates are missing. The second version wasonly available in Spain in the Altaya collection“Rallyes de Espania”. It featured the Mobilsponsored car in which Carlos Alfonso Lambertigot fourth overall in the Rallye El Corte Inglésof 1979.

Now SCX have introduced the beautifuldark blue and yellow Olio Fiat version of theflamboyant Markku Alén in which he, and hisregular co driver Illka Kivimaki, finished sixthoverall in the Rally of Monte Carlo in 1976. Itwas the last official outing of the Spyder.

For me the Spyder is a very special car witha beautiful body shape. The rally version withbig wheel extensions, vent holes and extra spotlights is one of the most exciting rally cars of theseventies so I was very pleased when the NSCCsent me this car to test for the Journal.

It came in a clear box and looked like the carwas just landing from one of the big jumpsduring the Rally of the 1000 Lakes, but it is onlydone for presentation.

Opening these SCX boxes is always abalancing act between using some violence andbeing careful to avoid damaging the car but Ifinally succeeded. The car looks excellent! Thesimilarity to the real car is very good. The

35July 2007

dimensions are exactly 1/32 scale. I have a fewminor points of criticism about the yellowstriping in front of the roof and a degree ofcolour fading on the edges of the yellow wingextensions but, on the other side, there are somany wonderful details: the perfect roll cage, 90km/h sign on the rear screen (because they wereallowed to drive with spikes on the public roadbetween the special stages), the Elvis Presley stylepair of sun glasses on the drivers’ noses, whichreflected the seventies norm, the beautiful scaledrims and the detailed exhaust pipe and the rearlights in three different colours. (At the front Ipainted the direction indicator lamps white. It isonly on this version, SCX did not paint them).Underneath, the car is also very tidy.

After removing the three screws, the typicalSCX design became visible. The engine lookslike the ordinary RX41, but it is more than that.On the outside of the engine can “RX 41B” isprinted and, through the vent holes, the 20%longer commutator is visible. The outsidedimensions are the same, but this engine is morepowerful, like the 16 valve was in reality.

At the front, a small spring keeps the guideflag in a straight position and the longitudinalcontact strips press the guide flag against thetrack. The SCX system does not use any wiresbetween the engine and the guide or to thelights. This is not only a simple, but also a veryclever system because the guide rotates in a discand not in a thin bush as is often seen with othermanufacturers. The thin bush will do the job inthe beginning, but when the material gets olderand crispier, it will split. The SCX constructionhas enough wall thickness to keep the materialstress low so will last for many years. The guideis also well positioned. The front wheels justtouch the track, so resistance of the front wheelswill be low, but will support the car in the bends.The spring loaded guide also enables the car totilt further before it leaves the slot.

The front axle had too much clearance, soI filled it with some Cox spacer rings. I also gluedthe engine on both sides with a small strip of hotglue. The gearing was already greased by thefactory, so I only needed to oil the bronze rearaxle bearings and the motor bearings.

While running in the engine without thebody mounted, I discovered a rear axle bearingwas also rotating. With a small strip of paperbetween the chassis and the bearing, the fittingis now a little tighter. Gluing is also a possibility,but with the paper solution, you can still removethe rear axle!

After these small modifications, I decided torun a first round on my Scalextric Classic track.

Magnets are only useful on a refrigeratordoor, so I drove without, as should be done fora rally car. With only 78mm distance betweenthe guide flag and the rear axle, you wouldexpect a nervous car. But it is not. The inline andlow in the chassis engine makes the car very wellbalanced. It gives you a great feeling of forgivingwhen you go just a little too fast. It is fun to drive,but is it also faster than the earlier two versionswith their ordinary RX 41 engines? On mytwisty rally track it is not! But the reason is verysimple. The Mobil car of Lamberti has slicksmounted so it has more rubber on the track thanthe profiled tyres of the Olio Fiat car. The VeriniSpyder is on Scalextric Subaru tyres, which runvery smooth and faster than the slicks on theMobil car. With the SCX slicks mounted on theblue Olio Fiat Spyder, the older versions werejust beaten. On the much faster wooden DutchTrio Track, the advantage of the more powerfulRX 41B engine was clear. The Alén car droveeasily away from the others. With Ortmanntyres, the car became too fast to imitate thereality.

ConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusionSCX have really done a great job with theirSpyder. The car not only looks good, it is alsovery enjoyable to drive. They scaled a veryimportant rally car of the seventies for use onthe slot track at home. When you buy it, do notexpect the lap times of a Le Mans car. This isreality on your track, with acceptable speeds.

The Lancia Fulvia 1.6 HF is also a rally carfrom that period. I hope it is also interestingenough to be the next model for their SCXClassics Series. ■

36

This is the fourth MRE Classic Le Mans/Sports car event to be held atWolverhampton, and again we were

lucky enough to have continued and excellentsponsorship from our good friend Gary and histeam at MRE. In addition to terrific prizes forthe overall, class one and class two top three,MRE kindly provided prizes for the Concours 1-2-3, MRE Trophy Winner, top Junior, for theentrant with the lowest qualifying distance andsuperb “goodie bags” for every one taking part.I would remind everyone who took part, andthose who didn’t, to check out MRE’s extensiverange of slot cars, spares, scenery, materials andtools at www.mre.co.uk. Gary does us proudevery year so please check out his excellentprices and make his faith and support of theseevents worthwhile.

With a practice day on Saturday attended byaround twenty entrants throughout the day, themain event took place on Sunday 13th May. Thedoors opened at 9:00 with virtually all of thedrivers turning up early to get in some practicebefore the event got underway at 11:15.

Having insisted on pre-paid entry this timewe had started off with forty six entrants, butdue to some very genuine reasons this wasreduced to thirty eight by the start of play, witharound a dozen or so additional spectators. Onestaunch supporter missing from our number wasWrexham’s Rob Davies who was stillconvalescing at home following a recent illness;his driving and marshalling skills were bothdeeply missed. The first feature of the day wasthe MRE Concours D’Elegance, based onpeople’s votes, which was won by Roy ➳

WWWWWolverhampton MREolverhampton MREolverhampton MREolverhampton MREolverhampton MREClassic Le Mans/SportsClassic Le Mans/SportsClassic Le Mans/SportsClassic Le Mans/SportsClassic Le Mans/SportsEventEventEventEventEvent

By Phil Insull

The MRE Concours winning carsThe MRE Concours winning carsThe MRE Concours winning carsThe MRE Concours winning carsThe MRE Concours winning cars

37July 2007

Pritchard with his lovely little Austin-HealeyFrog Eye Sprite, with Bill Charters second withhis very tasty 1968 Le Mans Corvette, and AlanTadd with a pretty Lola MKIII. Roy’s winningmargin was pretty overwhelming although it didmean he had to run the tiny Sprite with its cutdown PCS32 chassis in at least one qualifyingheat. For its size it went well but was alwaysgoing to be losing laps to HRS chassis cars andthe like. There were some mighty fine cars ondisplay with some amazing looking Chaparral2Fs from Gary Skipp and one from ChrisAdams which featured a working rear flipperwing.

Once more the famous “Wolves baconbutties and baps” were available courtesy of IanScotto and then it was time for the drivers to geton with the main event held on the Wolvesrouted/copper tape four-lane circuit. As always,each driver ran a three-minute heat on eachlane, but this time the distance obtained from allfour heats would determine which group finalthey would end up in. The two classes were frontmotored only in class one and any positionmotor in scratch/modified or ready to race forclass two, with the classes being separated at thefinals stage.

Disappointingly from my point of viewthere were only three drivers who decided to trythe challenge of the front-motored class one,however one of these brave trio was none otherthan Wolves Classic King Mick Kerr, whosescratch built chassis and superb driving saw himqualify seventh overall against some very quickside winder and angle winder cars.

With Mick otherwise engaged it was left toa newcomer to the Wolves classic events but nostranger to the Slot.It challenge regulars, JimBrown, to dominate the qualifying heatsfinishing over a lap and a half in front of secondplaced qualifier Graham Windle. Joining Jimand Graham in the class two, six minute finalwere Mac Pinches and Dick Smith, with Jimrunning a HRS chassis Ford GT40, Graham aMilan Tomasek chassis Ferrari, Mac a MickKerr chassis Lola MKIIIB, and Dick a LolaMKIII with his own chassis. Jim went on todominate in the Final as he had in the rest of the

meeting and won by a lap and a half from Mac,Graham and Dick. Jim also scorched to thefastest lap time of the day at 7.205 seconds.

Over in class one Mick Kerr won at a canterwith his lovely Ferrari 250 GTO, which justwhispered serenely on its way from myself witha MRRC chassis Top Slot Cobra DaytonaCoupe, and the unlucky young first timer KaneTilley who was right on my tail for the first fewlaps before his Revell Grand Corvette lost drive.Kane switched to his back up car but haddropped back too far to recover.

Ian Fitzpatrick claimed the MRE Trophyfor the highest placed entry with a self-builtchassis and body on his Ferrari, beating hisfather Charles in the process. MRE top Junioraward went to young Charlie Prince with hisChaparral 2F, while the MRE prize for last wentto Pete Shepherd, with his lovely looking ISO.Pete in fact stopped me from getting the woodenspoon by just half a lap.

The groups battled it out for the groupwinners trophies and were won by: Dave Farrow(B) Chris Adams (C) Bill Charters (D) JohnPrince (E) Roy Pritchard (F) Charles Fitzpatrick(G) Matthew Holdcroft (H) and Andy Tyrer (I),while the Chris Jurkowski Memorial Trophywent to John Roche for his sportingcongratulations of Bill Charters who he had ledright up to the last corner of the D Group beforespinning off.

Gary has kindly stated that MRE will tocontinue to sponsor the Le Mans/Sports eventfor 2008, details of dates and time period for thecars will be announced later in the year, whileour next event is the Classic Slot Limited Pre1980 European Saloon Car event on October14th, with thirty eight drivers pre-paid andregistered to take part it should be anothercracking meeting, if you wish to join us get yourentry fee off now.

As ever the final word goes to our charityraffle with prizes kindly supplied by MRE, SteveFrancis, Bill Charters, Charles Fitzpatrick, PeteEmery, RS and myself, we raised £101 for ourcharity the Acorns Children’s Hospice atWalsall, thanks to all who dug deep to buytickets. ■