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In 2016 Halfords returned to the British Touring Car Championship by partnering up with the highly successful Honda team. Also, in 2016, Scalextric were releasing a line up of both present day and historic touring cars. For the modern era they released the BMW 1 Series, VW Passat, MG6 and of course the Honda Civic, including the Halfords liveried car as driven by Matt Neal which I shall be reviewing for you today!
If you would like one you can buy one from Amazon here: Scalextric C3861 Btcc Honda Civic Type R, Matt Neal Car
As expected of modern Scalextric cars the attention to detail on the livery is superb. All the graphics are printed correctly and to scale (down to the Dunlop logos on the tyres). There are also a good number of details moulded onto the shell such as bonnet and boot latches, the side exit exhaust and tow hooks on both the front and the rear.
The car also has plenty of non moulded details; the spoiler, wing mirrors and wipers are all separate parts. If you are looking at buying one of these second hand then it is well worth making sure that they are all still present on the model.
Why would you buy second hand though when Scalextric cars are cheap on Amazon! Here’s where you can buy the Scalextric C3861 Btcc Honda Civic Type R, Matt Neal Car
The car also comes with front and rear lighting which is done by tiny LEDs. The rear light are obviously red and the front lights are a whitish blue, replicating the Xenon lights on full size cars!
If I had any criticism of the body it would be that the base orange colour looks very plastic. I know that sounds silly when the body is plastic but some slot car shells actually look like painted metal. This still has a kind of plastic look too it. It’s not too much of a deal breaker but it is noticeable next to some of the other slot cars.
The car does drive well. Sometimes the brands can come out of the box a little flat and may need bending down to make optimum contact with the track. Scalextric motors can also sometimes need breaking in over the course of a few dozen laps before they run really nicely. This is normal though!
Once it’s broken in and driving nice it’s great! It’s an inline mounted motor with solid rear axle and a big magnet as is standard with modern Scalextric cars. It sits very low to ground and is quite wide with chunky tyres with gives it a good mechanical grip. The car is also quite short making it nimble in some of the tighter bits of the track. Not having a large rear overhang and weight behind the rear axle means it isn’t going to oversteer which is nice too!
It’s a quick little car! Certainly one of the quickest out the box Scalextric cars I’ve driven.
This car does come as an analogue car from the factory but it is ready to have a digital chip put into it. All you have to do is unscrew and open the little door on the bottom and it will plug straight in!
The Digital Chip for saloon cars can also be found on Amazon here: Scalextric Digital C8515 Plug for Digital Plug Ready (DPR) Saloon cars 1:32 Scale Accessory
All together it’s a great little car for racing or as a shelf queen. My little one will be staying in the collection for the fond memories of my time working for Halfords.
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