Scalextric Lotus Type 49B Review

The Lotus Type 49 was one of Colin Chapman’s greatest machines. It was the first car to house the legendary Ford/Cosworth DFV V8, which powered most of the F1 grid through the late 1960s and 1970s and was the first car to have it’s drive train act as a stress-bearing part of the chassis for strength and weight saving and be successful.

The first Type 49, debuted in 1967 was a traditional cigar shaped car of the era. As aerofoils became more of a phenomenon during the 1968 season a tall wing was added to the car and in 1969 a revised body ’49C’ raced throughout 1969 and 1970.

Scalextric have replicated quite a few of the Type 49 machines over the past few years. I have a model of the car Jo Siffert drove to victory at the 1968 British Grand Prix at my local(ish) track of Brands Hatch. You can get yours from Amazon here: Scalextric 1:32 Lotus 49B Slot Car

The Type 49 is, hands down, one of the best detailed cars Scalextric have ever produced! The engine features all the ignition leads and each cylinder bank has a 4-2-1 exhaust that runs under the rear suspension and out through proper mounts that are molded onto the gearbox. Front and rear subframes and suspension are nicely modelled and feature a lot of detail.

The rear end of the car is sort of built around the slimline motor which sits between the third back pipe of the manifold and the forward most 2 of the 22. The driver is shaped around the motor as well but because the motor is so far back it means that the driver can be full length. It’s always nice when the driver actually sits in the car rather than just atop a plastic sheet.

After a running in period it does drive really nicely and is a fast car, however it is incredibly fragile! To get that incredible detail Scalextric have made a lot of the individual components separately rather than molding them to the main shell which means that they can come off in impact. One for the display shelf and to be plodded around the track once in a while rather than  raced hard I reckon!

With that being said though, I honesty think it’s still one of the finest models that Scalextric have produced. I most certainly recommend getting one (from the link above *nudge nudge* *wink wink*) as a display piece but try not to get too disheartened if you get one to race and accidents happen.

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