I was doing some sorting out this morning and realised that whilst I do share a lot of slot car builds and restorations on here, there are a lot of cars in my collection that don’t receive any attention and that they too deserve a bit of the lime light. So, I decided that the best way to give the cars the attention was just to show off the whole collection!
Formula 1
1970’s Formula 1
The 1970’s is my favourite era of Formula 1. There was a plethora of interesting characters on the track and some interesting engineering developments and experiments that brought about some interesting and incredibly quick machines whilst cigarette advertisements adorning many of the cars created some truly iconic liveries.
The cars in my collection are all genuine 1970’s cars. Scalextric has released modern interpretations which are much better detailed and no doubt run better, but I think the 1970’s cars have charm and it’s just nice to have the period correct article.
Firstly we have a Ferrari 312T. This one is painted to be just like Niki Lauda’s car in the 1975 season. To the best of my knowledge this isn’t a Scalextric livery. The car was originally red but the silver details and stickers I believe have been added at a later date. I really like this little car though!
The next car belongs to his rival James Hunt. This is the McLaren M23 as would have been driven in 1976. This is an original Scalex livery but I’ve repainted the helmet black to match James’ actual helmet. One day I’ll add the stripes when I’m feeling brave haha!
The March 2-4-0 was an experimental six-wheeled car built in response to the famous Tyrrell P34 that was sadly never actually raced. It’s an interesting concept car though and an interesting model.
The model still only drives the forward most set of rear wheels and the furthest back set of wheels just sort of dangle on a frame type thing. It’s an interesting thing to race and one of my favourite cars in the collection. (You might read that a few times haha!)
I do find it strange that Scalextric decided to mass produce the 2-4-0 and not the P34. I’ve had both the SCX and Polistil examples of the P34 but they’ve never really fitted with the collection.
The Tyrrell 008 was campaigned in the 1978 season following the banning of the six wheeled P34. You can see how the aerodynamics have evolved from the earlier cars as the 008 sports an enclosed cowling.
This Brabham BT44B is in a fictitious livery and sadly isn’t a 1970s car. This car came in a set from the late 1980’s/early 1990’s and thus has a short can motor and not the famous Johnsons. Scalextric did release the car in the 70’s with the correct livery and motor. If one comes along one day then I’ll get it but I can’t say I’m actively looking.
1990’s Formula 1/F3000
The ‘Petrobras’ C2460 and ‘Agip’ C2112 are fictitious cars based on Formula 1 and Formula 3000 cars from the late 1990’s/early 2000s. They aren’t anything special but they run well on both Classic and Sport track and are a laugh to race.
Modern Formula 1
Over the past few years Carerra have made some absolutely stunning renditions of modern Formula 1 cars. They are not only superbly detailed models but are incredibly quick and are manufactured to be tough. The front wing for instance is designed to clip in and out so it doesn’t get snapped in impacts.
I have the Mercedes W05 as driven by Lewis Hamilton in 2014:
Along with the Ferrari F138 as driven by Fernando Alonso in 2013:
Others
I also have a few other Grand Prix cars that don’t really fit into the above categories. The first is our first kit of the day! The Penelope Pitlance Lancia/Ferrari D50. This one I’ve modelled to look like Fangio’s car.
I also have a couple of the new releases of classic Grand Prix cars. First, from the Legends range, is the Maserati 250F as driven by Carroll Shelby in the 1958 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
I also have the Lotus Type 49B as driven by Jo Siffert at the British Grand Prix of 1968.
Finally in this section I have a Ninco F1 Safety Car based on a Mercedes W208 CLK55 AMG. This one’s had quite a hard life by the looks of it but I can’t move it on as for some reason I really like it. The lights still all work as they should.
LeMans
I only have a few LeMans cars so we will try to keep this one fairly short and sweet.
These two are two of the oldest cars in the collection. The first is an original Ferrari P4 that came out in 1969. It has a huge blue motor rather than a Johnson’s so it definitely isn’t from the Power & Glory series released in the 1980’s. It was in a poor condition when I got it so it has been repainted and re-liveried so look more like the real car.
The second is an Airfix/MRRC Porsche Carerra 6 which I would also say is late 1960’s. It’s in pretty good shape but is awaiting a light restoration. I’m looking forward to learning more about this one when the time comes.
I also have two Group C cars from the late 1980’s; A Sauber Mercedes and a Porsche 962.
The Mercedes sometimes has lights, I need to pull it apart at some point though to make the connection in there a little better.
Next up is Tim Birkin’s Blower Bentley that was raced at LeMans. This is a Penelope Pitlane kit as is such a lovely thing. It’s a stunningly detailed model with lots of separate white metal parts that is a dream to put together but it’s also really nice to drive too! Another one of my favourites!
The 722 Mercedes is a Mille Miglia car rather than a LeMans car but the 300SLR did run at LeMans and therefore is going to be included here.
I can’t really find any information on the real life version of this GT3 Porsche so I’m going to assume it’s a fictional livery. The shell is a Ninco Porsche with a home made brass chassis which houses the motor right at the back like a proper 911.
The last car in this section is another Scalextric basic set car that I’ve repainted to look like a modern Ferrari LMP1 car. IT might not look great but it goes annoyingly well.
Touring Cars
The first of the touring cars I’d like to start with is the Scalextric model of Matt Neal’s Halfords liveried Honda Civic. I got this as a present after I lift Halfords at the end of last year. It came with a PCR chassis so I could run a Slot It running gear but really this car is a bit of a shelf queen so that won’t happen.
I have two W202 Mercedes. These aren’t particularly good models but I have a full size W202 and they are cheap so I can never say no to them haha! The silver “Mercedes-Benz” liveried car is actually pretty rare as it only came with a set. The D2 livery is my favourite livery for these and thus I had to have it. I’m sort of on the look out for a third so I can make a replica of my road car haha!
The Opel Calibra came with the D2 Mercedes. I’m not the biggest fan of these but they are getting quite rare now. A lot of people cut these up to put the engines into Corsas. Personally I’d much rather the coupe than the hatchback.
The Scalextric E36 BMW is of a similar age but is a much much better model. Scalex, why couldn’t we have had a W202 C-Class that was nice like this?
The final touring car is something a little different; an Arii Hakosuka Skyline kit with a Scalextric Restorations adjustable chassis beneath it. The wheels are PCS-32 and the motor and gears are standard Scalextric.
Rally Cars
Once again most of my rally cars are 1970’s and 1980’s Scalextric but I have a few others too. The Triumph TR7 wasn’t considered t be one of Scalextric’s best models and is certainly oversized. Have you ever seen a more ‘1970’s’ livery though?! So hideous!
Another car that wasn’t considered one of Scalextric’s finest creations is the original Metro 6R4. The real 6R4 is one of my favourite cars, it’s just bonkers! Scalex didn’t do the best job of replicating it though. It’s rather sparce on the detailing front and handles dreadfully! Every slot car collector should have one though as they can be had for very little and are rather unique.
The Metro’s smaller but older brother, the Mini, was actually quite a good car from Scalextric. Much like the 1970’s Formula 1 cars I could quite happily just collect Scalextric Minis; I think they are great!
I’m not a particular fan of Fords in real life or Mk5 Escorts but I’ve had a few of these over the years. They are great cars to race and are really tough! You’ll notice the Cespa car has the wrong windows. The car originally came with a FINA shell but that was long past it. The Cespa shell came along really cheap so I swapped the chassis, glass and interior from the FINA car into that shell.
The only SCX car in my collection is one of Ken Block’s Mk7 Fiestas. SCX have done a couple of these Fiestas over the past few years and I believe this is to be the oldest livery. It’s shaft driven 4WD and is always a pleasure to drive.
Finally we have a MSC Subaru Impreza. It came as a kit and is really a lovely little model. However, it’s belt driven 4WD and the tyres that came with it were never that great so I very rarely take it out as I’m not satisfied with it yet.
Street Cars
I have a wide variety of road cars ranging from pre-war sports cars to modern hyper cars. Let’s start with the hyper-cars and with the Bugatti Veyron. Love it or Loathe it you can’t deny the Veyron was an incredible piece of engineering. The Scalextric model can come nicely detailed however my two examples are just the set damage resistant cars. I do love the blue one though, blue of course being Bugatti’s racing colours back in the day.
The Mercedes McLaren SLR came in a set with the 300SLR. It’s a stunning model that I don’t run anywhere near as much as I should!
If we step back in time a bit with have two genuine 1970’s Datsun 240zs. Neither are mint and both really need proper restorations. The darker blue one is rarer and only came with a Knight Rider set. Really I should cannibalise the light blue car and use the bumpers etc on the rarer car but I can’t bring myself to do it.
The rest of my road cars are all kit builds! This R33 Skyline is an Arii kit with a Scalextric BMW E36 chassis and running gear underneath it. The wheels are off of a Porsche.
OCAR make some interesting kits for the modeller on a budget. I was quite pleased with these two Ferraris. A better modeller than myself could make something really nice of them!
At the other end of the spectrum is my George Turner Bentley. This was an expensive kit but I think it’s an absolutely beautiful cast and is another one of my favourites!
My final road car is this Pendle Slot MG TA which was my first ever slot car kit. The driver’s name is Tarquin.
Brooklands cars
One of my favourite places is the Brooklands Museum is Weybridge. Brooklands was the world’s first purpose built race track built in 1907. I could happily collect cars from that era and there are a fair few kits of the cars available. I only have two though. The first is the Penelope Pitlane kit of the No.1 Blower Bentley that broke the land speed record at Brooklands. Time Birkin used this car to try to convince W.O Bentley and investors that supercharging was the way of the future.
The other is also a Penelope Pitlane kit of a racing bodied 1912 Rolls Royce. I can’t fid any real records of this machine but I thin it’s a beautiful it. If you haven’t, do check out pre-WW1 Rolls Royces, one would be a lottery win car for me!
Oddities
No collection is complete without some oddities and mine is no exception! First up we have the Scaletti Arrow; a make believe car produced by Scalextric in the early 1970’s. Again this was super scruffy and thus got the Ferrari treatment.
I also have a couple of food vans. The first is a Morris Minor ice cream truck. This is a kit from Pendle Slot Racing and I had to have it as soon as I saw it on the website! Love at first site as they say. This one has actually won a race too!
The second food van is a die-cast chicken van I had when I was a kid. This now has a Slot It adjustable chassis under it. This is another one of my favourites as I managed to keep the interior including chickens on a spinning rotisserie. It’s not quick but it’s a great novelty!
Next up we have my banger! This is an old resin Jaguar shell that had been raced and was looking in a sorry state. It had been set up to take a Penelope Pitlane chassis of which I had a spare. A quick repaint and a few details later and we have a fun little car! I need to make a second at some point to race with it.
Here we have my long suffering “experiment car” Back From the Dead. I’ve owned this BMW for about 2 months now having brought it as a disgrace for £2. Since it’s purchase it’s had three different chassis’ under it haha! More of that to come in the near future!
K.I.T.T from Knight Rider was kindly donated to the blog by a friend. This has a 40,000 rpm NSR motor in it.
Last but certainly not least is my 1:32 Airfix 1910 Omnibus. This was quite the kit to build and took a few months to build. It’s got a Penelope Pitlane chassis underneath it and it’s superb to watch going round the track.
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By Richard Francis
