Welcome
Digest 11
Published by JasonB on Mar 18, 2024
Our weekly catch up on what’s new in the world of slots!
Featuring three Safari Rally cars, a commemorative tribute, a hillclimber, a Monte Carlo Rally car, an historic racer, a Trans Am classic, and a bunch of bargains. Plus we have a fantastic step by step track build, our forthcoming events, favourite videos and fab photos.
Slot Cars
Available Now
- Fly Safari Rally Cars Hobbyclassic have announced a collaboration with Fly to reproduce three classic Safari Rally cars. The limited edition cars come in clean or weathered versions, with the weathered versions having special presentation boxes. The 1971 Porsche 911ST of Bjorn Waldegärd is available now, and the two forthcoming releases will be Waldegärd’s 1973 Porsche 911RS, and Markku Alén’s 1985 Lancia 037.
- NSR Mosler As every year NSR have made a tribute car to Salvatore Noviello, founder of the company. This Mosler comes in one of the liveries that Salvatore used to race, and the commemorative car comes in a detailed “Tribute Line” pack.
Coming Soon
- BRM Opel Kadett GTE BRM have posted official photos of the three new Opel Kadett liveries which are being released this month. The #78 car was raced at the 2014 Histo Cup in Brno, the #308 took part in the 2019 KW Berg Cup hillclimb, and the third livery recreates the 1978 Rally Monte Carlo car of Ormezzano and Rudy. The rally car comes with extra lights in the box to replicate the real car.
In the Pipeline
- Slot.it Datsun 510 Slot.it have posted test shots of their forthcoming Datsun 510, as it came from the mould. Slot.it are understandably keen to point out that the model is being produced under both a Nissan and a BRE license.
Tracks & Scenery
- Slot Rally Hill Slot Rally Hill is another of rallyhub’s fantastic tracks. It features two different configurations and even has a 1:1024 scaled track of Slot Rally Hill itself. Hub has been taking us through the process of making his detailed scenic layout.
Events
- WHO Digital GT – 20th-Mar-24
- Worthing HO Wednesday – 3rd-Apr-24
- Bury St Edmunds club night 5-10pm – 6th-Apr-24
- WSR Policar Classic F1 Event – 6th-Apr-24
- WHO Digital GT – 17th-Apr-24
- Slot Rally GB – Round 3 – 20th-Apr-24
- Can-Am Race with TRUSPEED Presentation – 27th-Apr-24
- Worthing HO Wednesday – 1st-May-24
- WHO Digital GT – 15th-May-24
- Bury St Edmunds club night 5-10pm – 25th-May-24
Videos
Photos
Slot.it Porsche 956, Le Mans 1986
More Issues
Updates
Scalextric Range Launch
Jan 8, 2024
Calendar 2024
Dec 11, 2023
BRM, the Inside Story
May 5, 2023
Calendar
Dec 12, 2022
On This Day in History…
19-03-1972 | |
21-03-1960 | Ayrton Senna, Brazilian racing driver and three time World F1 champion, born in São Paulo, Brazil |
21-03-1981 |
Racer Sideways ZakSpeed Capri - Jürgen Hamelmann, DRM, Zolder Bergischer Löwe, 1981 Nonfractal takes an in depth look at the Racer Sideways Group5 ZakSpeed Capri, modelled on the car driven to fifth at Zolder by Jürgen Hamelmann on this day in 1981. Read the full review |
Features
BRM, the Inside Story
Published by JasonB on May 5, 2023 in Features, Updates
We have a new and fairly substantial motor racing history section which we’ve added to the site. It could be encapsulated by just three letters, BRM, but in truth the full story would make a decent sized book.
The inspiration for our new section came from a British Racing Motors team mechanic, Dennis ‘Sheriff’ Perkins who worked for the team for well over a decade from the mid 1950s onwards, and who took photos throughout his time with the team.
Of course Perkins wasn’t a professional photographer, he was first and foremost a BRM mechanic. In fact he was so good at his job that he was elected to membership of the BRDC, being proposed by Graham Hill and seconded by Jackie Stewart.
But he took photos of some important motor racing events, and he took his photos from a different angle to the press, or the spectators. He snapped his pics from behind the scenes, from the oil stained pit boxes, from the workshops, or even from the team transporter which he drove across the continent in his slippers.
Through his photos we will tell the story of British Racing Motors, from the disastrous and all too obvious failings in the early days, through to being world champions and one of the most consistently successful teams in Formula One at their peak, before they were brought back down to earth with a bump, as the team declined.
BRM had always set out to match and beat the best in Formula One. To do that, they absolutely insisted that they should build their own engines as well as the chassis. They wanted to take Ferrari’s approach, and when it worked, it really worked, but when it didn’t, it really didn’t.
Nowadays of course, we can expect a netflix documentary for every F1 race, no matter how insignificant. But in those days there were a very limited cohort of press reporters and photographers. So this little treasure trove of photos from the pit lanes and paddocks of the 1950s and 1960s are important.
We’ve tried our best to tell the stories of not just BRM, but of the individual races for which we have photos, many of which have their own fascinating tales to tell.
We’ve tried to tell the story of the BRM drivers and the BRM cars. We’ve used a wide variety of sources for all of the information, including contemporary reports.
We’ve also included slot track plans for every circuit, and a comprehensive list of BRM slot cars.
So there you go, that’s a rough outline of what we’ve got for you, hope you enjoy having a look and a read.
Many thanks to John Perkins, son of Dennis, for his kind permission to use these photos. Many thanks also to Dennis ‘Sheriff’ Perkins himself, not just for his sterling work with BRM, but also for recording his time with the team.