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C4078 Ford GT GTE Keating Motorsport Le Mans 2019

The Wynn's sponsored Ford GT GTE has to be one of the most striking slot car releases of the year. Purple & orange is an unusual combination and the car certainly stood out at Le Mans last June - the privateer Keating Motorsport GTE Am entry completely upstaging the factory GTE Pro cars and their cute historic liveries. The car was also headline news...

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It was the first Ford GT to compete in the pro-am LM GTE Am class at La Sarthe - American team owner and gentleman driver Ben Keating sharing with Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen and Brazilian Felipe Fraga. It was the car's racing debut. After an advantageous post-qualifying Balance of Performance tweak, the #85 Ford dominated the GTE Am class - leading the class for most of the 24 hours and proving a big fan favourite as it crossed the finish line 45 seconds ahead of its nearest rival. Controversy followed... An investigation into fuel delivery infractions saw the organisers penalise the Keating car 55 seconds, dropping it to second in class. Further post-race scrutineering found the fuel tank was 100ml too big and the car was disqualified. A crushing end to the weekend...

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Being a big fan of the GTE Am class, I am delighted Scalextric have produced this livery. It really stood out at the 2020 range launch in January and one of the cars that was begging to be photographed...

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Although other manufacturers have produced (or will be producing) the Ford GT GTE, I like the Scalextric version. It isn't perfect, but has a very sleek stance and this new livery shows off the lines well...

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One thing I don't like about the Scalextric model is the use of the slim-can FF motor. All the other Scalextric GT cars have the standard Mabuchi S-Can (either in-line or sidewinder) and have a level of performance that are more-or-less comparable. The FF motor makes the Ford difficult to handle with or without traction magnets - skittish at low revs and with minimal brakes. It doesn't surprise me that a lot of new Scalextric customers buying the otherwise excellent ARC Air World GT set complained that the Ford was faulty - whereas it was just the FF motor. One fault that has cropped up with some of the previous Ford GTEs is a weak motor bracket. Not something I've seen, but...

If the FF motor doesn't work for you, some intrepid enthusiasts have fitted an S-can - either by a DIY fitment of a separate motor pod into the Scalextric chassis or by using a 3D printed chassis. Nacional Racers 3D and ProSpeed Slot Racing have replacement chassis available on Shapeways. I wouldn't be surprised to see Slot.it produce one at some point.

If the Wynn's livery gets you excited, it originated as a tribute to the Hotchkis Racing Porsche 962 car that raced in IMSA during the late 80s. The livery was used by the Riley Motorsports team on their Mercedes-AMG GTD entry for the 2019 Daytona 24 hours, driven by Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Luca Stolz and Felipe Fraga. It was a cracking livery (due to appear in the new Scalextric ARC Pro Platinum GT set this autumn) and not surprising it was re-worked for Keating's Ford GTE Am at Le Mans.

The C4078 Keating Motorsport Ford GT GTE is available now at the Scalextric webstore (here) priced £40.99. Expect it to arrive with your favourite Scalextric retailers any day.

Thanks to Hornby Hobbies for the pictures and for the invite to the 2020 Scalextric launch back in January.
Dave Kennedy - formerly of Scalextric USA - posted this video today about how Scalextric's model of the Keating Motorsport Ford GTE got started...




Dave's new "Slot Car News Official" YouTube channel is here. Definitely worth a visit.