I've wanted this file to print for months, sometimes you need to watch old YouTube race coverage to make your mind. 

Correctly scaling it wasn't a quick job but I'm confident it's close. 

This will see action in our Saloon class (and Rally if I can find proof).

Colour is a mix of supermarine blue and turquoise. 

   

Chassis design is underway...

With the growth of 3DP printing it is worthwhile investigating the model train world for figures and accessories suitable for our hobby. There are many 3DP suppliers of all sorts of stuff in the smaller scales used by railway modellers but most of them are perfectly happy to print in 1/32 scale as well if you ask them.

One of them is Smart Models LINK who have just introduced some Vespa scooters and Triumph bikes for example: 

Obviously there is a price premium for larger scale items with a basic unpainted 1/32 Vespa coming in at £9.99 each but overall the prices are comparable with the dedicated slot car figure producers. A trawl through the model rail sites can pay dividends if you are looking for something a bit different on your layout.

I was casting my eye over the range of Truspeed analogue controllers the other day, and it got me wondering about something...I can see that the top of the range MT II and the PWM II controllers have all the bells and whistles a race driver could ever need, but it was the other two lower spec controllers that puzzled me.

The BP II Transistor controller and the  MT I Mosfet/Transistor controller have the same two external sensitivity/brake adjusters, so what difference does the internal electronic architecture make in terms of user perception/car control?

   

Scalextric C4242 Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo - British GT 2020 - De Haan & Kujala. RRP £49.99. Scheduled Winter 2022-3.

Although not expected for a couple of months or so, Scalextric have just released these stunning images of their brand new AMG GT3 Evo, which models the 2020 evolution of the real racing car. The most noticeable change from the original 2016 version is the front radiator grille, which gives the car an aggressive new look. Scalextric decided a completely new body shell was required and new tooling has been produced. The chassis remains the same, so the same top-rate handling and performance is guaranteed.

       

The first livery on the Evo is the #69 RAM Racing car driven by the Silver pairing of Sam De Haan and Patrick Kujala in the 2020 British GT Championship. Apart from being a very striking livery, the car is also a piece of recent social history - marking a motorsport season delayed by the Coronavirus pandemic and the global movement against racism that followed George Floyd's death in May of that year.

The 2020 British GT Championship was squeezed into nine rounds across six weekends, starting at Oulton Park at the start of August and ending at Silverstone in November. RAM Racing entered two purple cars - the #6 Pro-Am entry for Yelmer Buurman and Ian Loggie, plus the #69 for De Haan and Kujala. The #EndRacism message on the #69 car echoed the high-profile campaign by Formula One drivers and is explained by Sam De Haan on Twitter...

   

However, the 2020 wasn't just about hashtags - De Haan and Kujala made a strong statement on track, putting themselves in a championship battle with the Barwell Lamborghini driven by GT specialist Sandy Mitchell and ex-BTCC star Rob Collard. A steady start to the season for the #69 RAM Mercedes stepped up a notch with a glorious win in the 3-hour race at Donington in September...



Despite a first-lap spin, Kujala and De Haan worked their way through the field to take their first victory of the season - leapfrogging Collard and Mitchell in the championship, after their race was hampered by a slow puncture and a 20-second success penalty...

       

De Haan and Kujala went into the penultimate weekend at Snetterton with a nine-point advantage, but also facing the maximum success penalty. De Haan put the car on pole for Race One, which took place in heavy rain. The 60-minute sprint race saw the pair battle to overcome their extra pit time, Kujala scrapping with RAM teammate Buurman and Blancpain champion Andrea Calderelli for fourth place. Fifth place limited the damage to their championship rivals who finished second. Race Two was another thriller in the wet - the #69 crew grabbing the final step on the podium, ahead of Collard and Mitchell in fifth...

       

Three pairs went into the final 3-hour race at Silverstone in contention for the 2020 British GT Championship title - De Haan and Kujala had the advantage, but the Barwell Huracáns of Collard & Mitchell and Phil Keen & Adam Balon looked to be the class acts in the cold and damp conditions - both starting from the front of the grid...



Clever tactics under the safety car by Collard and Mitchell gave them control of the race. The championship battle was effectively over when their rivals tangled - the Keen/Balon Huracán dropping back to ninth and the RAM Racing Mercedes to eighth after serving a penalty for causing the collision. De Haan and Kujala had to make do with runner-up spot. De Haan would team up with Rob Collard and German driver Fabian Schiller to race a RAM Racing Mercedes in the 2021 Fanatec GT endurance championship - Scalextric are releasing the early-season livery on a set-only car in the forthcoming ARC Pro Platinum set.

A big thank you to the Scalextric team for making the images of the new Mercedes available to us.

   

Race Report from Andy

Friday 7th October was round 5 of the Sports GT class.
This was the climax of the sports GT class for this year so it was the last chance for racers to get those final few points on the board before the season closes for this class. There was a couple of noticeable absences this week from some of our fastest drivers, Tel and Darren, so this left the field open for other drivers to grab those vital points.  We had a new young racer join us this week in Rory who, although young, was keen to show us what he could do.

Everyone was keen in their heats and there was some very close racing and a few unexpected results, which proved interesting, come the finals there were some drivers not where you would expect them to be.  Rory was slowly improving over his 4 heat races and although not challenging for the lead of the races he was getting better at keeping the car in the slot towards the end of his forth race.   Over all the heats were fairly uneventful with everyone behaving themselves and having some good close fun.

Final D: Richard in green and Rory in Red.  Richard got off to a quick start and quickly pulled out a good lead.  Rory was going steady in second although he was having a hard trying to catch up with Richard, who, by now, was a good 4 laps ahead of Rory.  Richard crossed the line in first place with Rory coming in second.

Final C: Mark in green, Terry in blue, Paul in red Richard in yellow. On any other night all 4 of these drivers could have been in the main final but due to various unexpected results there 4 ended up in the C final. Despite of these drivers being out of position they were all still keen to prove that they had what it took to try and get to the main final, if possible.  Off the line mark took an early lead over Terry, but Terry wasn’t letting Mark pull out too much of a lead.  At the rear of the field paul and Richard were having their own battle with some close racing, Paul had the speed over Richard and managed to just stay ahead of Richard.  At the front Mark and Terry had settled down into a rhythm with Mark maintaining a consistent lead over Terry. Across the line it was Mark in first, Terry in second, Paul in third and Richard in forth.

B final. Elliot in Green, Andy in Blue, Jake in Red Mark in Yellow.  After a very successful round of hearts it was good to see Jake up in the business end of the finals and he was hoping to prove his might in the B final.  All the racers got off to  good start with there being very little to choose between them for the first few corners.  Elliot and Jake then pulled out a lead over Mark and Andy. Jake took the race to Elliot, proving that he deserved to be fighting with the faster races of the night, pulling out a slight lead and maintaining it.  Elliot did all that he could to catch up but the youngster proved to be too fast and Elliot didn’t have an answer for jakes speed.  At the back Andy was pushing hard to catch up with Mark but he was struggling to keep his car on track. The result was Jake in first, Elliot in second Mark in third and Andy in forth.

Main final: James in green, Jake in blue, Heather in red and Ken in yellow.  James ahd a good start off the line with the other 3 drivers hot on his tail. Heather pulled ahead of Jake and Ken to try and chase down James.  There was a good battle developing between Jake and Ken, with Jake showing no signs of fear racing with drivers with a lot more experience than himself, all Jakes effort payed off as he managed to get ahead of Ken for third place.  At the front there wasn’t a lot to choose between Heather and James for the first part of the race, then James’s skill showed through and he pulled ahead of Heather managing to build up nearly half a laps lead. So the final race of the Sports GT class of 2022 finished James in First, Heather in Second, Jakes in a well deserved third and Ken in fourth.

4 axis non-planar printing is coming... 

  

   

Slot.it CA42b Jaguar XJR10 #3 - 3rd 300km Road Atlanta 1991. RRP £64.95. Available 18 October 2022.

A second livery on Slot.it's sublime Jaguar XJR-10 takes the IMSA GTP racer into 1991 and swaps Castrol colours for a Bud Light livery. The #3 car was driven throughout the 1991 IMSA season by Brazilian Raúl Boesel - the former March and Ligier F1 driver, who'd carved out a successful career in sports car and Indycar racing. This is the Jaguar he took third place on the podium at Road Atlanta, behind team mate Davy Jones who clinched a first victory for the new XJR-16.

       

The Jaguar XJR-10 was designed, developed and built by Tom Walkinshaw Racing for the 1989 IMSA GTP season. Together with the Group C XJR-11, the new car was an evolution of the highly successful Silk Cut Jags that had dominated the world sports car championship over the previous two years. TWR replaced the Jaguar V12 engine with a lighter and more compact V6 turbo - loosely based on that in the Group B MG 6R4 rally car - which was more suited to the shorter sprint races in North America. A 3-litre unit was used for the IMSA GTP cars, a 3.5-litre for the Group C XJR-11.

       

By 1991, TWR was developing the XJR-16 as a successor, but the XJR-10 wasn't done - adding two more victories to the four achieved in '89 and 1990. Davy Jones won at the Grand Prix of Palm Beach in March, Raúl Boesel winning at the Grand Prix of Miami a month later - both 2 hour races on street circuits. You can see plenty of the Bud Light XJR-10 cars in action during these extended highlights from Miami on Brazilian TV...



Raúl Boesel was just one of a stellar generation of Brazilian drivers to follow the trail-blazer Emerson Fittipaldi and make it into F1. A former show-jumping champion, Boesel headed to England in 1980, finishing second in that year's Townsend Thoresen British Formula Ford Championship - just behind Roberto Moreno and ahead of Jonathan Palmer. Following a season in British Formula 3 and third in the championship, the Brazilian made his Grand Prix debut - quite a meteoric rise. Sadly, Raúl Boesel's F1 career stalled following two difficult seasons with March and Ligier. He went on to spend more than a decade racing Indycars - and although often a front runner, victory eluded him. Five second places - plus third at the 1989 Indy 500 - were his best results.

Boesel enjoyed his most successful racing with Jaguar sports cars, winning the 1987 world championship. He took five wins on his way to the title, driving the legendary TWR XJR-8 alongside Eddie Cheever, John Nielsen, Jan Lammers, Martin Brundle and Johnny Dumfries. He then went on to win the 1988 Daytona 24 hours, sharing his XJR-9 with Brundle and Nielsen. Jaguar must hold rather good memories for the Brazilian...


       

The Slot.it car fits nicely into their huge Group C / IMSA GTP range and has the same layout as all the other models with an inline motor pod fitted as standard. The wiring connectors allow the Slot.it Carrera and Scalextric compatible digital chips to be installed without any need for soldering...


       

Raúl Boesel's 1991 Bud Light Jaguar XJR-10 will be available next week from retailers worldwide. Many thanks to Jo and the Slot.it sales team for sending us the magnificent images of the model.

   

Hi, Everyone 
My names Neil, I’m from the Blackburn Lancashire area. 
I’m a complete novice to slot car racing. I bought a scalextric set around 5years ago, but didn’t have the room to do it justice. Now that my circumstances have changed I’ve a whole room, I can dedicate to the hobby. 
I’m thinking of constructing the Nürburgring from the scalelextric plans on this site. If anyone out there can give me any idea of how much room this track would need and which would be the best power supply to run such a large layout? I would be very grateful for the info. 
Many thanks.

Part of a collection that I bought a part of this week, were 3 hand made, home made, but wonderful slot cases.

Interesting set of .... pictures on them ... but wonderful workmanship.

The handle on the one has Thingies written and then encased in resin. Old type leather handle on another one with old type school case latches.
Huge attention to detail.

                                   


Lets see yours- any kind, shape , home made or bought!!