The Ferrari 126C was designed to replace the highly successful but obsolete 312 T series in use since 1975. The basic chassis was almost identical to the previous car but the smaller and narrower V6 engine with forced induction, better suiting the ground effect aerodynamics now needed to be competitive (the previous car's wide flat-12 boxer engine obstructed the airflow necessary to generate efficient ground effect), and was a better package overall. During engine development Ferrari started experimenting with a Comprex pressure wave supercharger supplied by a Swiss company; this car version was initially called 126BBC from the name of Brown Boveri Comprex and later named 126CX. The system was praised by drivers for driving like a naturally aspirated engine but having an extended power range, thus eliminating the notorious lag of the turbocharger. However the system was rather tall in the car and there could be some mixing of exhaust and intake gas so the team opted for the fitment of twin KKK turbochargers producing around 600 bhp (447 kW; 608 PS) in qualifying trim, detuned to 550 bhp (410 kW; 558 PS) in race trim. The car fitted with turbochargers was called 126CK

The 126CK was first tested during the Italian Grand Prix in 1980. In testing it proved far faster than the 312T5 chassis the team were then using and Gilles Villeneuve preferred it, though he had reservations about the handling. Early unreliability of the turbo engine put paid to Villeneuve's  1981 championship hopes but he did score back to back victories in Monaco and Spain, as well as several podium places. Because of the problematic handling the 126CK was at its best on fast tracks with long straights such as Hockenheim, Monza and Buenos Aires. The car proved to be very fast but Gilles Villeneuve found the handling to be very difficult, calling the car "a big red Cadillac".

       

The arrival of Harvey Postelthwaite led to a total overhaul of the car in time for the  season. The turbo engine was further developed and reliability found, while an all-new chassis and bodywork were designed, featuring Ferrari's first genuine full monocoque chassis with honeycomb aluminum panels for the structure, which made it more similar to its British specialist competitors' cars than any of Ferrari's previous F1 cars had been since 1962. Smaller, nimbler and with vastly improved aerodynamics, the 126C2 handled far better than its predecessor, although due to its heavier weight thanks to the turbo-charged engine made it slower around corners than its rivals. Villeneuve and Pironi posted record times in testing with the new car and began the season with several solid results, even though Pironi had a gigantic accident during testing at the Paul Ricard circuit, of which he was lucky to escape alive. The car made its debut at South Africa in January of that year, where both cars retired and at the Long Beach Grand Prix in America 2+1⁄2 months later, the car was fitted with an unusual configuration of two thin rear wings, each individually as wide as the regulations allowed, but placed side-by-side and staggered fore and aft, making it effectively a single double-wide wing. This was done as a deliberate exploitation of rule loopholes in retaliation for Williams' "water-cooled brakes" exploit at the previous race in Brazil, and to send a political message to the governing body, which was part of theFisa/FOCA wars which resulted in disqualification for Villeneuve, who finished the race in 3rd. Then came the infamous race atSan Marinoafter which Villeneuve accused Pironi of having disobeyed team orders. The fallout from the race preceded Villeneuve's death in an horrific accident during qualifying at the next round in Belgium, which left Pironi as team leader. Pironi himself was nearly killed in a boating accident in Germany, putting an end to his motor racing career, but this did not stop Ferrari from winning the constructors' championship that year. The 126C2 was further developed during the season, with new wings and bodywork tried, and the engine's power boosted to 650 bhp (485 kW; 659 PS) in qualifying trim and around 600 bhp (447 kW; 608 PS) in races. An improved chassis was designed and developed mid-season that was introduced for the French Grand Prix that changed the rocker arm front suspension to a more streamlined pull-rod, rising rate suspension. A thinner longitudinal gearbox was also designed and developed to replace the transverse gearbox to promote better undisturbed airflow from the underside of the ground-effects chassis's side-pods.


       


Model: 126 C2 - 1982

This is the wonderful model by George Turner, that has been upgraded with some metal front suspension. I hasten to add I did not build this one :)


                   



A picture of the upcoming Policar version that will be modelled from the twin wing version raced at Long Beach:


   

Race 9 is being held at F1Fan’s track in Chilliwack,BC.   

Qualifying video link

 https://youtu.be/QTlO2d_vNHI

Recently whilst googling for 3D files I found a link to a thread on modelcarsmag forum about printing a kind giveaway 3D file for a Maserati Birdcage.

Today on FB, the same info popped up, a bit more googling found the page with the download link for the file.

Many thanks and kindness to Bill Cunningham for letting the model car 3D printing community use these files.

Although created for model makers and so includes everything bar the engine, this is going to be a lovely Slot car sometime soon...

http://www.modelcarsmag.com/3dprintingresources/

   

Does anybody here know Lee? He lives in Eaglescliffe. I live in Tennessee USA.
He received a package of mine by mistake and I received his , I forwarded his package to him but I'm still waiting on mine.
I want to confirm he has sent it, if you know him please have him message me.

   

UK slot car swapmeets are back in full swing - and it's a hectic schedule over the next four months, with five events in different parts of England...

   

Havant Scalextric Fair & Fun Day - Sunday 25 September.

A relatively new event, held in the original home town of Scalextric. Expect a full swapmeet and plenty of tracks to have some fun with. There's usually an exclusive show model, but no news on that yet. For more details and to book a table, head over to the event's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HavantScalextric

   

NSCC Leeds Northern Swapmeet - Sunday 9 October.

One for northern slot car enthusiasts, NSCC get free entry and first dibs on an exclusive show model. To contact the NSCC for more info or to book a table, visit their website: https://www.nscc.co.uk/

   

Orpington Slot Car Swapmeet - Sunday 20 November.

A change of name, but it’s still Phil Smith’s extravaganza of slot car goodies in the London commuter belt. There are more details and table booking info on his website: https://www.philsmith.co.uk/slotcarevents.html. There's also a virtual tour of a typical Orpington event on SlotRacer here: https://slotracer.online/community/showt...p?tid=1199

   

Winter Slot Car Market - Sunday 4 December.

The organisers are probably still recovering from May’s wonderful UK Slot Car Festival – but the Winter Slot Car Market will be back on Sunday 4 December at the British Motor Museum. Expect details on their website soon: https://www.ukslotcarfestival.co.uk/

   

Swindon Scalextric Swapmeet - Sunday 8 January 2023.

Swindon returns to its traditional first Sunday of January slot for 2023. There’s plenty of time to plan your trip and book a table – more details on the event Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SwindonScalextric

And a couple of retailers putting on a show...

Rumour has it that Weevils Slot Cars will be hosting another swapmeet event at Ardingly Showground, near Gatwick in November. Keep an eye on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/weevilsslotcars

Gaugemaster will be holding their annual AutoFest slot car open day at their West Sussex shop over the weekend of 8-9 October. More details here: https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/magento/events/

Somewhere very recently I saw a post about a 3D printable guide support for Fly trucks. It fills the gap under the flag so it's more stable and doesn't rotate so far and jam up.

I thought I'd find it again easily but can I!

Anyone know where I'd find it please?

There was also mention of a Fly Truck proxy thread where there were details on how to set them up. Again, I've found a few posts but not that specific one. Could be anywhere. Another Forum, Facebook, a web site.

Again, if anyone knows the whereabouts .......

hi guys 
this thread is as the title says , to 'gauge interest' , but specifically in a UK Scalextric Porsche 911 proxy for sometime next year  in 2023
since everyone has at least one Scalextric Porsche 911 in their car collection 
the intention is to have 2x classes 
class A :- 1980's Scalextric Porsche 911 turbo models only ( i think these are C125 ) ( will be an almost stock class except tyres , braid etc , tbd )
class B :- Scalextric Porsche 911 GT3R models only ( think C2 ? ? ?  ) ( will be a much more open class using the scally body shell , again mods tbd )
there will be a max entry number for each class tbd , a shoot out if lots of interest 
hosts will also be required , max 10 hosts 
entry fees be kept as low as possible and will be calculated :- 1/ dependent on entry numbers 2/ shipping between the number of hosts 3/ return postage to owners  , anything left over will go towards a final prize fund , if there is anything left over :)

please post here if interested in entering and or hosting 

Kev

Well Jake it hasn't actually got a cop motor, cop suspension or cop brakes but it does have a dirty great loudspeaker on the roof:

2) Rear axle bearing not fitted properly:    

3) Windscreen mounted spotlight not glued in, fell out as soon as I removed the car from the box.

4) The reason the bonnet was lifting was that the two screws at the front were too short and didn't reach the relevant receptacles so the front end was not actually fixed to the chassis at all!

All easily fixed but nowhere near acceptable for a £50 plus car. I found an even worse example on t'internet with a car bought directly from Hornby:

Having sorted that lot out and run it in at low voltage for a while I put the car back together again ready for its first outing on the track. Incidentally, it is a bit of a pig to reassemble so don't take it apart unless absolutely necessary. Apart from the chassis and body shell the bumpers and bull bars are separate mouldings and it is quite fiddly to get them all back in place without dislodging the light bars. The loudspeaker ropes are also a nightmare to retie unless you have child size fingers.

Performance?
Don't be silly, this is a huge car with a high centre of gravity. The motor is mounted on its side which seems a strange thing to do. Presumably to fit in with the full interior but there is plenty of room in the rear and it wouldn't take much design skill to fit it in the normal fashion. Doesn't seem to make much difference to the performance though.

By its very nature I doubt many of these will actually see any track time and most will spend their lives in a display cabinet. Mine will certainly only get the occasional fun outing and never be seriously raced but, for what it is worth, the results of a short track test are as follows:

First thing to note is that Scalextric have actually fitted some half decent tyres at last with a reasonable level of grip on my wooden track, on a par with the Slot.it C1 plastic track variety. Good adhesion on the straights but still plenty of tail out action on the corners which is exactly what the Bluesmobile should be like.
   

In spite of the high centre of gravity it showed no real tendency to roll over which was a bit of a surprise and it would happily lap without drama in around 7 seconds on my 50 ft track which is pretty slow but much better than expected. Due to the weight it takes a while to reach top speed and even longer to slow down but normal Scalextric saloons are only about a second a lap quicker so that is not too shabby for something the size of a bus.

Conclusions
If you are a fan of the film then this car is a must buy. Quality control issues aside, I love it and can't wait for Scalextric to bring out the full police version so I can chase it round a shopping mall.

In the meantime ............... It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit It!

This isn't a car I would have even considered before but an upcoming interesting proxy got me searching through 50's film footage of the Monte Carlo Rally, lo and behold this huge monster was spotted rounding a downhill left hand hairpin and I thought...THAT'S the one!

   
   

Luckily there's a 3D file available for this car so was duly purchased, setup and printed.

3D printed in a triple blend resin, will have a 3D printed chassis, possibly a SW.

   
   
   

This is now sprayed with etch primer whilst I decide on the main colour.

This is definitely one that will be seen on our Rally stages...but not sure it's a wise choice for a proxy that has some plastic tracks and a hump back bridge...