A money saving tip for Tesco customers going to the Gaydon UK Slot Festival - use your Clubcard vouchers for the entry fee. Each 50p in vouchers is worth £1.50 towards tickets. LINK

Every little helps!

Yes, more 1:32 scale classic saloon cars from Revoslot...

   

Following on from the Alfa Guilia Sprint GTA is a Ford Escort Mk1 RS1600 in three initial liveries and a white kit - all scheduled for a July 2022 release.

   
The first looks remarkably like the works RS1600 that Hannu Mikkola and Jim Porter took to the 1973 Rallye Monte Carlo and finished fourth. Scalextric produced this livery in 1:32 scale back in 2007 as C2798, but I'm not sure anyone will complain. It's a great choice.

       
Then there's a Dutch touring car livery from 1972. Ernst Berg's Mk1 raced mostly in the Netherlands, with occasional  trips into Germany, France and Belgium - picking up class wins and overall podiums in the Dutch championship. This brilliantly 70s livery and the #79 on the side appeared at the Grote Prijs van Zandvoort in 1972.

       
There have been rather a lot of orange Escorts running in various Jägermeister liveries over the past few decades, but I reckon the Revoslot model is the German RS2000 pictured above. Can't tell you much about it, except it looks rather good!

   
And there's the option of a white kit to create many thousands of classic Mk1 liveries.

That's it for now - I hope this has whetted your appetites. When there's more news, you'll see it here.

Surplus to requirements, Knightwing Grandstand kit - £6 plus postage at cost:
                           
   

   
plus a few unused parts from one of these which I butchered to make something else, not enough to make a complete item but some useful bits and pieces:
   

SOLD

Free to a good home - just cover postage cost.

100 pieces of mini Scalextric track. Not actually much use as a track planner but looks good on a fridge!

Free to a good home - just cover postage cost.

   

With a moderate amount of social media hype, Scalextric unveiled five previously unannounced models this week. These were cars that would have been in the 2022 catalogue under normal circumstances - one of them was even a pixelated teaser back in December... At the range launch in January, the Scalextric team explained the 2022 catalogue concentrated on new tooling - new cars for 2022, plus the new cars that were scheduled for 2021, but had been delayed. Re-liveries that were planned for the catalogue had been shelved, not cancelled. And it looks like some of them have just broken cover...

       
Scalextric C4314 Ford Escort MK1 - Mark Freemantle - Castrol Racing. RRP £49.99. Expected Autumn 2022.

This is another cracking livery from the Modified Ford Series, which is sponsored by Scalextric - that's why the Escort has a Scalextric sticker on the bonnet and each door. Freemantle prepared the 2-litre BDG-powered Mk1 Escort for the 2021 season, but didn't get on the grid until the 2022 opener at Silverstone. He finished runner-up in Class B in both races. This Castrol Escort joins Andy Pipe's Mk1 and two versions of Jamie Gough's Mk2 RS2000 (from Teamslot) from the Modified Ford Series. Definitely worth catching if you get the chance: https://www.modifiedfords.co.uk/

       
Scalextric C4308 McLaren M23 - Dutch GP 1978 - Nelson Piquet. RRP £53.99. Expected Winter 2022-3.

When I think of Nelson Piquet, an M23 doesn't come to mind... But Piquet made three appearances in this BS Fabrication McLaren in 1978, between his F1 debut for Ensign in Germany and him joining Brabham in Canada for the start of truly remarkable partnership with Bernie Ecclestone's team. Having wrapped up the 1978 BARC British F3 title, it was no surprise Piquet found himself stepping up to F1 for the end of the season. Run by former Lotus engineer Bob Sparshott, BS Engineering was a decent F1 baptism for the future triple world champion. Although the M23 was in its sixth season of racing, Piquet managed to pre-qualify and qualify the car in all three races, the Dutch GP at Zandvoort being the second. Retiring at Austria and Zandvoort, Piquet brought the M23 home ninth at Monza - a race marred by the death of Ronnie Peterson.

       
Scalextric C4254 Jaguar XJS - Winner Donington ETCC - Win Percy & Chuck Nicholson. RRP £49.99. Expected Winter 2022-3.

The classic green and white TWR livery was always going to appear on a UK release of the XJ-S. There were sad faces in January, but now it's officially on its way. Those who bought the Aussie-only Bathurst car can add this one to their collection - another Jaguar race winner, this time at the 1984 Donington 500 Kms, round two of the European Touring Car Championship. Up against the might of the BMW 635s, Nicholson and Percy put the #2 Jag on pole and then finished half a minute ahead of James Weaver and Vince Woodman's BMW GB works car in second, with German and Italian 635s third and fourth. Tom Walkinshaw and Hans Heyer brought the #1 XJ-S home ninth and it was that pairing who'd finish first and second in the '84 ETCC drivers' championship. The smaller Division 2 Alfetta GTV6s took the manufacturers' title for Alfa Romeo, but Jaguar was best of the big guns.

       
Scalextric C4256 Aston Martin V8 - Chris Scragg Racing. Web exclusive £49.99. Expected Summer 2022.

Rather like the Modified Fords, Scalextric also celebrate grass-roots racing with some nice Aston Martin Owners Club cars, including this smashing V8 raced by long-term Aston campaigner Chris Scragg and his son Ant. The Aston is expected around the same time as the similar Gulf-sponsored car of Rikki Cann - and the Bond road car version. That'll be the first chance to try out the V8s, which feature a sidewinder motor and full interior. The Chris Scragg Racing car is only available from the Scalextric website here: https://uk.scalextric.com/products/aston...cing-c4256

   
Scalextric C4302 Castrol Rally Car. RRP £32.49. Expected Spring 2022.

This is the pre-Christmas teaser that confused so many people. Removed from the catalogue at the last minute, this super-resistant model joins a fleet of mid-priced offerings aimed squarely at younger and learner drivers, but with more imaginative and striking liveries than in the past. This has a cool Castrol colour scheme and is piloted by two members of the Scalextric team - Oscar and Caitlin. It sits nicely with previous versions of this fantasy rally car, which do have a loyal fanbase.

So that's the five cars. And I guess it's good news with Scalextric playing catch-up and leaving the 2023 catalogue open for more new tooling and more new liveries... The fact that they can make this announcement just a few months after the catalogue launch suggests the manufacturing backlog is easing and there is light at the end of the tunnel. However, Covid remains a massive problem in China, so I'll be expecting at least some disruption and uncertainly into 2023 and beyond.

Great report about Tony Pond/ Ian Grindrod in the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus  and Guenda Eadie in a works Ford Fiesta Group 2.
Even the works Audi 80 GLE Group 2 of Harald Demuth is at 27:40:

Hub

 Just in case your worrying about what to do after building your Summer Grand Prix Proxy cars, I have the third in the Triple Crown Series of Proxy's to announce.

I am anticipating that with the support of our band of loyal hosts we will be able to put on another show starting in October of 10 stages to run to the end of November.

After last years "Lights On" Le mans I wanted to broaden the scope a little more this year, so I have included Daytona and Interseries GT cars into the Classes.
I am hoping that some of the hosts will offer to run a "subdued lighting " stage and as such I have encouraged the fitting of lights by awarding 10 bonus points at the end of the series to any car which is fitted with them. 

Class A Theme - Modern 24Hrs Endurance cars (1990 -to date)
I wanted here to make this a standard RTR and modified class, so all the brands are from the home racing world. But as with the Road Race I have permitted the entrants to use restricted upgrade parts as before, but additionally I recognise that many of the models are significantly improved with the addition of 3d printed Chassis which are now easily available in the UK from Amato Slot car Design, JS Chassis Design, WSR etc. Also allowed is lightweight lexan replacement interiors in order to allow the incorporation of the 3d chassis and motor fitting without butchering the original moulded piece. But there is a minimum weight of body/interior and a overall car weight restriction, which along with using basic standard motors, should allow for another very closely run class as we have enjoyed to date.

So attached is the Introductory and Class A rules

[attachment=23070]

As this is a modern class there will be no car list as such, but if in doubt please contact me to confirm if the car you are wanting to enter qualifies in this class or not.
But basically it can be any car which has taken part in a 24 hour Endurance race since 1990.

I will add the Class B Rules tomorrow

…growing up and being interested in Hornby OO and Scalextric. The slot car set was a rare (ish) pre-release version of the 500 set. Years later it was gathering dust, survived several house moves and was sold. A few years after that and the replacement was a couple of basic sets with magnet cars. Much easier to drive! Again these sets were put away and stored. 

Wind on another 15 years and like others here a few pieces of track slotted together and a few extras purchased, just to see if it still captures interest. 

There were some prerequisites for this new ‘grown-up’ layout; not on the floor - so this is raised on a double bed in the guest room, needs to be able to be taken down and set up quickly, to use all the existing track and anything newer/digital, to have some in-field interest and a long back straight, should have flow, work well with Pace Cars, have no bridges/flyover (failed), equal lane length, balanced left and right corners and long-ish pit lane. 

The level of detail and modelling skill shown on this page is outstanding. The realism members have created is fantastic. The 19.25m Holly Farm RaceWay is a little different, you might even think that it’s boring … no landscaping, no buildings, no scenery. This is bare, stripped back, monochrome- you’ll see black baseboard, black track and borders - the concession to colour is an off the shelf Dunlop Bridge. 

It’s great fun to drive.