NSR0233SW Porsche 908/3 24h Le Mans 1974 #31 - Escudería Tibidabo. RRP £87.95. Available February 2022.

Due to arrive in the UK this month is the latest livery on NSR's highly-rated Porsche 908/3. Ever since its release in February 2018, the 908/3 has been the fastest of NSR's 'Classic' range of racing slot cars. Just like the real thing, the NSR model is light, nimble and a race winner. NSR have also given us some historically important liveries - from the '70 and '71 works cars, which capably filled in for the mighty 917k on twisty tracks like the Nürburgring and at the Targa Florio, through to the privateer cars of '72 and Escudería Montjuïch's '73 European hillclimb champion. There've been some nice 'fantasy' liveries too - a Sunoco Penske tribute and two Rothmans cars.

       

If I look beyond the rather naff painted-on headlights, I think this latest livery is one of the best on the NSR 908/3. Although the NSR body is very much the non-lighted version, they carried off a suitable compromise with the Escudería Montjuïch '72 Le Mans car by creating what appeared to be foil taped over the headlight lenses - a very common 'look' at an endurance race in the 70s. That fix was certainly good enough for me - and they should have done it with this Escudería Tibidabo car too. However, do try and look beyond those lights...

       

Francisco Torredemer's Escuderia Tibidabo entered the Porsche into the rather depleted 1974 Le Mans 24 hours. A fuel crisis triggered by the previous year's Yom Kippur war had already decimated the motor sport calendar. Nonetheless, this was Le Mans... 81 cars entered, with 49 starting - the most notable absentees being the Autodelta Alfa Romeo squad. The battle for the win would be between Matra and Mirage. The red and white Porsche from Spain was the only 908/3 on the grid - and you see it briefly at around 4m20s in this fantastic 70's film of the event...



Francisco Torredemer was a driver with the Escudería Montjuïch gang - a bunch of young Spanish rich kids who bought and ran exotic machinery to drag Spanish motor sport back onto the European stage. By 1974, their Porsche 908/3 (chassis #013) was extremely long in the tooth. Torredemer bought the car and gave it a final shot at glory. Like Montjuïch, Tibidabo is a hill overlooking Barcelona. Sharing the car with fellow-Spaniard and Montjuïch driver Juan Fernández - plus French-born rally driver Bernard Tramont - Torredemer had to be satisfied with a qualifying time towards the back of the midfield. Then in the race, the #31 908/3 retired after 3 hours with a cooked gearbox. Tramont - who'd come out of retirement for the 24 hours - didn't even get to drive. The team packed up, went home - and that was the last seen of Escudería Tibidabo at an international event...

   

Thanks to NSR for bringing the team back to life - and I am sure there will be long-overdue success on the slot car track.

   

I thought it might be a bit of fun to run a Formula Junior as a Pacer car with Sport World in anticipation of some old school races.

Apologies for the poor quality video but I was driving the Renault and filming the BRM Formula Junior at the same time. The Formula Junior has a small mod to the guide post, it is extended to trigger the optical sensor better.

I think it is pretty neat that a car from a bygone era can still be made to work on a relatively modern system.

Has anyone done a digital conversion on a Formula Junior?

B.

This weekend sees the finale of the globe-trotting Intercontinental GT Challenge - the pinnacle of the SRO GT competition pyramid. The 2021 season is just three races - 24 Hours of Spa, Indianapolis 8 Hour and the Joburg Kyalami 9 Hour. The Bathurst 12 hours was postponed and now opens the 2022 four-race schedule. This weekend is a showdown between Ferrari and Audi for the manufacturers' title - plus five crews are competing for the drivers' championship. The website is here: https://www.intercontinentalgtchallenge.com/

Kyalami celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2021 - so this weekend carries over festivities into the new year. The race starts at 1pm local time on Saturday and runs through to - you guessed it - 10pm. Joburg is two hours ahead of GMT at the moment, so UK viewers will be watching from 11am to 8pm.

There will be live coverage from qualifying and the race on the GTWorld YouTube Channel, but here's your pitlane preview...



This should be another great GT endurance race

I’ve revived 2 older, but with Sport track, box sets and added a few pieces to make a decent temporary spare room floor circuit. Added a few new cars. 

Now I’m considering going digital with an Arc Pro either via the upgrade kit or a set like the Le Mans 24h. 

It looks like the Arc Pro tech is pretty old and has not been updated. 

What do you know about further development, an Arc Pro 2 perhaps?

Your thoughts about my upgrade plan?

I’ll post photos of the circuit when it’s sorted. 

Gentlemen. WOW. Great news this proxy is now full and a Shoot Out will be necessary as we have hit the limit of 36 entries in less than 24 hours. Of those 36 entries, 26 will be moving forward after our Round 0 Shoot Out. 

The 26 cars with the fastest median times will be moving on to Round 1 of the series. 

Thanks for your interest.

   

The 2022 Spring Speed Nationals wraps up the 2021-22 UK HO Drag Proxy Series - and starts the four-event 2022 schedule. In March, we'll be running all the classes that have competed over the past 12 months. The regulations and format are in the 'UK HO Drag Proxy Series 2021-22 Preview' thread here.

The Track: The Rock County Eighth Mile is a seven-foot timed strip (1/8 mile in true HO scale) made from the new 2019 Micro Scalextric sectional track. Cars must be fitted with braids to run on this track. Power is set at 12 volts and 8 amps across the two lanes. Power to both lanes is triggered by a single switch firing a relay board. Timing is via Trackmate Drag Basic. After the finish line, there is a two-foot shutdown with dynamic braking and a well-padded catch box.

The Format: The events runs over the weekend, with racing through both days, usually with the elimination rounds on the same day as qualifying for each class.

Sending cars: Aim for your cars to arrive in Brighton at least 72 hours before the first day of the event,  so they can be quarantined (if necessary) and then registered for qualifying. Please also pack in a small box (max height 7.5cm if possible) and pay for your postage online so no-one needs to go near a post office. These races are designed to be Covid-safe events that are accessible to everyone and can continue whatever restrictions might be in place. You may - of course - send cars for several races or the full duration of the series  - just let me know.

How to enter: Send me a private message or add a reply below. One car per class may be entered per person. Family members and friends are very welcome to enter too. I will message you with the address to send cars to. You will need to pay for return postage. Otherwise there is no race fee.

Overseas entrants must talk to me about customs forms on their parcels! The recipient (me) will normally be charged 20% of the stated value of the parcel, plus an £8 handling fee. As cars sent to these races are not commercial goods, I need to explain how to alert UK customs to this fact and avoid the fees.

Entries Race #16 - Spring Speed Nationals - 12-13 March 2022

Micro Scalextric Street Stock: Nico, Iain, Kev, Rebecca, Andy, Bill, Jane, Jeremy, Pete, Jerome, Sue, Mary, Anna, Freddie, Clive, Rose (16)

Micro Scalextric Super Stock 6.0: Nico, Iain, Kev, Andy Phi, Rebecca, Andy Pla, Bill, Jane, Jeremy, Pete (10)

NHRA 4-Gear Funny Car, Pro Stock & Pro Mod: Nico, Rebecca, Andy, Iain, Bill, Jerome (6)

NHRA AW Top Fuel: Nico, Rebecca, Andy, Clive, Iain (5)

Nostalgia T-Jet: Nico, Iain, Rebecca, Andy, Bill , Clive (6)

Nostalgia 4-Gear Funny Car: Nico, Iain, Rebecca, Andy, Bill, Kev, Jerome, Rose (8)

Nostalgia Micro Scalextric 2019: Nico, Iain, Kev, Bill, Rebecca, Andy (6)

Nostalgia Magnatraction Pro Stock: Nico, Kev, Andy, Rebecca, Bill, Iain (6)

IFA Match Racing: Kev, Nico & Bill - 3-way match.

If anyone has a floor pan available for the Pro Performance Lola Aston Martin C3193 (Scalextric) please could you message me. Mine recently had a motor mount failure and it really is my favourite car.

If there is an equivalent that will fit then that would be good to know to

Hello slot car friends,

Just a video I made two days ago about Fleischmann. I don't know if you are familiar with this brand in the US / Canada?
In this video I show / tell you the history of the Fleischmann company in a nutshell.

And if it's allowed a little publicity for my friend Peter van der Heijden, owner of "Fleischmannparadijs".
In his webshop you find everything to keep your Fleischmann Slot Car in perfect condition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKVv3KLqI38

Link to his webshop https://www.fleischmannparadijs.nl/  

Can't find any in our area. Seems to be unheard of. Anyone found an easily sourced alternative that works please? 

I used to apply Johnsons Klear and the later 'Future' follow-on with a soft brush and being water thin it would level out and dry glass smooth.

Found kids old scalextric crash and bash set in the loft. Some extra eBay track purchases and 2 cars to make the circuit fit on a 8x4.hinged the board to the garage floor and wall for storage 
Watched a few YouTube videos and had a go, never done any model making before.
Mistakes I made, 
1- not checking all track connections were tight   
2- paint base board white, can see gaps in between track
3- flocking grass doesn’t always stick to pva if you touch it while wet!
4- evo can’t fly when there’s no crash barrier to catch it