Merry Christmas everyone, Santas arrive in Goodwood and The Targa Florio!

       

   

As I rapidly became obsessed with Le Mans during my teenage years, I devoured history books and fell in love with the Ferraris that dominated the race between '58 and '65 - achieving seven victories in eight years. The Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa won three - in '58, '60 and '61 - and Le Mans Miniatures' latest adventure in 1:32 slot car modelling is to recreate those fabulous red cars from the 1960 Le Mans 24 hours.

   

That's no mean feat - the five Testa Rossas from 1960 (pictured above) are all slightly different and Le Mans Miniatures have produced five different models, of course...

• 132091-9M Ferrari TR59/60 #9 Le Mans 1960 - Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips - retired (out of fuel, 3 hours)
  
• 132091-10M Ferrari TR60 #10 Le Mans 1960 - Richie Ginther and Willy Mairesse - retired (gearbox, 17 hours)
  
• 132091-11M Ferrari TR59/60 #11 Le Mans 1960 - Olivier Gendebien and Paul Frère - 1st place
  
• 132091-12M Ferrari TR59/60 #12 Le Mans 1960 - Ludovico Scarfotti and Pedro Rodríguez - retired (out of fuel, 3 hours)
  
• 132091-17M Ferrari TR60 #17 Le Mans 1960 - Ricardo Rodríguez and André Pilette - 2nd place
  

Only two of the Testa Rossas made it to the end - in first and second place - with Clark and Salvadori's Aston third and then five Ferrari GTs...



Two cars due to arrive very soon are the #12 and #17 cars, showing Scarfotti and Rodríguez driving...

       

There's a new-style box, similar to that used for the recent Peugeot J7 Team Matra Sport van. The detail - as always - is simply breathtaking...

       

       

These are ready-to-run 1:32 scale slot cars...

       

The bodies are made of polyurethane resin, the chassis is injected ABS plastic, there are aluminium rear wheels, a front inline motor and a Slot.it offset crown gear...

   

Also coming soon is a re-working of the  132067/10M Ferrari 250 TR61 that won the 1961 race, driven by Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill. This is a completely different mould...

       

All five of the 1960s cars and the TR61 are available for pre-order from Pendle Slot Racing and other Le Mans Miniatures stockists. The #12 and #17 cars - plus the #10 TR61 - are expected this month. The RRP in the UK is £115 - Pendles standard price is £99.95.

I have a second hand anglewinder NSR Mosler with a King 30 motor that goes like a bat out of hell but has no brakes at all! On a 30' straight I'm having to 'brake' 10' from the end to make the corner. The Parma resistor controller is wired for brakes as is the track, of course. The same controller works well on other NSR, Sideways, Slot.it and ScaleAuto cars so it must be the Mosler. 

Is there anything I can do to improve create some braking without changing the motor? Gearing? Larger dia. tyres?

P.S. Racing is mag-less.

   

PCS B020 Ford Escort Mk3 RS Turbo S1 BTCC Datapost - 1/32 scale slot car kit. RRP £40. Available now.

Following the success of their road car kit previewed here, Pendles have released a racing version of the Escort Mk3 RS Turbo. Although essentially the same moulding, a racing driver figure is included - as are decals to complete Richard Longman's legendary #44 car from the 1985 and 86 British Saloon Car Championship...

       

The RS Turbo arrived mid-season in 1985 - delayed by homologation issues. Two-time BSCC champion Longman built three cars - one for himself, one for team mate Alan Curnow and one spare. They were - without doubt - the fastest front-wheel drive Escorts of all time. Ford provided Longman with cars and most of the budget - as they had for the 1600i model he'd driven to second overall in the '84 championship - with Datapost (the express delivery branch of Royal Mail), Avon and Esso contributing cash and materials.

       

Longman's team in Dorset managed to squeeze 270 bhp out of the engine (the road cars had 132 bhp) and there was rumoured to be 300 bhp available for qualifying. When Longman debuted a single car at Silverstone in June '85, it was only three seconds a lap slower than Andy Rouse's dominant Group A Sierra XR4i. In a straight line, the Escort was blisteringly fast, but some work needed doing on the cornering and braking. Nevertheless, Longman won Class B in three of the Escort's first four races - not bad when the rest of the field had a six-month head start.

       

In 1986, the fully-developed car was simply awesome. Longman won six class victories on the way to another runner-up spot in the drivers' standings. A retirement for Longman in the penultimate round at Donington, allowed Chris Hodgetts to pull out a decisive 6-point gap  in his Class C Toyota Corolla. However, Longman's Escort Turbo was often mixing it with the top Group A cars - and in this coverage of the final round of the 1986 season, you can see him battling for the final podium place against Mike Newman's BMW 635CSi - scroll to 9:45 for the Escort action...



That was his fourth visit to the overall race podium in 1986. However, the end of the season saw a premature end for the Datapost Escort, as Richard Longman explained to Classic Ford magazine in 2014...

Quote:I don't suppose the car was yet at its peak, but at the end of that year Datapost decided they had completed their promotion work in motor racing - we'd been with them for seven years. With the Sierra Cosworth coming along, and with Datapost pulling out, it was the end of an era, and there wasn't anything else for the Escort to do. I kept it, looking for another Formula to race it in, but there wasn't one. It was such a nice car, and it was the last one I drove in the British Touring Car Championship. I loved it when I raced it. Still do.

Today, the #44 Datapost Escort RS Turbo is a popular attraction at classic car shows in the UK.

   

The PCS Escort RS Turbo S1 body kit includes...

• Unpainted 1/32 lightweight precision resin body
  
• Front and rear bumper resin
  
• Rear spoiler resin
  
• Mirrors resin
  
• Front grille resin
  
• Headlamp unit resin
  
• PCS spotlamp lenses
  
• Lexan windscreen
  
• Lexan interior
  
• Driver resin figure
  
• Chassis mounting bracket rear
  
• Decal sheet
  

   

An additional £30 gives you all the components to build a working slot car...

• PCS 32 chassis
  
• PCS 15" Alloy Wheels (PCS-3215138)
  
• Wheel inserts and spacers
  
• Tyres
  
• Gear and Pinion
  
• PSR Mabuchi Motor 20,000rpm (PSR-AC4)
  
• Bearings
  
• Axles
  
• Guide
  
• Motor wire
  
• Screws
  
  

If you're looking at a potential slot racing car, these dimensions might help...

• Bodyshell weight:18g
  
• Body wheelbase: 75mm
  
• Body length: 125mm
  
• Body width: 52mm
  
  

The kit is available for pre-order now on the Pendle Slot Racing website: https://www.pendleslotracing.co.uk/pcs-f...t-kit.html

Huge thanks to Neil at Pendles for the magnificent images of a finished version of the kit.

   

Staffs have a new style of alloy wheels scheduled for release in January. These are a 'Deep Dish' style rim, popular with tuners and street racers for their aesthetic effect - and they are perfectly shown off on that Teamslot Escort X-Pack.

   

The wheels are being produced in the standard Staffs sizes - 15.8 x 8.5 and 15.8 x 10mm - and in all the usual colours...

   

I'm noticing more and more Staffs wheels on proxy and race cars around the world, so this is where you get them:

• UK: Pendle Slot Racing
  
• France: Slotcar-Union
  
• Australia: Show Us Ya Slotz
  
• North America: LEB Hobbies.
  

Many thanks to Steve at Staffs slot cars for sending us  the news and images. Expect more wheels, tools and parts from Staffs in 2022.

Now at participating dealers.......

The Legends of Christmas.

For 2021, these models are the Dodge Legends Santa Edition and available in three colours:

P135, ’37 Dodge Coupe, ‘The Legends of Christmas’, Red.

P136, ’37 Dodge Coupe, ‘The Legends of Christmas’ , Gold.

P137, ’37 Dodge Coupe, ‘The Legends of Christmas’ , Green.


The following dealers should now have stock:

P1 Slot Cars
Rennbahnhaus
Armchair Racer
Main Street Racing
Pendle Slot Racing
Tailspin Hobbies
Slot Car-Union
Gliders and Racing Models
Show US Ya Slotz
Circuit de Legends
Slot Stop
Inaslot
Electric Dreams
Bonza Slot Cars
Nitro Hobbies
Weevil's Slot Cars
RC Superstore
VRC Hobbies
Racerbaneshoppen
MrSlotcar


   

   

   

A very odd question ,would anyone be interested in a proxy race involving scalextric sidecar outfits .It could be a very interesting proxy .
Obviously I've been down the pub ,but could be a laugh 

A friend is selling these 3 cars - they are in the UK at the moment - if you have any interest let me know and I will hook you up. (there are 2 Jager liveried cars)

He is asking 200 euro's each, and having checked our favourite aution site, cheapest I could find ther was 267 euro's

These are all collectors editions.

   


   


   

I don't know what it is exactly, but for some reason, this little car is one of my favourites.  Just something about it.... just a shame it is such a dog on the track!

So I have made it my goal to improve this little car to make it more fun to drive.  I know being a front-engined car it will never be "competitive", but can at least be improved upon.  No intentions to swap the chassis for a different one, just trying to polish what is there.

The starting point has been a lap time of 18.5 seconds on my track.
First thing I have done is just to lower how the body sits on the car by shaving the body mounting posts to try and lower the center of gravity a little, no weights added yet.  This saw some slight improvements down to a best of 18.3 seconds, but could not be consistent.  It loves to deslot, and the backend is so tail-happy.  And this is all with the magnet in.

The tires did not seem bad to me, but I think this just shows my relative inexperience with the slot cars.  On the weekend I made up a couple of sets of molds for the wheels and cast some new silicone replacement tires for it.  one set is the same size as the originals, the other slightly bigger to fill the arches more - this set in the photo.

Huge difference!  Straight out of the molds, no gluing or truing, and already lap time is down to 15.0 and running consistent times.  With the larger tires it is not quite as responsive and lost a bit of top end speed - I am assuming that is requiring more power for the weight increase in the tires but not got anything to measure yet how much this increase is.  Will try the smaller tires matching the original size to see if similar performance is noticed.  The size difference is 1mm on the diameter.

Anyone have any other pointers for this car on improving the performance?

Since Bruno died last year, my supply of urethane tyres stopped with him.

I did try and negotiate a sale for someone but it fell through and it has taken a while for his wife to agree that the business can continue (no idea of the details - not my business) with a new owner.

I am pleased to say that it is now up and running again and run by William INGHELBRECHT from the Paris region here in France.

I have just received my first order as it seemed a good idea to let him know there is still a market out here. The tyres look as good as ever, nice crisp mouldings. I put a couple of pairs on Proslot RTRs. One Toyota and an Alfa. Loads of grip, in fact, better than I remember although I doubt he has changed the recipe.

Those that can, please support this business so it can continue to supply such a wide variety of fittings, not just the usual suspects.

Really good to see it back.

slotcarstyres