Here's a peek at the box art and pre-production prototypes for the rather super Team Lotus Grand Prix limited edition triple pack expected in time for Christmas...

   

Scalextric C4184A The Genius of Colin Chapman Team Lotus Triple Pack. Limited Edition of 1500 units. RRP £129.99. Available December 2020.

The set features three ground-breaking Chapman cars, three iconic liveries and three world champions...

   

Back in the day when car numbers changes pretty much every race, what we seem to have is...

• Jim Clark's Lotus 25 from the 1962 Belgian Grand Prix - Clark's first world Championship victory (and the first of four consecutive wins at Spa), the Lotus 25's first Grand Prix win and the first win for a car with a monocoque chassis. Team Lotus and Clark would have to wait until 1963 for their first constructors' and drivers' World Championships, when Clark drove the Lotus 25 to an astonishing seven wins (nine podiums) in the ten races.
  
• Graham Hill's Gold Leaf Lotus 49 from the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix - coming just a month after Clark's fatal crash at Hockenheim, it was Hill's first win of three in a bitter-sweet season, when he picked up a second World Championship. There was also Team Lotus' third constructors' title, a first world championship for the Ford Cosworth DFV engine and for a car with the engine used as a stress-bearing structural component.
  
• Emerson Fittipaldi's JPS Lotus 72 from the 1972 Spanish Grand Prix - his first win of five in a dominant drive to become the youngest-ever F1 world champion (a record that latest until 2005). It was the highly-innovative Lotus 72's second world championship and Team Lotus' fifth.
  

   

Quite a line-up - and one that will thrill Lotus and classic F1 fans.

The triple pack is scheduled for Winter 2020-1, but Hornby's arrangement with Santa is that it will definitely be available in time for Christmas. It can be pre-ordered now at the Scalextric website (here) and at MRE, Pendle Slot Racing, Jadlam Toys & Models and plenty more Scalextric retailers.

   

Just announced by Scalextric is this Club-exclusive model - the Wynn's sponsored Mercedes AMG GT3, campaigned in the 2019 WeatherTech IMSA series by Riley Motorsports. Competing strongly in the GT Daytona (GTD) class, the team picked up one class win - at the Virginia International Raceway round at the end of August - with Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating at the wheel. The team would finish the season sixth in the GTD championship.

   


The AMG GT3 is a top choice for those racing Scalextric GT cars and this is a fabulous livery - representing the car as it raced at the 2019 Daytona 24 hour race, in the hands of Bleekemolen, Keating, Luca Stolz and Felipe Fraga. The car finished 22nd overall and sixth in an extremely exciting battle for GTD honours, just a lap behind the class-winning Grasser Racing Lamborghini Huracán. Later in the year, Keating, Bleekemolen and Fraga would race a Wynn's sponsored Ford GT at Le Mans in the GTE Am class - another new car released by Scalextric this year.

The Wynn's Mercedes will be included in the new ARC Pro Platinum GT set, but Scalextric are offering this limited edition (300 units), high-detail, boxed version to Club members only. With the 10% Club discount, it will cost £36.89 and it is available now as a Pre-Order, to arrive this autumn. You can find the car here: https://www.scalextric.com/uk-en/shop/pr...ecial.html - but you can only buy it if you're logged into the site and a paid-up Club member.

If you need tempting to join the Club, we've already taken a look at the 2020-1 Scalextric Club and Escort Mk1 Club car here: https://slotracer.online/community/showt...p?tid=1304

   

After three extremely enjoyable events (reports here, here and here), we are moving swiftly on to the penultimate round of our HO proxy drag racing Summer Series on Tuesday & Wednesday 1st & 2nd September. This event will be our 1/64 scale homage to the real Brighton Speed Trials, which won't be happening this year.

Qualifying is Tuesday and then the Eliminators are Wednesday evening with coverage here on SlotRacer Online. The races are sponsored by Jadlam Toys & Models and Super Tires.

There are more details about the monthly proxy drag racing series here: https://slotracer.online/community/showt...p?tid=1256

We will be running the same three classes again in September:

• Micro Scalextric Street Stock - regs here.
  
• Micro Scalextric Super Stock - regs here.
  
• T-Jet Nostalgia Super Stock - regs here.
  

We'll also continue with the 4-Gear match-racing, so if you have an Auto World 'Legends of the Quarter Mile' 4-Gear Funny Car - or an old AFX speciality Funny Car - send it in. The match-race chassis will need to be 100% stock - apart from adding braid to the pick-ups (I can do this, if you prefer) and replacement slip-on rear tyres. And if you have any other 4-Gear or Xtraction / Magnatraction cars, we can match them up for a duel down the strip. There will also be a few experimental Micro Scalextric cars racing this time.

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 for the first event is 12 volts, 4 amps per lane. Power to both lanes is triggered by a single switch firing a 2-channel relay board. Timing is Trackmate Drag Basic. There is a two-foot shutdown with dynamic braking and a well-padded catch box.

Sending cars: Aim for your cars to arrive in Brighton by the previous Saturday (29 August) so they can be quarantined and then registered for qualifying on Tuesday. Please also pack in a small box (max height 7.5cm) and pay for your postage online so no-one needs to go near a post office. These races are designed to be full-on social distancing events that are accessible even to those shielding at home.

How to enter: Add a reply with your interest and the classes you'll be entering - one car per class 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.

Entries - Race Four - September 1 & 2

Micro Scalextric Street Stock: Alan T, Laura, Rebecca, Clive, Jane, Jeremy, Leo, Andy Pla, Andy Phi, Doug, David, Noah, Dylan P, Jerome, Peter, Terry, Louise, Gareth, Dylan W, Iain, Bill, Dave, Al S, Hank, Jason + ? (25)

Micro Scalextric Super Stock: Alan T, Rebecca, Clive, Leo, Andy Pla, Andy Phi, Iain, Dave, Hank, Al S (10)

T-Jet Nostalgia Super Stock: Alan T, Rebecca, Clive, Andy Pla, Doug, David, Noah, Dylan P, Iain, Gareth, Al S (11)

4-Gear Funny Car match racing: Rebecca ("Bounty Huntress" Ford Mustang), Doug ("Blue Max" Ford Mustang), Clive ("Candies & Hughes" Cuda), David ("King Fish" Cuda), Pete & Jerome (DHL NHRA Funny Car), Alan T (Summit NHRA Pro Stock)

NHRA Top Fuel 4-Gear match racing: Dylan P (Alanabi), Noah (Optima), Clive (Matco Tools), Andy (FRAM)

Magnatraction match racing: Clive (A40)

Micro Scalextric Factory Experimental exhibition runs: Bill, Andy, Clive

Lockdown got in the way of our traditional prizegiving at the Barn, so the 2019 HO champions have all received their trophies at home. Family members have taken some great pictures - which have been shared on the WHO Facebook page over the past month. Here they all are...

   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Congratulations to all our 2019 champions! The WHO Hall of Fame is here: http://whoracing.org.uk/hall_of_fame.html

My next job is to rescue the 2019 WHO/digital trophies from the trophy shop.

Hi, my name is Nicolas and I have a boyish infatuation with slot cars. At this stage I collect cars, track pieces (Scalextric and Carrera) and sets to enjoy at a later time - hopefully in the not too distant future … looking forward to reading your posts and gaining some much needed expertise.

As the title says, the cars are arriving.



The first to arrive were from Peter and Claus:

   


And the fom OXO cube:

   
   


Then Aki's cars:

   
   
   



Then from Tilo:

   


Regards, Lloyd

TTS is proud to present you 3 new versions of Ford Mk1.

These should already be in your favourite slotshop or there very shortly!!


Ford Escort Mk.1 Gr.2 #6
"BELGA TEAM" EDITION
CODE: TTS029

   


                                                             

Ford Escort Mk.1 Gr.2 #6
"COLT RACING" EDITION
CODE: TTS030


                                                            


                                                            

Ford Escort Mk.1 Gr.2 #5
"BRITISH AIRWAYS" EDITION
CODE: TTS031

   


                                                          

These latest 3 versions have had a co-pilot and additional head lights so that the cars could be set up as rally versions.

All the other versions represent cars that raced in a famous races (like the 24h of Spa).

The mechanical specs are: - 19.000 rpm MOTOR - 33 T AW SPUR GEAR - 12 Z AW NYLON PINION - ANODIZED ALUMINUM CHASSIS - REAR 3x6 FLANGED BALL BEARINGS

The cars had a negative camber system on the front like the real cars. This gives extra stability in the corner, as then the entire tyres profile touches the track, and gains a little bit of top speed on the straights, because less of the  tyre touch will then touch  the track on the straight.

   

C4150 Ford Escort Mk2 RS2000 Gulf Edition. Available now, RRP £40.99

Raced by Rui Azavedo at historic events in Portugal, I really liked the look of this Escort at the Scalextric unveiling back in January...

       

Azavedo is one of the front-runners in the 1970s Classic Super Stock series with the RS2000, but also has a RS1600 that might make another nice Gulf livery on a Scalextric Mk1...

       

Scalextric missed out on a classy Gulf Escort twinpack there! Escorts and Gulf liveries are always popular.

The RS2000 is available now from the Scalextric website and will be arriving with retailers during the next week.

There are some tasty offerings from AFX, AutoWorld, Wizzard and Micro Scalextric this summer...

       

Two Ford GT (2017) road cars are about to be released in the US by AFX Tomy Racemasters. These aren't the first AFX GTs - there are two set cars and two previous individual cars - but the 'Liquid Red' and 'Triple Yellow' liveries are rather nice. Don't forget these are tiny 1/64 scale models, so the detailing is pretty sensational for this scale...

   

The Triple Yellow car certainly harks back to the John Whitmore / Frank Gardner GT40 MkII that raced at Le Mans in 1966...

       

These are released on the 1.7" long-wheelbase Mega-G+ chassis.

Also just arrived - and also on the 1.7" Mega-G+ chassis - are another Boss Mustang and '70 Chevy Camaro...

       

The Mustang is authentic 'Grabber' blue and the Camaro in orange...

       

Both the muscle cars are available now from the Racemasters website (here) and all AFX dealers, RRP $40.99.

Also available - for the first time - are packs of eight pairs of Mega-G+ pick-ups (choice of long or short versions) separate from the pit kits. The RRP is $8.99 per pack.


Much as I like the AFX muscle cars, I am rather more excited by the recent announcement of a second Auto World Thunderjet 500 "Trans-America" release (available September / October), featuring three authentic Trans-Am liveries...

   

These are real racing car liveries - the #15 Boss Mustang driven by Parnelli Jones to five wins in the 1970 Trans-Am series; Sam Posey's #77 1970 Dodge Challenger; and the 1967 Dave Tatum #14 Mercury Cougar. These goes nicely with last year's 4-car release that featured a 66 Mustang in Historic Trans-Am colours, Dan Gurney's 67 Cougar, the Jerry Titus 68 Firebird and Swede Savage's 1970 AAR 'Cuda.

The seven cars make a lovely 1/70-ish scale Trans-Am grid - the bodies that can be run on the standard AutoWorld Thunderjet 500 Ultra-G chassis (without or without traction magnet) or can be fitted to original Aurora T-Jets or the superb modern racing versions - Dash-Jet or the brand-new Wizz-Jet that is available now from Wizzard High Performance...

   

The Wizz-Jet has been developed by R.C. Lincoln - one of the very top T-Jet racers and heir to the Wizzard empire - and can be built with original Aurora or aftermarket components. This new chassis is bound to breathe new life into the ever-popular T-Jet racing scene.


Finally - although already covered is a separate news item here, it's worth remembering the rather nice new James Bond 007 'No Time to Die' set from Micro Scalextric...

       

Featuring the new track system and two sensational cars, this is likely to be popular with fans of the smaller scale. RRP £49.99.

Lloyd Lewis is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: 1/43 Slot Car Zoom meeting
Time: Aug 18, 2020 08:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom...UpnTDJZMytOdz09

Meeting ID: 729 7091 9102
Passcode: 0BJejG


All 1/43 slot car enthusiasts, wherever you may live, are invited to take part in this Zoom meeting.
 
As it is the first meeting for me as a host, it is a trial run to discuss possible future meetings. The meeting will last for 40 minutes.
 
I would like to make this a regular weekly meeting if it all works out.
 
I appreciate that we may not all speak each other's language/s but I am sure that we will get by.
 
I look forward to meeting you all on the 18 August at 8pm London time.
 
Regards, Lloyd.