[CMOTD]

Another one from the "why on earth did they make that" department. I rather enjoy studying failed F1 cars, both 1:1 and the 1/32 variety and there are certainly plenty of examples to be found in the output of the major slot car manufacturers. In this mini series I have already looked at the BRM P83 and the McLaren M9A which had minimal success so now let us turn our attention to another SCX vintage release, the #60910 Sigma F1.
                                                                              
The M9A had a racing history lasting approximately 7 minutes but the Sigma went one better, it never turned a wheel! In fact it wasn't even a legal F1 car. It was actually a research prototype constructed in 1969 to test various safety improvements and was a response to concern about the increasing number of deaths in F1 at that time. It was built by Pininfarina, the design house, in collaboration with the Revue Automobile and with some help from Ferrari which supplied the chassis and engine from an F1 312 V12. It was way ahead of its time in many respects with deformable side pods, integrated wheels to minimise risk of interlocking and a spoiler which doubled as a roll bar. It also had onboard fire extinguishers, a driver survival cell, plastic fuel-tanks, a six point harness and a very early form of the Hans neck safety device.

It was shown at the Geneva motor show in March 1969 and then returned to the Pininfarina museum where it has resided ever since. It is doubtful whether its engine was ever fired up let alone taken out for a spin. Needless to add F1 took absolutely no notice of its safety innovations and it was many years before most of them would appear in an actual F1 car.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
 Four years later in 1973, for reasons best known to themselves, Exin Scalextric released a model of the car to a bemused customer base who probably weren't even aware of the existence of the 1:1 version! It was actually a pretty accurate representation of the real thing, apart from the weird orange and green colours, and stayed in the catalogue till the early 80s. In 2002 it was added to the growing ranks of the vintage series when even fewer people would know about the project. It was also presented in a posh biscuit tin rather than the fancy boxes of previous vintage releases. This time it was finished in silver aluminium with correct tampo printing and was really a super model with excellent performance but it is debatable whether the real thing is actually that colour as most photos show it to be white. Whether that is a trick of the light or it has been repainted at some point I don't know as some photos do make it appear silver. Without travelling to Italy I am unable to confirm either way. Anybody visited the museum?

So there you have it, another oddball car from SCX. Of course they are not alone in making strange choices of models to produce and I will continue the theme with other manufacturers if people are interested.

[Anthony B]

Love these posts Brian - well researched and informative....    Current IMSA/Indy look remarkably like this car !


Try looking up Ferrari Spazzaneve for a what ion earth were they thinking!!!

[JasonB]

You're a mine of information.  

I confess I'd never heard of the 1:1 car,  or the slot car. Good stuff.

[Scuderia_Turini]

I have to admit some prejudice here (I own a Pininfarina car :-) and have a Sigma similar to the one pictured.

The SIGMA concept car was created at the height of the Jackie Stewart led F1 safety campaign, although Paul Frere was the racing driver in the "committee".  

I saw the Sigma in 1985 and don't recall it being particularly flashy.  I just found the 1977 magazine cover below.
Don't know if the Sigma influenced any changes to F1 cars, it probably got suppressed as costing too much to be viable - different times...

Leo

   

[fotodoug]

I bought this many years ago...tried to run it once, and that's all it took to put it on the shelf!

[CMOTD]

Strange, I had one as well and it performed perfectly as did most of my Spanish Scalextric single seaters of that era. Not rocket ships but stable and smooth to drive.