[woodcote]

   

The 2023 Scalextric catalogue is schedule to be unveiled at 10am GMT on Tuesday 10 January. As usual, all the new items will go live on the website around that time and we'll all have the opportunity to see what's there, create wishlists and pay for some pre-orders...

The Scalextric team have kindly offered to talked me through their new products, offering information and answering questions that will be of particular interest to Scalextric racers, as well as collectors. The plan is for our SlotRacer coverage to delve a little deeper into the new range from around midday GMT, maybe a little before.

In the meantime, what are you hoping for this year?

[Gpa113]

Hello Woodcote,  Happy New year! 

Will  be very interesting to see what Hornby Scalextric have planned for this year.  We have had some great models over the past few years,  which they clearly have worked very hard to produce,  especially given the recent worldwide upheaval. 

Would be great if the items in the 2023 catalogue actually arrive in 2023, there are still lots left over from last year.   But I was really impressed they managed to get out as much new product as they did,  including some mid season extra reliveries,  that weren't in the 2022 catalogue.     Hornby Scalextric are definitely not the worst offenders anyway,  Fly Ford Transit van anyone!  What is that, 3 years and counting now, but they still publicise them each year as if its new territory! 

What am I hoping for....

ECTO 1  The Ghostbusters Cadillac Series 62 Miller - Meteor  Ambulance.   There is even a Scalextric crystal display box bigger enough to house it now.....

Looking forward to your report tomorrow

[RetroRich67]

It’ll be interesting to see if anything else utilises the four-wheel-drive chassis from the recently revealed Ford Puma. More rally cars?

[BAracer]

I'd like to see re-liveries given more attention. 

Why always chase new models when, with skill and ingenuity, they can make the most of what is already in their gift.

[Anthony B]

I would like the o break down and somehow do some Ferrari's !!!

[woodcote]

   

It’s another wintery January morning in Margate and the start of an exciting day for Scalextric fans as the 2023 catalogue is unveiled. The new Hornby model railway offerings went live at 7am - and the Scalextric range is scheduled to appear any moment!

Enjoy browsing the new cars and I'll go for a deep dive in an hour or two....

[woodcote]

   

Hopefully you’ll have had time to look at the Scalextric website by now. My first impressions were excitement at the breadth of the offerings and some must-have iconic cars from my youth. Especially pleasing are the return of rally and modern Grand Prix cars, which have been a little neglected in recent years. That Land Rover is pretty special too!

First, a quick introduction to the state of play at Scalextric in January 2023 - and then on to the new models. The good news is that the disruption of the past two years is more or less over. Some of the cars still delayed from 2022 - the green Cobra, weathered DBR9 and the Andretti Formula-E - are all waiting on the decoration and colour matches to be spot-on. The others, including the new-for-2022 Minis, won’t be long.

The 1:64 scale Micro Scalextric range has developed a good mix of sets, cars and accessories. It will now enter a period of stability, which is important for national toy retailers to build brand-awareness and market the range to as wide an audience as possible. The Formula-E set is due next month (February) and there’ll be one new individual car for 2023 - the Aston DB5 with ‘Goldfinger’ packaging.

The situation for the 1:32 scale sets is also one of building on a successful base - the ARC Air World GT and ARC Pro Platinum GT sets will arrive during 2023. There’s also a standard version of Batman vs Joker (currently available only with the Spark Plug dongles) and a brand new James Bond set, featuring two Aston Martins - the DB5 and V8 Vantage. The Bond set will be exclusive to the Scalextric website.

Finally, 1:32 scale accessory packs have been re-packaged to say what’s in them, rather than using the less-than-obvious Pack 1, 2, 3 etc. There will be no additions to the resin-cast 1960s buildings range this year, the first two models having just arrived before Christmas and needing to prove themselves in the marketplace.

That means the overwhelming proportion of investment and development this year has gone into a cracking range of new cars. There’s plenty to get excited about in the catalogue, plus there’s a gaggle of tasty Scalextric Club exclusives, the usual Australia-only releases and more mid-year releases. All of these ‘extras’ will be announced in due course, with news of the first Club exclusives expected soon. The 2024 Scalextric Club car will be unveiled at the UK Slot Car Festival in May.

[Pennyworth]

,,,, just had a quick look,, some nice stuff in there,,, little bit fed up with the amount of TV/ Movie related items,,, but do have a bit of a soft spot for FAB 1,, and always a Batman Fan,,, just really want the 90's Animated Series Batmobile,,,,

[woodcote]

Let’s jump straight into a new category for 2023 - or rather one that has been revived after several years as an afterthought. Yes, Rally cars are back in the Scalextric catalogue with three brand new 4WD models - featuring Group A, World Rally Car and Rally1 eras - plus a tasty 1971 Escort livery.

   

The most significant is Colin McRae’s WRC-winning Subaru Impreza. When the Scalextric team discussed a return to rally, this was the car at the top of their list. Colin McRae is synonymous with rallying for British motorsport and computer gaming fans - and he is arguably the only rally driver to become a household name in the UK. McRae’s only world championship came in 1995, beating Subaru teammate Carlos Sainz and clinching the title with a famous win at the RAC Rally in November. 



The 1995 RAC car will be the first livery to be released - packaged in a green and gold ‘World Champion Edition’ version of the Scalextric clear plastic box. Future liveries won’t shy away from the ‘555’ tobacco sponsorship. Like the two other new WRC models, the Subaru features an inline Mabuchi S can motor and all-wheel-drive via a pulley system.

   

A second rally car from the 1990’s is the Ford Escort WRC. Essentially an evolution of the Group A Escort RS Cosworth, the new works car for 1997 was built to the new World Rally Car regulations. Carlos Sainz drove the Escort WRC to its first win at the 1997 Acropolis Rally - and this is the livery modelled by Scalextric. The Repsol livery is going to be a popular one, especially in Spain - but there are a nice variety of works and privateer liveries available. The Escort WRC has also been prepared as a circuit racer and Scalextric will be releasing Rod Birley’s car that’s a front-runner in the Scalextric-sponsored Modified Ford Series.

   

The third new rally car release jumps forward to the 2022 Ford Puma WRC and M-Sport’s stunning purple Red Bull livery. This model was announced before Christmas and will be released as Sébastien Loeb’s Monte Carlo Rally winning car and Gus Greensmith’s Puma from the same 2022 season-opening event.

Just to recap - the Impreza, Escort WRC and Puma are powered by an inline Mabuchi S can, driving all four wheels via a pulley system.

   

The Escort is the Wills Embassy Team Mk1 that Hannu Mikkola and Gunnar Palm drove to fourth place on the 1971 RAC Rally.

   

Although not a rally car, I’m going to include the Land Rover - a Series 1 SWB - into this section. This is an exciting and very different model for Scalextric - and marks Land Rover’s 75th anniversary. Scalextric’s Land Rover is driven by a complex all-wheel-drive gear-train, designed to keep the speed down and give the car ‘go-anywhere’ traction. This isn’t going to be racing anything else - apart from other Land Rovers (I suspect there will be more) - given it is suitably narrow, tall and tippy! The Land Rover should be available in the summer and is definitely near the top of my wishlist.

[woodcote]

Another very pleasing bunch of new cars fall in the Single Seater range. There are some fabulous classic Grand Prix cars, but the big news is the return of licensed modern F1 cars...

   

F1 fans will know that the 2022 generation of cars are absolutely massive - and the Scalextric models are suitably huge too… almost as big as the Bluesmobile. The McLaren MCL36 - in its fabulous papaya orange and blue livery - is modelled on the car Lando Norris drove to a famous podium place at last year’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola. In fact, it was the only time a car outside of the ‘big three’ teams got on the podium in 2022.

       

Scalextric have used much of the MCL36 mould to create a licensed Williams FW44. The two cars are very similar in their overall shape, with the differences in detailing reproduced by Scalextric. The livery released this year will be a FW44 driven by Alex Albon, who had a typically plucky 2022 in the out-classed Williams.

Two new 1970s Grand Prix cars will be produced by Scalextric this year - the Lotus 79 and Brabham BT46...

       

The centre-piece is a 1978 Swedish Grand Prix twin-pack (3,000 units) featuring Mario Andretti’s pole-sitting Lotus and Niki Lauda’s race-winning BT46B fan car. This was the only appearance of the BT46B and Scalextric have gone to great lengths to recreate the fan at the back - the fan rotates and comes with the dustbin lid that Brabham used to cover up their controversial downforce aid in the paddock. Both world champions’ helmets are fully-detailed.

   

The Lotus 79 model had the ground effect venturi tunnels under the car which made the 79 such a formidable car. Andretti went on to win the 1978 world championship in the JPS liveried Lotus - and it was also the car Ronnie Peterson lost his life in that year’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The following year’s green Martini-sponsored Lotus 79 will be produced by Scalextric this year - featuring the car Mario Andretti drove to fourth place at Long Beach.

   

The Brabham Alfa-Romeo BT46 returns in a non-fan version with a different rear end exposing the Flat-12 Alfa engine. The livery is that of the car John Watson drove to second place in a Brabham 1-2 at the 1978 Italian Grand Prix. With its fabulous shape and vivid red Parmalat colour-scheme, this is an awesome model and probably on my wish list too.

   

In addition to the new tooling, there are new liveries on the Tyrrell six-wheeler and last year’s Lotus 99T and Williams FW11. The Williams is Nelson Piquet’s 1987 championship-winning car - and comes in the green and gold ‘World Champion Edition’ box.

       

The Camel Lotus is Senna’s teammate Satoru Nakajima from the 1987 Monaco Grand Prix and the Tyrrell P34 is Patrick Depailler’s, which he qualified third at the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix.

   

A final single-seater release for 2023 is a ‘Legend of Jim Clark’ triple pack, produced in conjunction with the Jim Clark Trust. The pack includes a Lotus 25, Lotus 49 and a Lotus Cortina (not a single-seater!) - all liveries that have not previously been produced by Scalextric. This is a limited edition of 2,000 pieces.