[woodcote]

It's certainly not the first XB - or even the first '74 Allan Moffat XB - and it's a beat of a Scalextric car and a race-winner at WHO/digital in its stock form. Olifer produced a Slot.it pod compatible 3D chassis for the XB and XC a few years ago and is available on their Shapeways store here.

   

Canadian-born Aussie racing legend Moffat developed the XB GT 'Hardtop' for 1974 when the factory cars were withdrawn at the end of '73. He'd been a Ford man since his early days - including the first season of Trans-Am in 1966 - so much of the car was built and developed with factory support in the States, the 5.7-litre V8 prepared in Australia by Allan Moffat Racing chief mechanic Ray Cutchie. Much of the engine testing was done in Moffat's Falcon road car, before joining the XB 'Project B52' in the States for some serious shake-down runs in Ohio. This was the multi-million dollar, state-of-art Transport and Research Centre, where Moffat's Trans-Am pal Mark Donohue was testing for the Penske F1 program at the same time.

After this massive - and incredibly expensive - development program, Moffat's XB missed the Sandown 250 race, arriving in Australia in time for a disastrous Bathurst. Starting the weekend with an (unsuccessful) protest from the Holden team, the car was plagued with oil pressure and electrical issues. At this point, the car was painted in the dark blue #33 livery modelled by Scalextric as C3402. During the season, the car appeared in the white and green from this new release, in which he won race 2 at Oran Park. The car was repainted red for 1975, carrying the #25 number and released by Scalextric as C3491. The very similar Scalextric Falcon XC has appeared in a number of different 1976 and 1977 liveries.

The Scalextric car is sidewinder and is enormous fun to drive...