[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.