Digest 21

Published by woodcote on May 23, 2022

UK Slot Car Festival Special Edition

Although not yet back to its full pre-Covid glory, next weekend’s UK Slot Car Festival still promises to be pretty darn good! With plenty of tracks and displays in every conceivable scale, support from manufacturers and retailers – plus a huge international swapmeet – the UK Slot Car Festival is the place to be next weekend. And this week’s Digest aims to whet your appetite…

• What to expect at Gaydon There’s loads of pics on the forum from those long-ago pre-Covid times. Keep an eye out on the forum next weekend too – and if you’re going, please share your pictures, thoughts and video clips for us all to enjoy.
• Book Your Tickets The biggest British slot car event on the calendar is back. You can save money by booking in advance – or follow Brian’s advice and use your Tesco vouchers.
• Know Your Slot Car Festival History It’s Brian again – he delves through the archives to write the definite history of the event from its genesis and green shoots to the current bloomin’ marvellous weekend.

This short video – produced by the British Motor Museum – captures the event perfectly!

Slot Cars

• UKSCF 2022 Limited Edition Capri We’d better start with the Ford Capri Mk3 that’ll be available at the Festival next weekend. It’s a limited edition of 200 cars, with some of those sold pre-event. The white Capri features red, gold and black stripes on both sides and a UK map printed on the roof. The model comes in a display case with UK Slot Car Festival artwork.

• Scalextric Honda Civic FK8 Scalextric sponsor the Festival and will be there with a track and samples of most of their 2021-2 models. This new BTCC Honda Civic is one of those – and we’ll have a track test preview on the forum later in the week. You can see all the 2022 Scalextric range in the SlotRacer News section.

• Scalextric Club Car 2023 Next year’s Scalextric Club car will – as usual – be unveiled at the Festival on Saturday. Expect a social media announcement too – and the opportunity to join or re-new your membership. What will next year’s car be? Will it complete a hat-trick of Escorts? A TV or Movie-themed car? Or maybe a new livery on a classic or modern racer? Not long to wait!

• Slot.it Ferrari 512M Le Mans 1971 Slot.it are regulars at Gaydon, with Maurizio ready to answer your questions and tell you about the company’s plans. This new Ferrari promises to be one of the stars of the show.

• Slot.it Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 Fuji 2018 Another tasty new Slot.it car is the second livery on the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 body. We have some pictures of the model and a potted history of the KCMG team and their Nissan in the News forum.

• March 2-4-0 Policar have posted photos of a March 2-4-0, but don’t get carried away! It’s a special scratchbuild for UKSCF using a March 761 body from Fly, 3DP front chassis by Andi Rowland, and all the mechanics designed and built by Maurizio Ferrari.

• Ferrari 250 TDF Pete Shepherd of Racing Replicas will be at the festival, and this lovely Proto Slot Ferrari 250 TDF build will be part of his display.

• TVR Vixen RS Slot Racing have previewed a finished build of their TVR kit, which will also be making it’s way to Gaydon, along with lots of other good stuff.

• Fly Renault 5 Tour de Corse 1980 Fly are usually represented at Gaydon by their UK distributor, Gaugemaster. Expect news of their Le Mans Collector collaboration – plus news of all the 2022 Fly models.

• Fly/Gaugemaster Le Mans Collection Speaking of which, it looks like the two 1970 Porsches are the first of the twelve specially-commissioned Le Mans cars to be produced. We have images of the cars in the SlotRacer News section.

• Racer Sideways ‘Bent UK GT3’ Racer Sideways are another brand distributed by Gaugemaster in the UK. These test shots of a Bentley Continental GT3 have just been released and we take a close look over on the forum.

• NSR McLaren 720S GT3 Expect to see plenty of these cars on sale and on track at Gaydon next weekend. We take a look at the forthcoming papaya orange McLarens in the News forum this week. NSR don’t normally attend the festival, but the good people at Gaugemaster will be there to answer your questions and share NSR updates.

• Mercedes Benz L-319 Hobby Classic have announced they will be officially unveiling their limited edition Mercedes Benz L319 – Mercedes Service vans at the UKSCF. The Mercedes is now available for pre orders, and will ship out after the festival.

Tracks & Scenery

• Slot Track Scenics Barcelona Layout A highlight of the UK Slot Car Festival is whatever Slot Track Scenics bring along as their race circuit. Last time it was this near-perfect digital version of the Barcelona Grand Prix circuit, which we look at on the forum.

• Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Track Plan Of course there’s a detailed look at the Barcelona circuit in the SlotRacer F1 2018 Slot Track Plans section, plus plans for Scalextric and Ninco. Perfect for recreating your own Spanish Grand Prix.

• Red Bull Ring As it happens, the race circuit Slot Track Scenics are planning to bring along at this year’s UKSCF is their recreation of the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. They’re also bringing their 3D scanner so you can get yourself shrunk down small enough to stand on your own track.

• Flat Over Crest Gaydon was where may of us discovered Hub’s magnificent British rally stage. He first brought it as a ‘work-in-progress’ for the 2017 event and then was back in 2018 as part of the ‘Let’s Go Racing’ event. For those not lucky enough to see Hub’s masterpiece in the flesh and to race on it, our overview in the Members’ Tracks section will have to do for now.

• Carrera 124 and G Gauge Trains It’s often the unexpected that thrills the most at Gaydon. A OO gauge railway and Minic roadway is a familar sight, but this huge 1:24 scale car and train layout was utterly brilliant to watch.

Slot Car Racing

• Racing at Gaydon There’s always been seriously competitive racing at the slot car festival – whether part of a wider championship, a one-off event or the ‘Let’s Go Racing’ competition that’s held across a dozen tracks at the festival. It doesn’t sound like there’s too much planned for this year, but keep an eye on the Events section of our forum for all the big races.

• SlotRacer ‘Your Club’ There are plenty of reports and news items across the SlotRacer Your Club forum this week – from Worthing, Southend, Oaklands Park, Norwich, New South Wales, Mussel Bay, Manx and Charlestown slot car clubs. There’s a very good chance you’ll see some of them at the slot car festival.

• The NSCC at UKSF 2022 The National Scalextric Collectors Club will be at the Festival next weekend with a selection of NSCC-branded merchandise – including mugs, pens, fleeces, polos, key rings and track barriers. They will also have some of their dwindling stock of past NSCC special edition cars for sale.

Publications

• Slot Car Magazine The Slot Car Magazine crew will be at Gaydon with their latest edition – and plenty of back copies you may have missed over the past couple of years. Plus, everyone who buys a magazine is entered into a free prize draw to win goodies from SRC and webuyanyscalextriccar.com.

Video – British Motor Museum

• British Motor Museum Your Festival ticket also gives you entry to the biggest collection of British motor cars – 300 on display and hundreds more in the nearby Collections Centre. The museum and collection centre deserve at least half a day in their own right – so that makes a full weekend a perfect choice!

Automobiles

• Triumph GT6 Mk3 A classic British car and a truly heart-warming reunion are the subject of George Colbeanu’s photo essay for the Petrolicious website. Not a concours model, but the value of this car can’t be measured in monetary terms. It’s a wonderful story you won’t want to miss.

Motorsport

• Gaydon Motorsport Treasures These are just a few of the treasures on show at the British Motor Museum – many of which have been made into slot cars over the years. If you only have time for a quick look round the museum, this is the place to start.

• Spanish Grand Prix The British Motor Museum is in the heart of Formula One country – Silverstone and most of the Grand Prix teams are just a stones-throw away. But would it be an Italian car on the top step of the podium at this weekend’s race in Barcelona? Autosport will have all the coverage and fall-out from Spain.

• Rally de Portugal Sébastien Loeb was in Portugal, eager to win his eight-first WRC rally. He grabbed the lead on the opening morning, but could he hold off the youngsters? You can find out on the WRC website.

• Nascar All-Star Weekend The non-championship All-Star race returned to Texas for a second year, with all the top drivers battling for the grand prize: a $1 million payout. You can catch-up with the action on the Nascar website.

• Indianapolis 500 Qualifying & Practice Drivers, teams – including Arrow-McLaren – and IndyCar fans are gearing up for the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 next weekend. A busy week of practice and qualifying aims to shave off those all-important thousandths of a second and set up a car that gets on the grid and will last 500 miles at the Brickyard. Visit the IndyCar website for the week’s schedule and TV coverage times.