Digest 36

All the essential news, views, and reviews…

This week’s Digest includes a new proxy rally series, club updates, new slot cars and kits, a feature on Zandvoort, plus a round-up of the weekend’s motor racing action.

Review

• Scalextric C4322 Bluesmobile Well Jake, it hasn’t actually got a cop motor, cop suspension or cop brakes but it does have a dirty great loudspeaker on the roof. Brian gives us his thoughts on the new Bluesmobile – and there are a couple of surprises in store.

Slot Cars

• Lotus Esprit S2 – World Championship Commemorative Model Just in from Scalextric is this classy Lotus street car. Produced in 1979 to commemorate their 1978 Formula One world championship victory, the Lotus carried the iconic black and gold, but no JPS markings – Lotus F1 cars were sponsored by Martini in 1979.

• Scalextric Lotus 97T – Portugese GP 1985 The subject of this week’s news feature is the long-awaited Scalextric JPS Lotus 97T, which Ayrton Senna drove to his first Grand Prix victory. You can see more of the model – and re-live the 1985 race at Estoril – over in the SlotRacer news forum.

• Range Rover Trident HobbyClassic have an extremely limited edition of the Range Rover Trident which was driven by Salvador Servia and Jaime Puig in the Paris Dakar rally of 1991. The car has MSC Resin bodywork, with a 3DP chassis, and will be limited to just 15 units.

• George Turner Models Fiat 801 Another fabulous addition to his Edwardian Racers range, George is rightly proud of this new Fiat 801 Grand Prix slot car kit.

• PCS MGB GT Pendle Slot Racing have just launched this remodelled George Turner MGB GT. Available as a body kit or complete with chassis and running gear, you can find out more on the Pendles website.

• New From Scalextric Arriving with retailers this week are three more delayed 2021 models – including a pair of Porsches and a Chrysler Hemicuda from the 1973 24 Hours of Spa. We’ll take a closer look at the Porsches next week.

• NSR Mosler NSR have posted more photos of the new Gravity Gulf livery for the Mosler, recreating the car driven by Vincent Radermecker and David Dermont at the 2007 Spa 24 hours.

Slot Racing

• Rally Cars Slotting Proxy 2023 By popular demand, next year’s proxy series will be based on rally cars and tracks. All of the details have been posted, including the rules, the classes, the schedule and the eligible cars.

• Your Club News You can find updates this week from Bury St Edmunds, Southend, New South Wales (pictured), Mussel Bay, Worthing HO, Manx and Norwich slot car clubs.

Tracks & Scenery

• Roadside signs Race Track Scenics have released a pair of laser cut roadside signs.
• Vintage Graphics If you think those graphics look familiar, you are correct, because they are over in our Graphics section, where you can download them for free, to print off and make your own signs.

Feature

Zandvoort

• Inspired by the weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, we take a look at the classic Circuit Park Zandvoort

• WHO Racing Worthing HO Racing have chosen a Zandvoort inspired layout for their next F1 race meeting on September 7th. Orange smoke is optional.
• Grand Prix The Dutch circuit featured in John Frankenheimer’s classic 1966 film “Grand Prix”, and we’ve added a Scalextric track plan and some history of the circuit to the exclusive stills from the movie.
• 101 Circuits Or perhaps we could interest you in our restomod of 101 Circuits for Scalextric Drivers, which has a four lane version of the track.

• Fly Hesketh 308B What better car could you race at Zandvoort than James Hunt’s Hesketh 308B? Hunt held off Niki Lauda in changeable conditions to take victory in the 1975 Dutch GP.
• Graphics We also have some genuine Zandvoort graphics, available as posters to download and print.

Video

• VHS Rallies There was no top-flight rallying over the weekend, but rally fans always have the VHS Rallies YouTube Channel to enjoy the best rally action from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s – saved from deteriorating VHS cassettes to digital format.

Motorsport

Livery of the weekend – Ford Capri Mk3 Hot Rod

Spotted at the Brighton Speed Trials on Saturday was this magnificent Capri, offering Scalextric something rather different for their Mk3 model!

• Nascar Southern 500 at Darlington The first race of the 2022 Nascar play-offs saw a popular underdog victory and some of the championship favourites had a disastrous night. You can watch extended highlights on the Nascar YouTube Channel.

• Nascar Xfinity Final Laps The second-tier Xfinity Series raced at Darlington on Saturday, with Noah Gragson, Sheldon Creed and Kyle Larson delivering high drama over the closing laps. Definitely worth a look on the Nascar YouTube Channel.

• Formula One – Zandvoort A thoroughly intriguing Dutch Grand Prix was on a knife-edge until two late safety cars made it even more exciting. You can watch the race highlights over on the F1 YouTube Channel.

• GT World Challenge Europe – Hockenheim 3 Hours A huge grid and some fabulous racing made the penultimate endurance race of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe season one to remember. The results and report are on the GT World website, with YouTube highlights coming soon – or you could enjoy the full re-run!

• IndyCar Grand Prix of Portland There was frantic action at Portland on Sunday, setting up a five-way championship showdown at Laguna Seca next weekend. You can watch highlights on the IndyCar YouTube Channel.