Slot.it Ferrari F-40 Spotted in Europe

Photos have been circulating in Europe of prototypes of the upcoming Slot.it Ferrari F-40 GTE.

As you can see from the photos, there is still work to do (including the rear window), but these photos give you an idea of what we can expect.

Also based on the photos there may be two wheel styles on the finished cars. The 12-spoke wheels are correct for the Time/Shell #59 LeMans F-40. Most other F-40’s sported the 5-spoke wheels similar to what is shown in the first photo.

Written by Vincent Vega

Avant Slot News 11/22/2007

Avant Slot brings us their second LMP model with the announcement of the Peugeot 908 HDI FAP in 1/32.

It’s difficult to tell the model from the real car…

Avant Slot also will have the previously released Audi R10 available in the 2007 LeMans livery by mid December.

All three Audi Sport R10’s (#1, #2 and #3) from LeMans 2007 will be represented.

Unfortunately these apparently are unlicensed versions and (like the 2006 LeMans livery) will not have the Audi interlinked rings logo printed on the cars.

It is rumored that the “2007″ versions have the improved chassis as first seen in the “racing” versions.

Written by Vincent Vega

Scalextric Chaparral 2F

The Model:

Scalextric’s Chaparral 2F 1/32 scale model will feature Easy-fit plug-in digital conversion, front and rear LED lighting, detachable wing, M-Can 18k RPM motor in sidewinder configuration and a full interior.

Scalextric’s version represents the 2F as the winner of the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch driven by Phil Hill and Mike Spence. Check that- the RESTORED 2F that won the BOAC 500; someone at Margate got some bad intel on the markings but got the bodywork right. Scalextric’s model shows the modifications that were added during the 1967 LeMans trials, with several distinctive features as noted below.

Since then the sole remaining 2F (2 were originally built) has been completely restored by Jim Hall himself.

The 2F appeared at Road America’s Brian Redman Historic Races in 2001 along with other freshly restored Chaparral sports cars. The 2F also participated in the Goodwood Revivial in 2006 which was its first outing since it had been placed on display at the Chaparral Gallery of the Petroleum Museum in Midland TX in 2004.

The Prototype:

This video is of Jim Hall and his grandson driving 2F001 from the Chaparral Shops to the Petroleum Museum.

Filmed by Paul Zimmerman of The Motorsport Collector. One of the finest Motor Racing collectables shops in the USA- right here in Downer’s Grove!

It was the last “Chaparral Designed” vehicle remaining at the shops. Jim had a police escort for the short drive to the museum.

The 2F, the second endurance racing design in the legendary Chaparral line of racing cars, was a deadly weapon in the eyes of the competition. Its 427 all-aluminum big-block Chevy engine produced between 475 and 525 bhp at 6,000 rpm depending on its level of tune.

Drivers Phil Hill, Mike Spence, Bob Johnson and Bruce Jennings were all invited by Chaparral Cars to apply their talent to this sleek machine.

Naturally, developments throughout the season had altered the radical 2F into an increasingly quick and agile competitor. Jim Hall’s Chaparral team wasn’t one to sit around waiting for the competition to catch up either. For Le Mans, the pair of 2Fs featured several new developments including wing struts that were now fully faired. The pair of cars entered for the classic race were identically prepared.

The Le Mans-specification Chaparral 2F was its ultimate iteration. Had the FIA not decided to limit engine displacement to 5.0 liters for the 1968 season, Chaparral would certainly have continued to develop the 2F into the unbeatable machine it clearly had the potential to become.

Written by Vincent Vega

Slot.It News 11/14/2007

There has been little truly “new” from our friends in Italy in recent months. All indications are that there will be some excitement from Galileo Engineering very soon.

Alfa Romeo 33/3

Slot.It first showed prototypes of this 1/32 RTR at the 2007 Nuremburg toy show in February. It was originally intended that the Slot.It model be representative of the 1971 Alfas which were only run at the shorter races on the European calendar, due to the Alfa Romeo factory team still being very much in shock following the tragic loss of Lucien Bianchi during the 1969 LeMans trials.

The Slot.It Alfa 33/3 is intended to be a companion to their recently released Ferrari 312PB since they competed in many of the same events.

I noticed that the Slot.It website no longer shows the #5 1971 Targa Florio winner on the “coming soon” page for the Alfa 33/3; however this is not unusual as Slot.It have done this with other models in the past.

It is very possible that the delay in release of this model may be due to updating it from the 1971 version to the 1972 version. The differences between the 1971 and 1972 versions were small, and the 1972 33/3 might be more appealing to some collectors. I personally would prefer the 1971 Targa winner but as they say, “we will see".

There is no announced release date for the Alfa Romeo 33/3, but it would appear that it will be on dealers shelves in March 2008.

Ferrari 312PB “Targa”

In following with the Targa Florio theme shown with the Alfa Romeo 33/3, Slot.It also plans a unique Ferrari 312PB Targa Florio 1972 “Twin Kit". This kit will include a replica of Ferrari’s 1972 Targa Florio winning car and the team “spare". Slot.It have noted the details of the Targa version of the Ferrari 312PB including replicating the bulge on the right side of the car that housed a spare tire as seen on the actual Ferrari.

The winning drivers of what would be the penultimate Targa Florio were Arturo “Little Art” Merzario and Italian rally champion Sandro Munari. Ferrari choosing local hero Munari as the second driver in their lone entry was an inspired move as the Targa Florio is run very much like a road rally, being held on public roads that wind through several small towns. This unique kit is expected to retail for $120 and be available in late November.

With this set and the Alfa Romeo 33/3, we can stage our own re-creation of the Targa Florio as seen in “The Speed Merchants"!

Announced (and featured on the box of the previously released Watkins Glen Ferrari 312PB Kits) is Ferrari’s 1972 Monza Winner piloted by Jacky Ickx and Clay Regazzoni. Once again, no release date has been given, but the kit is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2008.

Sauber Mercedes C9 “AEG”

The so called “Circuit Board” livery of Slot.It’s Sauber Mercedes C9 has been anticipated for more than a year. Originally scheduled to be a model of the #62 1000km Spa-Francorchamps winning high down-force version of the C9 (similar to CA06c), current product photographs show the livery being applied to the #62 low down-force version as run at LeMans in 1988 (similar to CA06b).

The problem with bringing this product to dealers is likely twofold;

Slot.It are reported to be in the process of revising the C9’s chassis to allow use of the angle-winder pod. Supposedly this also will affect the body tooling (motor clearance). The re-tool of the chassis and body is apparently taking more time than originally anticipated.

The second problem is that the Sauber Mercedes C9 never actually ran in the 1988 LeMans 24 hours race in this livery. During qualifying the Sauber Mercedes team experienced a series of unexplained tire failures with their Michelin radials. It was felt for safety’s sake that the team should withdraw rather than face the possibility of a similar tragedy to what befell the Mercedes team in the 1955 LeMans 24 hours where no less than 80 persons lost their lives (the official death toll has never been published) in a horrific accident.

It is easy to understand why Sauber Mercedes might be reluctant to allow Slot.It to produce a replica of a racing car that was considered to be a “failure”, so we may not yet have heard the last word on this release.

I sincerely hope that the final production model will be painted in Ultra Dark Blue rather than the Black as shown in the illustration above! Modelers have been arguing about the color of this car since the Hasegawa 1/24 C9 plastic model kits came out in the early 90’s. I’ve seen this car in real life- trust me, it’s BLUE.

Sauber Mercedes C9 “Silver Arrows”

Not yet announced but hinted at, is the 1989 LeMans winning Sauber Mercedes C9 driven by Jochen Mass / Manuel Reuter / Stanley Dickens. This version is to be released in special packaging as part of the “LeMans Winners Series". This product is not even listed on the Slot.It website so it is a good bet that it will not be available until the second half of 2008.

Many people have purchased the “Presentation” version of the C9 and applied decals available from Pattos to create the LeMans winning #63 car. The apparent value of this release being the special presentation box and being a part of the “Winners” series.

Trivia: There are many subtle differences between the 1989 LeMans Winning Sauber C9 “63″ and its stable mates “61″ (pole winner, and second place overall) and “62″. Especially noticeable is the different nose intake and exhaust ducting. The not so subtle difference is that #63 had an amber gel attached to the outboard left headlamp that the other two cars did not have. The only logical reason for this is so that the signaling crews could spot this car as it flashed by their station. It is interesting to note that the #63 car had two German drivers and NONE of the other team cars had a German driver. Engine supplier Mercedes-Benz is a German company…coincidence?

Lancia LC2/84 LeMans 1984

Slot.It has also had the Bob Wollek / Alessandro Nannini version of their LC2/84 from LeMans 1984 in their catalog for some time as stock number CA08C. It makes no sense to me why this has not yet been released as all that is really needed is a change of car number from #5 to #4 and a change to the lettering of the driver’s names.

This could be a matter of the Lancia chassis and body tooling needing an update to be compatible with the latest motor pods, but I would question why both the C9 and the LC2 chassis would be in the tooling shop at the same time.

Ferrari F40-GTE

As mentioned in a previous blog entry, Slot.It have announced a Ferrari F40-GTE kit for production in early 2008. Slot.It have said that the F40 will be a kit due to licensing restrictions from Ferrari and Mattel (who have the exclusive worldwide toy license for Ferrari products.

The first livery was to be the 1994 LeMans “Jolly Club” entry with “Totip” sponsorship; however the Slot.It website shows a different livery that has already been announced by Fly as scheduled to be produced as a limited edition RTR.

Some dealers have this incorrectly listed on their pre-order forms as car no. “2″, where in reality the “2″ and “1″ that appear in the car’s graphics are there as part of the livery for the Italian National Lottery game “Totip".

Trivia: The “Jolly Club” racing team of Novara Italy is well known to have been formed after a dinner with handshakes among four friends. Did you also know that the Italian word “Jolly” equates to the English word “Joker"? The Joker was chosen as the team mascot because it is the most versatile card in the deck and one that could be used effectively to play a winning hand.

McLaren F1 GTR

The McLaren F1 GTR “longtail” that competed in the LeMans 24 Hours GT1 class in 1997 sporting the BMW Racing colors and driven by JJ Lehto (Jyrki Järvilehto) / Steve Soper / Nelson Piquet is suffering the same delays as the above-mentioned Slot.It releases; having been announced for over 6 months but with no definite shipping date.

The previously released “Goodwood” and “White” F1 GTR’s are not decorated for racing, but a number of creative solutions such as Milan Tomasek’s fine decal sheets as shown below have been pressed to get the Slot.It McLaren F1 GTR onto the track.

The “Davidoff” livery is particularly interesting as the sponsor is a premium cigar company- and unlikely to allow a license for their logo on an RTR car in the future.

As previously mentioned, MTR32 now accepts PayPal to make purchases easier.

In summary there are a number of exciting products in the pipeline from Slot.It but few definite release dates. If everything promised by Slot.It reaches retailers in the first part of 2008, it will be brutal on our collective wallets to say the least!

Written by Vincent Vega

Fly Model Car News 11/11/2007

Fly Car Model of Spain will be offering us two brand new models based on very famous historic sports racers in the next few months.

Porsche 935 K3

Currently on dealer’s shelves are the recently released Porsche 935 K3 1/32 racers. As has been the trend lately from Fly, there is a touch more detail in these slot cars than the prior Fly Porsche 934’s.

Porsche created the 935 in 1976, which was affectionately known as ‘Moby Dick’ because of its overall shape and bi-level “whale tail". Porsche designed the 935 to be the competition version of the 930 (911 Turbo Model) and to compete in the FIA Group 5. The 935’s dominated wherever they appeared, mostly due to some clever interpretation of the rules.

Factory development of this model stopped in 1978 after creating the radical 935/78 (as modeled in 1/32 recently by Carrera).

When Porsche factory development ended, independent tuning shops further developed the 935 and extended its racing career. The best known non-factory version of the 935 came from the Kremer Brothers of Cologne, Germany. These 935 “K3″ versions are identifiable by their unique slant-nosed body configuration as well as an awesome twin-turbocharged, 3.2 liter flat six-cylinder power plant producing a tire-shredding 740 horsepower.

Prior to Fly offering their version of the 935 K3, the only 1/32 RTR versions were the “Racer” hand-built replicas which currently fetch over $200 a copy.

The Fly version of the 935 K3 has the same bizarre design “rear motor” chassis as the previous Porsche 934 to allow for a fully detailed interior. It is reported that when running these cars with magnet, the position of the motor is not a factor, but I can only imagine that running no-mag on a routed track, that the car would be very tail happy to say the least.

The first model in Fly’s 935 K3 series is now available; it is the handsome #88268 Bob Garretson / Bobby Rahal / Brian Redman driven, Red Roof Inns sponsored, 1981 Daytona 24 Hours winner. The gold striping of this livery is particularly well done and makes for a striking model.

Also currently available is is the #88273 LeMans 1980 935 K3 driven by Tetsu Ikuzawa / Rolf Stommelen / Axel Plankenhorn and entered by Gozzy Kremer Racing which is decorated in a distinctive Pink and White.

Future 935’s are expected to be the #88282 1980 Daytona 24 hours B. Akin / R. Woods / B. Rahal piloted “Coca Cola” #05, #88290 LeMans 1980 Apple Computer backed Bobby Rahal / Bob Garretson / Allan Moffat driven 935 and a #99087 “Special Edition” in Jagermeister livery.

Although it has not yet been announced, I sincerely hope that Fly will model the beautiful Ted Field / Danny Ongais / Milt Minter, “Interscope” #0 935 K3 from Daytona 1980. I have always been a fan of the Interscope liveried racers and I am quite sure that it would be a popular offering. I feel that it would be a bonus to have former drag racer Danny “On the Gas” Ongais represented in the cockpit.

March 761 “High Induction”

The next model #88286 in Fly’s “Classic Formula 1″ series will be yet another March 761, some sources show this as low induction with Jagermeister sponsorship (H. Stuck, German Grand Prix) and others show it as high induction with Beta sponsorship (V. Brambilla, USGP West).

Since both cars were largely orange in color, I can see how this might confuse people.

Fly have a history of occasionally having a photograph with an announcement that is not appropriate for the car being modeled. We will have to wait for a photo of the actual model to be sure. For my part, I do hope that this will be the Beta Tools, “High Induction” version (as shown above).

Expected release date for 88286 is Feburary 2008.

Ferrari F40-LM

Expected in the first quarter of 2008 is Fly’s version of the Ferrari F40-LM “competizione"; #88283 will be the “0123″ (logistics company) and Ferrari France sponsored 1990 IMSA version as driven by Jean-Pierre Jabouille,

while the #88284 is expected to be decorated in French blue, sponsored by Pilot writing instruments as it appeared in the 1995 24 hours of LeMans as “piloted” by Michel Ferté / Olivier Thévenin / Carlos Palau.

Later in the year an interesting F40 GTE “Evoluzione” sponsored by Time magazine, Shell oil and the Ferrari Club Italia will be released as a limited edition #99069. This car ran in the 1996 24 Hours of LeMans in the “GT1″ class and was driven by Robin Donovan / Piero Nappi / Tetsuya Ota.

It is a little known fact that the Ferrari factory gave only minimal support to the “LM” version of the F40; the 19 F40-LM’s were built by Michelotto of Padova and they were responsible for competition development. Michelotto had done development on many Ferrari sports racers on a commission basis including the recent 360 and 430-based GT2 cars.

A bit of side information is that Slot.It have announced an F40 kit #SIKF04 to be available in 2008. The first announced Livery will be the “Totip” (Italian National Lottery game) sponsored F40-GTE as run in the 1994 LeMans 24 Hours and driven by Anders Olofsson / Sandro Angelastro / Massimiliano (Max) Angelelli.

As so often happens, the buyer must decide between two versions of the same car that appear to be coming to market at the same time…. unless you have a large slot car budget where in that case I would encourage you to buy at least one of each!

(note: some photos show actual racing cars or examples for illustrative purposes. The actual slot cars may vary in appearance from what is shown in the illustrations)

Written by Vincent Vega

News from Scalextric 11/10/07

Within the last week there has been a few tidbits of news leaking out of Margate from Hornby/Scalextric.

Here is a summary of what I have heard:

Porsche RS Spyder LMP2

The long awaited C2812 2006 Porsche RS LMP2 from Scalextric will be on dealers shelves in time for “Black Friday". The Porsche RS Spyder as run by Penske Racing, was the only make to beat Audi in the 2006 American LeMans series. In 2007 the Porsche RS was made available to customer teams, and it is expected that Scalextric will model the handsome blue and white livery sported by the Dyson team in 2007 early in 2008.

Unfortunately the 2007 Porsche RS Spyder is an “evo” with many changes; the most visible being that the 2007 version is rounder around the headlamps. It is not expected that Scalextric will change their slot car bodies to match the 2007 modifications that are shown on the actual racing cars. I feel that this was a real missed opportunity for Scalextric to have modeled the 2007 version exclusively.

Scalextric’s version of the Porsche RS is powered by the workhorse “M-can” (FC-130) 18k RPM motor and will come with the new Scalextric plug in digital system. In all other respects it is a conventional in-line design; much the same as the Lola MG’s of a few years ago. To my eye the body is crisper in detail than the Carrera Porsche RS. Pleasant looking blue-white LED headlamps and red LED tail lights are standard.

Audi R10 TDI Diesel LMP1

Arriving early in December is C2809 Scalextric’s version of the 2006 LeMans 24 hour winning Audi R10 TDI Diesel LMP1. For all intents and purposes, this car is mechanically identical to the Porsche RS and should run about the same. Again I feel that the detail on the R10 is a little crisper than the Carrera. Unlike Avant Slot’s R10, Scalextric have fully licensed their model including the four interlinked rings symbol and “Audi Sport” logos.

The Scalextric versions of the Audi and Porsche sit properly low to the ground unlike Carrera’s versions which have a distinct “nose up” look to them. Scalextric have modeled the car in “low downforce” trim while SCX have modeled the R10 in “high downforce” configuration. The LeMans 24 hour race has become so demanding that teams actually use both setups during the race. The easiest to spot is when a nose change has been made; the low downforce/low drag configuration having few louvers above the front wheels, while the high downforce/high drag version sports considerably more “gills” in this area.

No word yet on “white” versions of these cars, but lately Scalextric have been offering most of their cars in “white” so I expect that these will be offered in plain versions (for those of you who wish to make your own decoration) some time after the first of the year. Milan Tomasek at MTR32 offers several decal sheets for the Audi R10 including the Sebring 2007 Audi Sport North America version and a striking “Champion” 2008 version.

NASCAR Cancellation

Like many 1/32 racers, I was disappointed to hear that Scalextric had cancelled the second run of NASCAR liveries based on their 2005 Monte Carlo and Taurus. These cars were to have been available in the second half of 2007 and included some popular liveries.

Scalextric have said that they will have one last run of “white” Monte Carlos scheduled to be available in early December. If you want them- get them now; it’s not likely that there will be any more produced.

Easing this disappointment somewhat is word from a highly placed source within Scalextric that the cancellation of the NASCARS was due to the dreaded licensing issues rather than lack of profitability of NASCAR subjects.

Scalextric COT

Scalextric plan to release a NASCAR “Car of Tomorrow” in the second half of 2008 with no less than 8 liveries representing Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge and Toyota by the end of 2008. The Scalextric version of NASCAR’s COT will be digital-plug ready and similar to the current NASCARs being a sidewinder with the 18k M-can motor and quick-change braid plate.

It is expected that the first two Scalextric COT slot cars will be out in mid summer 2008. The first two planned liveries are Jeff Gordon #24 DuPont Impala and Tony Stewart #20 Home Depot Camry; about 6 weeks later the second set will be the Jimmie Johnson #48 Lowes Impala and the Dale Earnhardt Jr. #88 AMP Energy Drink Impala. As usual with Scalextric, these are only PLANNED dates and liveries, it’s likely that something will change during the year with either release dates or decoration.

Written by Vincent Vega

Ninco News 11/10/2007

More Super GT’s

Some time ago MRC told their USA dealers that there would be no further releases of Ninco Japan Super GT cars from the existing tooling. Apparently someone in Spain didn’t get the memo, as Ninco have announced the #50477 Nissan 350Z Super GT in a 2006 season black and white “Houzan” livery.

Ferrari 250 Testarossa

Something that will certainly be of interest to all “classic” racers is Ninco’s upcoming stock number 50470 Ferrari 250 Testarossa. This release will be offered as a kit due to licensing restrictions from Mattel and Ferrari. This car will be powered by the new “NC-8 Thruster” 16k RPM motor which is the shape and size of the NC-1 but with a bit more RPM on tap compared to the NC-1’s 15,700 RPM. The Testarossa will be offered in red and a white stripe with white roundel sporting #9.

This slot car represents the “Pontoon Fender” Ferrari driven by Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien who teamed to win the 1958 LeMans 24 hours. For unknown reasons the livery on the Ninco model is of the Hill/Gendebien car as it now appears in Vintage racing events rather than the 1958 LeMans winning #14.

Both of these cars should be in stock around the end of November.

Ferrari 166 MM “Barchetta”

Planned for early 2008 but not yet formally announced will be Ninco’s re-release of the Classic Ferrari 166 MM in kit form. No word is available on what livery it will be decorated in or any other details. It is a good bet that it will be NC-8 powered, and if we are lucky it will be decorated in the 1949 LeMans winning #22 as driven by Luigi Chinetti and Lord Seldson.

Trivia: Did you know that in addition to the 1949 LeMans 24 Hours, a 166 MM also won the 1949 Targa Florio (with Clemente Biondetti and Igor Troubetzkoy), and the Mille Miglia in both 1948 and 1949 (a 166 with a slightly larger “195″ engine won again in 1950), driven by Clemente Biondetti and Giuseppe Navone. The Ferrari 166 MM “Barchetta” is the only car in history to win all three races; amazingly, a 166 also won the Spa 24 hours in 1949!

The 166 MM was immortalized in song by the Canadian rock band “Rush” on their “Moving Pictures” album. The song Red Barchetta, a futuristic story of man against an oppressive society, was inspired by Richard S Foster’s “A Nice Morning Drive,” a short story published in November, 1973 issue of the magazine Road and Track. In the original article, the leading character drove an MGB. A former MGB owner himself, Rush lyricist Neil Peart exercised a little artistic license in changing the hero’s car from an MGB to the car of Peart’s dreams, the 166 MM “Red Barchetta", providing the song a much more stylish title.

Written by Vincent Vega