neWs & neW PRodUCts

SCALEXTRIC TO RELEASE PUMA WRC CAR - NOW!

Designed to the new-for-2022 FIA Rally1 technical regulations, the Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 is M-Sport's top-specification rally car – producing in excess of 500 bhp and 550 Nm of torque from its Ecoboost Hybrid powertrain. The British based team ran a quartet of these cars in WRC spec at round one in Monte-Carlo, with rally legend Sébastien Loeb taking the victory, and Craig Breen and Gus Greensmith both finishing in the top five. Scalextric have decided to give us an early Christmas present, by announcing and releasing this Ford Puma1 before the end of the year. The model will be the Red Bull liveried car that Loeb won the Monte in with his co-driver Galmiche, back in January this year. The model C4448, which features like the real car, four-wheel-drive, will sure to please collectors of both rally and fast Fords and with its Red Bull livery, what is there not to like? n

UKSF 2023 DATE CONFIRMED

We have heard that next year’s UK Slot Festival will be held on the weekend of the 20/21st of May, one week after the WRE race held in Italy. Initial reports that the two events were going to clash, turned out to be unfounded. The UK event which will feature the Policar Grand Prix race will be held at its traditional home at the National Heritage Motor Museum, Gaydon. n

THE WRE IS BACK...

After an absence of 9 years off the international racing calendar, one of the world’s largest and prestigious slot race events, the WRE 24hrs is to make its return in 2023. Hosted by NSR this gruelling event for their Classic GT slot cars will take place over the weekend of 11-13th May with the start time of 15.00 on Friday 12th finishing 24 hours later on the Saturday. This is to allow racers the opportunity, should they wish, to visit the NSR factory on the Sunday, to join in with their 25th anniversary celebrations. There will be four 8-lane Ninco tracks set up inside the Teams from all over the world are expected to participate, which will be limited to 32 teams in all, made up of 4-6 drivers per team. I have done four of these World Racing Endurance events in the past, which while very tiring, is also an amazing experience, and I would like to think I could make next year’s event.

Teams should initially register their interest in going on the official website, https://www.nsrslot.it/assets/events/eventi.html

To comerorate this event NSR are to shortly release a special limited edition Classic Porsche 908/3. These models are normally only given to the teams who participate in the event, however as it’s their 25th Anniversary NSR have decided to make it available to the general public. The model limited to just 200 units will feature upgraded parts and fully set up to race, at no increase in price over the standard model, and NSR0301 is availble to order now. n

GRID TALK

So, there’s another year in the bin, and what a year of contrast. A lot of slot related product has been delayed - yet Scalextric surprise us with a late 2022 new release - but perhaps the one thing that we have all seen, and have been affected by recently, is inflation. This is the highest level many have ever seen in their lifetime, so, what was a surprise it was to see a packed hall at the Orpington swap meet in November. This year has been a rollercoaster, let’s hope we all have a more stable and profitable 2023.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our readers. n Terry

editor@slotmagazine.co.uk

South Downs Slot Car Club

Bar nham ฀ • ฀ West฀ S ussex

We฀ m eet฀ on฀ a฀ Tuesday฀ ni ght฀ between฀ 7:00฀ and฀ 9:30

We฀ have฀ a 150 foot eight lane track

and฀ r ace฀ l oosel y฀ to฀ BS CRA฀ styl e฀ 1/ 32฀ and฀ 1/ 24฀ car s

southdownsslotcars www.southdo wnsslotcar s.co.uk

RCSWCAR05A #95 and RCSWCAR05B #97 from Sideways

SIDEWAYS ASTON MARTINS NOW HERE

The first fully assembled and decorated GT3 Aston Martin Vantages from Sideways, are now available. They represent the team that competed in the 2019 running of the Le Mans 24hrs, with car number 95 being driven by Thiim/Sorensen/Turner, while Lynn/Adam/Martin drove the 97 car. With some GT3 slot car series in the UK now opening up to include the Sideways products, we can only see this brand getting even more popular. n

LE MANS MINIATURES

This French based company, who produce high quality RTR resin bodied slot cars, have a busy schedule coming up, with new models and some welcome re-releases due with us soon. While all five of the Le Mans Porsche 917LH’s make a comeback, as does two of the race Bugatti Tipo 59’s plus the 1975 Le Mans winning Gulf Mirage GR8, there are some new models too. These include the pair of Gulf Mirage GR7’s that raced in 1974 that are different to the 1975 car, which are must haves for collectors of Le Mans Slot cars. New liveries of existing cars include a Mark Donohue Sunoco Porsche Carrera RSR that he raced at the 1973 Watkins Glen 6hrs, partnered with George Follmer, and a pre-war Bugatti GP car. The latest Tipo 59 will be the Blue #14 car that Nuvolari raced at the 1934 French GP held at the Montlhery circuit, Paris. As usual, demand often outstrips supply of these desirable collectibles from this brand. n

SCALEXTRIC RELEASE RETRO BUILDINGS

Imust confess, I missed seeing these on show at the 2022 UKSF, and they have slid in under my radar, the new buildings from Scalextric are now in the shops. I say new, but there is no doubting that these resin buildings are based on the plastic versions from the early 1960’s. These have always been credited to being based on buildings that were at the original Goodwood motor circuit. However, the control tower reminds me of the one that was in place on the start/finish line at Brands Hatch, before they built the hideous Mansell Centre that blocks off spectators view of the Brabham straight. The Grandstand does indeed look very Goodwood’ish but then it looks like Grandstands seen at most UK circuits. Head of Scalextric Brand Simon Owen told me that while they may look like the old buildings, the injection moulding tools for those plastic structures have long bitten the dust, hence why they are now produced in resin. It’s not known at this stage if they are to produce any more other than these two. n

SCALEAUTO EXPANDS ITS TRACK SYSTEM

Just before we went to press, a box arrived with some more samples of what Scaleauto call their Pro Track System. This has been expanded to an unprecedented six radius of curves. This system is aimed at the serious home user or club that requires a wider and gripper surface than the typical home track, and as such there isn’t a power connecting track, so you have to wire in your own controller’s (most clubs do this anyway.) The track features a track spacing of 100mm (4” approx.) so it should accommodate 1/24th scale and with an overall width of 200mm it matches the size of Carrera track - a converter track to the German system is available. We will bring you a full review and test session using this track in the next issue -once we work out how to connect the controllers - Ed n

NEXT FLY CARS IN THE GAUGEMASTER LE MANS COLLECTION

After the two Porsche 911’s and then the pair of Ferrari 250GTO’s, Gaugemaster add to their Le Mans collection with a trio of Ford GT40’s. First of these will be the Ford France car #15 and also the beautiful Scudria Bear #63 both from Le Mans 1966. These will be joined shortly by the light green Strathaven car that raced at La Sarthe in 1968. As with all these limited edition Le Mans collection models from Gaugemaster, just 200 of each will be available. n

Joining these will be the Strathaven car from Le Mans 1968, FLYELM07

FLYEM06 was the Scuderia Bear GT40 written off before the start of the 1966 race

NATIONAL GT3 CHAMPIONSHIP 2023

This is the 2023 national series for GT3 scale slot car models, raced on routed tracks across the country. The purpose of the series is to have fun with fellow enthusiasts, appreciate and envy the skill levels of those that beat you while still believing we would beat them with the same car. We are, in the main, grown men playing with toy cars, and proud of it. The series has expanded the range of eligible GT3 models with the aim to try to allow all cars to be competitive and is now open to NSR, Scaleauto, Sideways and Slot.it slot cars.

The rounds will be held at the following tracks across the UK: n Round 1: Wolverhampton SCC - Sunday 19th February n Round 2: South Manchester SRC - Sunday 23rd April n Round 3: Rockingham SCC - Sunday 18th June n Round 4: Molesey SC - Sunday 9th July n Round 5: Pendle Slot Racing - Sunday 10th September n Round 6: North Staffs SRC - Sunday 29th October

For more details/rules etc click on to https://www.slotforum.com/threads/national-gt3-2023-championship.208985/ n