Look out for a new TV series on Yesterday (Sky TV) coming all about Hornby - will definitely watch for this one

The C4212 Pagani Huayra Roadster BC #23 'Yellow' has just been released. Scalextric kindly loaned me a pre-production sample to look at and road test...

       

I have to say, I am surprised to be reviewing a Scalextric Super-Resistant Hypercar for SlotRacer Online. Although I am quite partial to some of these cars, they really don't fit what I run at home or what I race at clubs. Because Hypercars are extremely popular with many younger fans - especially those who play racing games on their phones and computers - they make ideal entry-level models. Scalextric have made them super-resistant and mid-price for a reason: they get ripped out of the cardboard box and are played with - cruising, chasing or racing.

       

Some of these Hypercar models look better than others and - just ahead of the Lamborghini Centenario - the Pagani Huayra BC Roadster has got to be the best of the bunch. It's a superbly rendered car - the Scalextric team worked closely with the Pagani factory, including a pre-Covid site visit - and the yellow livery of this first model looks sensational. It also has a racing number... these very exclusive £2 million Hypercars - only 40 will ever be made - are designed to be the ultimate track day car. Powered by a 789 bhp 6-litre twin-turbo Mercedes V12, the Roadster BC has a 0-60 time of 2.2 seconds and a top speed of 238 mph. Aerodynamic downforce is aided by an F1-style blown-diffuser – the Roadster BC is claimed to generate a massive 1,102 lbs of downforce at 174 mph.

       

Mechanically, the Scalextric Huayra is unremarkable - completely standard modern in-line layout with the 18k-ish Mabuchi S-Can, 9:27 gear ratio, easy-change guide, standard magnet just behind the motor, plus the chassis is Digital Plug Ready (DPR) for easy conversion to Scalextric digital. The double-spoke wheels look great, especially with the disk brakes behind them. They are also the 'Euro-standard' size. The tyres have reasonable grip - certainly better than on the GT3 cars, which are often pretty awful. The front tyres site just above the track and the rear keeps the magnet close to the track rails - measuring 45g in situ on my DIY magnet gauge, which is the higher end of average.

A few more stats...

• Weight: 78g overall / 24.5g body only
  
• Length: 148mm
  
• Wheelbase: 87mm
  
• Rear track: 61.5mm
  
• Height: 36mm
  

Being a super-resistant model, no lights are fitted, but there are retaining lugs moulded into the body - and there is a flat tray interior underneath those blacked out windows - so a future high-detail version is probably on the cards. In a heavily-tinted-window hypercar way, I do like the look of the blacked glass.

So far, so good - if you like a super-resistant Hypercar. However, the highlight of the Huayra for me was its track performance...

       

The vast majority of these cars will be raced on a home track - exactly as they come out of the cardboard box. I first tested the Huayra with magnets on my tight and twisty home track - consisting of mainly R2 corners, plus one R1 right-hander. The car gripped and handled extremely well. I had to fiddle with the ARC app controller settings to choose the linear option - the softer S curves just didn't give the car enough poke. Once I could push the car, I found the rear stepped out when I over-cooked things - no sudden breaking away into the scenery. It was a lot of fun to drive, very predictable - and smashed the out-of-the-box Scalextric records on my track with 30 laps in two minutes and a best of 3.77 seconds.

       

I wanted to try the car without the magnet and the Scalextric team gave their blessing. The magnet came out (and went back in) quite easily. Because I couldn't work on the rear tyres (it wasn't my car), I did what I do with all my Scalextric race cars - change the rear tyres. I fitted a pair of NSR Supergrips, which went on the 'Euro-size' wheels with no problem. When I replaced the body, I loosened the screws a turn. The non-mag Huayra was a joy to drive - even with the linear throttle setting. When I dialed the curve back to a softer 'S', it was a little easier on the twisty track. Pretty quickly, I set 21 laps in two minutes and a best of 5.40 seconds - right up with the best non-mag Scalextric cars.

       

I then added 2.5g of tungsten putty just in front of the motor. That fixed some slight understeer and gave me confidence to push harder into and through the corners. I ended up with 22 laps in two minutes and a best lap of 5.30 seconds. That was firmly in the outer edges of NSR and Slot.it territory on my track - and there are still improvements to be made. There was some 'hop' under acceleration, so gluing the motor and axle bushings would certainly help. As would replacing and re-profiling the braids to get the guide even lower in the slot. Then there's testing other tyre compounds, playing with the weight etc.

The Huayra shows many of the improvements Scalextric have put into their cars in the past year or so. The front axle height means no faffing around with sanding down front tyres to get the guide in the slot. The front 'loop' on the motor mount holds the motor more securely. Simply loosening off the screws gives some decent body float. And the whole package handles really nicely with - and without - the magnet. The standard tyres work well with the magnet - allowing the car to slide rather than snap. The compound is conducive to truing and softening for decent non-mag grip, but the best option is to change to NSR or Slot.it rubber - or urethanes - basically, whatever works best on your track surface.

   

Teamslot 11702 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST-185 #4 1992 Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava Winner - Carlos Sainz & Luis Moya. Limited Edition Mud Effect. RRP £64.00. Due September 2021.

This new limited edition car from Teamslot has shipped and will be with UK retailers any day. Only 250 have been made, with around 50 of those coming to the UK. Like the previous "Serie Especial" Camel-liveried Lancia Delta HF 4WD, this Toyota is packaged in a clear Teamslot display case with mud-colour plinth - there's also a numbered card and the now usual backing with details of the rally, drivers and finishing position.

       

The Teamslot ST-185 is a lovely model and this livery is a cracker - full-on Marlboro decals and a subtle dusting of Catalunya dirt. Sainz and Moya both wore plain white helmets in 1992, but the interior features the works Toyota race suits and pace notes - you'll have to figure out which stage is represented. The OZ Racing wheels are nicely detailed and the car has the now standard wire aerial. All-in-all a beautiful model of an important car in WRC history - plus a fabulous rally slot car to drive on any layout or purpose-built rally stage.

       

Despite the debut of the new ST-185, all the sensible money was on another dominant season for Lancia in 1992 - the Martini Racing team now being run by Jolly Club. Lancia were led by world champion Juha Kankkunen and hot-shot Didier Auriol - who won six of the 14 rallies, Kankkunen one and Andrea Aghini winning at Sanremo. That was the manufacturers' title sewn up... but Sainz had managed to score consistently in the under-performing Toyota - and found himself still with a mathematical chance of the title going into the final two rounds in Spain and Great Britain.

       

Sainz won the Safari and in New Zealand with the ST-185, but the new car had been plagued by handling problems all year. That made the opening of the Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava all the more special. The rest of the teams were left open-mouthed by the performance of Sainz and the Toyota on stage one - a full twelve seconds ahead of the chasing pack. Jolly Club boss Claudio Bortoletto suggested the stage time was a mistake, whereas Ford driver François Delacour put it down to the unique properties of Pirelli tyres in cool conditions... However, Sainz and Moya would win nine of the opening day's eleven stages, holding a 1 minute 41 second lead over Aghini and Sauro going into day two.

       

The handling problems hadn't gone away - and the Pirellis were worn down to the canvas by the end of most stages. Although both Auriol and Aghini had dropped back, Kankkunen was gaining time on Sainz throughout the second leg - and by over a second per kilometer. The Toyota was struggling and victory seemed to be hanging by a thread. A change of suspension and tyres allowed Sainz to fight back and slow the Finn's advance. Going into the final day, Sainz held a 61 second lead. On the long El Subira stage, he limited his losses to eight seconds, compared to nearly 20 seconds the day before. It was enough - Sainz won the rally by 36 seconds and took a slender lead into the final event of the championship - the Spaniard was on 124 points, Kankkunen on 123 and Auriol on 121. Sainz would win again on the RAC and clinch his second WRC title. Sainz, Moya and Toyota had certainly exceeded all expectations.



Remember, there aren't many of these cars available in the UK -  if you want one, make a beeline to your favourite Teamslot retailer now.

Looking for some Tomy Afx Mega G chassis. 1.5 or 1.7 wheel base.  Have Mega G+ and Super G+ or other types of chassis or bodies for trade. Could purchase for reasonable price.

Stumbled across this place recently while on holiday in East Lincolnshire:

      

Slot.it CA33d Audi R8 LMP #3 24 hour of Le Mans 2001 - J. Herbert, D.Theys & R. Kelleners. RRP £64.95. Scheduled Spring 2022.

Slot.it have just announced a planned 2022 release. The car is the Champion Racing Audi R8 LMP that qualified third for the 2001 Le Mans 24 hours and then retired early in the race. Possibly as interesting as the body is a change of chassis design - the new CS33t-60b chassis incorporates a standard Slot.it guide, rather than the rather fiddly LMP guides that were fitted in the past. Slot.it have hinted that they are moving away from the LMP guides wherever possible. The new chassis is also set up for digital conversion using Scalextric, Carrera and oXigen compatible chips.

   

The R8 LMP certainly provides a wider range of liveries than the later Audis - and the Champion Racing colour scheme is one of my favourite. The 2003 Le Mans car was scheduled for release by Slot.it in 2014, but I can find no record of the model being produced. It's great to finally see the Champion Racing colours join the Slot.it LMP range.

       

Champion Racing were a Florida-based team founded in 1993 by Trinidadian rally driver Dave Maraj. Champion would go on to become the most successful north American sportscar team of the 'noughties', thanks to their partnership with Audi. Running in the same livery as 2001, Champion became the first American team to win Le Mans for nearly forty years with victory in 2005. Maraj also led Champion Racing to five consecutive American Le Mans Series LMP1 championships, two as a private team and three as a factory team under the name Audi Sport North America.

The Champion Racing Audi R8 LMP is scheduled for a March/April 2022 release and is available for pre-order now at Pendle Slot Racing and other Slot.it stockists.

Derby HO Racing Club was formed on 7Jul92 after our first Le Mans 24-hour race on 20/21Jun92 on a 199’ eight lane circuit made up of Tomy AFX track.

   

Since 1992 we have run 622 Club Nights (as of 07Sep21), celebrating our 500th event in style with a 10 Lane Donington Park replica at the actual Donington Park. We continue to run further corporate events there at their biggest race meetings.

   
 
We have also run 27 Le Mans 24-hour races to date, with the last 18 years’ run on the incredible Brad Bowman 233’ 4” routed track manufactured in California.

   
 
Brad also built us a 124’ eight lane replica of the now defunct Rockingham Motor Speedway near Corby England.

   
 
For the HO racing we run both a Tyco 440X2 F1/Indy class and a BRST/Viper Enclosed Wheel class.

   
 
In 2021 we are also looking to add Carrera Digital to our portfolio, with regular tests on our 100’+ Sebring circuit this year ready for a full Championship in 2022.

   
 
We race on a Tuesday night and can be found on Facebook under Derby HO Racing Club and the Web via www.dhorc.co.uk where we publish a magazine after each race.
 
Cheers
Nick

Looking forward to our 4th test of the year on our 102' Carrera Digital Sebring Circuit on Wednesday 22Sep21. We are testing this year hoping to run a 12 hour Sebring race over 12 dates in 2022.

Cheers
Nick

   

   

   

All being well, I should soon start on my first bit of kit bashing soon.
This plans to involve cutting and shutting various plastic body parts and attempting to reprofile some areas with filler and plasticard.

If the project goes to plan I hope to give it to a friend to cast mould for resin, but also would like to run the modified body as is, so need something up to the rigours of slot racing.

so I ask those of you who have been at it some time:

Best adhesive for bonding plastics ?
Best filler for smoothing and reshaping ?

Both needing to be freely available in the UK.

In my current arsenal I have G.S. Hypo cement, Humbrol modelers cement and JB weld Steel reinforced epoxy.
And was thinking of using car body filler (P38) for the other work ?

Anything known to be stronger / better for either of the above tasks ?

Question: anybody tried to make foam tires out of flip flop shoes yet! Seen it on the net, but not how it is done?
Anyboby got any experience?

Thanks, Nico