The start of our five-date Winter Series is not far away! The first event of the re-jigged format is NHRA-themed - featuring Micro Scalextric Street Stock, Micro Scalextric Super Stock 6.0, NHRA 4-Gear Pro-Stock + Funny Car - and some NHRA Top Fuel match-racing. Qualifying is on Tuesday 17 November, racing on Wednesday 18 November and all the coverage is right here on SlotRacer Online.

The full regulations and format are in the Winter Series Preview thread here.

The Track: The Rock County Eighth Mile is a seven-foot timed strip (1/8 mile in true HO scale) made from the new 2019 Micro Scalextric sectional track. Cars must be fitted with braids to run on this track. Power for the first event is 12 volts, 4 amps per lane. Power to both lanes is triggered by a single switch firing a 2-channel relay board. Timing is Trackmate Drag Basic. There is a two-foot shutdown with dynamic braking and a well-padded catch box.

Sending cars: Aim for your cars to arrive in Brighton by the previous Saturday (14 Nov) so they can be quarantined and then registered for qualifying on Tuesday. Please also pack in a small box (max height 7.5cm if possible) and pay for your postage online so no-one needs to go near a post office. These races are designed to be full-on social distancing events that are accessible to everyone in these difficult times and can continue during local or national lockdowns.

How to enter: Add a reply with your interest and the classes you'll be entering - one car per class per person. Family members and friends are very welcome to enter too. I will message you with the address to send cars to. You will need to pay for return postage. Otherwise there is no race fee.

Entries Race #6 - 17-18 November 2020

Micro Scalextric Street Stock: Clive, Iain, Dave, Hank, Al, Bill, Rebecca, Andy, Jeremy, Jane, Pete, Sue, Jerome, Alan, Laura

Micro Scalextric Super Stock 6.0: Clive, Iain, Dave, Al, Bill, Hank, Rebecca, Andy, Jeremy, Jane, Alan

NHRA 4-Gear Pro Stock & Funny Car: Clive, Iain, Rebecca, Andy, Pete & Jerome, Alan

NHRA Top Fuel match-racing: Clive, Rebecca, Andy, Alan

Hello just found this site thought I’d check it out

We have a Targa Florio event/race that that focuses around the years 1969 to 1971. Accurate scratch built liveries are a must. If a car was entered, it can be created and raced even if the real one didn't show up. But you need to bring details like proof of colour, etc...

Racingsportscars.com says a driver named Anatoly Arutunoff tried to enter a Corvette in 1971. But got disqualified before the race. I searched Google Images for days only to come up empty handed. The only thing I found was his phone number through the yellow pages. I can't enter this Corvette until I get details and facts.

So I found the courage to make the phone call, and hope he doesn't hang up in my ear. What a super nice guy! He and I talked for about 45-minutes about all sorts of stuff. The most important... the details of his 1971 Corvette. White with a black hood.

Now I can enter a Corvette in the Targa Florio.

I started off with a Revell C3 static kit.

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Mr Arutunoff's car got disqualified for something to do with the roll-bar. He found out after the race that his Corvette could have qualified if an Italian safety tech had pre-approved it. Tragedy!

Thank you very kindly for looking.
KRZ

   

After their successful Virtual SlotFest Sale in May, a number of UK slot car traders have teamed up to organise the Virtual Slot Car Bonfire Bonanza over the weekend of 7-8 November 2020.

Taking part are:

• MRE
  
• RS Slot Racing
  
• Typhoon Slots & Models
  
• George Turner Models
  
• Slot Track Scenics
  
• Dylcom Models
  
• Pre-Wing
  

The Bonanza will run from 00.01 (GMT) Saturday 7 November to 23.59 (GMT) Sunday 8 November. The participating traders will offering free postage, plus loads of discounts across their websites.

There are more details on the Virtual Slot Fest website: www.virtualslotfest.co.uk

   

Rumours have been flying around the Spanish-speaking slot car world this week about the some new 1/32 scale offerings from Ninco. Armed with very rusty beach-holiday Spanish and Google Translate, I've tried to figure out what's going on...

What we do know for sure is that four new 1/32 Audi R8 GT3 cars and two new 1/32 scale sets have appeared on the Ninco website this week and are marked 'coming soon'...

       
Ninco 20195 Circuit GT Race 1:32 - priced at 149,99 Euros

       
Ninco 20194 Circuit Grand Track 1:32 - priced at 199,99 Euros

The cars included in the sets and available separately are the works Audi R8 GT3s from the 2015 Spa 24 hour race...

       
Ninco 50671 Audi R8 GT3 "6" 1:32
Ninco 50670 Audi R8 GT3 "5" 1:32

       
Ninco 50669 Audi R8 GT3 "2" 1:32
Ninco 50668 Audi R8 GT3 "1" 1:32

The cars are priced at 34,99 Euros and have this description...

Quote:New 1:32 slot cars by Ninco. A ABS body clipped on the universal Ninco Chassis, providing a very low center of gravity.

The website also states they are fitted with the popular NC-5 'Speeder' long can motor.

Now we are into conjecture...

If these are new cars and sets (and they haven't been listed anywhere before), it suggests that Ninco have ditched the vac-formed cars and returned to a hard (ABS) plastic body on their Universal Chassis - the same format as the Seat Leon...

   

If Ninco are selling new cars and sets, perhaps we can hope to see more parts - such as the NC-5 motors - in stock and some - or all - of the track tooling put back into use. We do know that the new owners have produced runs of the digital lane changers and single lane pieces for Professor Motor to distribute in North America and Europe, so that tooling is there and can be put to use, if the new owners so wish...

These developments all make sense. Slot car sets are selling well during the pandemic - better than the more outdoors R/C products that Ninco sells. Their 1/43 venture hasn't been entirely successful, with the WRC-branded offshoot left to flounder. Whereas Ninco 1/32 scale track is still very highly-regarded and is used by very many clubs and home users. New and returning enthusiasts will be seeing Ninco track recommended across old posts on forums and websites. It would be crazy to miss out, wouldn't it?

I have contacted Gaugemaster, who were (and may still be) Ninco's slot car distributor in the UK - I have noticed they've had a stock-clearance of both 1/32 and 1/43 scale Ninco products this year. And - of course - they distribute the new Policar track system that was supposed to be the replacement for the 'defunct' Ninco track...

When there's more news from Spain, I'll translate it and post it.

   

Avant Slot 50806 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 'Gulf' Mitsubishi Ralliart Finland #49 Rally Finland 2010 - Juha Salo / Jarkko Kalliolepo
Avant Slot 50807 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Mitsubishi Repsol #1 Rally Comunidad de Madrid RACE 2016 - Cristian García / Rebeca Liso

Avant Slot have two new liveries on their lovely Group-N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X due in the UK next week - only 60 units of each will be available here. The Gulf and Repsol liveries are bound to popular, but both represent national championship-winning drivers.

       

The #49 'Gulf' car is one of the Mitsubishi Ralliart Finland entries in the 2010 Rally Finland, driven by Juha Salo. Salo and and co-driver Jarkko Kalliolepo crashed out of the rally on stage seven, but the Gulf colours looked fabulous...

   

   

Salo won the 2010 Finnish Rally Championship with the Evo X, his fifth national championship in a Lancer. Between 1996 and 2016, Salo won ten Finnish rally championships and made eleven appearances at Rally Finland...

       

The Avant Slot car will look great on any slot car track...

   



       

The second car is a model of the Repsol-sponsored Evo X that took Cristian García and Rebeca Liso to victory at the 2016 Madrid Rally and clinched that year's Spanish Asphalt Rally Championship for the Mitsubishi pair...

       

The #1 Repsol Evo X took seven victories from ten races in 2016, heralding the end of the Porsche 997 era.

       

The Avant Slot model is sensational - definitely my favourite of the pair...

       

Here's some video of the car in action - plus an interview with Cristian García for Spanish-speakers...




And here's the model on the Avant Slot track...

   

Underneath both cars is the previously-updated Avant Slot Evo X chassis...

   

It features pulley-driven all-wheel-drive and a new 'hard' motor pod.

Both cars are expected in the UK next week - only 60 unit each. RRP is £81.99. MRE and Pendles have the cars available on pre-order for £69.69 (club price) and £74.95 respectively.

A big thanks to Steve at Staffs Slot Cars UK for sending us the pictures and release details.

Just purchased 2 SCP3s, also purchased the recommended rechargeable battery  to fit into the handle however it does not fit . Before I start surgery on the controller with my dremel am I missing something? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated
Mcslots

         

Slot.it CA47a Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R #23 Winner Macau Guia Touring Car Race 1990, Masahiro Hasemi. Available Nov/Dec 2020. RRP £62.95

Slot.it have released the first set of pictures of their new Group-A Nissan Skyline - aka 'Godzilla'. It's in the Castrol Hasemi Motorsport livery of the factory-backed car Masahiro Hasemi drove to a famous - if not rather controversial - victory in the 1990 Guia Touring Car Race on the streets of Macau...

       

The Skyline R32 GT-R dominated the Japanese Touring Car Championship between 1989 and 1993, winning all 29 races it entered. Masahiro Hasemi won JTCC titles in 1989, 1991 and 1992...

       

The Skyline R32 GT-R was powered by a 2.6 litre, straight-six, twin-turbo engine. Key features of the car were it's electronically-controlled all-wheel-drive and four-wheel steering system that kicked in above 50 mph. Not all drivers were keen on the steering. Neither all-wheel-drive nor four-wheel-steering are included on the Slot.it model.

       

Hasemi dominated the 1990 Macau race - taking pole and leading from start to finish - beating a quality field of some of the best British, European, Japanese and local touring car teams and drivers. The nature of the GT-R's win led to a wave of protests from the European teams - and the car would be forced to carry a significant 140kg weight penalty in the following year's race. Here's some action from the opening laps of the race...




You can watch the race in four parts on YouTube or - if you are a Motorsport.TV subscriber - you can catch the full race in rather better quality!


The Slot.it Skyline has the usual DTM layout underneath the body - the 21k MX15 black can motor mounted in an inline 0.5mm offset pod, 9:28 gearing and aluminium hubs on the back. The car is fitted with the new JST connector for easy conversion to digital racing. The vital stats for the model are:

• Length: 142mm
  
• Height: 38mm
  
• Wheelbase: 81mm
  
• Width: 59mm
  
• Weight: 70.3g
  

That makes it in the same ballpark as the Calibra, Alfa and Mercedes DTM models - in fact very similar to the Calibra.

The car is available now on pre-order from Pendle Slot Racing and MRE for rather less than the official UK RRP.

   

   

Hornby Hobbies moves into profit

2020 has been a testing year for everyone. News today from Hornby Hobbies - the parent company of Scalextric - suggests that there has been a silver lining for parts of the toy industry. In a BBC website article (here), Hornby report a 33% rise in sales across their brands in the six months to the end of September, climbing to £21.1m from £15.9m in the same period last year. Hornby Hobbies recorded a net profit of £200,000, turning around a £2.5m loss in 2019.

Chief Executive Lyndon Davies said,

Quote:We have observed hitherto successful and profitable companies worldwide crumbling under the pressure [of the pandemic], with losses, closures and tumbling share values.

Yet we have not only weathered this shattering storm, our sales have increased by 33% in the first half of 2020, moving Hornby back into profitability.

Davies admitted that the company started 2020 with "no idea" how they would weather the pandemic. Most of the staff have been working from home this year and there were many logistical problems getting products from the Far East. However, for the customer, it has seemed pretty much business as usual.

From the activity online - particularly on social media - it has seemed like there has been a surge of new people getting into slot cars - and many more returning. It is good to see cold, hard figures to show this has translated into increased sales for the manufacturers.

Although the 2021 Scalextric catalogue will be published - as usual - next January, it is unclear exactly how the media and retailers will get to see the new range. Rest assured, we'll have some in-depth coverage here on SlotRacer Online. You can see our 2020 unveiling here.



London Toy Fair cancelled

One impact of the pandemic is that trade fairs are being cancelled and postponed. Announced yesterday was the cancellation of the 2021 London Toy Fair...

Quote:We have been working closely with Olympia London and we have together taken the decision that despite all best efforts and endeavours by both parties, regrettably the Toy Fair 2021 is unable to take place.

This conclusion is due to government restrictions now in place on large scale indoor events in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The wellbeing of our exhibitors, visitors, staff and contractors is paramount and currently the risks are considered too great to allow the show to go ahead as dictated by the government regulations. We empathise with the industry’s disappointment - this is the first year that Toy Fair will not take place in 66 years.

We express our thanks to all exhibitors for their patience and understanding and for the support of the wider industry, and very much looking forward to a big return in 2022 from 25-27 January.

SlotRacer Online had some fun coverage from Olympia last year (see here) and hope to be back in 2022.



Spielwarenmesse postponed to summer 2021

Speilwarenmesse 2021 - the Nuremberg Toy Fair - has been moved from February to the summer and will take place between 20 and 24 July. The official announcement said...

Quote:For the first time in its long history, the world’s leading toy fair has been postponed to summer by organiser Spielwarenmesse eG. The decision was made taking in consideration rising infection rates and further restrictions on travel.

We hope to have SlotRacer Online coverage from Nuremberg next summer. You can find our 2020 thread here.


NSR closes after positive Covid test

A statement from NSR yesterday reminds us all of the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic. A member of their team tested positive and the company has had to close while the rest of the staff self-isolate and are tested. They hope to return next week.

Quote:We have to sadly inform you that due to Covid-19, NSR will stay closed for some days. A member of NSR is actually positive to Covid-19, and all of us is waiting for some days of quarantine and for results of the test.

Maybe we could come back on Monday 02/11, but it is just an approximate date. We will inform you as we will have some news.

Thank you so much for your collaboration, specially during these hard times.

We will do our best to come back as soon as possible and stronger than before.

Keep safe

Our best wishes go out to everyone at NSR - and at all the slot car manufacturers, distributors and retailers who are keeping us thrilled and entertained during these difficult times.

Hi
my name is Nico and I am located in Salzburg, Austria.

I am racing about everything slotrelated: 1/87, 1/62, 1/32, 1/24

In H0 it is mostly Drag racing, but I also have a 4lane AFX.
1/24 scale I am racing in a localClub with around 6 tracks within 1 hours drive.

Cheers, Nico