Our second AFX Formula One Championship race of the Bulldog era saw us race on the West Bend layout, first used in September 2024...

   

Over to Gareth for the race report...

I believe a company called C&C decals used to print these, but looks like they are no longer in business.
So I am searching for someone else who could provide me with Richard Petty #43 Plymouth Roadrunner decals, specifically for the 1971 Plymouth model version if possible. I am building a 1/32nd scale model.

Hopefully someone else already supplies these or who would do a sheet for me  ?

Graham

Has anyone else seen this Scalextric trackside building?
Looks pretty much like the usual A.208 Control Tower, but this version has a working battery-operated Public Address Unit. Uses PP7 (9v "lantern" battery) or more accessible & compact PP3 9v battery; microphone can be about 5' 6" from speaker unit in control tower base.
This item appears in Scalextric catalogues 1 to 7 (1960 -1967).

Slot Rally GB 2026 - Round Two - Farnborough

The short trip to Farnborough is almost a local round for us - 47 miles from the Barn and about an hour and a quarter driving time. Mike was our chauffeur and he took us on a picturesque trip through the glorious countryside of the Petworth Estate and Rother valley, before re-joining civilisation for a few miles of dual carriageway. It was warm when we left the coastal plain at 8am and only got hotter as we headed inland and the sun rose in the sky. It would become the hottest UK May temperature on record.

   

There was no surprise that school caretaker and slot rally track-builder Lawrence had St Peter's school optimised to keep those temperatures as low as possible. We didn't want any heat-related health emergencies. Lights were off, windows open and big fans kept the air moving. The WHO continent and our Bournemouth buddy Steve commandeered the staff room, which was on the shaded side of the building and had a fridge full of cold drinks.

   

Oliver was at his first Slot Rally away day, having recently won two club events and attended Slot Rally GB Saturdays at the Barn. Phil and myself were back for a third visit to Farnborough Park Scalextric Club, along with Mike who missed out last year. Terry was a last-minute cancellation, Jeremy taking a season-long Sunday sabbatical - and we couldn't get Gareth back to his old junior school. Maybe next year...

   

Cars wise, Mike had borrowed a Ninco Impreza from Steve, having forgotten it was four cars at Slot Rally GB. Oliver had quite a few options to choose from, but plumped for an SRC Porsche 914, a very quick Porsche 934 with 3D printed chassis, a Scaleauto Ford RS200 and another Ninco Impreza. Phil also had a Ninco Impreza, together with a Capri and Peugeot from SRC and a Targa Florio Porsche 911. Steve also was running the Targa Florio class with a Porsche Carrera 6. His rally cars were a SRC Peugeot, SRC Porsche 914 a new Fly EVO Lancia 037 - but no Ninco Impreza. As usual, I went with three Nincos - Impreza, Lancia 037 and Porsche 911SC - plus the little SCX Fiat 124 Spyder going first to learn each stage...

   

There were nine stages on the schedule - two plastic, seven routed - and our aim was to finish five before taking a break for lunch.

                           Here, from the slot car museum in Houston Texas are 3 different Hurricane sets in HO scale, 1/32nd scale, and 1/24th scale. These were actually made by Marusan in Japan and packaged in New Zealand to avoid high tariffs. The 1/24th scale set is the most common with a Lotus 25 and a Ferrari 156. Don't see as many 1/32nd scale sets for some reason. They had a Ford GT and a Porsche 904. The rarest set is the 4 lane HO scale set.This set had a Jaguar XKE, A Buick Rivera, a Ferrari GTO, and a Corvette Stingray. All 4 lane sets had only these cars. This is the only 4 lane set by Marusan / Hurricane ever made and is extremely rare. You will notice some of the internal packaging is written in Japanese. So it was shipped from Japan to New Zealand. While the outer box and instructions are in English. So these were manufactured in New Zealand. All the sets have all their paper work as well.

Here are 2 Mitaka Sangyo suit case sets we have here at the slot car museum in Houston. These are very rare sets. The lettering on the briefcase in the lower right hand corner says in gold lettering "Racing Circuit SS/ Gauge". The transformers says Mitaka Sangyo. Sangyo translates to "industry" or "manufacturing" in Japanese and is a common suffix for many trading and industrial companies. Many Japanese companies released a slot car set in the 1960s using already made cars and track from other slot car manufacturers like the 2 rare Pioneer sets we have at the slot car museum. There is a Mitaka company that produced surgical instruments and telescopes , etc which may describe why this set has SS Gauge on the front of the suitcase. Well anyway these sets are leather covered briefcases with lined felt inside. The cars are a 1/32nd scale white BMW 507 ,a red Jaguar XK 120,a white Jaguar XK120, and a white Ford  Thunderbird. All of these cars and the controllers are made by Tokyo Plamo, though the track and fence look like Bandai. The hardtop cars use no clear plastic windows and have no interiors, no drivers, & no wheel covers so the cost can be kept down. The track has rails more for shoes instead of brushes. I could not find any information on these unique briefcase sets in any of my Japanese literature or on the internet. I would of course appreciate any help in finding out more about the company or history of these sets. Its strange that I have been collecting since 1989 & I have never seen or heard of this set and all of a sudden 2 sets appear within a month of each other. Collecting is strange sometimes                                      

Here, from the museum is the only known complete example left of the 1948 Jr. Midget Speedway made in the USA. It was made by Lou J. Fageol of Detroit. The set sold for $200 in 1948 which is the equivalent of $ [b]2,425.69 today[/b]. Needless to say very very few of these early electric race sets were sold. So underneath the aluminum race track were 2 metal rails shaped in an oval. On these 2 parallel tracks ran 2 extremely heavy .metal type belt driven chassis with a spring loaded magnet. The magnet touched the underside of the aluminum track pulling the diecast race car by its steel steering unit. The set is 36 inches wide by 61 inches long and the cars are 4 1/2 inches long.  When running it makes a very loud noise. I show here the catalog which I think shows a prototype set because the placement of the speed controls are different and it shows a metal wall in the curves which mine never had. The last thing I show was an advertisement for the set in a 1948 Esquire mens magazine for Xmas. I want to thank Don and Chuck for helping me get this incredible set years ago. The only place so see this historical set is here at the museum in Texas !

                                      This just came into the slot car museum in Houston Texas . Its a 1/32nd scale Gakken race set. The box is huge ! Its 43 1/2 inches long by 19 inches wide. The set was made in 1965 in Japan. The set contains 2 Lotus 30s, 1 gold chrome and 1 silver chrome.The chassis are made for the 1st time in Zircon, a type of plastic which is advertised as lighter and stronger than other types of plastic. Gakken slot cars are very different from all other slot cars in that they were advised by the Tokyo Institute of Technology which is mentioned on the lower right hand corner of the slot car set.. A Professor of engineering by the name of Dr. Shigeo Okeya who is credited with 15 patents helped Gakken develop the cars. I show a photo of him as he appears in the slot car set manual. Gakken also made the set with non chrome Lotus 30s. They also made a 1/32nd scale Lotus 30 in a kit form and a 1/24th scale Ferrari 330P-2 ,both with the Zircon chassis. Later they made a 1/24th scale Ferrari 330P-2 and a Lola T70 with an aluminium chassis that is stamped with the letters PI which we also have at the museum.