WINTER ENDURANCE (September 2009) Last month Armchair Racer hosted a four hour Endurance Race using the Sideways Riley MKXX. The Sideways range is Racers newest series having only been available from early this year. Rather than each team being allocated a single car, in this event each team (made up of 2 or 3 drivers) raced on each lane using the allocated car for that lane. The winning team after 4 hours of racing was Geoff I and Michael S completing 1,643 laps. In 1:1 racing that is 52.5 kms at an average speed of 13 km/hr. However, these are scale cars therefore it is only fair to publish the results in 1:32 scale. Total distance was 1,682 kms at an average speed of 420 km/hr - which ever way you look at it both the 1:1 and 1:32 results are very impressive.
WINNERS OF THE SLOT.IT PARTS COMPETITION (February 2009) We asked you to let us know why you want to win Slot.it parts to the value of $50.00? One prize was awarded to our favourite written response and the other in the form of a photo.
We thank all those who entered and the selection choice was not easy as some entries were detailed explaining how the slot cars would improve with the parts; some entries were very funny and some entries a little strange, SO...
WINNER OF THE PHOTO ENTRY - Michael W, Queensland
Please find attached our entry for  the photographic competition, my daughters dog, Coco, as usual chasing and destroying my slot cars when I practice.
We awarded Michael's entry as the winner not only because perhaps with some new new high powered motors, Coco will have no chance catching the cars but we also wondered if Michael was one of those people who throughout life blamed his incomplete homework; arriving late to work; etc, on 'the dog'.
We know that many of our customers have some very interesting excuses for spending money on this hobby but now Michael can thank his dog for acquiring some great new slot parts!

WINNER OF THE WRITTEN ENTRY - Bruce T, Tasmania
HIGHLY COMMENDED - Wayne B, Sydney NSW
As mentioned earlier the decision process was not easy as the responses were so varied (note to self - all future competitions to be 'guess the ?' where one simple answer wins). Our decision was not unanimous SO... we have decided that Wayne B whose entry was so 'sad' that it deserved a HIGHLY COMMENDED prize - a set of sticky Slot.it P6 tyres to help him a little? - was worth reprinting - nothing at all to do with all the Armchair flattery...
I have been racing at Armchair Racer for a few months now.
Without a doubt, the boys who race @ Armchair Racer are the nicest bunch of blokes I have ever played slot cars with. In that time I cannot recall any major disagreements, verbal abuse, threats arguments or physical encounters.
People at Armchair Racer are courteous, friendly and well mannered and it is always a pleasure to play there.
Apart from the very distinctive bout of uncontrollable urges to exude internal gasses which are camouflaged as noteworthy flatulent tones together with fairly volumetric deep gut stench belching performed by a number of healthy humanoid characters (these persons shall remain un-named) every race night is packed with fun excitement and really bad one liners…….but that’s what I love about it.
Oh and the parking is fantastic (except for when you arrive first and then need to get out in a hurry).
What I don’t love about it is trying to really win a race when you have some very good drivers. It does appear that it is the very same few all the time. Even when you think you have done a good round and on your favourite lane……they come along and smash you to bits……….this just makes me more determined to get my driving skills up to their level. But then, I don’t have a huge 8 x lane fully ball raced electronic lap counter etc….Scalextric track in my Lounge Room,,,,do I???????
I know that we can only race box stock but…… %#*& me!!!!!!!  Wouldn’t it be good to beat some of the top boys (unfair and unsquared) ………. just once……What a thought.
The only possible way to get up there is to cheat and modify the car so that it is absolutely undetected !!!!!!!!!! Look out you Christopher Skaifes…and Mark Prickhards, Harry Potterbottoms…….I’m a comin…….
THAT’S WHY I WANT THE PARTS…………I actually have 8 x SLOT.IT cars……surely no one will notice if I totally cheat by an illegal upgrade and modify just one of them. Lets get devious, I won’t tell anyone!!!!!!
BESIDES WHICH I’m PROBABLY the only IDIOT to send in a written response…..Go Figure!!!!!
You have my permission to publish this If I win……..and I should!!!!
BUT now for our winner. Bruce T of Tasmania. At Armchair we have many customers we have been dealing with for quite some time and we often get to know what that they like. Bruce is an 'Escort man' and recently in some correspondance Bruce sent us a picture of his son, Lachlan, on his way out to his High School formal with his refurbished Escort. As for all the green - our only comment - they're Tasmanian.
Back to Bruce - his entry commenced with "would help if you watch an episode of Little Britain first! "...
Why do I need Slot.it parts - whoa I so can’t believe you just said that. You see, I was sniffin round in my boxes the uver day, you know, the ones that contain all my contraband that my wife, the one I married 25 years ago, what knows nuffin or no-one what is to do wif my slot car addiction and I dids used up of my Slot It motors for a poxy car that is yellow like my eyes when I wake up after a night of hard you know what - racin – der. Oh my god, now that my yellow poxy thing that smells like fish, which is like you know what, has gone to be handled by all kinds of old wrinkly men, well you see my Racer 935 kit, which was used for donor purposes, no not that rude fing donation, does not have anything to make it go round. So come on Armchair furniture shop name fing, computa doesn’t say no, computa says Vicki (Bruce) needs a Slot It voucher.
We congratulate all our worthy winners and we sincerely thank all those who entered but were not successful this time. We also apologise to those outside our slot car community who have no idea what all the above meant.
2008 TOP SELLERS (January 2009)
OK it seems we have started a tradition and we have been asked to produce the list for 2008 so below are the top sellers. We have added more manufacturers plus a couple of added bonuses...read on. Results are sourced from Armchair Racer retail sales. Cars listed are only those released during 2008.
TOP SELLING CAR FOR 2008? C2832 - Scalextric Holden V8 as driven by Mark Skaife
MOST POPULAR SCALEXTRIC CAR? As above. There were some very close contenders this year and this is first for a Holden - well in 1:32 scale anyway.
MOST POPULAR SLOT.IT CAR? SICA12A - Audi R8C Black Roll-out Snetterton. Well this one surprised us. This car was a re-release, allbeit with many new and improved modifications, however, with the magnificent line up from Slot.it over the past year, this model did sell out the quickest and therefore a worthy winner.
MOST POPULAR SCX CAR? 62590 - Renault Alpine A110 - Blue. This classic rally car had plenty of competition in the SCX line-up but narrowly beat another model.
MOST POPULAR NINCO CAR? N50479 - Mosler Mt-900R DHL. There was some stiff competition in Ninco's fabulous collection this year but this model is great to look at and put on the track.
MOST POPULAR CARRERA CAR? 27272 - Ford Mustang 1967. Carrera have excelled in their line-up of classic American cars released in 2008.
MOST POPULAR FLY CAR? F88290 - Porsche 935 K3 Apple Computers. To be honest the winner was infact a car released in 2007 but this 2008 model may have had an advantage because our own Allan Moffat was one of the drivers.
MOST POPULAR MB SLOT CAR? MBA0702 - Zonda F 2005. A truely deserving winner - a new manufacturer with a magnificently detailed model of a car not previously (or at least to our knowledge) available in the 1:32 slot car market.
MOST POPULAR REVELL CAR? 854891 - Ford Galaxie. Another classic American car in our top selling list.
MOST POPULAR SLOTER CAR? SL9618 - Lola T70 Spyder. If you have seen this model you will instantly know why this topped the list for Sloter.
MOST POPULAR POWER SLOT CAR? Green Mud Quad Bike. These are great for both those with rally tracks and those who want something a little different. These were produced in scale which is unusual for bikes.
MOST POPULAR RACER CAR? RCR43 - Chaparral 2E. The quality of every Racer model is exceptional and this elegant and classic car is magnificently re-produced by Racer.
This year we thought we would ask Jim his opinion of the cars delivered during 2008 as he is in a very fortunate position to inspect and photograph every car released. Here are some of his thoughts for 2008:
"By far the most outstanding and detailed model of the year were the two Sloter Lola's, both in presentation and attention to detail right down to accelerator, brake and clutch pedal.
The most outstanding driving car from the feedback that I received was the long awaited Slot.it Audi and probably the Slot.it Ferrari F40 will top it as the better car in non magnet mode, however, I can't wait to see the new Slot.it Audi racing version car in 2009.
Best value in my opinion is the Scalextric Twin pack with the Lotus and Eagle-Gurney. Two classic cars for under $100, beautifully made models for the price.
Most interesting are the recently released Carrera American classics from the late 50's/early 60's vintage. These cars stayed on my desk the longest as I just loved the look of them."
Epilogue to those who do not know Jim - Jim has a few Harleys sitting in his garage and we believe life will be fullfilled for him when there is also a '57 Corvette sitting in his garage so there may be some bias to classic American models.
Finally - we will be running a few competitions this year and you are pre-warmed that the final competition will be to list the top sellers for 2009. Great prizes will be announced with full details in December 2009.
NASCAR SERIES INCLUDED IN OUR TUESDAY NIGHT RACE SCHEDULE (July 2008) In 1948 when NASCAR was formed and following the end of WWII due to the shortage of new cars, pre-war 'modified' cars were the early stable of NASCAR racing. However, in 1949 the NASCAR president realised that fans would probably more enjoy watching cars they actually drove on the street and introduced late model family sedans to NASCAR. This was the first racing organisation to race the 'family' car.
During the 70's and 80's Australian motorsport icon Bob Jane travelled numerous times to the USA observing stock car racing rise in popularity. As Bob Jane owned the Calder Park Raceway, in 1987 the 'Thunderdome' a tri-oval shape track with 24 degree banking was completed. We understand the banks of the Thunderdome were filled with old tyres from his T-Mart tyre stores.
In February 1988 the first NASCAR race staged outide North America has held at the Thunderdome hosting both top Australian touring car drivers and USA imports.
More recently NASCAR has been prominent in Australian motorsport media when the 2003 and 2004 V8 Supercar winner, Marcos Ambrose, switched to NASCAR in 2006. Ambrose is the first Australian to race full-time in NASCAR and the first non North American to finish in the top 10.
Armchair Racer has commenced a 6 race NASCAR host series as part of this years Tuesday night racing schedule. Full details on our RACING EVENTS page and results on our RACING RESULTS page.
REAL MEN DON'T EAT QUICHE BUT DO DRIVE PINK SLOT CARS (May 2008) Rarely does a manufacturer re-release a car but this year Slot.it is doing it twice. During March we saw the re-release of the Audi R8C Snetterton, however, that model was manufactured with a new part number, new mould and many new features. On 15 May the SICA03C Porsche 962C pink Blaupunkt is being re-released and that prompted us to hold another competition.
We asked our readers to simply take a photo of their pink (or predominantly pink) slot cars and email them together in one photo to us. You would think after all this time in this industry we should have considered that we are dealing with slot car racers who find it hard to turn up to a race event without any modification to their slot car. In fact it is often believed the word 'scrutinise' was created for slot car racing enthusiasts.
So this entry arrived and impressed we were, however, when observing this photo we know that almost none of the liveries of the cars shown were ever produced in pink. We are also certain that followers of the V8 Supercar series are shuddering when they see the pink Vodafone Ford being held by a boy in a pink Ferrari T-Shirt!
Our dilema was then whether to protect the identity of the winning entry or not but that decision was made easy when we realised he was located in Western Australia - need we say anymore?
As we did not stipulate any rules for this competition we would like to congratulate Darryl P on his winning entry for the most pink slot cars. Darryl may now purchase the Slot.it Porsche 962C Blaupunkt or any other Slot.it car with a 50% discount.
HAVE A GUESS... (March 2008) During the 2nd weekend of March we held another of our weekend competitions asking you to guess the make of car and driver of an unannounced 2008 release.
Our competition started with the following statement and question:
We are very lucky in Australia to receive a range of Australian Limited Release Scalextric models. For some years we have been receiving a range of the V8 Supercars along with some classic cars driven by Bob Jane and Allan Moffat.
In 2008 we will be again treated to another Australian Limited Release car not part of the V8 Supercar range. Simply guess the make of car and driver.
We received an interesting array of answers and as we enjoyed this answer we felt our readers may also enjoy it.
"...not being Australian, I struggle to figure these historical things out.
So it's guessing time... again.
I'm making the assumption it's a Scalextric release, otherwise I might have had to guess a Slot-It Porsche 956 driven by Brock and Perkins in 1984 at Le Mans.
So, if it's a Scalextric release, I'll also have to assume it's not a new mould.
So that sort of leaves me completely flummaxed.
I'd have thought the logical driver to do would be Peter Brock, especially with the HRT licensing Scalextric now have.
But I can't imagine Scalextric would try using a Camaro body in place of his Torana...
And it's not part of the V8 Supercar range, so it's not his last Bathurst outing in the fairly recent Commodore.
The only other cars lined up seem to be the Lotus Cortina, and although Moffat drove one, can't see them doing him again. Can't say I know of any Australian drivers in either the 60's mini or the 70's Escort...
There's that Georgehan guy who also raced Mustangs, seems he was a legend - but doesn't seem as inspiring as Brock, or Dick Johnson or Jim Richards.
Can't see it being a Dick Johnson Ford or Jim Richards in the Carerra cup, nope.
Everything points to Brock, and at Holden being the make of car - you don't want the model though?
If I had to guess a model, suppose it would be Torana - somehow."
We are pleased to announce that the Australian Limited Release will be the Ford Cortina MK1 driven by Bob Jane and George Reynolds winning the 1964 Bathurst Armstrong 500. Unfortunatley there were no successful guesses in our competition.
AND THE WINNER IS: (January 2008)
Interested in what the top sellers for 2007 were? Please note the results are sourced from Armchair Racer retail sales and only some of the results have been verified with the importers, however, we are confident that they would be the same or very close to total Australian slot car sales.
Top selling car for 2007? C2775 - Scalextric Allan Moffat Mustang
Most popular Scalextric car for 2007? As above
Most popular Slot.it car for 2007? SICA10A - McLaren F1 GTR - currently available following a re-production run by Slot.it due to this models huge success
Most popular Ninco car for 2007? N50428 - Mosler MT900 'Gulf'
Most popular Carrera car for 2007? 27200 - 1932 Ford Hot Rod. The new Hot Rod range released by Carrera during 2007 have been a huge sucess. All the Hot Rods look great and this is a deserving winner.
Most popular Fly car for 2007? F88256 - March 961 F1 1976. The first F1 car produced by Fly. With front wheel steering and suspension the detail on this model was fantastic and another deserving winner. No longer available.
Most popular accessory/part for 2007? OK it seems that many of you are having difficulty staying on the track. To our surprise the top selling part for 2007, which is not even listed on our web page, was the SICN04 - Slot.it Neodimium Race Magnet.
C2775 SCALEXTRIC ALLAN MOFFAT FORD MUSTANG (August 2007)
Historically a race between Ford’s and Holden’s, the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is the most popular motor sport in Australia.
In 1969 little known Canadian Allan Moffat bought into Australia the Boss 302 Mustang which was Fords state-of-the-art racer fresh from the USA where it had been built to topple Chevrolet in the Trans-AM wars of that year.
As the Trans-AM rules were similar to the ATCC series production rules it was a perfect new car for Allan Moffat to shine.
Painted in the bright red corporate colours of big time sponsor Coco-Cola this amazing 5.0 litre Mustang amassed 101 race wins from 151 starts and volumes of qualifying and lap records around the country. That stunning strike rate alone could explain this car's fanatical following, but what made its success all the more astonishing was that Moffat was often competing against muscle monsters with far greater engine capacity’s such as Bob Jane’s big block 7.0 litre Camaro and Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegans 5.8 lire Super Falcon.
Even though in later years it was Moffat’s exploits behind the wheels of a series of awesome Falcon racers, it was this Trans-Am Mustang that became Moffat’s signature car.
Scalextric have been producing a range of Australian release ATCC cars since 2004. There is a small range of current V8’s produced during the year but this Mustang C2775 is the 3rd historic ATCC car manufactured by Scalextric. This model has been limited to a production run of 3,500 and is presented in a numbered box.

Car courtesy of Armchair Racer

There are many cars on slotter’s wish lists but this particular model would have to be the one I have read the most requests for over the years. This particular version of the Long tail McLaren F1 GTR is a replica of the car paraded at the Good wood Festival of Speed in 2005. This particular car is a race car converted to a street car. The Long Tail McLaren was a race car first, built to answer the growing list of manufacturers with purpose built race cars like the Mercedes CLK GTR and Porsche 911 GT1. The short tail version, first raced in 1995, was conceived after Gordon Murray was convinced that the McLaren Road Car would make an excellent race car. It raced in the newly formed “BPR Global GT Series”. The series became the “FIA GT Championship” in 1997 and major changes to the premier GT1 class resulted. McLaren had to react to stay competitive and the Long Tail was born. A total of ten Long Tail GTRs were built, with none of the previous cars being upgraded to the 1997-spec. McLaren was forced to build three production cars using the GTR '97's bodywork. These cars became known as the F1 GT, of which only three were built. The 1997-spec cars are commonly referred to as the "Long Tail" version due to their stretched bodywork, most noticeably in the rear. From the information I have been able to find, it is unclear which of the chassis this particular car originated from.The Slot.it version is a faithful rendition minus two black ducts on the sides of the nose in front of the front wheels. The proportions of the car look spot on. The McLaren Orange if faithfully reproduced although it does not show up as well in the photographs I have taken.

The body of the car is made up of a one piece nose and roof section with the sides between the wheel arches and rear bar under the rear wing being separate pieces attached by tabs and plastic welded together. As is expected of Slot.it the detail is very fine, the pictures not doing the car justice. Due to the length of the car a full cockpit is fitted even though the motor is fitted inline.The wheels are the larger diameter 17mm X 10mm aluminium rears and 17mm X 8mm plastic fronts. This gives the car an accurate look along with the new inserts replicating the 1 to 1 car. The tyres appear to be a P series compound as they have considerably better traction than the generic tyres fitted to recent releases.

So how does she run? A quick lube and check to make sure all was tight and onto the track. Once the track was clean the car quickly became the quickest runner. Being a wood track, the car was run minus magnetic down force which is the way these Slot.it’s have been designed. I cannot recall a better balanced slot car out of the box. Bo’s new Warwick Farm track has some great left right esses and this car just flowed through them. Very little tail out action and it launched rapidly to the next corner. It really looked great the way it cornered and was surprising considering the fact weight is normally required to get the best from a car non magnet.

This chassis picture shows the offset motor mount and crown gear. Slot.it seem to have changed the gearing now as they have gone for the more standard 9 tooth pinion and 27 tooth crown gear as apposed to the 28 tooth used with the old 25,000 rpm V12 motor. As with all new Slot.it cars the motor fitted is the new generation 21,500 rpm high torque motor. As is usual with Slot.it cars, the motor cables are routed along the chassis. This helps to keep the guide self centering when coming off the track. The car weighed in at 77 grams.The front axle has the height adjusting caps mounted to posts on the chassis as has been the norm for a while now. These seem better set up than recent releases as the axle play was just perfect. The front wheels spun easily as opposed to the previous tight axle mounting on some models.As is usual now for Slot.it the car also comes with a set of Silicone tyres. These will come in handy for those who allow Silicone tyres on their tracks.

The only changes I did make to the car setup was to round off the square shoulders of the rear tyres and loosen the motor mount screws to give the car some float. I would normally loosen the body screws a half turn or so but with Slot.it’s set up on the rear end loosening the cradle is a no brainer.

As a matter of interest I photographed the car from above next to a Ninco McLaren F1 GTR. The Ninco car still looks good but is noticeably wide when compared to the Slot.it car which is more to scale.

In conclusion I recommend rushing down to your local Slot.it dealer pick up one of these cars before they are sold out. You won’t be disappointed.

Car courtesy of Armchair Racer

In my last review of a certain slot car make, I emphasized the importance of RTR cars that are tailored towards the average consumer and hobbyist in mind. That’s not to say that the more established brands or “tunable” range of slot car manufacturers offer any less. The fact of the matter is that in recent years, slot cars have come a long way. With the numerous brands on offer and the competitive nature of manufacturing methods, tooling, patents, what we end up with, are companies that pay a high level of attention to detail and, ultimately, the final product.What started out as humble beginnings of the well known v12 motor, Slot.It have now become a major contender in the slot car business. Before me, I present to you, the highly anticipated slot version of the Silk Cut livery Jaguar XJR9 that raced at Le Mans 1988.It has been most pleasurable to witness the “replication” of famous Le Mans models. Currently, with the most elaborate range of Group C cars, Slot.It has done it again.History:
Group C was a category of auto racing, introduced into sports car racing by the FIA in 1982, along Group A for touring cars and Group B for GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 (closed top touring prototypes like Porsche 935) and Group 6 (open-top sports car prototypes like Porsche 936). Group C was used in the World Endurance Championship and other sports car racing around the globe. The final year for the class came in 1993. The "C" could also be interpreted as "consumption", since the FIA created a formula limiting the amount of fuel a car could use during the race, instead of limiting minimum weight and maximum displacement.

This slot model is a replica of the car that was driven by Derek Daly (IRL), Larry Perkins (AUS), Kevin Cogan (USA), which finished 4th overall at 24 hour Le Mans in 1988. The winner that year was also a Silk Cut livery Jaguar XJR9 driven by Jan Lammers (NL), Johnny Dumfries (GB), Andy Wallace (GB).

The Slot:
For those that were lucky enough to get your hands on the previous Slot It Castrol Jag, they are hardly all that different. However, if there is one aspect we often take for granted, is that Slot.It have and continue to refine their products in almost all departments. More on that subject a bit later.Let’s face it; all Slot It models are simply stunning. The attention to scale and detail is as expected and simply outstanding. As for its tampo prints and stamps, this is where it gets interesting. Due to the legalities of Tobacco advertising, the car comes shipped with a very fine decal-like film covering the Silk Cut ad. To expose the original livery, simply take a strip of clear sticky tape, place it over the “marked” areas and peel off.

I was a tad apprehensive at first, given that the previous boxed Rothmans 956 models had applied stickers that damaged the original livery marking underneath when peeled off, hence repair kits were made available. However, I saw this being done in front of me, and am happy to report that the Silk Cut markings revealed were crisp, clean, clear and sharp with no visible discoloration or peeling. Seems like Slot.It have clear coated the car first before applying this film. Well done guys! Again, attention to detail.Recently, Slot.It cars have also included “Race friendly” parts such as rubber antennas, and other miscellaneous rubber body parts, some of which are available separately. This Jag has a soft rubber antenna that will withstand a decent shunt, and a spare and more robust plain black colored rear wing is provided, should you decide to spare the original, more delicate, prototype wing from the rigors of hard racing.The car also features its trademark rear wheel “spats”, which can be removed. To end a supposedly ongoing debate, no, this car does not come in 2 different models. Shop owners have simply displayed the same car with rear wheel “spats” on and off. Again, Slot.It have been most obliging, and provided us the optional feature.

Another amazing feature in Slot It cars is the level of detail on the cockpit area and the driver. The picture speaks for itself.

Guts:
The Chassis houses an in-line configuration with a motor mount that sports a rear magnet. Like all Slot.It cars, the body is mounted onto the chassis with 2 screws. Front and rear. I’am particularly a big fan of this simplicity in design, as both screws can be loosened to allow for the body to “rock” slightly on either side. Its V12 motor powers a 28 tooth crown gear (Yellow), driven by a 9 tooth pinion. The 28 tooth crown gear is almost standard now on Slot.It cars. They provide a healthy combination of braking and acceleration regardless of track size. The precision of Slot.It running gear has gained a huge reputation and can be found on other after-market slot brands, which speaks volumes of its effciency and reliability.

Another cool feature on the chassis design is the addition of front axle height adjustment caps. Admittedly, I was totally oblivious to this on previous models, although it became more apparent that on other Slot.It cars in my stable, the front axles were either not sitting correctly, or front axle movement was rigid or too snug. On this model, the caps couldn't’t go any lower and there was a fair amount of resistance on the front axle play. That somewhat inhibited its movement, hence providing rolling resistance. This can be easily fixed by either, sanding the top of the caps slightly or removing them altogether. Removing the caps would result in a substantial amount of axle “flop”, however that might not necessarily be a bad thing on some tracks. The inclusion of adjustment caps is a brilliant one, especially when you need to “lower” the ride height of front end of the car in the slot. However, there is also the option of adding weight. Pictured below are adjustment caps on and off.

Packaging:
Yes packaging! Its never ceases to amaze me that Slot.It still appear to have almost every base covered! The car comes secured on a base encased within a clear rigid plastic bubble shell inside the display case. How many times have you spent your hard earned money and ordered that one car from overseas, only to find that during transit, some nut accidentally dropped your package on its head, while the retailer didn't’t bother securing the car to its base properly and you are left with broken mounting posts and a shattered body? Well, rest easy, cause Slot.It cars will travel & ship with the collector & hoarder in mind. Still, I’d recommend insurance.

Tyres:
Recent models have also seen the addition of “race performance” tyres along with every purchase. I might be off the mark here, but there is a striking similarity between these tyres and the S2 tyres (Sold Separately) in terms of performance and compound. Again, kudos to Slot.It for providing that option.

Another notable difference; the braids on this model are nickel plated.

Performance:
Look, to be honest, all Slot.It cars utilizes high quality components. Among all the recent Slot.It releases, most have almost identical running gear, the only difference being footprint, car size or wheelbase widths and lengths (with the exception of angle winders, off set mounted cars, motors, etc). Slot.It make more parts than you can poke at stick at and it will run whatever way you choose it to do so. Performance is a culmination of certain factors. So, to say that I used a 35 ohm PARMA Economy controller on a track, with the voltage set to 10.5 volts is the best way to drive this beauty doesn't mean anything. Yes, perhaps, to give you a lap time is a good indication of how this car handles, however, lap times on my track doesn’t justify the performance on yours. The truth is Slot.It make very "adaptable" cars. I had the luxury of testing her on routed and plastic tracks, and on both surfaces, it hooked up extremely well. The magnet supplied provides just a nice amount of downforce, in which you can still “hang” the tail out in corners. Nothing worse than a “stuck down rocket” if you know what I mean. Remove the magnet and put on the “race performance” tires, not forgetting a touch of weight, and you’ll achieve controllable slides and drifts, which might offer more realistic scale racing.Verdict:
This Silk Cut Jaguar drove like what you would expect from other Slot.It cars. The mass appeal about this brand here is that all their cars are manufactured with precision, quality and consistency. Surely, a winning formula when it comes to parity within a stable of Slot.It cars on any track. In stock form, out of the box, this car runs beautifully. Although, there’s plenty of work any hardcore racer could do with one of these babies that would make its competitors eat dust. Considering that the brains and the man behind the company is an avid slot racer and enthusiast himself, who listens to its customers, its understandable that Slot.It are set on providing the best components coupled with competitive and affordable prices.

If you haven’t bought a Slot.It, this most attractive car should give you reason to. As for yours truly, a new Slot.It such as this one, is like opening a vintage bottle of red, best when savored.

When I first heard of this particular release I wondered why they would do such a car.
I could understand a modern car that could be painted in a fantasy livery but had not
thought of doing a classic in this way. But then again why not?

What are the differences between this car and the standard Sloter Lola? It comes with
all the small pieces of winglets, mirrors, headlights etc packaged separately in a bag.
The car is ready to run though and just needs painting and assembly of the rest of the
bits and pieces.

The interior is a single light weight lexan section with driver molded in one piece.

The obvious is the MB Slot aluminium wheels. No inserts are provided to make the ca r
scale accurate but then this car has been designed with racing in mind. They are a
similar size to the Slot.it 17 x 10 with 6 holes drilled into them for lightening purposes.
The front tyres are a low grip low profile style designed specifically for front end use.
The rears are a firm compound type of tyre but grip very well on a board track.

The motor is also MB Slot of short can style. It is rated at 23,000 rpm at 12 volts and feels
very similar to the Slot.it V12/3 21,000 rpm motor. The pinion gear is made of what
appears to be steel with 12 teeth and is driving a plastic 36 tooth Spur on the rear with
an alloy set screw centre. The mesh is fine and the car runs very quietly

The standard two magnet positions are provided although as with all Sloter’s
none are supplied. I would think the car would be alarmingly fast with two magnets
although I could see some melted motors if both positions were used. Better to run
the car as is. The motor wires are routed in recesses which helps centre the guide
during off track excursions. This is a good idea Slot.it have been using for a number
of years and others have been following in more recent times.

The car was tested minus the parts supplied to complete the car as it needs to be
painted first, but a good impression was gained from running it as is.It weighed in at 62 grams minus the accessories which is very light. This would usually
mean a twitchy overpowered beast when run this way. The car was run in for an hour
as the rear end was very tight to the point of locking up under braking. Plenty of
grip was provided from the rear tyres and the power down was very strong. The car
was best driven by minimizing the amount of sliding and getting on the power
early on the straights to make the most of the acceleration provided by the engine and
traction. The short wheelbase and wide track made this the fastest way around.
I would recommend gluing the rear tyres as they do move on the rim.The car was compared with its most obvious opposition, the Slot.it Ferrari 312PB
and turned out to be similar in performance. On Jim Raciti’s Warwick Farm raceway
it had slightly better grip than the Slot.it and turned in times of 6.49 compared to the
Slot.it’s 6.54.All in all a good competitor for Classic racing which opens up another option for this
class. The Ferrari 312 PB has also been made available by Sloter in this format.
Pricing is $79.00 which makes it more expensive than Slot.it but the running gear is
well worth the difference to the standard car and white versions are very
popular to the tinkerer’s amongst us.

Sloter are still relatively young and the cars are made in Europe which also
bumps up production costs. A good alternative to the usual brands and some
quality parts to boot

Car courtesy of Armchair Racer

Although a number of slot car reviews are somewhat subjective, the majority are fairly
bias. They usually hark on about the mods or tuning elements that usually will make a RTR
box stock car run better in the handling department. These include the addition of weight
and the mandatory rule of truing your tires. For most serious and hardcore sloters, these
steps are common protocol. Also, most reviews involve comparison lap times utilizing
different tire compounds on the same track surface, be it a commercial, club, shop or
home track. Again, what might be common protocol for the serious slot racer may be daunting
for the average hobbyist looking to purchase a quality product that is good value
that will perform straight out of the box. For this very reason, I decided to have a look at
a new offering from slot car manufacturing company “Sloter” and its performance
with virtually no mods.

Sloter has presented us with a 1/32 slot car replica of a  Ferrari 312 PB #6 driven
by Tim Schenken & Ronnie Peterson during 1972 at Daytona. Most of you will recall
that Ronnie Peterson also raced at Le Mans during 1970 sporting a 512s Coda
Lunga. This combination of Schenken & Peterson went on to claim podium positions
in race results for:

BUENOS AIRES 1,000-km (Jan. 9, 1972)

DAYTONA 6 HOURS (Feb. 6, 1972) LE MANS TRIALS (March 18-19, 1972)BRANDS HATCH 6 HOURS (Apr 16, 1972)MONZA 1,000-km (Apr 25, 1972)NÜRBURGRING 1000-km (May 28, 1972)ÖSTERREICHRING 1000 (June 25, 1972)

WATKINS GLEN 6-HOURS (July 22, 1972)

In that year for endurance racing and world championship for makes with F1 motors,
Ferrari and its 312 PB finished at the top and claimed the title at world ranking
for manufacturers.

The 1:1 car was equipped & powered by F1 engines. The 312PB used the widened
chassis of the 312 F1 car, but was powered by a horizontally opposed 12-cylinder boxer
engine with twin overhead camshafts per bank of cylinders. In 1971 power output was
440bhp at 10,800rpm. Left of the driver in one of the wide sponsons a 120-litre fuel
tank was installed, counterbalancing the weight of the driver and of the right sponson.
At the end of 1971 two 312PB cars took the two first places at the Kyalami 9 hours.
In 1972, after a full year of testing in major races, the 2,991 cc engine capacity was
increased to 460bhp at 10,800rpm. The car was widened, rear fins were added, and
dry weight increased from 632 to 650 kg. Later during the season the cars received
a closed rear tail with complete wing.

THE SLOT CAR:

Now, down to business and up for “scrutineering”.The car comes in a cardboard box. Yes, I said cardboard box. For collectors who
normally are particular with presentation, sorry to disappoint. However, I would much
prefer to see a company channel their manufacturing cost into quality control for
their cars rather then pure cosmetics for boxes they come in.  First impression upon seeing the car was WOW! The depth of the red in this car is
stunning and the finish is crisp and clear, while a clear coat seals the tampo markings
nicely, the model I received had no traces of surface irregularities, unsightly mold
lines or running paint. While others will nit and pick on the accuracy of livery
markings, paint jobs or scale issues, they often forget that it’s still just a 1/32 scale
replica of a beautiful race car. Now, let’s open her up and take a look inside. The body is mounted to the chassis
utilizing 3 screws. 2 at the rear and 1 at the front. With most other brands, the
front screw recess is normally obscured by the guide. Sloter took the trouble of
drilling a small hole through the front guide to allow easy access. Nice touch I thought.

Inside, we see what looks like a standard Mabuchi sidewinder style motor and 2 magnet “pods”.

These cars come without magnets and I assume that they were manufactured to run
tha t way, preferably. For magnet buffs, a Ninco or Fly button magnet will do the job nicely. Also, a welcomed addition for a very “Fly” like car are the solid front axles rather than
stub axles. Front axle flop and sideways movement was minimal. Attached to the rear
axle is a 35 tooth crown gear and a 12 tooth pinion on the motor. The beautifully detailed
gold wheels wear a tyre compound that seems to have a combination of a rubber and
silicone, although most rubber tyres have small traces of silicone anyway. The rear
tyres were surprisingly round and true but the front ones could do with a bit of sanding. Although I didn’t attempt to true the tyres (as the car was on loan), I’m aware that they
sand quite easily.

A couple of other things. While picking the car up, I noticed the lightness in overall
weight compared to similar classics. To confirm this, I chose a Fly Chevron due to
its similar footprint size and weighed each car separately. While it’s not a
substantial difference, the Chevron came in at 66g and the Ferrari measured 62g.
Perhaps it could be the lightweight chassis, as I’ve read in various other online
forums that these chassis are prone to warping or don’t come out of their molds
properly. However the model I had didn’t portray any of these problems. Remember
that it’s a good idea to remove the motor wires from their eyelets and disconnect
the guide before mounting the car on an inspection block when checking, as rigid
braids can usually cause cars not to sit correctly when not adjusted to conform
to the guide properly. Mine was dead straight, well not perfect, but almost anyway.

Performance:

Well ok, if you were mum or dad, or the “weekend” slot racer, none of the above
would have made any sense. So here is where the real test begins. I have chosen
not to worry about lap times as most tracks are different. While they still do indicate
how quick a car is comparatively on any track with any other make/brand, in my
opinion, the ease in handling still takes precedence when it comes to attaining quick
lap times anyway. For those of you that must or just simply want to know how quick
its is, the Sloter Mabuchi motor measured at a similar RPM rating to a standard
Scalextric or Fly motor. I had the luxury of holding onto to this car and driving
her in (non-magnet) for 2 weeks at various tracks. The first track it graced with its presence was Emu Park Raceway (One of my
favourites), a wood routed track built and owned by Vince Rothemund. . Track
surface is cold Galvanising undercoat of paint mixed with a second coat of flat
black enamel. Now given that this was a freshly constructed track, there
was barely any rubber down on the track, the car hooked up amazingly
well! It wasn’t necessarily on the pace but it was still predictable to drive
and handled extremely well for a car without weight. At times it would even keep up
with some of the weighted cars. However, the car did seem to deslot occasionally
due to the cambers & undulations in the track. This can be easily fixed by adding
weight for a track with that nature. The second track it was driven on was its “home”, Armchair Racer, owned by
Jim Berry (Slot Car retailer and the current distributor of this fine product).
Armchair Racer boasts a large plastic 6 lane Ninco layout with an 8 lane Carrera
track on its way. The Ninco surface is a lot more abrasive, and in most cases,
will usually indicate fairly well, if a car is set up efficiently or not. Again, box stock
and without magnet, the car was a real treat to drive with the surface now offering
more grip. The tires were again a major factor in the performance and the manageability
of this car. Drive into the corners too deep and the car will tip instead of sliding
controllably due to the extended grip factor. Again, for competitive racers, added
weight will alleviate this problem.  The next stop was Colyton Raceway, built and owned by Jim Raciti. This wood
routed Track surface utilizes Ferrador paint. The painted surface on this track is
like a fine grade wet and dry which means very high grip for most tires. One
of the most enjoyable elements of this track is that most cars run like a dream on
this surface, with or without weight. On this track, the Sloter Ferrari was
SMOOTHHHH. However, it was only on the odd occasion that the Sloter Ferrari
encountered small amounts of “chatter” due to the extreme grip levels of the
surface and the overall weight of the car when pushing the car to its limits around
the corners. Lastly, I had the privilege of testing this little baby on my home Artin track, painted
with a mist coat of grey surface primer. The textured track surface falls somewhere
between a Scalextric Sport and Carrera. Here, I managed to execute controlled
slides and drifts while still having a decent amount grip. I would only assume that
the Sloter would drive just as well, if not handle better on Carrera or Scalextric Sport.

Verdict:

I’d hate to sound cliché, but overall, I honestly have to say that Sloter seem to have
real a winner in their hands. I simply love this car. It’s a real pleasure to drive
and I feel extremely fortunate to be one of a first to have a go at it. The car seems to
adapt and is well suited to most track surfaces box stock. It’s purely speculative,
but it seems to me like Sloter is by-product of some previous disgruntled Fly
employees that have decided to manufacture a similar product with a bit more thought
and TLC compared to the models that always require work even before you put it on
the track. There is a striking resemblance in terms of build, but there is a vast
distinction between tire performances. I sure would like to know what rubber they use
for their tires and will look into that more extensively. Anyhow, it’s great to see
Sloter re-produce such an historical car in miniature. Granted, improvements can be
made in the looks department for every slot car, but for the serious collector,|
its worth including in your stable, and for the competitive racer and tuner, it should
be a force to be reckoned with. For more information, please
contact jim@armchairracer.com.au