Ok, by popular request and despite no one coming forward with offers of help on the history of these cars (I am relying simply on the box info from Scalextric), I present the review of Scalextrics CLASSIC Grand Prix set...

Formula One 1976

Representing this incredible year in Formula 1s history are the cars of Niki Lauda and James Hunt. The Ferrari 312T2 and McLaren Ford M23 respectively.

You will get a smart and graphically good box to go with the cars as usual and brief history is given inside the box. I quote it here for your interest...

1976 was one of the most dramatic seasons in Formula 1 history. Niki Lauda dominated the start of the season in his Ferrari 312T2, with more than double the points of his closest challenger, when disaster struck. In the German Grand Prix at Nurburgring Lauda suffered a near-fatal accident, allowing James Hunt to close the gap. Incredibly, Lauda made a rapid recovery, returning to race only six weeks later. This, together with Hunt's disqualification from victory at Brands Hatch, forced a championship showdown in the last race of the season. As they went into the final round in Japan, Hunt was just 3 points behind. However, torrential conditions at Fuji caused Lauda to withdraw, citing excessively dangerous conditions. Hunt stayed out in his McLaran-Ford M23 and drove furiously to finish third, becoming World Champion by a single point.

The models themselves are stunning, reports of colour differences with the orange on the McLaren are rife and there are also tone differences on mine but it is minimal and the change of plane helps reduce the effect further.

Have a look at some close ups and then we will get inside these beauties... ( by the way, I noticed something in Nürnberg with one of these cars. An oddity, common to all it seems and fairly amusing but can anyone else spot it? You can see what I saw in one of the pics below)

A breakdown:

no not as in they broke :) but I stripped them down to see how all that detail and the running gear got into those bodies, very impressive it is too...

First the undersides, securely held together as is the Scalextric method, not all like it as it seems overkill...

Ok, this is as far as you can get without desoldering or breaking glue points. Neither were terribly hard and you will need to go that far if you want to remove the magnets. They are mounted under the motor.

Pay particular attention to all those adjustable height weights ;) 7 on the Ferrari and 8 on the McLaren...

Then there is the magnet itself, I have not seen one quite so profiled before and they are VERY strong. NOW - Are they shaped like this so the downforce is reduced when the car is in a straight line and increases on cornering? or are they simply stepped like this so they fit under the motor?...

There are two other points worth mentioning here, one in particular as it was raised in a thread on the forum.

Look below and you will see the motor housing, doubling as the scale engine. To this are glued the exhaust pipes and between them sits the axle. Complete with crown gear, bushes and wheels, this is NOT removeable without cutting or breaking the glue points of the exhausts. So if you are into truing tyres on rims with your cars, think again on this one if simplicity is what you are used to. Not a problem to 95% of buyers but for the others, now you know :)

The other relates to the front wings on these cars. Always a weak point in any open wheel car with a front foil, these are able to be replaced. The McLaren is easy, remove the front two chassis screws and it slides out. However the Ferrari is another deal.

If you again look below, you will see it slides, via a grooved system, onto the nose of the car. The problem comes when you need to remove it, you can't without breaking or cutting so don't do this unless you need to replace it. Why? the split lug that sits around the front mounting post 'clicks' onto the nose when fitting and there is not enough play nor enough plastic on foil or nose, to ease it out again. This will again not affect many people but if you DO break the foil, bear this in mind!..

Apart from those quirks, these are extremely fine reproductions of great racing cars. On the track they are very fast with the magnet in ( I tested at 12.5Volts, 10 amp supply on Scalectric Sport track). Take the magnet out and on the same track they were still quick but needed handling much like the real cars! I did have to keep the tyres very clean though.

I seriously doubt these cars will be adaptable to any current Digital system because there really is NO space inside.

I have not bothered with comparisons because what do you compare them with? nor track times because without a reference it is pointless. I could say they are faster with magnet than the Maserati Trofeos are on my plastic track but does that mean anything? However I love the look, detail and quality of these cars, little 'tuners' niggles aside and you should make your own minds up as to your thoughts but I hope this helps you decide whether to look further into them or not.

© 2007 Swissracer (Allan Wakefield)