[Mirrorman]

My favourite Scalextric "power sledge" slot car .... the C/14 Matra.

Just sorry I can't take those very nice images like Kev does.

 

[Rob J]

Yes, Mirrorman, one of my favourites too, though the Indy Lotus is up there too. The Ferrari is glamorous but ridiculously large for a 1.5-litre car.
Unfortunately I left my Matra and several other cars with a family member in the 1970s and, although it came back to me later, the engine air intake / cylinder head section had gone missing.
Rob J

 

[loosesalute]

Lovely car Mirrorman

. I`ve got a French made one, but it`s transfers & chrome aren`t as nice as yours!
Talking of photo skills , I`ve got none mate!

All my pics are taken with a ten year old 4 mega pix camera.
Cheers
Kev.

 

[Aurora]

Oui, c'est magnifique!

Have you gents ever had any problem with the bodywork interfering with the rotation of the guide blade?

 

[loosesalute]

No probs on mine Thai!
Cheers
Kev

 

[Rob J]

Kev: Your decals are far more authentic than on the British model. Are they ones you put on yourself? It looks great now.
The wheels, at least the fronts, seem different from the British model's.
Thai: I think I did have a small problem with the guide and the bodywork. The guide position can be adjusted fore and aft on the Powersledge cars, though by moving it back one can run into another problem of the terminals fouling the axle. The proverbial fine line.
Rob J

 

[Dopamine]

Scalextric's Matra is an all time favourite of mine, although I've always found the Power Sledge motors to be weak.

Kev's French version with the driver's name, Matra and Elf decals is lovely. It reminds me of my childhood, driving through France with my father; I'd always pester him to stop for petrol at Elf filling stations so we could collect the racing stickers they used to give away free.

Matra MS11 - Dutch Grand Prix, Zandvoort, 1968. Jean-Pierre Beltoise.

 

[loosesalute]

All transfers are original Rob.
Lovely pics Dopamine!
Cheers
Kev

 

[Mirrorman]

Hi Rob: Have to agree that the Indy Lotus it is also a beauty, that was the other power sledge car in the mix when I was tossing up my favourite.

Hi Kev: I like that French variant you have there.. the decals may be worn but add a good authentic look to the car. With the images I think your being modest mate, and your great track layout just adds to them.

Hi Thai: I haven't had any guide rub problems either .. are there maybe some molding dags interfering with your guide?

Nice car too Thai !!

Hi Dopemine: Thanks for the great images.

Have to agree, the power sledge motors are not the strongest running or most robust of the Scalextric motors. When you get a good one though, they are super smooth and a real joy run on the track.

Btw, do you have any of those vintage Elf racing stickers still?

Cheers, Michael

 

[Aurora]

Sledge motor weak? Maybe I've been lucky in that regard, as all my sledge motors seem reasonably energetic, even compared to modern Mabuchi FC-130 cans. To qualify that though, all my cars have weak motors.

I have a Europa Vee that, at 10v, can shade contemporary magnetized Scaley sidewinders (Ferrari F430s, DB9Rs, etc). On a straight, the Mabuchi and the sledge are almost a dead heat, but over a lap, the sledge is, unbelievably, faster! To be fair though, the quick lap times of this example are probably more attributable to great handling, rather than the motor, as the Mabuchi can surely must be stronger. In addition, while the modern Scaley sidewinders do have over 100g of magnetic downforce from traction magnets, the powersledge itself does have approximately 20g of magnetic downforce from the motor magnet, so it can't be said that the powersledge car doesn't have some artificial advantage of its own.

On my Matra, the blade is fixed as far aft as possible, but there is still some interference with the bodywork at full deflection. The car runs fine; it's only when the car slides to full opposite lock that the guide occasionally gets hung up, and cannnot return to center.

This is one of those cars that I'd like to find a beat up example of and do a paint job on it; I bet it could be made to look really nice.

 

[loosesalute]

Yeah Thai!! I`d love to see you do a job on one of those Matras!!
Funnily enough I posted this Lotus Indianapolis pic somewhere else on SF today.
Cheers
Kev

 

[cube]

I can't help but crash this party and agree - my French Matra is the absolute favourite of all my slot cars full stop, looks beautiful and goes beautifully, very smooth and I've found it to be plenty powerful on a small home track. It's been sitting on a shelf for a couple of years and I only got the chance to run it for the first time a few weeks ago when I finally got round to ordering some new tyres. Over the weekend it had a proper workout when my brother-in-law brought his much loved Airfix BRM round for an evening of racing - it all started off in a very respectful and dignified fashion with neither man wanting to damage either car, but inevitably after a few hours and some wine it ended in various bits of plastic and scenery flying about. Might have to rethink that chicane!

Anyway, just saw this thread and had to nip into the front room to take some pictures (as if there weren't enough distractions when working from home) which I've been meaning to do anyway before the track all gets packed away again...

"Jean Pierre blasts down the pit straight 8 laps in the lead..."

"Past the control tower where the other drivers marvel at his brilliance..."

"What a handsome devil..."

"Driving past the pits again Jean Pierre couldn't help bemoaning the manufacturing defects in his new tyres..."

"In a vain attempt to avoid being mown down lap after lap a marshal waves the oil flap at the chicane to slow the cars"

Okay now I really should get on with some work , forgive my indulgence,

Cube

 

[JamieG]

Nice footage Cube

Cheers,
JamieG

PS: another car in the wishlist

 

[loosesalute]

That`s lovely photography Cube!
Cheers,
Kev.

 

[cube]

Thanks gents, almost forgot this one, too many Photoshop filters to play with.....

 

[loosesalute]

Very nice Cube.
Are you of French origin by any chance? Just admiring the French accessories, & that Matra also looks like a French version.
Cheers,
Kev.

 

[Aurora]

Now that is some nice photography Cube! How do you get so much diffuse, natural light on the scene?

 

[cube]

No not of French origin Kev, I just spotted French versions of a few of the classic buildings in Roger Gillham's Scalextric guide a few years back, took a shine to them, and began tracking down what I thought were the nicest ones. The original plan was to get French and English versions of each of the buildings and accessories so that I could chop and change between a Franco/Anglo feel but having spent a fair bit on the French bits I left it at that!

The lighting on those shots is just daylight Thai, the layout is setup on the floor in a bright room so that took care of that. I think the filter I put on in Photoshop helped too - it's not hugely cheap but if anyone has Photoshop I can really recommend the "Exposure" plug-in, it simulates a huge range of colour and black and white film styles.

Ps - Just spotted your signature Kev, made me smile.

 

[loosesalute]

You`re certainly a man of taste Cube.
French Scalextric was fantastic.
You need to get collecting those lovely little Jouef cars.
I can`t take any credit for my signature-it was suggested to me by Howmet.
Cheers,
Kev.

 

[Rob J]

The C14 is more fun on the track than as a model, but I've done a few things to make mine look more realistic. At first I was only going to fit a replacement engine-top section (it was lost many years ago) and got a resin replica in a batch of parts from Graeme / GT in Aus.
But the original decals were showing signs of wear, so I got new decals from Patto. One thing led to another, and another... I sprayed the body in a lighter blue enamel and painted rear end details, the nose, wheels and a few other parts.
The relivery is based on the car Beltoise drove in the wet 1968 Dutch GP. He spun and had to pit to clear sand from his throttle system, then put in one of his best drives to climb through the field and finish second. One photo from the race shows him in goggles, another in a visor, so he presumably changed to the visor during his pit-stop. The visor was the spherical shape used then by some drivers, and rather difficult to emulate, so I've left JPB in goggles.
The number roundels on Patto's Matra sheet would be right for an accurate 1/32 model but seemed too small for the over-scale C14 and the fairly large race number 17, so I used 16mm roundels from another sheet. (Otherwise, it's a great sheet, with ample decals for several different Matras and drivers.)

The thin drivers on the Powersledges have always bothered me. I tried a bigger one here, but he sat too high and I'd have to modify the cockpit to make him fit. Enough; enough. JPB was slightly built, after all.
The Matra V12 began with six exhaust tailpipes, then changed to four. It wasn't clear from photos which was used at Zandvoort but, just for fun, I decided to add two pipes to the C14's four, but it didn't really work out well. The real car's six tailpipes were aligned horizontally (flat), hence the description "pan pipes". The C14 pipes are slanted, and my additions just accentuated that. Then I read that the change to four pipes had happened by Zandvoort, so there were two reasons to revert to that.
Rob J