[Ian H]

Vittorio Brambilla (November 11, 1937 - May 26, 2001) was a Formula One driver from Italy who raced for the March, Surtees and Alfa Romeo teams. Particularly adept at driving in wet conditions, his nickname was "The Monza Gorilla", due to his often overly aggressive driving style and sense of machismo.

Now I know you can buy the Fly version of the 762 but wheres the fun in that?

I going to take a 99 pence (yes 99 pence) wreck of a March 6 wheeler ebay bargain and convert it to a 4 wheel Johnson powered car to compete in the Bearwood Scalextric club Classic F1 class.

To start with, just how cool does Brambilla look in these shades? The epitome of 70's chic!

This is what I want to build.

Here is the 99p ebay wreck that I'll be using as my base.

To start with there are some basic engineering problems to be sorted like

1, Lowering the front end centre of gravity.
2, Bringing the motor to a horizontal axis.
3, Lengthening the wheelbase to accomodate the large Grand Prix tyre.
4, Raising the rear axle location to meet the new motor postion and lower the rear centre of gravity.

This picture demontrates the issues.

The current wheelbase just looks wrong and the rear tyre fouls on the side rad moulding as well as the fact that the nose is far to high to generate any decent handling characteristics.

Best to start at the front end and get the guide boss trimmed down and dispose of any uneccessary plastic which might foul the motor wires.

Before:

After (some nifty Dremel work):

With the guide and body re-installed you can begin to see how much lower that chassis will ride already.

With the rear axle back in place you can see how much the rear axle locations have got to be moved, which will inevitably mean that the motor alignment will have to be changed also. Tricky . . . and I now need a couple of days to decide how I'm going to engineer this aspect of the build.

Watch out for future installments.

 

[conti_rowland]

Interesting build idea. Well done for taking it on especially as this car already exists from Fly!

Given the difficulties regarding the realignment of rear end and motor can I suggest that it might actually be significantly easier to fabricate a simple brass flat plate chassis?

Good luck

Andi

 

[Russell Sheldon]

A very challenging project!

I'm no expert, but I always thought that the Scalextric March 761 2-4-0 in Rothmans livery was much sought after by collectors. You may have been better off restoring the March and selling it, and buying a Fly Beta March 762 with the money!

Good luck with the project. Please post pictures as it progresses.

With kind regards,

Russell

 

[Rob J]

An interesting project, to say the least, with difficulties such as realigning the motor and rear axle. Ian seems to relish the challenge in order to have an unusual car in a Scalex series.
I'm not sure that six-wheel Marches, or at least their bodies, are all that rare. When new, the Scalexes sold in large numbers, and I've seen a few offered for sale recently as bodies (I even bought one) or without the flopping rear pair of wheels.
Will you give Brambilla rain tyres, Ian?
Rob J

 

[Ian H]

QUOTE (Russell Sheldon @ 31 Aug 2011, 06:40) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>A very challenging project!

I'm no expert, but I always thought that the Scalextric March 761 2-4-0 in Rothmans livery was much sought after by collectors. You may have been better off restoring the March and selling it, and buying a Fly Beta March 762 with the money!

Good luck with the project. Please post pictures as it progresses.

With kind regards,

Russell

An interesting point and one that I expected to hear but the Rothmans livery is badly worn away on one side and bearing in mind that I actually bought this on EBAY for 99 pence its not as though it is highly sought after in the first place.

I could buy the FLY March but where's the fun in that?

No I'm happy to plough on and restore it in Brambilla's livery.

It's what the "Monza Gorilla" would have wanted . . . . .

 

[Ian H]

Today, 05:31 AM
Post #2

Interesting build idea. Well done for taking it on especially as this car already exists from Fly!

Given the difficulties regarding the realignment of rear end and motor can I suggest that it might actually be significantly easier to fabricate a simple brass flat plate chassis?

Good luck

Andi

A good point but that would be far too easy!

Besides which I haven't any experience working with brass chassis yet, perhaps some time in the future I'll have a go.

 

[superhornets]

Hi Ian
Interesting project
The brambilla brothers were throw backs ot a more cavalier age and even in the 70s should really have been racing in the 50s
My favourite ,vittorio story was one from Prof sid watkins
When he first stated following the grand prix grid rounD for the first lap ,the circuit would usually provide a retired racing driver to give the following car a bit of pace so sid wasn,t too far behind
some time in the early 80s sid jumps in the car waitng to follow the F1 cars ,looks across to see who is driving and it is Vittorio , who greets him with the salutation "Hello Sid ,I am the Monza Gorrilla ,how would you like me to drive?"
Sid ,weighing up his options and aware of his chauffeurs reputation said " Try not to overtake anyone "
Brilliant
Cheers tony

 

[tedm]

I hate to be thought of as pedantic,but the March 762 is a Formula two car.........

TED....

 

[loosesalute]

Tell you what, that car is starting to look the part already. It`s going to look the dogs b*ll*cks when it`s done......can`t agree about those sunglasses looking cool though...naff 70s fashion..
Cheers,
Kev

 

[Ian H]

QUOTE (loosesalute @ 1 Sep 2011, 01:01) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Tell you what, that car is starting to look the part already. It`s going to look the dogs b*ll*cks when it`s done......can`t agree about those sunglasses looking cool though...naff 70s fashion..
Cheers,
Kev

I can't believe you don't think those shades are cool. Look closely and you will see that they are his own brand. "VB" initials.

I hear what you are saying about so called 70's naff fashion but I have to disagree. But I'm a man of science and I can prove this empirically using the following photos.

Depailler . . . . coool.

Andretti . . . . check those sideburns ( I know you want ones like that ).

Lauda (UBER COOL in so many ways)

Hunt, check that medallion (I bet he's got a splash of Hai Karate aftershave on too).

Stewart, SIDEBURNS AND SHADES!!!!

Stommellen (love the perm)

Ickx a cool Belgian! Yes its possible!

Wattie made beards cool (lest we forget).

Revson (understated cool).

And the coolest of the cool (even cooler than Steve McQueen . . . so cool I want to cry) Jo Siffert.

Schumacher, great driver, no style . . . . . . . . . . the defence rests M'lud!

 

[Wankel Ickx]

Ach! And you were doing so well until the 'Watson made beards cool' statement.

 

[ferraif40]

The Depailler picture is from 1980

 

[EJI]

Hi Ian,

What a great project. I wondered which decals you would be using?

Cheers
Eric

 

[Ian H]

QUOTE (ferraif40 @ 1 Sep 2011, 10:29) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>The Depailler picture is from 1980

There's always one isn't there?

You are aware that Depailler drove all of his F1 races in the 1970's.

I can find a cool picture of him pre 1980 if you like . . . . .

 

[Ian H]

QUOTE (EJI @ 1 Sep 2011, 10:45) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi Ian,

What a great project. I wondered which decals you would be using?

Cheers
Eric

Home made BETA utensili decals on paper then laquered in.

 

[Slotrace.dk]

You have the coolest of them all as your avatar!!!!

 

[loosesalute]

No good showing me pictures of hairy men Ian...I`m bald as a coot!

Cheers,
Kev

 

[Slots-O-Fun]

Just wanted to point out that the car is a 761. In the March numbering system the last number indicates the formula and the first two numbers the year. A 762 was their 1976 Formula 2 car. I hope this helps you with Google searches and other research. (OK so I am a geek.)

I am waiting for someone to do the 1975 car after his Austrian Grand Prix victory lap..... now that would be interesting.

 

[Ian H]

A little more progress today. I've managed to make a start on my home made decals.

Simply download an image from Google images. Copy and paste into MS Paint. Change the background from white to orange. tidy up image edges pixel by pixel in 800% zoom in paint.

And hey presto!

 

[Rob J]

Slots-o-Fun's idea of a damaged victory-lap Brambilla 751 could make a Scalex conversion easier. The 751s had a flat upper face to the nosecone, as on the Fly 761, but the Scalex six-wheeler body has the curved upper face that Marches used at times from 1976. I haven't seen a post-race photo in recent years, but some imaginative grinding could make a plausible replica.
More seriously, for a pristine 751 the Fly 761 has a better nosecone. One major difference for the zealous replicateur is that the 761 had a longer wheelbase and wider track than the 751. I don't know the Fly dimensions.
Ian, of course, is building a car for a Scalex series, so that isn't aimed at him, and Brambilla probably did drive a curved-nosecone car in 1976.
Pattos does a sheet of decals for the 751, mainly Beta-Brambilla and a few for the Penske car, and most would be OK for the 761.
Slots-o-Fun is right about the March numbering, though the 761 and 762 looked very similar, as did all March's F1 and F2 cars for several years after the failure of the F1 721X early in 1972. March converted an F2 car for Mike Beuttler and named it the 721G, "G" for Guiness Book of Records because it was created in a "record" nine days. It worked so well that March soon converted more and used them as the works cars from mid-1972. They were also bought by other private entrants and updated as 731s with front radiators and full-width noses in 1973 (some new, some rebuilds). The radiators returned to the sides in 1974 but the full-width nosecone was retained.
While we're on March numbering, the Scalex C026 is often called a 721 but is basically a 711. The unicorn or Spitfire front wing was apparently kept for only the first race of 1972, and a couple of races later the quite different 721X appeared.
Rob J