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J.M.Fangio Lancia Ferrari D50

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wixwacing
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J.M.Fangio Lancia Ferrari D50

Post by wixwacing »

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What can I say, one of the most unusual looking cars in motor racing at a time when GP cars could be open wheelers or closed in. (ref Mercedes 196). This too is a model of a car that may well have fallen into obscurity if it wasn’t for the driving skills of the great Italo-Argentinean Juan Manuel Fangio.

The driver was a man who grew up in an auto shop environment with brothers and cousins as his peers. He soon realised that a bag of nuts and bolts had to be put together in the right way before they would be reliable and efficient. His early years were spent ripping the guards off 30’s US cars from Chevrolet and the like and racing the guts out of them on dirt tracks in and around Balcarce, Argentina.

Next was the lure of the prestige and the prize money of the Pan AM races across South America crossing International borders in races of four and five thousand kilometres. Mostly on dirt roads and on some occasions with only himself as driver, mechanic and tyre changer.

Juan Manuel Fangio

Mr Fangio was hooked and there was nothing that was going to divert his gaze from the World circuit. After travelling to Europe and racing with moderate success in the late forties sponsored by the Argentinean Government, he decided to contest the newly formed world champion series which started in 1950, His abilities were spotted by the leading manufacturers of GP cars in Europe. Names Like Alfa Romeo formed part of his GP apprenticeship and he won his first world championship in one of their cars, He moved on to the mighty Silver Arrows with fellow racing Legend ‘Sterling Moss’ as his team mate. Ferrari called the shots for a couple of seasons and he eventually ended his GP career and racing days behind the wheel of a Maserati in 1958.

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But it is his stay with the Ferrari team that most captivates my attention with this model. By the mid fifties Lancia was a seasoned racing team. They had been around for a long time with relative success and the offer of a drive by this marque was not to be snubbed. But by the end of the season, the sheer cost of failure was to cause Lancia to give the team in its entirety to Ferrari!



Within a very short space of time, Ferrari had turned around the GP team and were able to present a serious threat at the start of the ’56 season. Fangio went on to show that with any decent horse beneath him he was a winner. So he and the 2.5 litre Lancia powered D50 cleaned up and Enzo was once again a ‘happy chappie


Lancia Ferrari D50


This model is a replica of the 1956 Ferrari D50 as raced in the GP World Championship of that year. The starting point was a Hawk kit from the sixties. This was a modest win on ebay and was probably more expensive to ship from the seller! The choice of motor was a spare SCX RX41, the reason for this was the car was to be raced as a non magnet model and I wanted a motor that was not too difficult to control on twisty circuits. The ‘S’ can motor can be a bit touchy on plastic track. Especially trying to manoeuvre low speed corners.

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Wheels and tyres were the Ninco Classic range. I used the 7mm wide tyres because firstly they look more convincing and secondly they seam to have an affinity with painted board track. The chassis was built from square brass tube as I have done on several occasions now and the crown wheel was a slot it 27z from Patto’s.

The first thing to make was the chassis. This is pretty standard for me now and I use this on nearly all the classic open wheelers I have made. It comprises of two rails that start at the front and drop down to run along both sides of the motor. They then slope up to the axle tubes and curve right round these before joining up with the rear motor mount. The motor is held in place front and back by brass plate brackets. The guide runs in a short vertical brass tube and there is another cross member behind this to take the front
mounting screw.

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The body is very basic and has to be reinforced and some underside rails added to fit the chassis to. Other mods include the addition of a mock radiator and side pod blanks front and rear. Some rear view mirrors were scratched from some piano wire and brass. The mirror faces were covered in “Bare metal foil (c)” and coated in clear lacquer to shine them.

The model is very basic and the 1/1 has four exhausts either side. Side openings were drilled and filed to give enough space for the four exhausts constructed from sprue from another kit. The driver is an old Airfix classic driver and the helmet was painted in Fangio’s brown leather style. The steering wheel had the spokes embellished with bare metal foil as was the fuel filler cap on the pod behind the driver and the final touch was a scratch built windscreen. The kit screen was very flimsy and I decided that it was not worth bothering with. This screen was made from two pieces of 1/16” brass tube filed through to the centre down to half way. These were epoxied into the body and a piece of clear acetate was cut and shaped to fit into the slots then epoxied in place.

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The body was finished in Tamiya red and Ferrari decals applied to the salient points. After the numbers were applied and after a couple of days drying, the body (less driver and screen) had a thin coat of clear acrylic. After several days a second coat was applied. Careful application of the early coats negates the need to rub down the finish between.



The body and chassis had been driven in the early stages of construction to ensure there were no problems with the set up. Sure enough, after several days drying/curing time the car was put on the track. As I had hoped, it wasn’t too twitchy at low speed and corners were easy to approach and negotiate, exiting bends and straight line speed were also very healthy. The car drives very steadily and any attempts at deslotting are sliding deslots and not tipping. Once the tyres have been cleaned with Shellite the track performance increases dramatically.

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As a classic car it is on par with the Scalextric and Cartrix models on board track, there is no traction magnet as I feel racing it as such would detract from its overall handling characteristics.



The details were obtained from internet pictures of which there is no shortage. I am expecting one of the majors to make one in the near future. If so, it will get a good comparison review just to see how well it has turned out.
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When I'm not racing slotcars,
I'm out in the back yard, burning food!!

When I win, it's because of my talent, not my car or my controller!
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