Clay Regazzoni
British GP 1979
By Phil Wicks
The way things are going this year could turn out to be THE most expensive on record for some people! For the closet collectors amongst us there looks now to be a steady stream of top slotcar quality ‘til such time as our pensions won’t cover the expense!! Will I still be collecting when I’m eighty five?? By then the earliest models in my collection should be worth the gross national income of a small third world nation and the way the Aussie dollar is going I will be buying models from the UK and US for the same price as a bottle of milk!!
But damn it all. Fly spent many years winding me up with their erratic quality and poor product relative to what they cost only to now regroup behind a new name and then sell models like this! Having already got the Scaley and MRRC versions of this model and with Altaya releasing an excellent version a couple of years back I have been sucked into the retro bit and could not resist the model. There was Au$ 100 sitting in my Paypal account doing nothing and after a visit to Topslots I was suckered in to buying it on line. Total expense? Au$ 71.00 including postage from the other side of the planet!!
So what have we got? Just as Cartrix are renown for their GP Legends and SCX are famous for their Nascars it seems that Flyslot are carving out a niche for themselves in the classic GP arena. Their first release under the defunct Fly brand was the March 761. This model was and is legendary if you could bare putting it on the track. A devilish car to keep up with unless you were also racing one. The Williams looks like it’s going to be in the same category. Heaps of speed in a model which weighs almost less than a budgerigar!! Plenty of potential to self destruct in the first five minutes too.
This model outwardly appears well made but while checking it out I came across all those niggly things that drove me up the wall in the good old days. Every component seems secure and concise and the assembly in general is quite simple. Indeed so simple that it takes only seconds to disassemble and reassemble. But once into the depths of the model some potentially fatal flaws reveal themselves!
Cutting to the chase, the first and most notable item is the final drive. Earlier model of the FW07 were compromised by the necessity to fit a conventional crown wheel and pinion, These caused MRRC to make the rear deck of the model a lot thicker than scale and to drop the axle down in the body, giving the model a thick look along the side. Scalextric’s answer was to put a bit of a ‘gear hump’ in the body to accommodate the traditional final drive. Fly’s approach is from way out in left field and quite revolutionary.
Having settled on the more than adequate FF type motor, they then proceeded to devise an idler system which takes the larger diameter final drive gear away from the aesthetical area at the back of the model and plants it in a zone more suited to its dimension. This introduces another source of mechanical loss but I expect it would be less than 5% of motor output at a guess.
To help the situation Flyslot have put a lubrication hole in the top of the centre bearing even though you do need to remove the body to service it! Other than that, all gears involved are a good mesh and very free in operation. I couldn’t help noticing too that the angle drive gears do not seem to be conventional nylon but more of a composite plastic of a harder nature?? Mmmmm? Perhaps they have beefed up these gears in anticipation??
The drive onto the rear axle is through one of these gear and as there is no pinion shaft to keep the axle in place Flyslot have opted for a length of plastic sleeve on the axle to space the gear from the axle bearing. And while on the subject of axle bearings, the axle clips lightly into the chassis.
The novel aspect, and another example of ingenuity, Flyslot have created the external rear brake cooling vents as part of the axle bushings!! With that sort of thinking I can see great things coming from R&D in the future! Lastly in this area is the traction magnet. It sits in the chassis between the axle and the final drive relay. I took the opportunity to check it on some Carrera track and found it to be good!! I am fully expecting it to be even better for Scaley and Ninco tracks!
The steering is similar in principle to the March with a few detail differences no doubt for the sake of scale. It is very flexible but still is an unknown quantity as far as magnet track incidents are concerned. I just feel that some of the very fine swivel points at the wheel ends could be vulnerable?
The guide is a standard style guide and the steering drag link (for want of a better name) clips over the front of the guide and this is where it transfers its steering moment from. The whole steering unit itself is allowed to swivel side to side from a central axis point. Not a concise system but more than adequate for the purpose.
With the business end pretty much covered I looked around the more aesthetic aspects of the model. From the outside this is a fabulous model well produced and of the best detail. The tampo is first class and accurately placed and in my experience the choice of colours very close.
No etched metal parts on this model but Flyslot has done a fair job of reproducing grilles and vents, and at first glance they all look pretty convincing. The font wing as expected is very vulnerable but it does have a degree of flexibility and I suspect that in all but the most serious of shunts it may well be a survivor, but time will tell. The model is obviously budget driven in construction but for the life of me I can’t see anywhere on the model or box where it is made?
The rear wing is a surprise too and maybe a sign of things to come. Firstly it has a sturdy flexible pylon but more of a surprise, if you lightly squeeze the replica gearbox case and pull backwards, the case comes off the chassis moulding to reveal the root of the wing!! And the wing is actually located on a couple of small lugs and held on by a single screw!! No doubt this has been a measure to ease assembly at the factory but it bodes well for having a replacement wing as a spare part, or even removing it for some serious track time! Mmmmmmm!
Driver and cockpit detail is very good and the rear view mirrors are out of the ‘roll over’ zone, so should enjoy reasonable longevity. As well as all the sponsor logos of the day I was surprised , considering current legislation, to see the Marlboro logo and text across the driver’s helmet visor!!
The roll over bar behind the driver is a potential statistic but again well made. Moving to the back of the model the twin exhausts, which have been displaced on earlier models because of crown wheel location, sit in their rightful place. Lastly, and always a favourite with me as poor scale adherence can devastate any model, are the wheels and tyres. Nothing fancy or awe inspiring, but totally apt, and we can’t ask for more than that!
The model depicts the car as driven by Clay Regazzoni in the British GP 1979. and I for one am sold, but I made some remarks earlier on about build quality and now, disappointingly, I will put you in the picture. The main problem was the motor mounting. When the top was off I noticed the motor was not fully clipped into its front mount. Further inspection revealed the problem. This model relies (like some other makes) on the brush terminals sitting against stops on the mount moulding.
This stops the motor twisting in its mounts and prevents resultant drive problems. The lead wires have been soldered to the motor before it was installed and the untidy soldered joint and bare wire ends foul the mount well before the motor is in place!! Leaving it cocked up at one end and not in the full grip of the mount. Not an immediate problem, but over time, these delicate mounts will loose their grip ‘til eventually the motor will annoyingly pop out just when you least need it, with resultant damage to other drive parts!
Also related to the wiring was the positive terminal lead wire. Someone on the production line obviously has an issue with soldering and at this part of the assembly there was a large spear of wire and solder unattached to anything. The positive lead wire was held on to the motor by a mere two strands. Again not life threatening, but a source of a reliability issue somewhere down the road! I chose to remedy both faults then and there. With a low wattage soldering iron I removed the lead wires and cleaned the terminals. The motor was then clipped fully into place and the lead wires tidied and soldered back on! Fixed! While the motor was out I toyed with the final drive relay and found it had a tight spot in its rotation. Not serious but still there. Unfortunately, the unit is sealed and it will have to be lived with.
One of my favourite and most important aspects (you guessed, the wheels and tyres!) were also in line for a serve. The rear tyres are actually loose on the rims!! It takes no effort at all to rotate the right hand rear tyre on its rim and little more effort to do the same with the left!! For racing its going to be necessary to glue them on I suspect. Also at the back I notice the traction magnet is loose in its mounts. A blob of glue or something is necessary to stop it becoming a loose canon in a shunt.
Even with these faults the model is excellent and as it is unlikely to be raced in anger, they will not be too significant. But these items will need to be addressed for competition if 100% performance is required! I am looking forward to running it soon firstly on Ninco and then next week on board. Its sister the March is pure driving pleasure and I have no doubt that this will be the same. As for racing?? Uh Uh! Another one for the shelf and the odd annual “Slotwood Festival of Speed!â€
As mentioned before it’s going to be a tough year for decision making once again. This and several other potentially anticipated models loom on the horizon. At a time when I was going to cut back work and take things a bit more easy, a bit of fishing, some lazy days in the back yard! Well that sort of behaviour won’t pay for slotcars!! Maybe there’s something on the shelf I don’t need anymore?? Mmmmmmm…………………