IMMORTAL SLOT CARSFly Porsche 917K - Part I
From time to time, ManicSlots is going to take a look at some of the 'immortal' slot cars that have been produced since the 'Fly' revolution of 1996. In 1996 Fly released the Viper, a slot car that would change the direction of the 1/32 slot car industry forever! Fly let us know that slot cars could actually resemble a racing car and introduced the slot car industry to the 'D' word, detail!
Of all of Fly's releases, the Fly Classic range has to be the most successful and sort after by collectors. Classic slots such as the Porsche 917K, Ferrari 512 and the Lola T70. More recently Fly has released other classics such as the Porsche 917LH and Ferrari 250 GTO but these models have not enjoyed the same success.
Without a doubt, the 'King' of the Fly classic range has to be the Porsche 917K. I have split this edition of Immortal Slots into two parts because there are just too many stunning versions of the Porsche 917K to fit in one post. The slots I've photographed are not the rarest 917Ks available but they are some nice examples. If anyone has some of the rarer 917Ks they'd like photographed and featured on ManicSlots, by all means send them my way. ;)
This silver limited edition is the S81 Porsche 917K Roadcar 'Conde Rossi'. This from Wikipedia; 'Astonishingly, despite the car's impracticality, at least two 917s were road-registered. One, for Count Rossi of the Martini concern, was painted silver and given the Alabama plate 61-27737 to circumvent red tape in Europe, and the second, for Joachim Grossbad, was painted white and given the German registration CW-K 917.'
The Conde Rossi is truly a beautiful example of Fly's 917K and can still be found occasionally on ebay and is still stocked by a few slot shops. Whether you race them or shelf them, I advises collecting any Fly 917K and therefore strongly advise the limited edition versions. Apart from being very collectible, they will soon become the flagship of your collection. No serious collection is complete without at least a few.
The below 917K is from the Fly Team 12, Porsche Martini Racing 2 car set. It is also known as the ‘Psychedelic’ Team Set because of the outrageous paint finishes the cars have. The first car in the set is the #3 917LH which raced at 24 hours of LeMans in 1970 and was driven by Willy Kauhsen. The second car, (photographed here) is the #31 917K which raced at the Monza classic endurance race in 2004 and was driven by Juan Barazi.
The Fly Porsche Martini Racing set is still occasionally available, but commands high prices as it is a team set. Prices are around the $US250 mark.
This from Wikipedia: 'The Porsche 917 is a racecar that gave Porsche its first overall wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970 and 1971. Powered by the Type 912 flat-12 engine of 4.5, 4.9, or 5 litres, the long-tailed version was capable of a 0-62 mph (100 km/h) time of less than 2.5 seconds and a top speed of over 248 mph (394 km/h).'
'The 917 is one of the most iconic sports racing cars of all time, largely for its high speeds and high horsepower outputs, and was made into a movie star by Steve McQueen in his film Le Mans.' If you haven't already seen the Steve McQueen movie LeMans and you love these cars, then you owe it to yourself to get a copy quickly.
The below 917K is part of Fly's Racing Films Collection and was raced in the 1,000 km Buenos Aires event in 1971 by Vic Elford and G. Larrousse. The recently released LE car comes with a DVD documenting the event and a 20 page book outlining some of the history of the event. Of particular interest is Vic Elford's account of the race which makes for fantastic reading. This race was the first time a Porsche 917K had been raced in the now famous Martini Racing Team livery. Vic set the fastest lap time during the race but was later disqualified for receiving outside assistance, (outside of pit lane).
The DVD details the history of Las Temporadas Argentinas from 1947 to 1972 and has extensive coverage of the 1971 1,000 km Buenos Aires race including the fatal crash that claimed Ignazio Giunti in his Ferrari 312PB. The crash is quite disturbing as Ignazio's car and Jean-Pierre Beltoise's car burst into a massive fire ball on impact. The tragedy is the entire incident would have been avoided if yellow flags had been deployed more effectively.
Enough of the history, I'm sure you'll all agree the Martini Racing Team 917K is spectacular. This car is still available so if you have the means, get one while you can.
You can read the history of the Porsche 917K on Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsche_917
For a more comprehensive history of the 917K and dozens of excellent photos, head over to IMCA here:
ManicSlots Collectibility Score, (non LE 917K): Extremely High!
ManicSlots Collectibility Score, (LE 917K): Off the Scale!
You can view Part II of Immortal Slot's Porsche 917K here: http://manicslots.blogspot.com/2008/02/immortal-porsche-917k_24.html
If you like these photos, head over to ManicSlot's Wallpapers: http://manicslots.blogspot.com/2007/11/manicslots-wallpapers.html
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SLOT SOUL
I thought I'd start sharing some of my sprayed and liveried slot cars as I really enjoy this aspect of our great hobby. If you're a first timer, this section is designed to inspire you to start down the road of producing your own slot cars. If you have already explored this aspect of our hobby, I hope you enjoy the photos. I encourage you to send some photos of your cars in so I can share them with other readers.
This slot started life as a plain silver Proteus Lamborghini Murcielago street car. I decided as I could not purchase a racing version of the big Lambo, I'd do one myself. I fitted the car with a Scalextric NSX rear wing as the NSX wing has a similar curve to the rear of the Murcielago, (see the second photo from the top). The rear wing was cut into the body of the slot which took a little more time and care than gluing it onto the body. The main benefit of fitting the tail in this manner is if the wing takes a big hit, the tail pops out and can be easily reinserted.
I picked the Jagermeister liver as it is straight forward and I had the spare decals at the time. Apart from the rear wing, the slot is standard. The Proteus Lambo makes for a great track car, particularly on my Carrera track. It's fast and handles very well. Unfortunately, Proteus stopped making slots a few years ago so these cars are getting harder to acquire.
Of all of Fly's releases, the Fly Classic range has to be the most successful and sort after by collectors. Classic slots such as the Porsche 917K, Ferrari 512 and the Lola T70. More recently Fly has released other classics such as the Porsche 917LH and Ferrari 250 GTO but these models have not enjoyed the same success.
The number 6 Porsche 917K is part of the recently released Fly Team Gulf set, Ref 99046. This set was released in 2007 and is already getting hard to come by. If you have the means to collect one I strongly recommend you do so as the set is stunning and very collectible. You can read a review on the Team Gulf set here: 
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