FLY SLOT CARS ANNOUNCES RETURN!!
The rumours had started circulating amongst the forums and discussion groups, Fly Slots had stopped releasing slot cars...again! Fly has a huge fan base and a lot of them found this rumour disappointing, I'm one of them!
Well the great news is that what ever hurdle Fly had, they have pushed through it and are back to releasing slot cars. And not just any ordinary slot cars, but the famous Lotus 78 in JPS black and gold colours raced by Andretti no less! Scheduled for mid year release the Lotus 78 promises to be a hugely popular release and is the third classic F1 release from Fly behind the amazing March 761 and Williams FW07.
This from Wikipedia: 'It was obvious that the 78 was something special though, as proved by Andretti and Gunnar Nilsson who won once in Belgium. When the car worked well it was almost uncatchable. Other teams started scrambling to design their own version for 1978. The problem they had was that they didn't know exactly what was so special about the car, as Chapman and other members of Lotus came up with any number of excuses to hide the real reason. That as well as the skirts, which hid any view of the underside of the car.
The 78 was good enough to still be a winner in early 1978, with Andretti and Ronnie Peterson scoring a win each and another three pole positions before it was replaced by the Lotus 79, which was as far ahead of the 78 as the 78 had been ahead of the rest of the field in 1977. The 78 was to see one further works team start, however. Owing to damage sustained to his 79 in practice, Ronnie Peterson was forced to use the reserve car, 78/3 (JPS-17), to qualify for the 1978 Italian Grand Prix. The car had not been maintained or developed by the team as they concentrated on the 79, and the car was hurriedly prepared for the race. Although his team mate Andretti predictably took pole position, the slower 78 was only good enough for fifth place on the grid for Peterson. Sadly, the Swede was caught up in a massive start line accident, which resulted in his car ramming the barriers nose-first, completely destroying the front end of the vehicle. Peterson later died owing to complications arising from the treatment he received following the crash.
The original development prototype, 78/1 (JPS-15), was sold to Hector Rebaque. He ran this car through his Rebaque privateer team in World Championship events during 1978 and 1979, and in non-Championship races into the early 1980s. In all, the Lotus 78 took seven wins, nine pole positions and scored 106 points in its career.'
The 78 was good enough to still be a winner in early 1978, with Andretti and Ronnie Peterson scoring a win each and another three pole positions before it was replaced by the Lotus 79, which was as far ahead of the 78 as the 78 had been ahead of the rest of the field in 1977. The 78 was to see one further works team start, however. Owing to damage sustained to his 79 in practice, Ronnie Peterson was forced to use the reserve car, 78/3 (JPS-17), to qualify for the 1978 Italian Grand Prix. The car had not been maintained or developed by the team as they concentrated on the 79, and the car was hurriedly prepared for the race. Although his team mate Andretti predictably took pole position, the slower 78 was only good enough for fifth place on the grid for Peterson. Sadly, the Swede was caught up in a massive start line accident, which resulted in his car ramming the barriers nose-first, completely destroying the front end of the vehicle. Peterson later died owing to complications arising from the treatment he received following the crash.
The original development prototype, 78/1 (JPS-15), was sold to Hector Rebaque. He ran this car through his Rebaque privateer team in World Championship events during 1978 and 1979, and in non-Championship races into the early 1980s. In all, the Lotus 78 took seven wins, nine pole positions and scored 106 points in its career.'
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