They look nice but are they toys or models?

These new slot cars come in five versions, two Mk Is and three Mk IIs

Mk I chassis no. 1075 '68 No.9 Powder Blue & Marigold - C2403 (Sport Limited Edition C2403A)

Mk I chassis no. 1075 '69 No.6 Powder Blue & Marigold - C2404 (Sport Limited Edition C2404A)

Mk II chassis no. 1046 '66 No.2 Black/Silver Stripes - C2463 (Sport Limited Edition C2463A)

Mk II chassis no. 1015 '66 No.1 Lt. Blue/ White Stripes - C2464 (Sport Limited Edition C2464A)

Mk II chassis no. 1016 '66 No.5 Gold/ Pink I/D Panels - C2465 (Sport Limited Edition C2465A)

The overall concept is good but tooling and cost compromised accuracy

Mk.I 1075 No.9 & 6

The overall impression is favourable. Powder blue and Marigold are represented well, however, since all the GT40 s are built in two halves there is a noticeable join on the front, less noticeable on the sides as it aligns itself as the bottom of the front and rear decks and the doors here representing the sill top.

The front of the GT40 has a photoetch grill visible and you can just make out circular fog lights under weird square main lights, which are working yellow LED's! These fog lights are correct for 1075 Gulf cars.

The front nose is too short. Not to my taste, panel hatches, clips and the identification lights are represented in 2D, not 3D not very well.

No, 1075 and the other Gulf cars had unique quick release door handles, this does not and the inner door releases are not represented.

The top of the roof should be lower at the front and merge in with the side windows. The rear deck lid, which is moulded as a separate item is too short and the curvature of the roof and rear window merges too sharply with the rear tail creating a completely inaccurate rear deck, making the air intakes above the side scoops too short.

There should be no separate spoiler as it never ran with one in 1968/69 Le Mans .

Two openings are missing above the rear lights. On the no 9 car, the horseshoes should be apart more and a disc indicated should be between them.

There are rivets all round the rear window that were not on the real car in that size!

Most disappointing are the wheels. They should be tapered with webbing behind them. The JWAE 6 spoke done so they could show an unconvincing disc brake.

The spokes have flashes of orange on them but from the spokes backwards, the wheels inner should be orange.

The model itself is pretty but the compromise with tooling and costs have left it inaccurate. The tyres would look more convincing with the logo on them.

It's odd that some of the detail is nicely done: rear air vents on top of the deck are correctly different for '68 & '69 Le Mans as are the tail lights.

The tray and Webers in the rear window are fine, however there should be eyebrow lips over both doors to stop doors lifting.

The tampo printing is nice but since the dimensions of the body are wrong, numbers and adverts appear in incorrect places. These comments apply for both versions of 1075. The Sports box for 1075 incorrectly states that they had 351 (5.7 litre) engines in the 1968/69 24 hours Le Mans . In fact they ran with 302 (4.9 litre) engines.

Mk.IIs

Much the same overall comments apply to these cars as well. The rear deck has wrong proportions. The rear lights should be recessed. The grille should be connected and thetailpipes projecting downwards. No rear jack. The Front wings have no bulges on them, nor does the hatch on the front have any hinges. The MkII was the only variant with a hinged hatch

As the moulding is the same from the front to behind the rear deck, the same comments apply as the Mk.I.

On the No. 5 Holman and Moody car, the identification patches (indicator) on the front wings should be dayglo pink

No.1 wheels should be gold not black. Halibrands are OK.

Tyres should have Goodyear Blue Streaks with a blue circle being on the tyre walls diameter.

What are Webers doing on a 7 litre engine that should have a Holley and not a tray on it?!!

I could go on and on but I'll finish. Compared with the work that Hornby does on their railway engines, these GT40 s are a let down. I am not anti Scalextric, I am just showing what costs and tooling can do to a model to turn it "toywards".

The Sports limited edition (4000) versions come with better bearings and enhanced performance and are becoming difficult to find, especially the Mk.II Black No. 2 Le Mans winner. They have been reportedly sold on e-bay for $80. Expect to pay £22-£27 for the standard models.

If you have the cash, look at the 1/8 scale EXOTO Mk.II. No.s 1,2 & 5 are out as a set in Japan at a price of 5900 yen. I think when they are released here, the price will be about £300-£350

Allan