Scalextric Lotus 72 Team Gunston

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[gascarnut]

Nice-looking car, although the colors are little on the light side. Both the orange and the brown were darker than that, as I recall. Other ex-pats will no doubt chime in.

The driver in this one was Eddie Keizan, the owner of an aftermarket aluminum wheels and other performance parts company. I had the opportunity to work with him back in the late 1970's when he was trying to break into the OEM market in South Africa with his wheels. I worked in the auto industry at the time, and had a lot of fun putting cracks into his early samples with some enthusiastic driving around our tight figure of 8 test courses. He passed away about a year back, aged 72.

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The colors are a bit light, had a fit trying to get the colors right to my eye.

Driver was Ian Scheckter though.

"Ian Scheckter (born 22 August 1947 in East London, South Africa) is a former racing driver. He participated in 20 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 30 March 1974. He scored no championship points. The elder brother of 1979 Formula One champion Jody Scheckter and uncle of IRL racer Tomas Scheckter, his first F1 races were in the South African Grand Prix, first driving a Lotus 72 for locals Team Gunston in 1974. The following year and also in 1976, he drove a Tyrrell 007 for Lexington Racing, either side of a couple of European outings for Williams."

[Junior]

Stupid question time.
With the way the suspension detail is incorporated with the rear axle, were you able to true the wheels and tires or did you use the old sanding block method?

[HRWAdmin]

Yes sir Mr. Urbas sir. That photo is the Tyrell if I may say so. This car needs care with shock absorber removal to release axle.





Make the lower part of the shock is released. And things should come apart with less drama.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Junior]

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No apology necessary sir, glad I helped a little.

I say we fill the entire post with tuning these (any of them). It's a fun series.

[chappy]

Thos is a fantadtic series Scaley has put out. I remember it starting with the double set with the Eagle and Lotus, and my addiction just took off like a cow in a twister.
All of the cars in this series are pretty decent looking cars, considering nothi g is perfect, i feel Scaley did a pretty decent job on them. McLarens, Brabhams, Loti, Eagles etc. On a scaley track with mag in place they are performing as designed. But for those of us who like to drift a bit and run without magnet , they can be a handfull. So as Harry says about replacing the crazy fast motor for a minnow , thats a good start.
If you like Urethanes, Paul Gage does a nice job for them. Disassembly is a bit li,e reverse engineering, it takes good eyes and a stout heart as there are a few bits that need a gentle touch. A bit of weight in the back and at the guide also helps. Not much room inside but it can be done with care.
I'm not sure if the new scalexteic deeper guide fit these cars or not, but if they do mine will have them too. Just these few things will give you a more manageable car thats fun to drive. Now having said that some of our guys have left the motor alone due to rules, but tires and weight do tame them some. Man they are fast , but look great with a grid of them lined up for combat.
Nice photos Harry it did the car justice.
Bob

[Junior]

[chappyman66]

I am not normally an open wheel fan, but I got an Eagle because they are one of our classes. I have to say they are a handful at 12v without magnet but we run at 10V and they are a total hoot! They are all pretty even, and that makes for great racing.

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[SuperSlab]

Well, OK, paradoxically, while I say that you should colour me impressed, the only thing I am NOT totally impressed with is the colour! As Dennis mentioned the orange is too yellow and the brown is too light: according to my recollection it should have been far more dark chocolate-y.

I have one of the earlier Gold Leaf releases and I think I have not paid enough attention to the detail that went into the design of this car before now. Some things that struck me:

1. Scaley has improved the engine detail from the earlier release Gold Leaf car.
2. In terms of appearance, the rear suspension is a gem.
3. Unlike the Gold Leaf car, all the sponsor detail is present. I think this is likely in part because virtually nobody knows that Gunston was actually a tobacco brand...
4. In terms of disassembly, the use of the shock is very clever. It holds things together nicely and as long as you remember to slide the mount off of the top pin the car comes apart VERY easily. Unless there is some paint that was not fully dried at the time of assembly of course. Fortunately I had no issues like that.
5. The structural design around the rear axle/suspension is VERY clever! And Harry: I have to disagree slightly with your comment in the disassembly video that the pins on the rear hub carriers are not important: Scaley has cleverly incorporated this in stiffening the rear axle. When you reassemble the car and before the hub carrier pins and the shocks have been clipped in place, there is a LOT of play in the bushings on my car. However: if you put everything together properly the slop all but disappears! The hub carriers serve as light but widely spaced bushings, and in this case wide is good.
6. Because of this "bracing" in the rear, I suspect that this car is going to be a very good runner on wood. And I must caution that I have not yet run my car, so this is pure speculation on my part. I will be taking this car plus its Gold Leaf stable mate as well as my Policar Lotus 72 to the track on Friday: will report back on the relative performances. And just to note that I did not take the Scaley Gold Leaf car apart so the tyres on that car are not trued properly, hence it is quite a bit slower than my Policar Lotus 72. I expect the Gunston car to somewhat bridge this performance gap.

Looking forward to getting this on the track on Friday!

Alwyn

[gascarnut]

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