Home Racing World

MODEL: WILLIAMS FW07
RACE : GP SPAIN 1980
DRIVER : EMILIO DE VILLOTA
Fly# F01102
photo courtesy of electric dreams.


i ve read poor reviews on this car on other forums. a friend at the local hobby shop had one and couldnt sell it. i offered $50 for it and he took a deal at $52. so being the old F1 fan i am. i grabbed it. i brought it home with very low expectations other then its looks, which are impressive by the way.

heres my first thoughts on it:

1) first thing i noticed is it has a very large magnet attraction...it almost sucked out of my hands to the track.

2) excessive amount of tin on the braids. they were very hard and unflexible. this worried me a bit.

3)seemed very delicate.. the fully independant front suspension is scary looking.

4)Tampos and paint are immaculate! very detailed and the scale seems right on.

Driving impressions:

1) as i figured the braids had a little too much tin and the contact was poor. i had to coax it to move at first.

2) after a few laps, she really opened up. the tin was wearing off and she was good. you could feel the motor picking up speed with every lap. promising to say the least.

3) the car has fully directional front wheels and under slow turns you can see the tires move in the proper direction...VERY COOL!

4) by 8-10 laps in this ol girl is cookin on my track. the high magnet power is keeping her stable almost under full throttle thru my larger radius turns and ahuling down my 15 ft back stretch..and not close to maxing out top speed.

5) 10-15 laps in, the tires are wearing in. good traction but still able to coax nice power drifts out of her in the tighter turns.

Final Thoughts:

i only have about an hour worth of trigger time with it. but thus far... all smiles .on a routed wooden track there might be issues due to traction or the car possibly lifting your tape off the track.
on my home scaley sport set... its a blast. so far im all smiles and have rebuked previous reviews ive read. im very happy with the purchase ( especially since the bad reviews enabled me to score it on the cheap side.) its a great companion for my scaley M23 Mclaren side by side and makes for good racing.

dont misunderstand... you will have to drive this car. but its attributes are as good or better then most vintage F1 cars that are in production. if you try to full throttle it all over... be prepared to have a box of parts at the end of the day. drive it like a real F1... and life is good.

heres some pics of it on my track.








turning the front wheels

Donnie,
I think it was one of those cars where it was luck of the draw.
Either you got a good one or a bad one. Some of them sounded like there was a can of nails in the driveline.
Some had wheels that pointed in different directions.
Phil at the slotcar outhouse came up with a fix for all the little dramas.
I bought 2 of these, FW07 same livery as yours and the Fw07b in Leyland/Saudia livery. One was good and one not so good.
I'm pretty happy with them both after some fettling on the not so good one. Do yourself a favour mate change the cast iron braid out for something a little more flexible. You'll be amazed at what that does.
At 50 bucks it was a good buy.
Looks like your getting a nice field of classic F1 cars together.
I love the shed with the Lotus parked up, very old school.

thus far... mine is smooth and quiet. ill put the slot it braid on it and have a go. funny thing... ive seen so many photos of F1 cars hanging out the garage door like that..it was almost natural for me to put it that way. i did it without even thinking...lol. oh.. you changed your avatar... beauty of a DN.

as i went thru the reviews i didnt see one on this car so i figured id throw it out there. i kind of like writing review articles from the novice point of view. standard home track and wallwarts, stock controller on the plastic track. it helps represent that demographic of non super slot car enthusiasts. i hope its okay to write more as i make purchases and just put out the laymans 2 cents.


btw.. i need a 78 and 761 bad to put into the collection. im thinking of selling off some cars just to feed my F1 habit.

Good job. Appreciate the review.

My concerns were based on the gearing. I run non-magnet myself and I wanted a car that was compatible with the MARCH and Lotus.

Again, great review. Thanks!

This is on the way to join my small fleet :)

agreed bibbster. one of the first favorited websites i used when i started back into this hobby was the HRW review page. i used it as a basis for many a purchase. and still continue to do so. the commentary and pics of the cars inside and out can really help you decide whether or not that car is for you. and the HRW page is definately the best review section going to date.


@Harry... thats the last F1 that i still dont own yet (my March 761 Peterson model is on its way now.). and you just have to have a JPS car..its mandatory if your an F1 fan. Jealous bro.

i have a few not so traveled cars that dont have reviews yet anywhere here. maybe this week ill take the time to put together a little diatribe regarding these cars.