Carrera Ferraris

[Modlerbob]

A couple of years ago when it was announced that Carrera had negotiated an exclusive contract with Ferrari to produce 1/32 scale Ferrari slot cars I thought it was stupid of Ferrari to enter into such a contract, especially with Carrera. At that time my only experience with Carrera was one of their older models. With the addition of a wooden track at DeBary Glen I have come to discover that more recent additions to Carrera's line of slot cars are very well suited to running on a wood routed track. I have the new Ferrari 458 from Carrera and in addition to being very good looking it gets around the track very smoothly. Recently I got hold of a Carrera Ferrari 512BB body and have been seeking a chassis which I procured yesterday. Putting the two together today I discovered that this Ferrari handles very well indeed. Both of these cars rival my Racer 250 GTO LM64 in looks and detail, if not performance. Now I am wondering whether Carrera will add any more classic Ferraris to their line of 1/32 cars.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Nice car indeed. We have the older ones running great as well.

I am pretty sure they are adding more, maybe not in this exact series...but I bet they will.

[goosenapper]

I still wish that Carrera and Ferrari had not entered in to that exclusivity contract. The reason being that Carrera is only able to produce a set number of cars each year, with new molds limited much more than new liveries. Other slot manufacturers in the game would increase the number of different Ferrari models available to us. However, with Racer continuously churning out Ferrari's sporting the prancing horse, and Flyslot still pumping out Ferrari's without the name, I have to wonder just how exclusive that deal really is.

To you point about the detail level of Racer and Carrera being close, is that more an indictment of Racer not being up to par with your expectations, or a compliment to Carrera? I'm sure that at speed the differences become indistinguishable, but sitting in their cases, who wins the race on looks alone? I ask because your previous post about your Racer has me considering purchasing one, but that comment about a Carrera not looking much different caused me to throw it in reverse!

[ElSecundo]

GN, the Racer Ferraris are just hard to describe how nice they are (the fully built ones, anyway -- be careful buying a kit built by someone else). The Carrera cars are very nice, but Carrera and Racer are two leagues apart. What Carrera accomplishes for the price is outstanding, but Racer delivers the Mona Lisa.

[nhdungeonracer]

When you hold a genuine Racer (not a Silver or Sideways series) up against a Carrera, Fly or Scalextric (or any mass produced car), you begin to see the difference in many ways. The paint is really remarkable, as are the wheels. That's just a couple of places that set the Racer cars apart.
Is it worth the difference in price? That's up to the customer. I have a couple, and glad I have them. Do I race them? No. But I do take one for a spin sometimes just to prove to people they do run, and run nice and quiet.

Back to the topic, the Carrera Ferrari's we sell to customers to run here are generally easier to get to run decent than the Scalextrics. Usually just a set of tires and away they go.

[goosenapper]

[DaveKennedy]

So, a few things about this topic.
Every major company (those that produce sets I mean) was in the running to get the Ferrari exclusive. In the end the decision was made by Ferrari to grant the license to Carrera.
That being said a number of companies are still making "red italian" cars if you notice.
Racer is making several cars including the 250 GTO.
Fly/Flyslot/Slotwings will be making the 512 BBLM and other cars.
SCX have announced an FXX body for their club car this year (shown on Facebook a few weeks ago). We will see if that makes it to market or not.

I do understand the frustration if Carrera is not your favorite brand of slots and of the largest major companies Carrera is the only one making official Ferrari models. But in the end the decision to offer an exclusive in the first place was a decision made by Ferrari.

A bit of background that I was privy to at the time.
I was working for SCX at the time and we (SCX) were talking about our bid to get the exclusive. Sr. management at Tecnitoys (SCX/Scalextric-Spain) had found out that the bid was not accepted and we were sort of informally taking bets on who got the exclusive. We (SCX) found out that Carrera got the license and frankly none of us were surprised.

Someone WAS going to get an exclusive with them. None of the smaller companies (those that make cars AND track) could have reasonably been expected to get the exclusive because they cannot provide a complete product in the form of sets with the Ferrari branding.

On the topic of molds and releasing more Ferrari models. I too would like to see more Ferraris in the catalog. I will be suggesting some for next year... being the lowest man on the food chain we will see if any of those suggestions get accepted. But I can assure you that the topic will be raised during our meetings about new releases for 2014.

In general why would a company/organization want to do an exclusive... the answer is "simplicity". Dealing with one manufacturer for a given category of products makes life MUCH easier. Easier to track sales, easier to make sure that the cars you like are being done, easier to manage.

I have limited connection to how licensing is done, i've seen negotiations and practices by 2 different companies that I have worked for and I can tell you that to say that licensing is a gray area of the business is an understatement. In one case you can negotiate an agreement directly with a team (pick a team in any series of racing) and then out of the woodwork someone from either the sanctioning body or driver or contingency logo on the car will decide that your use of some part of their car you've made cannot be shown/sold. I cannot tell you the amount of time put into research and phone calls and approvals for each and every car that's done. It is profound.

[goosenapper]

[moparjenny]

[goosenapper]

[Modlerbob]

Hey, I love my Racer Ferrari and would only sell it if someone offered me a rediculous amount of money for it. Even though this one is part of their Silver line I don't know how they could have made it better except for having a full interior. Personally I have no trouble with it having a shallow tray interior similar to the R/M version. My statement about the looks of the Carrera 512 BB was intended as a complement to Carrera and their ability to deliver so much at a very low price. I'm not a fan of any exclusive deals when it comes to models but I also have no control over that aspect of the business. I just hope that Carrera produces more 1/32 cars from the late 1960's through the 1970's. Fly has already made most of the cars I have interest in as well as Racer, but at prices I can't afford to dole out often. To me Carrera delivers an outstanding looking slot car that when raced with other Carrera cars is fun to drive.