This time, I turned a black Lotus-Renault R31 into a silver McLaren MP4-25-ish build with a little tinkering.
As for F1 slot cars, I usually think of them as falling into two main categories: whether or not the front wheels steer. The ones that steer are in the minority, with only NINCO and SCX offering them. I, of course, enjoy slot cars with gimmicks like working lights and steering.
Strictly speaking, FLY did make F1 cars with steering, and they were great in terms of looks, performance, and handling. But every single one had a major flaw in the gear design, which meant they'd either wear down or break, leaving them useless. Finding FLY spare parts was a nightmare—nothing available in Japan, and it was the same everywhere else. After hunting them down, I ended up paying way more than the parts themselves just for shipping, and waiting days for them to arrive. I kept repairing the same car over and over, or sometimes I had to replace the whole thing and re-prep it for racing again and again. Eventually, I was just completely fed up and done with it all, to the core.
This is why I’ve long been a fan of NINCO Indy Cars and SCX F1s. In particular, I’m fond of the durability of SCX cars, even after crashes.
NINCO’s biggest issue is that the front wing breaks far too easily upon impact, as the material lacks sufficient durability.On the other hand, SCX uses a lightweight and flexible material, along with a clever wing mounting method, making it really durable. Once built, I can run them for years and continue to enjoy them.
Because of this, I’ve custom-built several SCX F1 cars in the past. I typically combine two types of aluminum pipes to create a motor adapter and swap out the RX motor for a Hornby slim motor. For the rear axle, I used to glue F22 tires to Slot-it aluminum wheels and true them. I also minimize the addition of lead weights. This allows the motor, with its lightweight and flexible chassis, to rev up effortlessly to high RPMs, creating that perfect F1 driving feel that seems to scream toward the heavens.
When I see such a car steering through a corner, battling to make it through while maintaining just enough speed, I think this is the essence of slot car fun!
For this build, my goal was to use up some stock parts, so I decided on the motor first—Mitoos M6+. The body I chose is a 2010 F1 car, which I didn’t have before.
SCX’s 2010 F1 was only released as a yellow Renault R30,
and the same body later came out as the black Lotus-Renault R31 in 2011.
I decided to use the stock R30 to build a cute yellow race car for my wife and modify the R31 black Lotus body into a silver McLaren "MP4-25"-ish for myself. F1 cars are very fragile and tend to fall apart after a single crash, so I’m not usually keen on customizing them.
However, just adding the distinctive shark fin shape of the F-duct that stalls the rear wing’s drag, along with slightly raising the nose, should make it look the part. After that, it will mostly be about painting and applying the decals, and it should look like a McLaren in the end. Luckily, I also had a Lewis Hamilton half-figure lying around in the junkyard.
For the chassis, I’ll leave it stock for now and see how it performs. Until now, I’ve mostly run cars on a wood track, where the tires need to be perfectly true, or else they’ll bounce. However, now I only race on a NINCO track, so this time I’m sticking with the stock axle without any modifications and see how they perform.
The motor feels heavy and seems to have a lot of torque. If I run it and find that grip becomes an issue, I’ll think of something to address it later.
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As for the real F1 cars, it’s been nearly 50 years since we saw the ugly ducklings on the grid. There was a time when F1 cars with a form that looked as if it were still in the experimental stage, drawing mocking laughter from the crowd or, conversely, love them because of their ugliness, cheering them on. But those days are long gone.
Since 1990, it’s been hard to tell which car belongs to which team just by looking at the livery, unless you're a fanatic and start inspecting minute details with a magnifying glass. No longer are there glaringly features, like having four wheels at the front or rear, or a front wing that looks like a round coffee table, or a rear wing with two rows front and back—features that, no matter how ugly, were easily recognizable at a glance.
Frankly, I haven’t watched F1 broadcasts in over 10 years. Nico Rosberg won his only World Championship in 2016, and by that time, I had already lost interest in F1 and wasn’t following it anymore.
But the seasons from 2010 to 2013 were the last to truly catch my attention, as the car designs changed drastically with each new regulation.
Even the controversial stepped noses of 2012–13 looked somewhat square and stylish compared to the even uglier “penis,” “walrus,” and “vacuum cleaner” noses of 2014–15.
What made the 2012 and 2013 seasons of uniquely individualistic F1 designs so fun to watch was how each team, while caught between regulations, aerodynamics, and aesthetics, offered their own solutions with various shapes. It was the first time in a while that F1 felt truly unique, and those two years were a blast to watch. However, the regulations from 2014 onward abandoned the idea that the balance between force and beauty was a key element of F1's allure.
After 2014, with the extreme low noses and lack of aesthetic appeal in the overall designs, I lost interest in F1. The new generation of F1 drivers started looking more like tennis players, and the races became more about placing the ball on the weaker side of the opponent, turning every race into something like a 2-hour tennis match. That was enough to make me completely lose interest.
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