WORDS: ELLIOTT HUGHES | PHOTOS: SLOT MODS RACEWAYS
Last night, drifting off to sleep was almost impossible – the anticipation was just too much to bear. No matter, because dawn is breaking on Christmas morning and the waiting is finally over. Your feet pitter-patter down the stairs, and you discover that Santa has kindly left a large and enticing present under the tree.
Your small hands eagerly tear away the wrapping paper, revealing a large, captivating illustration of cars engaged in the midst of a thrilling battle. Above the artwork there’s a large blue and yellow logo that reads ‘Scalextric’.
Countless people recall a similar childhood memory that involves receiving their very first slot-car set. For many, this simple toy ignited a lifelong love affair with all things automotive – long before the arrival of Gran Turismo.
One such person is David Beattie, whose serendipitous reintroduction to slot-car racing in 2004 led to his founding of Slot Mods Raceways, a Detroit-based firm behind incredible bespoke dioramas at the pinnacle of scale-model racing.
“Back in 2004, I got a Hammacher Schlemmer toy catalogue before the holiday season,” David reminisces with a smile. “Inside, I saw there was a small slot-car set. I asked my wife: ‘Please could I have this for Christmas?’”
That modest 1:43 scale set from the Hammacher Schlemmer catalogue reignited David’s passion for the hobby, setting him on a journey that would lead to crafting vast, meticulously detailed works of automotive art that require months of painstaking work to create and have been commissioned by the likes of IndyCar legend Bobby Rahal, McLaren boss Zak Brown and Jay Leno, as well as Formula 1, Audi and, soon, Hot Wheels.
“Four to six months after receiving that set from my wife, I’d built a 120-foot, 1/32 scale track in my basement. I was hooked,” David admits.
Fast-forward to the post-pandemic years, and two extraordinary projects from Slot Mods’ portfolio have each spread across social media like wildfire. This happened at a time when the hobby was already experiencing a resurgence in popularity and interest, after so many had spent so long under government-enforced lockdowns
The first of those two projects was the company’s mind-blowing 1:32 scale recreation of the iconic Lingotto Fiat Factory. The vast $225,000 diorama took months of meticulous work to complete, transforming archival photos and video footage of the factory into 4000 pieces of track, 500 Fiat slot cars, factory equipment and tools, interior decor pieces and gaggles of people.
“Lingotto was fantastic; it was a great project,” David recalls nonchalantly. “The Lingotto project came about when I was doing a Monza installation for a client who has a humongous collection of Ferraris and Fiats. Honestly, when I saw it, I was flabbergasted.”
The impressive collection of Italian cars was what led to an off-the-cuff conversation about Lingotto. “I told him: ‘I think I have an idea for you – I think I can build you the Lingotto factory with all the inner workings.’ He replied: ‘Great, let’s do it!’ Two years later we created it and delivered it to him, and he was totally blown away.”
The second Slot Mods creation to make waves on social media was a 1:32 diorama inspired by Steve McQueen’s Le Mans that – wait for it – is housed beneath a full-size replica Porsche 917 body, complete with Gulf livery, functional lights and wiper, side windows, dual exhausts and a hinged fuel-filler cap.
Originally built as a one-off for the Hammacher Schlemmer toy store in Manhattan, the 917 was advertised on the online auction platform Bring A Trailer back in April. It crossed the block for $205,000. “We’ve been getting so much press from the 917,” David says. “After the auction, I had to call people back and apologise that we could not build any more 917s.”
Luckily, David’s imagination offered those customers a silver lining in the form of Slot Mods Raceways latest project: a limited series of two full-size Ford GT40 art cars that, as with the 917, open to reveal assiduously detailed 1:32 slot car tracks beneath their iconic glassfibre bodywork.
The cars selected for the project were hand-picked by David, and include Ken Miles’ 1966 GT40 Mk2 of Ford v Ferrari fame and the Gulf-liveried 1969 GT40 Mk1 that Jacky Ickx drove to victory at Le Mans.
David estimates each GT40 diorama will take around seven to eight months to complete and cost $150,000 apiece.
“The GT40 is different from the 917,” he explains. “The chassis is aluminium, and you’ll be able to open the clamshell by pulling the door handle. We are reproducing the knock-off wheels, the paint, wipers, lights and exhaust system, while the windows and side mirrors are made of real glass.”
Beneath the GT40 clamshell – which can also be opened via a remote control – is a dual-slot circuit that measures 13 feet long by six feet wide, inspired by the Le Mans 24 Hours. As with Slot Mods’ other creations, each GT40 raceway promises mind-blowing attention to detail, including hand-painted surfaces, structures, signage, landscaping and spectators, as well as iconic landmarks such as the Dunlop Bridge, the Esso Oil Drop Man and Martini Barn.
The reason for David’s uncompromising, meticulous approach to detail is simple: “I want people to feel excited and be reminded of their childhood and experience that magical level of imagination again.
“I don’t want to build architecturally correct models, I think that would be too sterile. Beyond the excitement of racing the slot cars, it’s all in the detail of the buildings, seeing spectators hanging out of trees like they do in Monza.
“Once I was at Laguna Seca, and I peeled off a flake of blue paint and took a handful of dirt from beside the track for a model. I’m just obsessed with the details; that’s where the passion comes from.”
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