The Elf F1 is a cool car. No doubt about it, 30 years on it looks like a great retro slot car. Yet, imagine back in 1977 you found this in your slot racing set. You would probably think it looked like something from a Christmas cracker.
Like the Sportsman cars, the quality of these mouldings left much to be desired but the overiding impression I have now is that this is a fantastic Speedtrack car.
Although designed to simulate an early seventies F1 car, the Elf (and it's counterpart, the Texaco F1) never made it to Europe, which is a pity as the cars might have given credibility to the Powertrack PT-1000 and its budget price aspirations, freeing up the the F1 cars to provide a bigger UK set in the style of the Speedtrack International set.
The 1977 Speedtrack catalogue shows a prototype Elf, which differs slightly to the production version. The white detailing is almost removed save for the ends of the rear wing. The numerals are white numbers without backing, and the wheels are a dark grey.
Like the Sportsman cars, the quality of these mouldings left much to be desired but the overiding impression I have now is that this is a fantastic Speedtrack car.
Although designed to simulate an early seventies F1 car, the Elf (and it's counterpart, the Texaco F1) never made it to Europe, which is a pity as the cars might have given credibility to the Powertrack PT-1000 and its budget price aspirations, freeing up the the F1 cars to provide a bigger UK set in the style of the Speedtrack International set.
The 1977 Speedtrack catalogue shows a prototype Elf, which differs slightly to the production version. The white detailing is almost removed save for the ends of the rear wing. The numerals are white numbers without backing, and the wheels are a dark grey.
