The PT-8000 'Silverstone' is the crown jewel in Matchbox's slot racing system.
.
Featuring 4 lanes it made for exciting racing for 4 or massively long tracks for 2 people. Whilst devoid of lapcounters, hump back bridges, chicanes and crossovers the track was nothing if basic, but the addition of new 12" curves that fit around the standard 9" curves enabled exciting layouts to be created.
.
The four lane system was a fairly standard figure of eight in layout, largely out of necessity as the cars occupying the outer curve on one side had to hug the inner curve at the other end to keep the distance travelled by each car the same.
.
There were a surprising number of options in four lane layouts though, but the two lane options were vast, allowing some 'proper' racing to be had on some seriously large layouts.
The cars shown here were the default offering but typically the sets were made of whatever stock Matchbox had at the time. (See note below).
This was an expensive set - largely sold through catalogues such as Littlewoods. On the plus side it did undercut Scalextric's 4 lane set by around 40% and allowed more exciting layouts in a smaller space.
PT-8000 'Silverstone' comprised:
1 x Porsche 911 Turbo (Green)
1 x Triumph TR7 (Silver with black detailing)
1 x VW Scirocco (Gold)
1 x Fiat 131 Abarth (Mid blue with yellow detailing)
Cars also found in this set (usually replacing the Fiat and the VW) are:
Ford Escort (Red with black detailing)
Ford Escort (Yellow with black detailing)
VW Scirocco (White with orange detailing)
Fiat 131 Abarth (Dark Blue with yellow detailing)
Porsche 911 Turbo (Gulf blue with yellow detailing)
16 x 90 degree 9" curve
16 x 45 degree 12" curve
4 x 45 degree 9" curve
2 x 9" 6V track terminals (1 LH, 1 RH).
6 x 9" straight
4 x 15" straight
4 x 6" straight
1 x 6V mains transformer - bespoke to PT-8000 only
4 x Hand controllers
16 x Crash barriers
2 x sticker sheets
Bridge supports.
Track length: TBC.
In 1980 this set retailed around £75 -£80 in the UK.
Track length: TBC.
In 1980 this set retailed around £75 -£80 in the UK.
