Category:Airfix Motor Racing

Airfix Motor Racing

1962 -

1968 lineart advertising image, set M.R.11 [image info]

1966 lineart advertising image, set M.R.125 [image info]

Airfix Motor Racing / Airfix Motor Ace / Airfix MRRC was a 1:32 scale slot-car racing system introduced by Airfix in 1962, and sold by the company until the Airfix company's failure in 1981 (at which point MRRC Ltd. became independent once more).

The origins of the product line go back to MRRC's creation in 1951, when the company was involved in "rail" car racing.

1951-1962: MRRC Ltd. (pre-Airfix)

Model Road Racing Cars Ltd. was incorporated on 10 August 1951. The company apparently started out selling equipment for "rail-based" car racing, then migrated to slotcar racing (and conversion kits for "rail" cars), and used the metal bodies of clockwork cars made by Scalex to create some of the earliest slot-cars (Scalex apparently then realised that this was a good idea and produced the famous Scalextric system).

MRRC Ltd became part of the Airfix group in 1962.

1962-1968: Airfix Motor Racing

Airfix Motor Racing was launched in February 1962, without an obvious logo for the name, but with a modified version of the Airfix "banner" logo that had the two rear "wings" of the banner in black and white chequers, to represent motor-racing's "chequered flag".

The launch didn;t happen in time for the product to appear in the first (1962) catalogue, but is proudly shown in colour on the back cover of the 1963 catalogue.

Thrills, spills, excitement ... all the tense drama of Grand Prix racing. Airfix brings you such realism. Press the throttle and you're racing away in a Mini-Cooper or a Ferrari. Lap after Lap it's high speed fun. Real driving skills (and daring) needed to win! Runs off mains or battery. Every Airfix set has a rigid, double-lane track, two speed-controllers and banking supports. One includes a PERFECT FIGURE 8 with a swooping, road-hopping flyover. All Airfix authentic 1/32nd scale models have Ackermann steering for natural cornering. Join the Airfix racing drivers!
— , -, , Airfix Motor Racing advert, , 1967

1968-~1973: Motor Ace / MRRC

For the 1968-1973 catalogues, the system was rebranded MotorAce, still with the chequered-flag version of the Airfix logo, but now with a proper logo for the new name with MotorAce run together into a single word leaning rightward, and the peaks of the "M", "t" and "A" leaving streaks to the left to indicate speed.

However, in the published advertising we've seen for the period, the range seems to be referred to as Airfix MRRC (suggesting that perhaps MRRC Ltd had more control over the advertising, and Airfix more control over the catalogues).

1973-1981: Airfix MRRC

The MotorAce branding no longer appeared on the cover of the 1973 catalogue, with the product line now being referred to as Airfix MRRC, with credits being given to MRRC Ltd., or Model Road Racing Cars Ltd.. The MotorAce name was still being used on some (legacy?) materials, but the brand emphasis was now on MRRC, and the advertising we've seen in Airfix Magazine for this period just uses AIRFIX MRRC.