racing up to christmas

Racing cars were always a feature of my childhood Christmasses. Mostly Dinky and Corgi BRM's, Ferraris and wonderful hot rods and dragsters.

Sometimes though a different racer stopped at my pits.

One that I recall was a thick tinplate or maybe even steel racing car by Triang. It was a BRM or similar and I think it was blue. I remember it zooming along the carpet in my room and also the tarmac outside. It was as tough as old boots that car and I bet loads of them have survived.

Do you remember them? Here's a piccy offa Ebay. What a beast!

Another racing car that laps round my mind is the John Player Special. I think I had a black die-cast one. It was one of those low-slung racers that clung to the ground in Formula 1 that I associate with Nigel Mansell or Nikki Lauda.

The words John Player were in white along the sides. If I remember rightly it was a Corgi and John Player was a make of Cigarette! 

I have seen the toy as a larger plastic affair as well. In fact I had one on my toy stall for a while in the mid noughties courtesy of my friend Mark who asked me to sell off his childhood treasures. The make of the toy is unknown to me though. You can see it on my stand here left-hand shelf at the top next to Godzilla!

It came in a large polystyrene box with a cardboard photo lid. The unusual thing was that it was sonic-controlled by way of a clicker device, which presumably made it turn direction. I never got to see it in action although Mark said it was good fun. 

Do you remember it readers? Here's a pic I saw of the toy up-close online, which doesn't say John Player Special on it. Maybe I was imagining that bit!