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Velasor: The Art of Racing
Words Marco Rallo / Photos Velasor
No child will ever forget the magic experienced every Christmas morning, but some presents have not limited themselves marking our childhood, but have literally represented a precise direction that has brought us here, like that fantastic morning of two decades ago when I found my first slot race car track under the tree. We’re talking about a simple package branded Polistil, with enough pieces to form an “eight” and thus give life to endless battles between a Lancia Beta Montecarlo and a BMW M1 made entirely of white plastic. Now I imagine those children, especially a little grown up, unpacking the latest generation slot cars, analogue or digital, faithful to the smallest detail and ready to whiz fast on pre-packaged tracks (please, forget the magnets), or on handmade circuits which often include landscapes and buildings that immerse the drivers in a miniature world that smells of racing.
With the same astonishment, I observe the incredible work done by the Spanish team at Velasor, a real atelier that recreates by hand and in a far more than maniacal way slot cars in 1:32 scale, drawing on those racing veterans that attributed to their drivers and co-drivers the status of legends. The young company specialized in pre-war models, amazes me because creates miniatures of over 200 pieces which, once placed on the track or a diorama, appear like a romantic journey back in time when the racing world was reserved for pioneers and visionaries. Among the available models we have the 1922 Austro-Daimler “Sascha”, one of the very first models designed by Ferdinand Porsche when he was still working at Daimler, but also the ’14 Peugeot L45 and the ’21 Bugatti T13. Which one to choose? In this case, given that they are real masterpieces on wheels and copper brushes, it is only a matter of heart and which one refers you more to the competition that has been thrilling for over a century.
Modeling of dynamic prestige therefore, given that the Velasor are perfectly functional and not only ideal for being on display in the living room or in the appropriate exhibitor. The Spanish brand accentuates the wow factor with beautiful dioramas which lack nothing, from on road dirt to drivers and co-drivers, each characterized in the smallest detail as those who really drove these cars to the golden age register of competitive motoring. Ramón Cubiró’s team is an absolute and undisputed excellence and one would think that in most cases the Velasor models will be destined for a predominantly static career, but the simple fact of knowing that they can come to life and move on some slot track is a far more than satisfying feeling. After all, we are still talking about a niche hobby that is often unjustly snubbed in favor of video games, but still capable of transmitting emotions and high speed, offering the possibility to physically and personally act adjusting the setting and the mechanical parts that make up a slot car, not to mention the fun of sharing experience and competition with real opponents, just a few centimeters from your nose.
Velasor embodies the quintessence of automobile passion and the choice to give life to its brand by focusing the attention on the maximum expression of analog motoring as in the case of pre-war cars is proof that it is a product designed for a cultured user. Prices for these scale racing artworks start at around €440 for a single model and can go up to €1,750 for the set of four Saschas. Ready, set, go.
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