Whoever bought this high-end custom slot car recreation of Fiat’s famous rooftop test track on its legendary Lingotto Factor in Turin, Italy is certainly living la dolce vita.
The Lingotto factory closed for good in 1982, so the best way to experience racing on top of the legendary Fiat car factory for yourself is this incredibly detailed 1/32 scale recreation slot car track from Slot Mods Raceways.
Not that your grubby hands could just go play with such a fantastic toy. Each track is made to order, recreated in aching detail by the team at Slot Mods Raceway. This incredible 1/32-scale track took over two years to recreate. For this build, they used photos and video of the old factory not only to reproduce the famous rooftop racetrack but the operations inside.
After hours of research, they custom built each of the 3,000 to 4,000 pieces for the track. The set comes with 500 Fiat slot cars, 100 of which actually race while others function as set pieces for the manufacturing scenes peaking through the windows. All of the people inside are hand painted, and there are even two spinning Fiats in the show room. Slot Mods even recreated the design room!
Slot Car Mods founder David Beattie told Jalopnik he pitched the idea of a Lingotto slot car track to a Fiat enthusiast with an already incredible collection of classic cars. The same collector is now considering a reproduction of Ford’s Piquette Ave. plant in Detroit with a test track cars can loop before driving up onto a freight car attached to a working model train stationed at a recreation of Old Milwaukee Junction.
If you want one of your own piece of art/plaything, well, I can tell you quality don’t come cheap. Beattie says this build cost around $225,000.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Lingotto track, here’s a brief run down: Completed in 1923, seven years after the start of its construction, the Fiat factory was the largest automotive factory and second largest factory in the world.
It was a unique set up: raw materials would enter on the first floor. As materials moved up the floors they became parts and, eventually, cars. The factory spat out the finished automobiles on the roof, ready for a drive on the Lingotto test track. After zipping around on the roof, cars then took a spiral ramp down to the ground.
Here’s an incredible video of the factory in action:
Today, the factory has been repurposed as a multi-use building with shopping, concert halls, and even a hotel. But some car work still gets done in the building. The eastern portion houses the Automotive Engineering faculty of the Polytechnic University of Turin. The track survives on the roof, and you can (and should) go see it should you visit Turin. A trip to Italy might be cheaper than a Slot Mods Raceway of your very own, but memories fade. A phenomenal slot car track is forever.
