Ultimate F1 gifts guide 2008: Gadgets, games and other gifts

3rd December 2008, 12:00 by Keith Collantine 12 Comments »

Ferrari Formula 1 Lego - for your inner five-year-old

Lego! Scalextric! Wine! Sausages! More fun and unusual gifts with an F1 link (however tenuous)…

Toys

Ferrari Lego
When I was little this stuff would have been top of my Christmas list. And very little has changed (I’ve already got the big Ferrari F1 Lego model…)

These Ferrari Lego models come in a range of sizes for all different ages:

Scalextric
Scalextric slot cars are becoming increasingly sophisticated. These models are metal, not plastic, and are reasonably detailed as well. You can buy them as part of sets that include the track or individually. You can even get a Safety Car!

Airfix

Remember the building society advert featuring Lewis Hamilton as an Airfix model? Probably not if you’re outside Britain. Anyway, Airfix have now produced an official model of Hamilton’s McLaren in 1:32 scale.

Buy the Lewis Hamilton McLaren Airfix model

Gadgets & games

McLaren-Mercedes gravity pen

A smart pen with the McLaren logo that stands on end and retracts and extends its nib with a weight-based mechanism.

Buy the McLaren-Mercedes gravity pen

rFactor

There hasn’t been an official Formula 1 game since 2006, so where should you look if you want to race the latest cars on the latest circuits? I recommend rFactor, which is immersive and realistic, and best of all has a huge community following. That means there are loads of people for you to race online and loads of circuits and cars to download from F1, NASCAR, CART and loads more.

Buy rFactor (PC DVD)

Racing steering wheel

Whatever racing game you prefer, you can enhance the experience by switching from a joypad or keyboard to a proper steering wheel and pedals setup. I’ve got the Thrustmaster PC one but it’s gathering dust because I’m too busy writing F1 Fanatic…

Racing seat

If you’ve already got a selection of racing games and a steering wheel plus pedals setup, what comes next? A race seat. Immersive yourself fully in your game by mimicking a proper driving position. Several different version of these setups are available, I’ve never tested one myself, so if you’ve got a good one please leave a comment below.

Buy the Playseats Gamers’ chair

Driving Games Manual (Haynes)

Haynes have branched out from car manuals to guides for pretty much everything – you can even get a Haynes’ manual for babies. Now Haynes have produced a guide to driving and racing video games, and there’s much nostalgic fun to be had in its pages. And the foreword’s by Bruno Senna.

Buy the Haynes Driving Games Manual

Novelties

Laverstock Park Farm produce

Run by Ferrari’s 1979 F1 world champion Jody Scheckter, Laverstoke Park in Hampshire practices biodynamic, organic farming. Read more about his farming practices here and have a look at his produce, which can be ordered online:

Jarno Trulli wine

Toyota driver Jarno Trulli hails from Pescara in Italy which is known for several things: the huge road course which held a single Grand Prix in 1957, the local olive oil, and above the regional wines. Trulli runs his own vineyard and produces red and white wines.

You can’t buy them from his official website but you can order it in the UK from Avery’s and buyers in America will need to look up importer Marco Vivona.

“I am the Stig” T-Shirt

Who is the Stig? Ex-F1 driver Perry McCarthy was the original mute star of BBC’s Top Gear. But the identity (or identities) of the current ‘tamed racing driver’ is a mystery. Stake your claim to being the man behind the helmet with this T-shirt:

Buy the Official Top Gear “I am The Stig” T-Shirt

Driving experiences

I was originally going to put these in the ‘money no object’ category but a lot of them are quite affordable. Of course, the more you pay, the more laps you get and the faster the car is. You can go to Silvestone and drive the British Grand Prix circuit, and at Rockingham you can drive a full-blooded F1 race car, though it’s not cheap!

Here are some circuits in Britain which offer driving experiences, do post details of any good ones you’ve been to in the comments.

Sean Mills figurines

Recently featured on BritsOnPole, Sean Mills produces exquisitely detailed figurines of F1 drivers in limited quantities:

Sean Mills Figurines

More F1 gift ideas coming later in this series including books, DVDs, clothes, caps and ‘money-no-object’ presents.

F1 Fanatic earns a commission on products sold via the links to our affiliate partners above, however you are not charged any extra.

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12 comments on Ultimate F1 gifts guide 2008: Gadgets, games and other gifts

Chris Y said on 3rd December 2008, 13:51

I have to get the Stig shirt!

ajokay said on 3rd December 2008, 14:14

Scalextric Digital baby, woooo!

Robin said on 3rd December 2008, 14:15

I haven’t played scalextric for about 15 years and I bet they are so good now. They used to be fun but with 15 years of improvements they must be amazing! That is definitely what my girlfriend is getting me for christmas

Alex said on 3rd December 2008, 14:40

You missed out the Logitech G25 Steering wheel which is excellent

ajokay said on 3rd December 2008, 14:41

4 player Scalextric at once makes for a great afternoon of racing. Although you need a 5th person to act as a marshall, and a room big enough to fit it all in, but if you have those things, It really is well worth it.

The new digital sets are excellent. They allow for 6 cars to be on the track at once (providing you have the 6-car powerbase), all controlled independantly from one another using the digital control system, rather than solely using the electric current to govern the speed of the cars. This is what limits the un-digital scalextric to 2 cars.

Leila said on 3rd December 2008, 14:41

I brought a driving experience with Thruxton Motorsport Centre for my boyfriend which was amazing, brand new Ferrari and Lamborghini and he also had a go in a racing car. I have to watch the dvd we had done on the day with him all the time! I brought it direct with Thruxton, think it was http://www.thruxtonracing.co.uk, I’ve registered with them and get discounts sent through all the time.

well worth it!

ceedas said on 3rd December 2008, 15:34

What are the minimum hardware requirements for rFactor? It’s right up my street, but I’m not sure my PCs are quite up to it.

andy said on 3rd December 2008, 15:38

i have the technic supercar which you can rebuild into a F1 car, very old school, 1996 i believe!

Ceedas- system requirements are at the bottom of this page

http://www.rfactor.net/index.php?page=features

Striay said on 3rd December 2008, 16:24

My mum says she isnt going to buy me the scalextric coz its STUPID! huh how dare she!

Fred Schechter said on 3rd December 2008, 17:07

I think I’ll finally import some organic meat from Jody Scheckter’s farm,, but that’s probably pretty obvious why I’d do that (see my name).

Also,, still kicking myself for having pretty much all the other PC games except Rfactor (think having every nintendo game,, but never playing Mario). Also,, my force feedback wheel has nearly given up the ghost (that’ll make wheel #4 for me)

theRoswellite said on 3rd December 2008, 20:41

Played the Scalextric F1 racing 50 years ago, and I can still remember winning numerous World Championships in garages and playrooms. Couldn’t recall anything that happened to me in some of those years, but could describe the modifications I made to turn a Vanwall into a short course car (cut nose back/add a little weight in the boat tail). I guess I should have seen the F1 obsession coming, even back then. Too bad I don’t have some grand-kids……(or just one other nut like me in my little town).

Eric M. said on 4th December 2008, 6:56

My inner five-year-old is screaming for that lego Ferrari.