[Slot Cars] Scalextric and other slot cars

[Hobson]

Who still plays with their Scalextric; Ninco, Fly and other slot car sets?

I've just dug up loads of track from when I was 10, but sadly no cars or controllers yet.

I did find a stand my Dad adapted from a Subbuteo set for me, complete with Subbuteo players painted orange as marshals.

I'd best go to by LHS to see what cars they have - after looking for my own, of course!

[pirenzo]

me. Well, sort of. Haven't played with mine for well over a year now. We're hoping to board the loft and put it up there. Got a number of layouts in mind. I have lots of track, but not much variation in types of track. About 25 cars too. Some of them are my dad's and don't work.
Got several other trackside buildings.

[Aysedasi]

Haven't played it for years. My lad use to have a set (I never had one as a kid ), but it was given away 3-4 years ago. I must admit I was never able to get really excited about slot cars.

But does anyone remember Trik-Trak - I think that's what it was called.......?

[TimD]

Yep, definite racer here.

It was the late seventies, so the cars most fondly recalled were the Porsche 911 Carrera RS and the BMW 3.0CSL coupe. Very different handling characteristics - the Porsche was a point and squirt sort of a car whilst the BMW was lazier, but could take corners faster in glorious tail-out slides.

Then I discovered Betta shells and soon had fleets of Escort Mexicos, Mustangs, Camaros and other weird and wonderful concoctions. A Strombecker Jaguar E-Type coupe shell was found and radically improved the handling of the frankly top-heavy Scalextric TR7 whose chassis it used.

A friend built a '34 Ford hot-rod van out of an Airfix MRRC Lotus 79 chassis and running gear, and somehow got it absolutely right. That Ford van was absolutely unbeatable in our leagues. His next project was a McLaren M23-based Plymouth Barracuda from a Monogram kit, but it never went as well. His dad was particularly gutted as he was reckoned as something of an engineer and yet his son's car could take on his MRRC Porsche Carrera 6 any time.

I have to say with the selection of slot cars available now, I'm going to have to think seriously about doing some more racing. Now, how much is that Bentley Speed 8?

[pirenzo]

Originally posted by Aysedasi
Haven't played it for years. My lad use to have a set (I never had one as a kid ), but it was given away 3-4 years ago. I must admit I was never able to get really excited about slot cars.

But does anyone remember Trik-Trak - I think that's what it was called.......?

You've gotta have a long interesting track really. Preferably with a good variation in cars. It can be really good fun when you race someone who can keep up with you, but like anything if you're way better than who you race it is tedious. I have an electronic lap counter/timer too. So chasing lap records was always fun (4.9 seconds for a twisty 12m track is my best!)
There isn't much in the way of turning, but throttle control, learing where, and how much to back off, and learning to really press the controllers to extract every last bit of speed down the short straights.

Really good fun. I've decided to build the Le Mans Bugatti track first. I had the full track once (well, a simplified version of it) and it made a cruddy slot car track, but i think the bugatti track will be much better.

[Smokey 6 litre]

i set up a track in my room a couple of months ago, my dad has nearly 50 cars, but only one (which is mine) worked so i couldn't race anyone, alos the outside lane didn't work anyway.
I love Scalextric...and im planning to nail down a god working track.

[Maisie]

Have you got any Scalextric Maestros yet, Hobson? I have 6 or 7, but no track!

[Truckosaurus]

Did anyone else experiment with ballast? A little extra weight (in the form of blu-tak and 2p pieces) gave better traction, but add too much and it gripped too well and popped a wheelie, thus loosing the power conection. I recall that 8p worth was the ideal amount.

[Hobson]

Yes Maisie, I've got one which was modified from a Scalextric Renault Megane chassis, thats why I went in search of track!

I've also found an Escort Mexico, but it doesn't have any decals or manufacturers marks on it. Its a black wide arch body in RS style 4 spoke rims. Any guesses? I have no idea........

Never tried ballast Guy, but I will when my tarcks up and running.

Early prediction is that I need new controllers, control box, power pack, and more track of course!

[racer69]

Certainly am into it.

At the moment i just have a short oval set-up.

I recently picked up a Roger Penske Sunoco Camaro and Parnelli Jones BOSS 302 Mustang fron Tras-Am racing, to go along with a bunch of my others (with the stupid magnets for magnatraction pulled out of course)

Who was the fool who created magnatraction

[Hobson]

My brother used to have a Ford Focus rally car, that had 3 magnets. One accross the back axle, one accross the front bumper and the ones in the motor. It was soooooooo easy to drive, but was totally boring and it you never come off the track.

Whereas his Comma Caterham was a completely different beast. Low weight and weak magnets....Bliss!

Anyone know what turn motors the standard Scalextric cars come with? this focus was an 83 turn.

[Neil C]

The Aurora FX set I got for Christmas in the early 60's was instrumental in my formation as a motorsport nut in general, and a roadracing fan in particular.

I would modify the cars endlessly to find the right combo to beat my brothers. Sometimes it worked.

[paul-collins]

We've been running Strombecker with Betta shells for years (see my website, sadly un-updated for a long time). I've got about 150 feet of track in my basement just waiting to build dedicated tables and a new layout. I'm guessing I'll be able to build about 90-100 feet in the allocated room.

12 metres (40 feet) in 5 seconds? Not bad. Our track record for our faster circuit is in the same range (160 feet, 3 laps, 58.3 seconds). That's with a 31% curvature ratio. Our slower circuit has 39% curvature, and the record is 45.4 seconds for two laps (165 feet).

I've done a Champion R8 shell, and am waiting for the new track to christen it.

[egor]

One car I have some where that worked quite well, is a Scalextric Ford RS200 with 4 wheel drive, it did seem to help when I raced my brothers Lancia 037.

[BertMk2]

I've just bought a Scalextric RS200 from Ebay. Fantastic car. There's loads of cheap Scalextric cars on ebay.

[Hobson]

Thats where I got the Maestro from. It was only a couple of pounds, (£3+p&p). I think I'll get some track from eBay too.

[Aysedasi]

So no-one's heard of Trik-Trak then.....

[pirenzo]

http://www.samstoybox.com/toys/TrikTrak.html

this the stuff Ayse?

Looks a bit like hotwheels stuff.

[Aysedasi]

That's it!

It was marvellous. You had a battery powered car and bits of track. Mostly corners. But you didn't link the track together. You used the corners to turn the car, but as the car itself always ran straight you could have as long a track as you liked. You could literally run it all over the house (on one floor), given enough corners.

Well I thought it was fun anyway......

[Aysedasi]

BTW, you mention hotwheels - the car was much bigger about 8-10 inches long, as I recall. Much bigger than Dinky or Corgi size.

[Aysedasi]

Fascinating to look further at the items on EBay. Really brings back the memories. I wonder what happened to my set.....? Whatever, they don't appear to have any great value, so I shan't get too upset.....

[pirenzo]

you can have as much track as you like with Scalextircs too! The car is guided only by the groove in the track. And scalextircs doesn't run out of batteries either

And i can control the speed. But i imagine it was quite fun

[Aysedasi]

I had it when I was 5 or 6 I guess. And yes, I thought it was fun. But then again, my parents never bought me a Scalextric.......

[pirenzo]

I got mine when I was eight. Too young really. I was more interested in dismantling the cars than racing them lol.

Now i would absolutely love to get my scalextrics up and running again, and have someone to really race. I have a car i bought at Goodwood that hasn't even sat on a piece of scalextrics track yet!
But of course it's up to me to board the loft.... the bloody rafters don't even allow an even surface. Ho Hum.

But it will be worth it

[rdjones]

I nearly brought a scalextric today, but didn't. Just been looking at there website looks like that as of next year you will not only be able to race cars, but they are releasing some motor bikes, will be interesting to see how that works..........