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Why Slotcars?


Rob E.

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So, why DO you like slotcars and/or slotcar racing?

 

Why spend your hard earned cash and your, (even more hard earned), spare time to be involved with this hobby?

 

Why make time to do this instead of something else? There's pleanty of other hobbies and pastimes. Blobing in front of the TV would be a lot cheaper & require no effort at all.

 

So, why do YOU do it?

 

 

What do you like most about our hobby?

 

Is it:-

- having replicas of cars that you have admired since you were a kid?

- going reeeeaaaallllyyy fast around a slot track?

- being able to say "I made that" when someone admires you latest scratch-built beauty?

- running wheel to wheel with your mates for the "closest finish ever"?

 

Or is it something else?

 

I have always been interested in why people are involved with slotcars. Over the years, some of the reasons/interests have changed, but many remain the same.

 

Back in the early 1960's, for example, my father and uncles used to get all the family together for Sunday lunch and the afternoon would be filled with the weekly race meeting. (Some families played backyard Cricket but ours was all Motorsport people). It was as much a family bonding session as anything else and the gear they used was mostly scratch-built, out of necessity. Week nights, my father would sit in the family room and either, hand rewind yet another Airfix motor that went "Phut" on the weekend or be carving a new body to match the latest GP machine he'd seen in the paper. Now-a-days, we live a much faster paced life with every minute seemingly accounted for, but we have never had as much choice for ready-made fun. Who but the most ardent collector can keep up with all the new and shiny cars that are coming out each year? Yet many people I talk to still enjoy tinkering with their hands. Painting, tuning or just plain fiddling with their cars.

 

Spare time is much more elusive these days, or is it? We always seem to find the time to do the things that we really want to, somehow.

 

So, what is it that you get out of slotcars that makes you do it?

 

 

I would be interested in your thoughts.

Rob E.

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Great topic Rob.

 

For me it was about building/creating something which, at this stage, is still unfulfilled. I want to build a model but also have something to do with it once it's finished. I thought about trains but in my opinion, this would be very boring and not be good socially. With cars people can get involved, use the cars and enjoy the track.

 

Hopefully by Easter I will have a track that is somewhere close to being finished. And hopefully when people see it, they will be impressed by how it looks and even more impressed when they can race through it.

 

Also, I enjoy tinkering with the cars. I'd love to get more into painting/scratchbuilding further down the track. But at the moment I enjoy just playing around with my cars.

 

I'm hoping, too that my kids will use the track and enjoy using and fixing the cars. I am hpoing it's something that will draw their attention away from the TV and computer games.

 

That's it I suppose.

"I spent most of my money on beer, women and slot cars. The rest I just wasted."

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I agree, excellent topic!!!

 

I had trains when I was a kid. I have tried racing Karts, I have travelled, I have worked as a motor sport marshall. They are the main past times/ hobbies I have had over the years.

 

Trains - too boring

Karts - it started to become too expensive

Travel - again, very expensive and the type of travel I have done....well its not just going to bali every 2 weeks

Motor Sport Marshall - Lots of effort, lots of weekends away from the family for in my opinion little reward

Slot cars - I get to play with the cars that I have always wanted and do want, I get to do it at home, where the family is only a few steps away.....and.....ITs bloody fun to boot!!!!

 

Cheers

Hoffy

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I thought about trains but in my opinion, this would be very boring and not be good socially.  With cars people can get involved, use the cars and enjoy the track.

I think you need to scratch the surface of model railroading a little more. You can really think of railroading as a team sport. Most mid sized layouts cannot fully be run by one person, many require six people to run fully. If you can imagine all the complexities of running a real railroad, you can appreciate that there's a lot more to it than just running trains in circles. Much in the way we might simulate strategy and pit stops, railroaders have to route cars/ cargo to their destination, liase with other engineers/yard masters etc, keep to a time table and so much more. It can be a simple past time, or it can be an exciting fast paced game of strategy. A card deck of 'senarios' can be added, for example a late train can really screw up all your planning! Too few people realise all that railroading can offer.

 

If you're like me and run BIG trains outdoors you also have gardening and the elements to contend with. I really wish we had snow though! Of course, big trains aren't within everyone's budget, my modest consist shown below costs around $1200 :)

 

30_1.jpg

 

I enjoy models no matter what they are, from a $2k heli to a Z scale train (1:220), as for why, I really have no idea.

 

I like to create, and have something unique at the end of the day. There's nothing quite like running a model that you've built yourself. No matter how good Fly or anyone else get, a model built by yourself somehow just looks and works better.

Edited by oldtamiyaphile
32nd Reich - For all models 1/32 - Back On-line.
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I got into slotcars initially because my brother bought a set with his first pay packet and we spent heaps of time racing neck and neck around a small figure 8. Then later I thought I'd decide between racing slotcars or racing RC and I picked slotcars cuz I thought it'd be a bit more economical (being an apprentice). Little did I know how addictive it was.

 

Anyway, I still am into it more for the racing and collecting rather than the building. I do enjoy getting crappy cars back together and running properly but mainly I would rather just grab a car and have some nice close racing with my brothers and mates.

JamieB

ITeLECTRICAL

 

 

Check out my Current logoEbay_x45.gif Auctions

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I loved it when I was a kid and its just something that appeals to me. I like car racing, I like games and sports against the clock, I like to test and tune and understand the cars better. I seem to go through little phases where I like to build, then I will want to drive or race, then paint something, or share info on a board or with friends.

 

I enjoy all aspects of it and hope to continue to get better at each of them.

Find me at Card Guys for custom trading cards

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When I was a little kid I had a set at home. My mate round the block had a big permanent one set up in his attic. I'd play with these little cars with my Uncle - and when he discovered girls and got too cool for them I inherited his stuff. I had a spaghetti junction type track in my shed as a teen - table about 16 feet by the width of an R3 with a lump on the end - big nested figure eight sort of thing!

 

So there's the they've always been there thing. Nowadays I'm also a frustrated modeller (and lingerie model of course) so the detail they're cramming into the cars make them terrific for two - for two reasons now!

 

One - to whizz around at high speed and beat your mates

Two - to look at a rather nice model running through a rather nice diorama

Three - to build cars and rather nice dioramas (once I have a bench sorted)

 

For three - for three reasons now!

 

Four - I'm getting the boys into a harmless indoor pastime that involves moving a physical object about rather than a picture on a screen

Five - Hopefully this'll get them interested in modelling and motor racing and all the other good things in life

 

For five - for five reasons now!

 

Oh - and I like it 'cause I rather like motor racing & can't afford to build a "real" scalextric set unless I somehow turn out to be Kerry Packer's love child! (Seems unlikely - I'm too pretty!) :)

Captain's log: We are enroute to some planet whose name I cannot pronounce to do something really complicated that I don't understand.

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my first contact with slot cars would have been around 1959 when I was still in the army and going with a girl in Wangaratta. poddling around doing a bit of racing on w/ends. met up with a few blokes from Shepperton and hung out with them a bit I think it was Bryan Thompson that bought the first scalex set that I had ever seen and we had a few races on the loungeroom floor. he had a couple of cousins who raced as well allso a bloke called Adrian Ryan. When I got out of the army in 62 I went to live in Adelaide for a while and joined a 1/32 group that used to have a track at the old Parafield airstrip in a nissan hut I waas living at Brahma Lodge then close to the strip. was involved in the first 24 hr. race for the Duncan Laycott trophy which we took out can't remember the year. Was driving tourist coaches then and took my cars with me raced all over oz. inc. Tassie. dropped out of it for a lot of years as I was driving i/s got back into it in Syd. with a mob of dubious characters inc. Devious Dave. ended up building a four lane scaley track in the shed wich became the w.d.s.r.g. live in Boggabri now started to build a few cars [thanks Dave] aand gave myself a carrera monza set for chrissie now looking at maybe? a three lane wood track haave made a 1/10 scale model of it if I can ever work out how to post some pics will do so [help Rob] old slot [Viv Ireland]

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Viv does that mean there is going to be races on your track too? A convoy all the way to Boggabri.

 

I have always been a car nut so racing model cars appealed to me. When I was 8 or so my dad bought us a Matchbox Motorway. You had a track which had two slots in it with a piece of wire like a spring running all the way around the track in the slot. It had a motor for each lane that spun a gear under the track which made the spring move around the slot. You attatched a pin to the bottom of your Matchbox car which was then dragged around the track by the spring. It was controlled by a controller similar to your normal hand control. Was a bit noisy but very well used till it died.

 

When I was about ten or eleven one of my mates had some older brothers who built a Scalextric track in their garage. bAfter that I had always wanted one but had to wait until my wife who was my girlfriend at the time bought me a set for Christmas when we moved out together. Now you also know why I had to marry her.

 

It stopped me from going to the pub but I don't think she realised what a monster she created.

 

That got me hooked but my dad would

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I, like a lot of other guys in this thread, enjoy the hobby and have always had an interest in motorsport. If I had the bucks I'd go and do it for real but I don't so I enjoy racing slotcars 3 times a month with the clubs in Canberra and I enjoy the company of the club members. My wife is happy as I'm not down the pub getting into trouble.

 

My interest was rekindled after my son turned 12 (4 years ago now) and said he would like a slotcar set for his birthday. Well that was 4 years, 7 tracks and 200 cars ago and we still both enjoy the hobby very much. He still comes club racing with me but I'm not sure for how much longer, I'm sure you know why :-)

 

The quality and type of cars being produced by the major companies also keeps me interested and we tend to update the club rules each year to allow new classes and cars to keep things fresh.

 

I also run the club web site ( click here ) and I have just been approached by PJ O'Reilly's pub in the city to help organise a slotcar championship during Feb 2006. They plan to get sponsorship from CUB and get the 'Pit Girls' in to have a bit of fun and increase their Tuesday night trade. Don't know how it will go but it sounds exciting.

 

In addition to club racing I have also organised several fund raiser events in the form of two 4 hour night enduro's with the money raised going to SIDS in 2004 and Red Cross in 2005. It is always good to help out the community and if our small hobby can do that then so much the better.

 

 

The hobby seems to be going through a boom period at the moment and I definitely want to be part of it.

 

So that's why I race slotcars.

 

Cheers

 

Mal

keep it in the slot, the slotdownunder

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......I also run the club web site ( click here ) and I have just been approached by PJ O'Reilly's pub in the city to help organise a slotcar championship during Feb 2006. They plan to get sponsorship from CUB and get the 'Pit Girls' in to have a bit of fun and increase their Tuesday night trade. Don't know how it will go but it sounds exciting......

Thats a damn good idea. I would be very interested to here how it goes!!

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As long as I can remember I've been interested in slot cars, both building them & racing them. My first memory is seeing a 4 lane Scalex track in someone's garage near school when I was about 9 and wanting to have a go. When I was about 16 I built a huge track in the spare shed in the back yard (the shed was long enough to take 2 cars) and racing on it whenever I could.

 

There was then a gap of about 4 years when I started driving real cars but the bug hit hard after discovering a 1/24 scale track running wing cars back in the 70's. Spent hundreds of dollars building and racing Womps, Group 12, Group 20 and Open before the track went bust about 2 years later.

 

Played around a bit with AFX and Tyco in the 90's (still have heaps of cars and track tucked away in Mum's garage).

 

Rediscovered 1:32 about 6 years ago when a mate took me down to Armchair Raceway and started racing with the Willmot guys and been hooked ever since.

 

There's something satisfying about modifying a car to perform better. Having guys to race against puts the icing on the cake, especially when you get to beat them as most of them are really quick.

 

I love doing things with my hands so this sport fits to a T. Not too expensive, get to make the cars go faster, satisfies the competitive urges and get to hang out with a great bunch of guys.

 

What more could you want? :unsure:

 

Cheers

 

Paul

May the downforce be with you.

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Well I guess it all started for me when I got a scalextric set for Xmas I was about 10. My brother and I would lay the track in the lounge room and race all day. The track would stay on the floor until mum got sick of cleaning around it and I had to pack it away only to set it up again a few days later.

 

A mate of mine had his dad setup a track in the garage and we would be racing in the garage every weekend and sometimes after school.

 

At about 15 another friend who had a track did not want it so I took it off his hands and doubled my original track which was still in good condition after many years of use.

 

Up until the age of about 18 I would go to the local commercial track (and in those days there were a number of them around) and just hang out. Most of the racing on the commercial tracks was 1/24 and womps. I was always into the 1/32 stuff but I had some 1/24’s so I could race at the commercial tracks.

 

I guess by about 18 I drifted away my interests turned to other more expensive things like 1/1 cars and girls (Both mistakes). I kept some of my original stuff from when I was 10. I have a couple of the VIP cars and even some of my first track is still packed away in the garage.

 

I guess my interest was restarted by my wife and she keeps telling me she has regretted it ever since. About 5 or 6 years ago she showed me a newspaper article about Scalextric and its history and that was it I went straight into the garage and got all of my stuff and started cleaning.

 

My son who is 18 loves the hobby and I guess part if the enjoyment for me is that it is something we can do together. I do not know how long his interest in slots will last before his interest turn into body shapes other than slot cars but he is just as mad keen as I am at least for now. Chis will even have 5 or 6 of his mates over every now and then and they all get on the track and enjoy themselves., unusual I would have though for 18 year old kids but it goes to show that even the younger generation can enjoy slot cars if they are given the chance to do it.

 

One of Chris’s mates came along to our race meet last Saturday. It was his first go at club racing and he is hooked he loves it and wants more. He only has one car a Supra which he bought the week before the meet. Since the race last week he has been over my place wanting to work on the car to get it more competitive. He did not like the idea that the car looked the same as everone else so he has already sanded the body and is painting it a new colour.

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A really interesting topic this one. My brother and I got a Scalextic Rallycross set one Christmas back in the UK. My father raced and rallied a bit when I was younger so i think this was actually as much for him as us. It came with two Mini Coopers and must have been sometime in the late 60s as they had those spotlights on the roof and were dreadful, toppling over at every corner. My father supplemented them with an Electra and Javelin, Can Am thingies that look a little like a Lola and Mclaren. These were great fun and I now own another pair which are still pretty quick on our twisty Sport track.

 

From this I joined the thriving slot car club at my school with a huge wooden track, well it seemed positively enormous at the time, and discovered there that Scalextric was really not the thing to have if you wanted to be at all competitive so I moved on to what were known as Riko kits, similar to the old monogram chassis but they seemed lighter and were made in Japan. We ran these with vac bodies and sponge tyres, I wish I still had that Riko anglewinder chassis, it looked fantastic with the Ferrari Can Am body I painted for it. Then at 13 I discovered (push)bike racing and very quickly the cars were sold to pay for bike bits and pieces.

 

Fast forward to the birth of my son in 2002 and I was a bit like the blokes in those UK Scalextric ads from a few years ago, all I thought about was getting another set but to be honest I sort of don't know why, just had to have one and it obviously was for me as he was about 6 months old when I walked out of the shop with a Thunder Down Under set on top of the pram!!. I love racing the cars and fiddling to make them quicker without those magnets but really it is just something for me to do at home with my son, his friends and my friends. I do have few kits/projects on the go but I'm not a great modeller and nor do I have the necessary spare time so they are secondary to blasting round the track and, while I did go through a (frightening)manic phase of collecting lots and lots of cars, I am now drastically cutting back the numbers to just keep a few different types for us to race and enjoy. I haven't ventured out to a commercial track as yet although I would dearly love to have a go at Ged's one Tuesday night, that track looks great, and I'm sure I will one day.

 

 

So for me I think it is just the fun of racing at home with friends and the kids and while yes I love the detail on the newer cars, I do hate the way it so often disintergrates at the very first accident, no more modern Scalex F1s for me thank you very much.

 

Thanks for the topic Rob it made me actually think about why I was playing with toy cars all over again!!.

 

Antony

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Viv,

 

If I remember correctly, a race report on the Duncan Laycott trophy was written up in the UK based "Model cars" magazine. I'll check the mags and find it for you.

 

Rob E.

 

<btw> Dave's already asked me to teach him how to post pictures, so I guess you're next after him.

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I grew up with Hornby model trains as my childhood interest, my mother thought I had finally flipped when I asked for a Scalextric set for Christmas at the age of 30! My sister persuaded her to get it for me and the rest, as the say is history. It was a scalex RS Cosworth set and my mate thought it was the "bees knees" compared to the sets he had as a kid - how times change!

I love the hobby because I;

1. Like collecting the cars - more so with the detail they have and the variety these days.

2. they are a hoot to race

3. They must be the cheapest form of motorsport available

4. Everybody who sees it loves it and enjoys it

I really can't add any more to this than to say that at least the wife knows where I am otherwise I could be out womanising or boozing so having an interest in slot cars is in both our interests!

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I thought about trains but in my opinion, this would be very boring and not be good socially.  With cars people can get involved, use the cars and enjoy the track.

I think you need to scratch the surface of model railroading a little more. You can really think of railroading as a team sport.

I never got a train set as a kid, so as payback to my parents, i became a train driver :o

 

As for why slotcars, hmmm well its cheaper than taking my WRX out on a real rally track

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Had a train set when I was 7 (Hornby Dublo 3 rail Bristol Castle) which was fun when the cat chased the engine into the tunnel :o

 

I was always interested in stuff that I could do with my hands, and received model kits of boats (Airfix Mayflower etc) and planes, then eventually cars.

 

My cousin (rich kid) got a Scalextric figure 8 set with the Vanwall GP, then another set and more cars. We would visit them regularly, and the cousin, his mates, and I would thrash the scaley stuff for hours. He had this dumb pair trotters with jockey in a gig where the horse's legs would move as it went along. Probably worth a motza today. They were that slow you couldn't make'm roll over.

 

A local track started up in my area for 1:32, and I started with Monogram Lotus GP, Cox Cheetah & GT40, Revell Cobra, K&B GTO etc, working a paper run, and golf caddying @ $2 a round to pay for it.

 

I was eventually introduced to 1:24 cars and commercial tracks in mid 60's, now pumping petrol to pay for it, and stayed with it until I got my driver's license and discovered girls.

As tsmsoccer says, both mistakes. Good fun, but huge distractions.

 

After 30 odd years, the itch came back, and I wanted to re-collect some of the cars that I had as a kid. So I guess I'm going through my 2nd, or 3rd or…? child hood.

 

It seems the things we do as kids stay with us for life, so make it a fun time for the kids while you can.

:D

Steve K.

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I always secretly coveted my younger brother’s set back in the sixties but I was trying too hard to be a grown-up to embrace the hobby. About twelve years ago, I bought a Bathurst set at a garage sale (I told my wife it was for our girls) and have been mildly hooked ever since.

It’s a good hobby for me because:

 

It’s relatively cheap

Everyone can join in if they want

It satisfies my desire to fiddle without stuffing up important things around the house

It’s the only unfinished project around the house that’s okay to be unfinished

It allows me to be a big kid whenever I want (most of the time) and when I want to do grown-up things, I can legally have a few drinks while I drive

It ain’t about the collecting and cars so much, it’s more about, well, er, fiddling, I guess.

Edited by chilla

Cheers,

Charles

 

"all I want for my birthdy is another birthdy" Ian Dury...bless 'im.

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To all of you that have responded so far, thank you for sharing your thoughts.

 

For me, the answer to "Why slotcars?" has varied a bit over the years but the main reasons stay the same.

 

1. A connection to my past.

- like many of you, I was introduced to slotcars by my Father when I was a child. (Over 40 years ago). He built a hillclimb in the shed and then a 67 foot, landscaped 2 laner in the back room. My uncle also had a lightly landscaped 2 laner. Through the eyes of a 3 year old, it was like Christmas every weekend! :D

- This also sowed the seeds of wanting to know how things worked. Whatching my father and uncles working on the cars and track.

- I come from a racing family, my father raced motorcyles and my grand-father raced power boats. So, as a kid, slotcars gave me a chance to be involved in racing too. (which I did a lot, until I dicovered girls, then went 1:1 racing, until I got married. Then I went back to slotcars).

 

2. Doing something creative with my hands.

- I still get a real thrill out of being able to build or tune something that turns out OK. It doesn't matter if it's a highly detailed scratch building project or just making a RTR work better, I still look at it and think to myself, "I did that!" "How cool is that?!" It doesn't matter that I spent 20 years working in the Motorport industry either, I still get the same thrill out of slotcar building. I really love being able to race something that I have built with my own hands.

 

3. Sharing a fun experience with friends

- When it's all said and done, slotcars and the racing of them, is light hearted, good, clean, wholesome fun. It crosses both age and cultural barriers. It attracts people from all walks of life. Wives and/or mothers won't be worried about where we are or the company we're keeping. In my own case, My wife happens to like racing slotcars, too. A handy bonus.

- I have had a few friends comment about slotcars being "for kids" and that it's not very "grown up", but isn't it funny how, once you get a controller in their hand, they ALWAYS get a big smile on their face within 5 minutes.

- And that's the point. In my opinion, it's the strength of positive, shared experiences in our lives that MAKES our lives. Slotcars is a handy tool for making that happen.

 

4. The excitment of close racing

- For me, speed is relative, but the closer the racing, the greater excitment. I'd much rather get beaten by a wheel after going door handle to door handle for lap after lap, than do 500 m.p.h. laps, any day. People don't come up to me and say, "Do you remember that time when you/I broke the lap record, WOW that was great?" What they DO say is, "Remember that time we had that really close racing?" (and they invariably light up with a big smile at that point). It's the close racing that re-enforces the positive experience for people, me included.

 

5. Owning replicas of lots of fancy cars

- I love racing cars! Have done for as long as I can remember. Slotcars gives me the chance to own (and race) replicas of most of the famous racing cars throughout history. How many people do you know that could do that with 1:1 cars? They're also easier to store and maintain in the sizes that we have them in! If you had 25 Ferraris, 10 Aston Martins and 32 Maseratis, full size, where would you put them all?

- Also, where else but in slotcar racing could you end for end a 250 GTO Ferrari at 150 m.p.h., not get a scratch and laugh about it afterwards. :lol:

 

Thanks again for sharing,

Rob E.

 

gallery_1932_232_76930.jpg

Where it all started for me, my Father's track back in 1965

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