Any Slot Car racers here?

[bakerlite]

I know its toys for big boys but I have got the bug BAD!
Just got my first two slot.it 1/32 cars and having a ball with them - any other slotters here?

[EL34]

Never was into trains or RC but I love Slot cars
1/32 was the scale I raced
Never got into HO, thought they were kind of silly
I was into building my own frames and rewinding motors

Got the bug when I was a kid (60's) when there were lots of tracks around in Battle creek, MI
I mean places with 3 and 4 tracks

My 2nd go round was in the 80's when I discovered there was a small track about 10 miles away in Bradenton, FL
Did a bunch of racing, got tons of ribbons, had a blast

We raced a couple different classes
One class was called Flexi - Everyone had to use the same off the shelf frames, motors, etc
The other class was a Nascar body class and you could build your own frames (which I loved) and motors
We used regular off the shelf plastic model bodies of whoever was your fav Nascar racer.
The Ford Thunderbird bodies were what I raced, not cause I was a Ford fan, but the bodies worked well on the track I raced on.

No tracks around here in NC or I would be doing it again

Your cars looks awesome!
Almost too nice to take out on the track
I am out of touch on all the different racing classes
What class is that car in?
What kind of track do you race on?

[Ritchie200]

WOW!  Those cars have fantastic detail!  The track cost has to be crazy?  Are you setting something up?  There is a pretty active club in St. Louis, but it looks like all the tracks are privately owned?  There are no storefront tracks listed.

I actually got to meet Hans J. Stuck a few years ago, really funny cool guy.  Great racing history there!

Jim

[bakerlite]

Sometimes I really wish I lived in America, my hobbies and interests always seem more accessible over there.
I would go as far as to say we dont have a public/commercial track in the country and you could probably count on your fingers the amount of folks with more than 50ft of track at home. I'd love to try out one of those public giant 6 lane wooden tracks and meet up with like minded folk!

Yes, the track is very spendy - its been a slow process but I just got the last few bits of track I need for our layout, the whole things is gonna be a sorta father son thing - except he's beating me already and we are only rug racing at the moment!
Now we have the track we are going to build our permanent layout we have planned which is 80ft of 2 lane track - plenty for home fun but not to small to be boring!

The choice of car in 1/32 is incredible and it seems to e reaching a new high regarding car tech with model featuring magnetic even sprung suspension and different motors and configurations for running them.

The cars are indeed too nice to crash but I keep the volts down low with the offspring! these thing can go real fast - here is our 17x5 layout we plan to buid in the coming months: (greem yellow orange red denotes elevation!)

[EL34]

Nice!
Have fun building that track

I have run cars on huge 8 lane tracks that had banks so high you had to stand on a small ladder to see over the top of the bank
They had catch nets at the top of the big banks so the cars would not slam into the walls and ceilings.
If you went off the track on one of the big banks, you had to go up and fish your car out of the fish nets

I have watched pro guys that race those really weird wing cars that go so fast, it's actually hard to follow them with your eyes
I have no idea how they even control those open class cars.

I like the slower cars that look like a real car.

[LooseChange]

I still have a set of slotless cars. They can change lanes. They are the size of matchbox cars. Still have an oval attached to a wood board.

[Ritchie200]

Yeah, years ago when I was a kid, Hotwheels had the Sizzlers.  They were a rechargeable car that was the size of a normal Hotwheels.  They had charging stations that looked like gas pumps called "Juice Machines"  Funny, I seem to remember a movie with that same name...  They ran on an open wide track with no lanes.  I still have the "Big O" race track tucked away in the basement.  Funny, I seem to remember a movie with that same name....

Jim

[Willabe]

I took my wife's son to a place that had about 8 different tracks set up for slot car racing and you could rent time and cars to race on them. I thought this would be good for him and had hoped he would get an interest in building a slot car instead of playing video games.              

So we go there, rent a car and track time, and he starts to run the car on the track, so far so good.

Then he starts to get a feel for it and starts going faster. Now he starts to go so fast he sends the car flying of the track every time he hits the turn.    

So I show him how to slow down right before he hits the turn, right? OK fine. But he keeps sending the car flying. Now wait a minute, I get to thinkin the boys not dumb and I'm the one who keeps going and picking up the car, like a dog playing fetch.    

So I tell him, next time that car jumps the track, you'r going to go get it.          

Little bugger never jump the track again.    

In the end he still liked video games better.    


                     Brad              

[GuitarPilot65]

I still have this one:
http://www.trainweb.org/allaboardsets/bond.html

I believe my grandparents gave it to me in the late 1960s when I was 5.  I only have photos of my grandfathers and my dad playing with it.  :-)

I also had one of those Hot Wheels Sizzlers Giant "O" sets.  Got rid of that one I believe.

Looking back, I became bored pretty quickly watching things go round and round on a track (including my model trains).

[EL34]

That's a cool vintage track