Before Sims There Were SLOTS!

[venami]

Still go racing at the local slot car/carrera club here since 2010. It's just way too much fun not to Especially when there are still people who share this hobby here. I even got to drive at the carrera challenge finals in 2012

 

[Metla]

I always thought of Rc cars as the next step up from the slot cars

 

[RichardHessels]

Have a small collection of great slotcars and a 4 lane racetrack of about 15 meters stored. I like the highly detailed ones much more than the ultra fast ones they race with in competetion.
Removed the magnets out of the classic cars, so they drift like the real thing.

 

[Jack Vos]

I had a Carrera Servo set but with no so much friends I drove it alone lol

If there is someone who can convert this GPL to rfactor scalextric track for rF2 / AC
I still have the 5mb zip file

 

[Zdeno361]

What do you mean "before..."?

 

[the_racer]

Unfortunately we didn't had much money for slots when I was i kid...

Even the cheap ones.

 

[Ryan Robbins]

One Christmas morning I woke up and my dad had built a track on some wood laying on our pool table. it also had a train track around the outside. It was a 2 lane. He had put in grass, some scenery and everything! Must have been a busy night for him. We played many hours on that...he and I and my friends. Later in life I bought a bunch of track as well for a few years. I always preferred the slower low magnet cars. Nice post

 

[guidofoc]

Hmm I think that is what started my interest in cars and racing, too. 4 years old, we got a "pista Polistil" (Italian brand now disappeared..) for Christmas. The cars were older than those in this picture from the internet, I remember a 1972 Matra and maybe a Tecno Martini Racing. I loved the banked corner.

 

[Karl Dubois]

My first slotcars set were the carrera 160 servo back in the eighties. Possible to overtake. Great fun.
Still have the whole set complete with alot of cars and a track of 35m.
Because of the cars were not that big, you could build great tracks.
Was not cheap, but very good quality. I think there is still a German site you can order new things or spare parts?

 

[Yetch]

Cheeky beggar, have a huge collection of slot cars to this day and can regularly race them at my local slot racing club on Tues/Thurs evenings (must admit RD's RR club has made me a bit of a no show lately but that's by the by). Slot car racing is still quite a large community worldwide and with overtaking and the like being available now, I'm sure it will continue into the future.
Not a patch on Sim racing but has its own charm, watching everyone on their hands and knees, glasses donned in search of someones bloody lost micro allen bolt is a sight to behold, must admit though it's more of a social event than a racing event but it is still nice to actually see and talk to people, rather than imagine the person behind the voice of the person that's just T-boned you at turn one.
Where I used to regularly attend are just finishing off (moved locations) a 50m tri-lane MDF track, routered lanes, inset continuous braid and with a nice grey Sandtex finish, really is a sight to behold (will grab some pics next time I'm up there), should be though, old Gits have been at it for over 18 months, think a couple members have died waiting.
So slot cars are not something to be remembered fondly but purchased and raced!

 

[Mr Latte]

Nice thread, thanks to those sharing images, memories and stories.....

 

[Burke Wells]

Such a great thread. Loving seeing folks' pics of their tracks, especially the older pics. I had a few small AFX sets in the early 80's. A local hobby shop sold additional track pieces & accessories and I loved combining all my pieces into custom tracks, collecting cars, and racing 'em for hours on end. Even had a big rig w/trailer and a cop car that had flashing red & blue lights. I can still remember the smell of plastic controllers & the power supply when they would get warm/hot.

I always preferred the slower low magnet cars.

Totally agreed. Keeping the old AFX cars on the track at speed was a skill. But then when the Magna-Traction cars came out and other similar products (I think Tyco had Magnum 440 or something like that) and cars would stick to the track so well that you couldn't hardly sling 'em off, that wasn't quite as enjoyable to me. I preferred drifting tail-out a bit through the inside lane of turns. Good times & great memories.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

couple of years back some chaps in the village I live in (pop. 3,500) broke a world record playing non-stop over easter. i recorded the moment they finished:

never met them before or after, lol.

 

[Mr Latte]

Crazy but cool...

 

[Tbear]

I had a Carrera Servo set but with no so much friends I drove it alone lol

If there is someone who can convert this GPL to rfactor scalextric track for rF2 / AC
I still have the 5mb zip file

Slotless! I wonder if you could drive these with a small FPV (first person view) camera and VR goggles like the young guys fly drones these days. Make sure to mark brake, turn in and apex points on corners!

 

[Tbear]

Crazy but cool...

FAR OUT!!! Love the snow!! See my comments above about small camera and FPV headset.

 

[Zuffenhausen Weiss]

I always thought of Rc cars as the next step up from the slot car

It depends what country it is; from what I know, slot car is still a big deal in Spain where so many of these companies such as Fly and SCX come from. Compared to countries that are strong in their markets such as the US and Japan, Spain only had it's only IFMAR World Champion (in 2012) and they like their nitro racing too

R/C cars was a huge deal in SE Asia before the Mini 4WD boom arrived in the late 1980s, mainly because they don't require a large space and could be driven in park. Following the touring car boom in the 1990s led by the Supertouring craze (in real racing), Yokomo fought back with the R/C drift cars in the 2000s

 

[nezeiges]

I am almost 62 years old and I still have a 12 meter Scalectric slotcar track called Opzoldering in my home.
Time measurement is done with an old laptop and an Arduino. I even build the track in BTB for rFactor and GTR2.
Here's a video ;

There is also a blog about my track (in Dutch) ; http://opzoldering.blogspot.nl/

 

[Shaun Clarke]

I had Scalextic, and I was lucky as my uncle gave me all his. I had an 14ft bedroom, and it went around the outside of this, under my bed, a few hairpins, and enough room for the door to open. I also had the grandstands, the Le-Mans Pitlane (who remembers that) and loads of touring cars.

I also remember putting "olive oil" on the outside of the corners, to make the cars slide and also oiling the gears to make them run smoother......I was 7-8yr old and very competitive with my friends

I am 42 now, and nothing has changed, it's just sim now not slots

 

[FlashQld]

I still look at this magazine and loved the home made cars. 24th scale and Scalextrix for me. I still have my two 24th scale cars with brass frames and not so soft sponge tyres anymore.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/jw2y0sl0pgm72cb/Model_Cars_-_October_1965-new.pdf