slotcar racing

[G.]

Question related to slotcars: A slotcar place opened up near where I live (it's in Algonquin, IL) with maybe 5 tracks. You go there and "race what ya brung". They also sell cars, of course.

What's it generally cost to get into this diversion? How much for different scales? I'm not TOO interested, but I bet the 5yr old would LOVE it.

Thanks in advance.

[TrueBrit]

Dunno, but I love my Scalextric set....

[gjc2]

Slot car racing is a wonderful diversion for a gear head. “Run what you brung” is only for buying track time and playing around with your cars. For organized races there will be specific technical rules for the cars. Visit the raceway on race nights to see what there running. You will see what the hot setups are. There are many forms of slot car racing. The most popular from of slot car racing is flexi cars, aka group 10. An RTR (ready to run) flexi should cost $30 to $40, a Parma Turbo controller should cost $50 to $55. (get a 3 or 4 ohm).

If you’re interested I will send you some links

George

[Ziggy]

I have the bug. I want a larger scale set, but my house is already crammed full of all the other hobby stuff I own. I have been looking at AFX due to size constraints. I also think that it would be cheaper, and if the lustre wore off, Im not out a ton of dough.

That being said, I have several Cox and Strombecker cars from the mid 60's. I have been watching them on eBay with heavy interest. I have also been thinking about a false ceiling in my room, out of plywood. I could mount this on block and tackle and lower the set when I wanted to use it. This is the only way I could get the larger scale stuff in my home.

I do have some questions related to Scalextric. I never see complete sets for sale on eBay. What gives? Most guys are either selling cars, or just sections of track. Never see controllers, or maybe Im not searching correctly. What would a good entry level set run a guy?

I have some buddies that have Scalextric sets, and of course they want to sell me their older sets. The cars are freakin' cool! I used to race these things all the time, first as a very young boy, and again in my late teen years. We had a track with routed lanes (made of plywood) and it was huge and banked and quite a bit of fun.

Another Hobby, yeah, thats the ticket!

Ziggy

[Brickman]

This is what makes Scalextric sweet (http://www.collectiques.net/shop/catalogue/scalextric/rms/cdrom.html).

Hook the track up to your PC for timing and scoring.

http://www.ragbone.net/shop/scalextric/rms/c8143_sc2_300_284.gif

Design your track from your computer.

http://www.ragbone.net/shop/scalextric/rms/c8143_sc4_300_281.gif

[pinniped]

I remember when I was a kid I had an Aurora AFX set...it started out with a Camaro Z-28 (almost like my Dad's of course) and a Porsche 917, which the Camaro regularly beat. Dad was always easy to convince that we should have a race or two. Later in 6th grade I had a 1/24 scale Cox slot car...I think the adults like these things as much as the kids.