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Remember slot car racing when you were a kid?

Dang. I used to have the HO gauge cars, but they sure didn't run that fast. I do remember when the "Tyco Pro" cars came out, they were light years ahead of the Aurora cars that came with my set.
 
I don't even understand what I saw. Those things are just running flat out, so there can't be any 'skill' at driving them, right? It all has to be in the build and the strength of the magnets that hold them to the track. I don't even understand how they can tell which car is their's or where it is on the track at any given point in time!

I'm guessing the differential in the distance the outside cars run versus the inside must not even matter?

Ouch, my brain hurts just thinking about it...
 
Brent the last sentence of the clip was, "It is time for the lane change."

The kids and I had a place we could go to that had a track similar to the video. However, the speed was dramatically slower. There were turns of different radii which required different speeds. There were changes in elevation. There were NO magnets to keep the car on the track...you go too fast...you fly and you are out of the race. Our cars just had a little piece of plastic sort of like a rudder, except it was up front, that went down a little lower than the wheels so it would fit in the slot.

Most of the home tracks were permanent. They ranged in size from 4 x 8 feet up to the size of a single car garage. They were typically for two or four cars at a time. They typically were laid out so that the "inside" and "outside" lanes were equal in length. This was accomplished with a cross over bridge. Think of a figure 8 shape with one set of tracks going over the other with a bridge at the crossing point. Of course the tracks were not simple figure eights...they were more like professional or amateur sports car tracks.

Dang it, they sure were fun!

Enjoy,

JimB
 
Brent Dowell said:
I don't even understand what I saw. Those things are just running flat out, so there can't be any 'skill' at driving them, right? It all has to be in the build and the strength of the magnets that hold them to the track. I don't even understand how they can tell which car is their's or where it is on the track at any given point in time!

I'm guessing the differential in the distance the outside cars run versus the inside must not even matter?

Ouch, my brain hurts just thinking about it...
Click to expand...


MIne too. It's just a blur.
 
Drew,
Thanks for the post. I forgot all about the Strombecker cars the kids and I had when we started slot racing. They were actually pretty good cars if you were willing to spend a little time on them and tune them (does that sound like I am talking about a Sears table saw---"pretty good if you were willing to spend a little time on them and tune them). Things like change the wheels, the drive gear, etc.

That brought back another memory: Bonner motor in a home made tubular brass frame with a thin plastic film for a body. The kids and I (well all of the neighborhood kids too) had a lot of fun with those cars.

Enjoy,

JimB
 
We had a hobby shop with a big track when I was a kid. It was fun to watch them run. I was too young at the time to have a big car...1/32 scale IIRC. I did have the HO stuff. And I remember buying the special tires and rewiring the armatures for more torque, or higher speed. Clear plastic bodies that you painted from the inside. It was all a lot of fun. I still have some track in the attic I think. But I would have more fun now with the train set up. Jim.
 
Yea Jim I recieved a set of strombeckers when I was a kid at Christmas and the neighbors gave me their sons old eldon set plus 2 box's of extra track or doing some yard work for them. Wow this just brought back some memories. Where are they now you might ask? Funny thing is that I had forgotten all about it and one day my mom was going through an old closet about 15 yrs ago and found the box's. She figured she would hold onto it for me for the day I had a son and she returned them to me. I in turn passed them on to my boys 4 and 6 who were living at the time with their mom. You don't want to hear what my ex did with them. Lets just say some garage sale person got a smokin deal for 5 bucks.

Oh well I still have the great memories of my dad taking me down to the big slot car track back in the day. Oh and speaking of this do you remember the old hotwheel tracks with the motorized launchers and the rechargable sizzlers with the fat track?
 
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Tom what a call back the past moment for me. We did not have huge set ups like that or call them slot cars. Out our way they were a high end toy called Scalextric. This was a track we built each time we wanted to play or race with it. Never saw a place set up like that in the video until i came to Canada and took my son to one of these places where a school friend was holding his birthday party. The place has since closed its doors.

My set was a set 80 with two lanes and able to be built into a figure 8 with bridge. Had two cars with lights which in those days was really top of the line.

BUt as kids are i wanted a pellet gun and soccer ball so took the whole set which must have cost my Dad a fortune and swopped it at the swop shop for a pelet gun and soccer ball.

My mother hit the roof and we ended up back at the swop shop trying to return the whole lot. But they would not do it. So i got the gun. Yup not a good boy at all.:rofl:


This kind in the video are not the same cars as Scalextric they go way faster. I dont know if they go as fast as the video showed though.:dunno:
 
It was heartbreaking at the time Jim for the kids but that is something that my ex has to live with now. The sad thing is that in this day and age kids don't play with things like that anymore. They have Xbox and PS3 that have driving games that put them right behind the wheels. Just not the same as setting up and racing cars around a track. It is sad but this is progress.
 
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