Slot Cars anybody remember these from their younger years

Hours and hours of fun at the track 1:24 and 1:32 scale. The guys who had money thier dads would build them a track at home. Hehe that was fun The 60s was great years for motor sports in all forms from the real to the play.

Man on the Street I wanted to race slot cars in the 60's but I was too young and my parents didn't have the money for cars controllers, etc. Slot cars made a comeback in the mid 80's (I was in my early 30's) and I jumped in and made up for my deprived childhood. I raced Group 12 "flexi-cars"( 1/32 scale cars), Group 15 cars (weekly) and finally Group 27 cars which were fast! I would have raced Group 7 but there wasn't any local competition. We raced on a "Blue King" track. At the same time, I got hooked on RC cars and raced 1/10 scale electric, and 1/8 gas until 1995 when the local track closed . Then I found Sim racing and I'm hooked again and here I am! Tim A. Deatherage "Admitted Sim ***"

I still have my AFX HO set. They are still great fun at parties if you have the space to set them up. When I was a kid,my step-dad built us a 1:32 set that folded down from the wall in our playroom. My favorite part was designing and building the scenery, including a very cool XK 140 that I heated up with a torch and then "crashed" into a bridge support, complete with smoke and flames. I think this helped me out later when I was building sets for photographers. -don "To race is to live, everything else is just waiting." - Rudi Caracciola

Yup.. spent many hrs. slotting, both when I was a kid in the 60's and 70's and later with my son. Loved the "KING" track. I build a hand routed ho track with lap counters, etc.. but it got busted in the last move :-(.. Would love to build another ho track. How about a "SLOT CAR SIM" game. Way... COOL.... How about it Pappy!!!!

I currently race slot cars. Its a blast. mostly 1/32 (sprinters, legends, asphalt&dirt modifieds) but i also run 1/24 busch GN. A slot car racing sim....hmmm....i like that idea. But i would rather see a World of Outlaws Sim first. Talk about raw HP!!!!!!

writes: I never really got into the 1/24 and 1/32 scale, but I had several HO scale sets at home(Tyco, A/fx). I even had the TCR at one time. What a piece of *** THAT was. Good idea, poor reality. Eldred (who's 35, and considering buying himself a set for xmas...)

Yes!! I am 38 and I remember fondly back to my youth when I (of course) owned a huge Aurora 'ThunderJet' HO race set. It was fun then because you could buy sections of track to expand your layout. It used tose two ittle metal pins on either side of the sections and a U-shaped connector to hold the two sections together. No snap together ***then! It was cool to have the section that allowed you to run your HO train set across the HO car track. You could stage hideous prom night accidents in your very own ba***t. You could hotrod the Tjet cars with fancy brushes and contacts from the AutoWorld catalog. Get sticky silicone slicks glued onto aluminum wheels. Then TYCO introduced the 'Tyco-Pro' cars, which blew away the ThunderJets and their heavy polystyrene bodies. Aurora countered with the 'A/FX' which came only in a brilliant red color and cost 12$. That was alot of money in 1975! All my friends had race sets and we would pool them and hook up multiple transformers to keep the voltage high. When we weren't in our ba***ts racing HO cars, we were at 'Richie's Hobbies'. They had color coded BIG tracks for 1/24 scale cars. I had a 'Mirage'. Lexan-bodied and painted a sort of McLaren Tangerine color, It had a brass chassis and a 'Mabuci Can Motor' specially wound for extreme speed. The biggest track had about a 75 degree banking on it and only the best cars could stay on the corner. I remember the blisters on my hand from holding my controller (with it's 1/4" phone plug and alligator clips) so tightly. Along one wall of Richies Hobbies (which was also a custom car accesories shop) ran a dragstrip, the whole length of the store. When two races really wanted to settle who had a faster car, they set them at the beginning of the strip and the flick of a switch gave full juice to both cars simultaneously. They zipped down the strip into a big pile of blankets to cushion the crash. Recently, in my area (Western Massachusetts), Slot car tracks have opened up in two of the local malls. I hope they catch on again, it would be fun to revisit that era (now that I can afford to buy the coolest stuff!!) Thanks for sparking some great memories daxe ---== http://www.newsfeeds.com - Largest Usenet Server In The World! ==--- ---== http://www.newsfeeds.com - Largest Usenet Server In The World! ==---

Had a 1/24th scale Chapparal that had a rod going from rear wing to the loosely mounted motor. On the gas the wing was level, lifting would put the wing down for corners. Wrote a letter to Texas, and got an autographed picture of the same car. Wish I had both now:) Scott Hieronymus Scott696 on Ten >>Hours and hours of fun at the track 1:24 and 1:32 >>scale. The guys who had money thier dads would >>build them a track at home. Hehe that was fun >>The 60s was great years for motor sports in all >>forms from the real to the play.

Man, now that brings back the memories. Nothing like them, they were awesome!! -- Don Burnette Palmetto Racing Dburn on Ten AOLL Iroc Administrator

Yes as a kid we hhd a 1/32 scale slot car layout. Great family fun on the lounge room floor Later on in life and in my own home I fitted motors to 1/24 monogram kits. A Shelby 427 Cobra with a motor fitted under the hood area with a drive shaft running to the back wheels. It lives in the s***hobby box now but the 57 Chevy Coupe with mid mount motor sits on the book shelf in all it's glory. Track was home built but scaped during a home shift. -- Redline Race Controls Nigel of Lakewood Motorsports Nascar Coruba & Coke Chevy Hamilton New Zealand

I had a huge 4 lane HO layout which combined the old Aurora track (pins/clips) with the new via adapters. It was on a 6' x 12' table with a 4' x 6' section to make an "L" shape. Even had a 4 lane bank (9" inside, 12" outside). Each lane had it's own pair of powerpacks. I actually bought 45 Ohm controllers from the local slot car place to use as the Aurora/Tyco ones kept burning up. I've been looking to duplicate it but have been unable get a solid lead on the availability of 4 lane banks in HO scale today. I had Thunderjets, AFX's, G-Plus's, Tycos, Tyco 440 X2's, etc. all probably worth money today. We ran races every Thursday night and I even kept parts on hand from Auto World (is Oscar K. still alive?) for replacement as needed. It was more fun than sim racing, but would probably cost more than a updated PC and sim sw to rebuild. >Yes!! > I am 38 and I remember fondly back to my youth when I (of course) owned >a huge Aurora 'ThunderJet' HO race set. It was fun then because you could >buy sections of track to expand your layout. It used tose two ittle metal >pins on either side of the sections and a U-shaped connector to hold the two >sections together. No snap together ***thenIn The World! ==--- Snap together stuff came out in 1972, by 1973 the old style, solid as it was, was no longer being made. Rich Koehler rgkoehler(at)lucent(dot)com rgkoehler(at)worldnwt(dot)att(dot)net All expressed opinions are mine and mine alone!

Yes! In the age before computers, slot cars were the only way to experience motor racing vicariously. When I was a kid in the mid to late 60's, slot cars ruled! I used to race at commercial tracks like Checkered Flag in Torrance, California (which is now a Chuck Norris Karate studio). I had a Lola, then a Ford GT, and finally a Chaparral (the 2E with the wing - not particularly fast, but it looked awfully cool!). My brother had a VW Bug. I also had a home set - first a 1/32nd(?) Revelle set (four lanes!). I seem to remember the cars that came with this were Mercedes GullWings. And later an HO set. What were the major manufacturers for motors back then? I remember Ram. And Cox controllers. And Revelle. If you look on pictures of the real Chaparrals from that era, you will see a blue Cox decal. One of my former teammates at Backmarkers-Ferrari (my old GP2 LFRS team), who was even older than me, still raced in slot car leagues in Connecticut. Thanks for the memories, Dave Ewing

I had the Cox Chaparral 2C and the Cox Ford GT-40. I also had the Little Red Wagon, but I don't remember who the manufacturer was. Fond memories.... -Paul

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>Man, now that brings back the memories. Nothing like them, they were >awesome!! >-- >Don Burnette >Palmetto Racing >Dburn on Ten >AOLL Iroc Administrator >>Hours and hours of fun at the track 1:24 and 1:32 >>scale. The guys who had money thier dads would >>build them a track at home. Hehe that was fun >>The 60s was great years for motor sports in all >>forms from the real to the play.

I raced slot cars as a very young boy (around 7 or 8). The local bowling alley had three 8 lane tracks which you could rent "track time" for 50 cents an hour. When the last commercial track in my area, the Daytona speedway, closed down my dad purchased the track and brought it home and reassembled it in my ba***t. It was 6 lanes and 150 feet long and took up the whole ba***t. It had automated lap counting which was make out of old pinball machine guts. The track was powered by 2 large truck batteries that had a trickle charger on it. Alas, when we moved it was too hard to move and we busted it up into pieces and left it at the curb for the trash man to pick up. I sure wish I had that track back now. Thanks for the memories. Mike Major near St. Louis

I remember a company called Parma. They were probably based out of Parma, Ohio. They had an ad in which a kid is holding a Parma controller and his slot car is about three feet in the air. Did anyone ever do motor rewinding??? I always wanted to, but I could barely scrape enough cash to race the car, let alone spend money for upgrading it. -Paul

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>> Hours and hours of fun at the track 1:24 and 1:32 >> scale. The guys who had money thier dads would >> build them a track at home. Hehe that was fun >> The 60s was great years for motor sports in all >> forms from the real to the play. >Yes! In the age before computers, slot cars were the only way to >experience motor racing vicariously. When I was a kid in the mid to >late 60's, slot cars ruled! I used to race at commercial tracks like >Checkered Flag in Torrance, California (which is now a Chuck Norris >Karate studio). I had a Lola, then a Ford GT, and finally a Chaparral >(the 2E with the wing - not particularly fast, but it looked awfully >cool!). My brother had a VW Bug. >I also had a home set - first a 1/32nd(?) Revelle set (four lanes!). I >seem to remember the cars that came with this were Mercedes GullWings. >And later an HO set. >What were the major manufacturers for motors back then? I remember >Ram. And Cox controllers. And Revelle. If you look on pictures of the >real Chaparrals from that era, you will see a blue Cox decal. >One of my former teammates at Backmarkers-Ferrari (my old GP2 LFRS >team), who was even older than me, still raced in slot car leagues in >Connecticut. >Thanks for the memories, >Dave Ewing

On Mon, 30 Nov 1998 12:30:50 -0700, David Ewing

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>Yes! In the age before computers, slot cars were the only way to >experience motor racing vicariously. When I was a kid in the mid to >late 60's, slot cars ruled! I used to race at commercial tracks like >Checkered Flag in Torrance, California (which is now a Chuck Norris >Karate studio). I had a Lola, then a Ford GT, and finally a Chaparral >(the 2E with the wing - not particularly fast, but it looked awfully >cool!). My brother had a VW Bug.

I started with a Cox Chaparral, but found while it looked neat, it was awfully slow. Started building them myself after that, and never looked back. The majority of the parts came from Cox initially, and then along came companies like Champion of Chamblee, and then Mura. The best controllers were MRC (if you liked thumb operated ones), or Parma (modified controllers made by some other company whose name escapes me at this time.) Best of the best back then was a Parma dual microswitch controller with external heatsink. I raced at the local track in Stock class (out of the box "sealed" motors, copper/brass tubing homebuilt frames, and stock car lexan bodies), Group 12 (same as above, motor mods. allowed but with a "spec." armature), and Group 20 (much different chassis, much hotter motor, but still a "spec." armature, sports car body). Above that was "open" class, where it really cost the $$ to be competitive, even back in the early '70's. I still have my big wooden "pit box" and all my cars from back then...just wish I had a place to run them. I hear it's making a comeback in some areas...I guess us "old farts" still want to play with our old toys. :) Regards, Doc Wynne Technical Support & Network Services Support Engineering/dickson.net http://www.dickson.net -- Never a late apex, never a dull moment.

After reading all this great stuff I decided to throw up a couple pictures I found on the web a few years ago. I don't recall where, though it probably wouldn't be too hard to track down (search on +slot +car +estonia, can't be TOO many hits...) Here's the URL: http://greenday.ntu.edu/daxe/slotcar/slotcar.htm For any of us old guys who want to see a track again or for younger people who may not have seen what we are all talking about. daxe ---== http://www.newsfeeds.com - Largest Usenet Server In The World! ==--- ---== http://www.newsfeeds.com - Largest Usenet Server In The World! ==---

I raced 1/25th scale slot cars in the 80's and 90's. There are still big tracks out there and I had subscribed to a newsgroup at one point not too long ago. I really enjoyed that, even more than my RC car. :-) Dave

>I still have my AFX HO set. They are still great fun at parties if you have the >space to set them up. When I was a kid,my step-dad built us a 1:32 set that >folded down from the wall in our playroom. My favorite part was designing and >building the scenery, including a very cool XK 140 that I heated up with a >torch and then "crashed" into a bridge support, complete with smoke and flames. >I think this helped me out later when I was building sets for photographers. We had the slot cars too (not sure what scale - the really small ones) but your message reminds me of the train set (also the smallest scale) that my Dad built on a ping pong table. There was a town (wih people, roads, trees, cars and houses) at one end, and two mountains at the other. There were two seperate tracks so you could race trains. The outside track was a long square around the outside of the table. The inside track went into the mountain, up a sprial tunnel and over a bridge into the other mountain, and back down a spiral tunnel before coming out of the mountains. Very cool. Joe

> I am 38 and I remember fondly back to my youth when I (of course) owned >a huge Aurora 'ThunderJet' HO race set. It was fun then because you could >buy sections of track to expand your layout. It used tose two ittle metal >pins on either side of the sections and a U-shaped connector to hold the two >sections together. That's the same set we had (also with lots of expansion tracks). Man does that bring back memories! It was educational too, since you were always taking the cars apart to fix them. Joe

"Trains, planes and automobiles"...That's what my wife's always yelling when it comes time to do a bit o' spring-cleaning around the house.<g> I have an extensive collection of HO slots from Japan - mostly Tomy (AFX) (F1, Rally and of course GTP<g>). Major difference is the tobacco and beer sponsorships, but I think even Japan has pulled the plug on this one. FWIW, although the HO scene isn't near as popular as the 1/32 and 1/24 scales, the cars are nonetheless just as sophisticated as far as parts. You can get varying sizes of silicone-covered foam tires that are precision turned by computer, balanced armatures with custom windings, rare earth magnets, yada-yada-yada. .005 Lexan bodies are the norm. A fast car (90+mph) costs about $30 bucks to put together (including off the shelf car). 90% of the serious folks use Tyco with nothing more than tires, body, and new gears. =) Also, I have a neat-o N-Scale model railroad - Get this: 800 sq.ft! =P Cheers! Marc

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> >I still have my AFX HO set. They are still great fun at parties if you have the > >space to set them up. When I was a kid,my step-dad built us a 1:32 set that > >folded down from the wall in our playroom. My favorite part was designing and > >building the scenery, including a very cool XK 140 that I heated up with a > >torch and then "crashed" into a bridge support, complete with smoke and flames. > >I think this helped me out later when I was building sets for photographers. > We had the slot cars too (not sure what scale - the really small ones) > but your message reminds me of the train set (also the smallest scale) > that my Dad built on a ping pong table. There was a town (wih people, > roads, trees, cars and houses) at one end, and two mountains at the > other. There were two seperate tracks so you could race trains. The > outside track was a long square around the outside of the table. The > inside track went into the mountain, up a sprial tunnel and over a > bridge into the other mountain, and back down a spiral tunnel before > coming out of the mountains. Very cool. > Joe

-- Marc J. Nelson SimRacing Online - http://www.simracing.com/ * Switch confused.net with concentric.net to reply...Confused-yet? *

> Aurora countered with the > 'A/FX' which came only in a brilliant red color and cost 12$. The first G-Plus - a Ferarri. I still have mine. =) Agreed! Cheers! Marc -- Marc J. Nelson SimRacing Online - http://www.simracing.com/ * Switch confused.net with concentric.net to reply...Confused-yet? *

> I also had the Little > Red Wagon, but I don't remember who the manufacturer was. Revell perhaps? -- Marc J. Nelson SimRacing Online - http://www.simracing.com/ * Switch confused.net with concentric.net to reply...Confused-yet? *

I remember shimming my brushes, but you sound like you went to the extreme.... :-) I remember a slot car magazine article in which someone built a frame from piano wire. Soda straws has that beat. -Paul

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>On Mon, 30 Nov 1998 14:10:49 -0800, >>I remember a company called Parma. They were probably based out of Parma, >>Ohio. They had an ad in which a kid is holding a Parma controller and his >>slot car is about three feet in the air. >And Mabuchi can style motors!! >>Did anyone ever do motor rewinding??? I always wanted to, but I could >>barely scrape enough cash to race the car, let alone spend money for >>upgrading it. >I did lots of it. After you did it, you had to 'balance' the armature >by balancing it on the edges of two razor blades! Then you would grind >a little here and there, and rotate the armature until it would not turn >while balanced on the razor blades.. Also increased the brush tension >in the motors by shimming or bending the brass clips. We drilled and >filed away every piece of metal from the motor that was not required. >They were just a shell with two magnets and the endcaps. We used to >install ball-bearings there, but they couldn't take the rpm, so we used >the standard sleeve bearings and honed them to a mirror. Someimes, >you could feel the heat from them on your face when you peered into >the innards of a car that had been lapping. >We used to bring in a battery, like the ones you use in a camping lantern, >and clip them to the brake terminals where you attached your controller. >This would give a LOT of reverse voltage when you released the trigger >and your car would stop real, real fast. >The fastest (commercial track, 1/24) slot car I ever saw was while >living in San Jose, Ca. in about 1966 or 1967. The person that had it, held >all the lap records etc. The 'frame' was made from plastic soda straws >that had been lacquered or epoxyed for strength. It had a bad-boy >mabuchi motor that would only run for a couple of minutes before >you had to stop and let it cool. The 'body' was a postcard sized piece >of thin cardboard (it may have actually been a postcard). The postcard >was simply attached at the front of the chassis and laid across the top >of the chassis. It went over the motor so it was raised in a natural wedge >shape, for downforce. Just a flat piece of cardboard, on top. No sides >on the 'body'... :) >I have no idea how fast it would go, but my guess would be that it >could probably hit 70 mph or so, and handle like nothing you ever >saw. It was a bad, bad slot car!!! >Just a few memories from my misspent past.. hehe. >>>> Hours and hours of fun at the track 1:24 and 1:32 >>>> scale. The guys who had money thier dads would >>>> build them a track at home. Hehe that was fun >>>> The 60s was great years for motor sports in all >>>> forms from the real to the play. >>>Yes! In the age before computers, slot cars were the only way to >>>experience motor racing vicariously. When I was a kid in the mid to >>>late 60's, slot cars ruled! I used to race at commercial tracks like >>>Checkered Flag in Torrance, California (which is now a Chuck Norris >>>Karate studio). I had a Lola, then a Ford GT, and finally a Chaparral >>>(the 2E with the wing - not particularly fast, but it looked awfully >>>cool!). My brother had a VW Bug. >>>I also had a home set - first a 1/32nd(?) Revelle set (four lanes!). I >>>seem to remember the cars that came with this were Mercedes GullWings. >>>And later an HO set. >>>What were the major manufacturers for motors back then? I remember >>>Ram. And Cox controllers. And Revelle. If you look on pictures of the >>>real Chaparrals from that era, you will see a blue Cox decal. >>>One of my former teammates at Backmarkers-Ferrari (my old GP2 LFRS >>>team), who was even older than me, still raced in slot car leagues in >>>Connecticut. >>>Thanks for the memories, >>>Dave Ewing >-- >( rrevved is at mindspring dot com >( post in haste, repent at your leisure

My first AFX set had the most bizarre combination: Jackie Stewart endorsing a race between a Porsche 917 (with lights - Wuhoo!) and a Can-Am car on the banking of Daytona. I fixed one problem pretty soon by buying two Dodge Superbirds (still have the cars - beautiful little things). N-Scale. Brings back good memories. I never understood why people bothered with those big, clunky HO monsters. They looked so damn cheap as well, unless you spent piles of cash. My N-Scale setup was up to about 64 square feet (hey, it was a small house) but I managed to pack in a nice little town, a good mountain section and an industrial quarter. Sold the whole thing in one piece to a nice man and his kid. I kept some beautiful German rolling stock though, and after living in the postcard town of Davos, Switzerland I feel this urge to get back into it if I ever have a permanent home. The mountain railways there are something else, and would be a fabulous modelling challenge. Now, if someone would make little N-scale slot cars... hell, if IBM can make nano-machines, why not? Stephen

It was only a matter of time before Marc poped his nose into this thread<G> This guy has more crap( aka AFX, N scale trains, yada yada yada..) than anyone I know. I have been to his humble home. Mike

Crap?! I paid good money for that cra...er...stuff! > It was only a matter of time before Marc poped his nose into this thread<G> > This guy has more crap( aka AFX, N scale trains, yada yada yada..) than > anyone I know. I have been to his humble home. > Mike -- Marc J. Nelson SimRacing Online - http://www.simracing.com/ * Switch confused.net with concentric.net to reply...Confused-yet? *

Slot cars are alive and well, and seem to be enjoying increasing popularity. To answer a few questions that have arisen in this thread - Auto Worlds Oscar Koveleski is still alive, though Auto World is no more; Parma is still around, still making popular controllers; 4-lane banked HO track is still available. I got back into HO a few years ago after being away from the hobby for 25 years. Tomy now makes the fastest basic cars for about $20, though if you really want to test your driving reflexes, for several hundred dollars you can buy a pro-caliber rocket of a car made Slottech. Tracks have advanced quite a bit, with custom routed, continuous rail track available at the high-end of the hobby, and MaxTrax custom modular track occupying the middle ground as a step up from plastic sectional track. Tomy, Tyco, and LifeLike are the most common brands of cars and track available. For those looking for a great way back into the hobby this Christmas, check our Costcos great buy on a big Tomy set for only $40. While todays cars typically depend upon traction magnets, there is a growing trend against these "sucker cars." This trend is led by Auroras venerable t-jet chassis, with new old stock (NOS) chassis still available for about $6. The Model Motoring name has been resurrected by a new company selling an excellent line of reproduction and original t-jet based cars, lock & joiner track, and other accessories. Another option for what some consider to be a more realistic racing experience without traction magnets is the Slide Guide, a guide shoe for HO cars which enables them to run on traditional 1/24, 1/32, or custom routed HO tracks of similar construction. Here are a few great links for those seeking more info on HO slot cars. Or, feel free to drop me an E-mail if you want more info on these great little cars. HO-USA 'Zine: http://pages.prodigy.com/housa/ HO Mailing List: http://www.spies.com/~ahm/ho-slotcars.html Awesome Tracks: http://www.origin8.com/bradstrack/ Continuous Rail: http://www.gofastest.com/ Bit 'O Everything: http://www.scaleauto.com/ Model Motoring: http://www.modelmho.com/ Cheers, Mark Owyang

Thank you for the url's mark. I'll get a lot accomplished at work today!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rich Koehler rgkoehler(at)lucent(dot)com rgkoehler(at)worldnet(dot)att(dot)net All expressed opinions are mine and mine alone!

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>Slot cars are alive and well, and seem to be enjoying increasing >popularity. To answer a few questions that have arisen in this thread - >Auto Worlds Oscar Koveleski is still alive, though Auto World is no >more; Parma is still around, still making popular controllers; 4-lane >banked HO track is still available. >Cheers, >Mark Owyang

Do you know what you've done? DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE? I was perfectly content taking a stroll down memory lane with this slot car thread and you had to go and post links, which I of course had to check out. Then I checked out more links I found. Then I dug out my old T-Jet set and set it up. My daughter (age 8) has also become interested. At first I got the set out to just look at (more memory lane stuff), and then _she_ wanted me to set it up and get it running. Now I'm looking at local places to race and buy goodies. I don't have time for another hobby! I may have to give up sim racing now. See what you've done. Gee Thanks. ;-) But seriously, I have found out that I'm not far from one the premier HO tracks in the country. 160 ft and 6 lanes! Wow! I can't pass that up. I've got to go see that thing and run on it. I can't bang wheels with Michael Andretti, Jeff Gordon, or Jim Hall, but the frame rate's better. ;-) Billy Moore

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>Slot cars are alive and well, and seem to be enjoying increasing >popularity. To answer a few questions that have arisen in this thread - >Auto Worlds Oscar Koveleski is still alive, though Auto World is no >more; Parma is still around, still making popular controllers; 4-lane >banked HO track is still available. >I got back into HO a few years ago after being away from the hobby for >25 years. Tomy now makes the fastest basic cars for about $20, though >if you really want to test your driving reflexes, for several hundred >dollars you can buy a pro-caliber rocket of a car made Slottech. >Tracks have advanced quite a bit, with custom routed, continuous rail >track available at the high-end of the hobby, and MaxTrax custom modular >track occupying the middle ground as a step up from plastic sectional >track. Tomy, Tyco, and LifeLike are the most common brands of cars and >track available. For those looking for a great way back into the hobby >this Christmas, check our Costcos great buy on a big Tomy set for only >$40. >While todays cars typically depend upon traction magnets, there is a >growing trend against these "sucker cars." This trend is led by >Auroras venerable t-jet chassis, with new old stock (NOS) chassis still >available for about $6. The Model Motoring name has been resurrected >by a new company selling an excellent line of reproduction and original >t-jet based cars, lock & joiner track, and other accessories. Another >option for what some consider to be a more realistic racing experience >without traction magnets is the Slide Guide, a guide shoe for HO cars >which enables them to run on traditional 1/24, 1/32, or custom routed HO >tracks of similar construction. >Here are a few great links for those seeking more info on HO slot cars. >Or, feel free to drop me an E-mail if you want more info on these great >little cars. >HO-USA 'Zine: http://pages.prodigy.com/housa/ >HO Mailing List: http://www.spies.com/~ahm/ho-slotcars.html >Awesome Tracks: http://www.origin8.com/bradstrack/ >Continuous Rail: http://www.gofastest.com/ >Bit 'O Everything: http://www.scaleauto.com/ >Model Motoring: http://www.modelmho.com/ >Cheers, >Mark Owyang

Tucson Coyote Here, Ah, slot car racing, now there was a hobby if you ever had one,... I started out with an AFX set, and got the book that had Jackie Stewart's face on it... Inside, had all the courses that you could Theoretically build with All the Neat AFX track that was there... I mean the smallest radius curve was 6 inches while the largest radius curve was like 15 inches! and all the track, including the track where you could shunt into pit lanes!.... Now that was cool! Also I remember some of the Course that you could build...(Laguna Seca, and Riverside International were my dream courses!) and that was before the former got a few extra corners added and the latter got demolished... THen there were the cars.... My favorites were the G-Plus cars (cars that AFX designed that had reall strong magnets that would hold the cars in any position, and you could get those cars upto around 90+ actual mph! Then after a while, Ideal toy Company got into the slotcar craze and did something that everyone hadn't thought of...go slotless...! That was when you saw stuff like TCR Racing with the 'Jammer car' a car that was slightly slower than the cars you drove, and you could use strategy to do things like drafting and blocking... of course, I did the logical thing for the slotless cars... I added small hills so that at certain points, the cars actually got airborne, (imagine changinge lanesas you flew over the hills! sometime you would come down on the Jammer car, \other times, you could land on your opponents car!.... totally cool!... Now that Raciong has goine totally computerized and with GPL coming out, the days of free wheel driving are back, and with the physics models almost doing what you had to do in real life, It's glad to remember the days, when instead of bits, and bytes, you had real hands on driving...! Now if those days were to come back! Just a little insipidness and craziness from The Tucson Coyote! Hey I just crash'em!

All this computer stuff is just fine but Slot cars..now we're talkin racing!!!!!!!!!!!!!