The O/H's gonna kill me (Scalextric related)

[Simon]

Spent tonight baby-sitting whilst my brother and sister-in-law went to see Jason Manford.

My brother has got our old collection of Scalextric out on the lounge floor (it was originally a collection started by him as a kid, but I bought a few extra bits of track and cars to add to it with birthday and Christmas money that I had). Spent some time with my nephew racing a few of the old cars round, whilst my niece looked on. After I sent them to bed I jumped on ebay and bought a new shell for my brother's Porsche 935 turbo (I broke it 25 years or so ago and it looked shit).

Got home and lying in bed right now and I just searched for Scalextric classic track on ebay. Sorted by highest price first and found the largest bundle of track possible. Clicked 'buy it now'.

It has nearly 350 pieces of track, 23 controllers, 10 power adapters etc etc.

The plan is to get it going all round the garden in the summer! It's gonna be the awsum. I just need to collect it at the weekend without the other half noticing.

[dinny_g]

Winning...

[Jobbo]

How much was the Buy It Now...?

I have a load of Scalextric stuff in the garage loft at my old house; I’m a bit concerned that after being stored for years the track could be tarnished, and we’ve all tried to run cars on dodgy track!

The new digital stuff can connect to the old track can’t it? So you could get the base unit etc and track adapters and run multiple cars per track.....

[Simon]

How much was the Buy It Now...?

I have a load of Scalextric stuff in the garage loft at my old house; I’m a bit concerned that after being stored for years the track could be tarnished, and we’ve all tried to run cars on dodgy track!

The new digital stuff can connect to the old track can’t it? So you could get the base unit etc and track adapters and run multiple cars per track.....

£100

Yes, the new digital stuff can run on the old track, and the new track connect to old track with the adapter pieces, but it seems the new car guides are 1-2mm deeper than the old ones, meaning that old cars can run on new track (called 'Sport'), but new cars need their guides shaved to run on old track. Also apparently the surface is slightly different, so different grip levels. I'm a fan of the much older, pre-magnet cars. I don't want deep guides and magnets to make it all easy.

[NotoriousREV]

I always preferred my Aurora AFX set to Scalextric.

[Jobbo]

Got any Caterham 7s? They're great fun. I have a pair including the Evo sponsored one of course:

[DaveE]

I never had anything like this as a kid (cue small violin etc)

but I always hankered after the TCR slotless racing sets...

[Rich B]

I had TCR. It was awesome, way superior to boring scalextric!

We modified the shit out of the cars, changing wheel size and tyre compounds with rubber bands, lightening chassis, trying various shapes to the pick ups, adding ramps to the back (that meant you could overtake the other car then stop on the outside of a corner in front of them and launch them off the track.) and all sorts of stuff.

Scalextric always seemed like the equivalent of fast model trainsets rather than actually fun.

[V8Granite]

Bunch of rich kids.

Dave!

[Rich B]

Bunch of rich kids.

Dave!

Our set was a joint Christmas present between 3 of us - this set!



Then we found more at a car boot sale that needed loads of work to remove rust from the tracks!

[V8Granite]

My friend James had a set but his Dad was dodgy so probably stole it! It was a truck racing set.

Dave!

[Simon]

So, I've worked out that I've enough track to go from the edge of the pavement, all the way up the drive, through the front door, hall, lounge, dinning room, conservatory, patio then to the end of the back garden in one massively long straight (le-mans style), then back using loads of curves and short straights, most likely via the garage back to the driveway again. Only place to stand and control all that would be the garage, and I'd need some booster cables or 4.

[dinny_g]

Was TCR the one where you could change lanes???

[Rich B]

Was TCR the one where you could change lanes???

yep, little toggle on the back of the controller reversed the direction the motor span (can’t remember exactly how the diff managed that) and turned the front axle. It was pretty reactive, though you couldn’t corner on the inside because the wheels didn’t steer that far.

[dinny_g]

sweet - always wanted that one

We had a very basic Scaletrix and then later got a Nigel Mansell set which I do remember was advertised at “600 scaled mph”...

Tiny cars and stupidly fast so almost undrivable...