When I was a kid they had slot car tracks like this

[CobraEd]

Everyone had their own 1:24 scale car(s) that you would modify and make faster. Tons of accessories. What a great sport. Then overnight the whole industry collapsed. I never understood why.

This track reminds me of the ones I would race against my friends at.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeM1E...eature=related


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[Cobra446]

We had a large facility in Stamford CT next to the fire house. I had two cobras one white with blue stripes the other blue with white stripes. They also had a drag strip against the wall. Like you said gone overnight.

[Chaplin]

Just last week I found a track near me. I am excited to take my kids to it. I need to dig out my old cars and see if they still work. Talk about a blast from the past.

[rustyBob]

When i was a kid here in Sacto there was a couple of places that you could go to to race the big cars at and my dad made a track on a piece of plywood and cut the grooves with a router and used a metal tape for the brushes to run on and all of his cars looked like 60's era indy cars....it seems like there was a track in south San Francisco that had banked turns and it also had a Drag Strip.
Radio control probably had something to do with the death of slot cars...

[Badhorse]

I loved those tracks! Great little cars, Cox controllers. Saturday morning racing league using spec Honda F1 cars. Big fun for me and my friends when we were kids in the 60's

I went back to the track ( Modelville Hobby, Framingham Ma ) some years later. The cars looked like Sprint cars and had huge transparent wings on them and went unbelievably fast. Too fast IMHO, you could hardly see them go by.

Great fun, great looking cars like the ones in the video ( but older models ).
I'd do it again if a track opened up here in Vegas.

[Matt Ries]

We had Dell's race way in Mount lookout Square Just out side of Cincinnati Oh. It had multiple tracks, one with banking allmost to 70 deg! I raced what was called a group 12 car. Kind of like a Can Am car that was squished flat that still had a wedge profile. Like Badhorse said it had clear air dams and spoilers, was very fast and had a very unique sound as air flowed over the car routed by the air dams. The motors had very course windings with few turns maybe as little as 20? the magnets were very strong and shimed within thousanths of the armature. Timing and balance was a black art! The controllers had big heat sinks with brakes which I think it back fed the motor, when the car hit the tack zone with the brakes on there was a big thwak noise. During a race the sounds and smells of those cars was unlike any thing that,,, well anything really. The air would reek of hot motors and controllers, the spong drive tires kicking up the sticky tack (which had its own smell), the zing of the gears, the yelling of the drivers to the marchalls. Man,, thanks for the memories.

Matt

[CobraEd]

I remember it exactly as you described. Espcially the smells of the electric motor oil and re-winding the armatures.


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[Excaliber]

I remember stacking wood for the neighbor to make money to buy my first slot car! Man was I excited, a great sport.

[Mark IV]

Oil of Wintergreen for tire goop! I still love the taste and smell of Wintergreen.

Cox, Russkit, Dynamic, Monogram, Champion. I did a 24 hour enduro with a P4 bodied car (Like Jim's) and used up a months worth of "disposable" income on blown motors. We only made it 16 hours before we ran out of motors and the track owner wouldn't extend us any more credit!

Dang, it was fun! And I didn't drive a slot any better than the real thing! Crash and burn......................

[PatBuckley]

There are still some tracks around but running competitively is really pricey.

About 15 years ago I had a car built for me that cost $250.......that was one car, one motor.....

The hand control was a couple of hundred.

Lap times were incredibly fast....I'm not sure how long the track was, but a good time was in the 5 second range.

[ZOERA-SC7XX]

I built and raced 1/24 scale slot cars in the mid sixties as a young teenager. Funny thing, I've been thinking of building a wood track for my basement for the last couple years to use with vintage slot cars. I think what killed the hobby back then (besides discovering girls & real cars) was the development of the unrealistic lightweight superfast slot cars. I liked the hardbody (model-based) cars and would consider returning to the hobby with my grandkids. Plenty of these cars on ebay.

[Chaplin]

I found one of my old slot cars. I opened up the rear wheel wells a little bit with a dremel when I was about 10 years old to make room for some big rubber out back. Somewhere I have a suitcase with about 8 or 10 other cars.

[CobraEd]

Originally Posted by Chaplin

I found one of my old slot cars. I opened up the rear wheel wells a little bit with a dremel when I was about 10 years old to make room for some big rubber out back. Somewhere I have a suitcase with about 8 or 10 other cars.

Yep, . . I swapped out the sponge rubber rear slicks for solid silicone ones.


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[Jamo]

We have a large track (7 lanes?) at the local Hobbytown. Took my 4-year old grandson there to watch and he's been bugging me ever since (we've got some living room floor sets, so he figures he's ready to go) neat store...big radio controlled planes, cars, boats, full army sets with several battle scenes recreated.

Fun being a kid (again).

I've noticed that slot cars are still mucho big in England...really elegant cars with extreme detail.

[Ralphy]

Now it's these..........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y3Yn14MhUQ

Not sure if this place is still open in ATL, 475 ft. track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v...REpw&vq=medium

[PatBuckley]

For those in the Sacramento area......

http://fasttrackhobbies.net/

[rustyBob]

Thanks Pat i'm going to go check that place out .....

[FWB]

check out a couple of my vintage slot cars...

[jhv48]

Anyone remember Pittman motors or "Go Juice"?

[mr bruce]

http://www.slotcars.org/tunkeltracks/tracks/index.html