Scx Fly
The World Of Scalextric Slot Cars v.3 by Arie Viewer
Around the world, there is no name in slot cars better known than Scalextric. The name has become so famous in England, where Scalextric is made by Hornby Hobbies Ltd., that it’s become a generic term for slot car racing of all kinds. For 50 years English children have shared the growing up experience of racing Scalextric cars. Scalextrichas dominated the market in much of Europe and in Australiaand New Zealand since its introduction in the late 1950s.
American hobbyists, however, have only recently discovered,or rediscovered, the fun of Scalextric’s home race sets anddetailed scale 1/32 scale model racing cars. Scalextric had its place in the slot car boom of the early 1960s, but when the fad died out around 1970 Scalextric largely disappeared from America along with most of the rest of theslot car racing hobby. Even at its lowest point slot car racing didn”t go away completely. HO-scale cars, like the 2inch-long AFX cars and similar brands, have continued to move all along.
1/32 scale, however, remained dormant until about 1995 whena few entrepreneurs began to import Scalextric cars, track,and accessories from the UK to sell on the Internet. They made money selling to scattered slot car enthusiasts who needed a way to buy the slot cars and slot car parts they required. The Internet grew slot car sales in the US marketand Hornby started to take greater notice of what American slot car racers wanted. Scalextric introduced NASCAR slot cars in1997 with two models, a Thunderbird and a Monte Carlo, and the variety and quality of Scalextric’s NASCAR line has grown ever since along with NASCAR racing itself.Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, Jimmy Johnson, Terry and Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, and Jeff Gordon are just some of the NASCAR stars whose cars Scalextric has done. These models have had the quality and presentation of NASCAR die casts.
Hornby, recognizing the need for its own US distribution arm, bought out and expanded the largest of the early importers, calling its new subsidiary Scalextric USA. The new company persuaded Hornby to add more US-specific products, and the market grew. NASCAR slot car racing setsand classic Corvettes, Mustangs, and Camaros have been especially successful. Scalextric has also modeled Ford GTs, Dodge Vipers, and IRL cars. The cars are no longer thechildren’s electric toys, as they were until into the 90s.Scalextric’s big improvements in detail, overall quality, and performance have made them into serious model race carsNow they are attractive to all ages, including adult collectors. Even slot car drag racing has had a place in the lineup with a race set complete with a “Christmas tree’starting light unit.
Most recently, Scalextric has taken slot car racing into the electronic age with its Digital system. Digital uses electronics to let as many as six cars race on a 2-lane track, each under individual control. With Digital, driverscan change lanes to pass or block other cars and any or allthe cars can run on either lane. Digital also lets drivers make pit stops on special pit stop lanes. Computer fans can get special software that lets them use their computersto direct races and design track layouts.
The slot car hobby isn”t just racing. Scalextric’s updated assortment of building kits, figures, and other accessoriesfor 1/32 Scale Slot car track layouts makes building a homeslot car track into a realistic miniature racing world an easy and quick process.
SCX is another company that sells slot cars, track, and race sets in the US. Now an independent company, SCX was once Scalextric’s Spanish operation. Hobbyists are sometimes confused because SCX owns and uses the Scalextricname in Spain and South America. SCX has a digital system similar to Scalextric’s, but its digital slot cars don”t work on Scalextric’s Digital system.
As you might expect, Scalextric’s success has brought new competitors, including Ninco Fly, and Slot It, into the game. Of these three, only Ninco makes track and sets. Incompatible track designs prevent the track in a Ninco slot Car Set from connecting to Scalextric track, but all the various makes of cars do work with all the different track systems. Three other old-line companies in the slot car industry survive to compete with Scalextric. Carrera makes slot car racing sets with track wide enough for the larger 1:24 scale cars. MRRC serves a niche market by reviving old cars from the 60s. Revell and Monogram were industry leaders back in the 60s. Now, merged as Revell-Monogram, they model famous historic race cars like the Cobra Daytona Coupe, Corvette Grand Sport, and Porsche 550 Spyder.
Scalextric still leads the field in 1/32 scale slot cars.Its products make it easier and more affordable then ever to have fun building a home slot car track and holding exciting, close-fought races. Nearing the half-century mark, Scalextric looks forward to many more years of success.
About the Author
Arie Viewer is a slot car collector, enthusiast and expert. To get more information about slot cars, visit www.electricdreams.com. Or you can go straight to the Scalextric section of the site.
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