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I've been thinking about giving up racing for a while and giving slot cars a shot, mainly flexy and wing cars on a king track. I can't really afford a new slot car set up so I've been trying to talk myself out of it.

A work colleague has been getting right into it and has been trying to get me into it. I think my RC and brushed motor background will really help, my colleague is blown away by some of the "tricks" I've said to try. He's only really been into it a couple of weeks and is pretty much on pace with the quick flexy guys. I think I could make a quicker car even though I've given him some good "secrets". The wing cars haven't really taken off yet, but the thought of sub 4 second laps sounds exciting. Sub 2 seconds is possible if you have a big budget, so I'll be happy with sub 4's.

The outlay for a new $350 DiFalco controller, a $100 flexy and $250 wing car ($500+ for a quick wing) is hard to justify as I can't afford it at the moment and shouldn't start another hobby, especially after trying to wind down this one to focus on other things. Parts and the running cost is way less than racing RC competatively, so it's becoming more and more appealing.

I've got a real bee in my bonnet but hopefully the urge will pass.

racing slot cars is fun. i did it for many many years. still have most of my old stuff too.

i did it while racing r/c's through the 90's. that was tough when you only have so much money to spend. but, you can do a lot with a little..... don't need to throw all kinds of money at it.

That's sort of where I'm at, fun without the big price tag. You can spend a lot of money if you want but it's still cheaper than RC. Last time I was at the track I happened to strike up a lengthy conversation with an Australian Slot Car Champion. I think this came about as I was intruiged by the wing car on his box. He was sponsored by Koford which seems to be the biggest name in serious cars. This was well before the local venue had a king track set up. He wanted to talk RC and I wanted to talk slot cars which was frustrating, we talked about chassis length, chassis flex, motors etc. Something I could really get into.

I've always had an interest in slot cars but never really got into them as RC was always my staple, I mean, why would you want to drive a car restricted to a slot when you can "actually drive" one?

Time will tell

i have to say, without a doubt, slot cars helped me become a better r/c racer. especially in my early days. my main classes were production type, 16d 4" flexi, 4.5 nascar. you actually had to drive the car. you didn't have loads of glue at the entry of each corner aiding you through each turn. slot car racing is kinda boring when all you have to do is hold it wide open for 2 minutes.

i also ran quite a bit of group 12. i had group 15 and 27 stuff, but the motors for those car were quite pricey, and you would go through tires left and right. not to mention, you needed better controllers to run them competitively that i simply could not afford.

Wow! I previously thought rc car parts had a stupidly high mark up price! I just saw a tiny plastic thing on ebay with a 1000 Euro price.

Here's my claim to slot car racing fame.

Scale Auto Racing News... March '91. My second "big" race. I was 14 at the time.
My disasterous 5th heat came because I made the mistake of passing a kid on the low side in the big banked turn which put me on his outside going into the hairpin. I swear he never lifted. He plowed into me and my car slammed the outside wall. They put me back in the slot but my chassis was bent and when I pull the trigger I stripped the spur gear. Until my pit guy straightened the chassis, changed the spur and reset the mesh I was laps down and didn't have enough time to make them up. The car wasn't the same after the hit either. But I got second.

This is the actual car from the race. Still got it.

Pretty cool to have a blurb in a major publication. That up the inside move is quite popular in RC too

I don't want to race competatively as I think I'd get more enjoyment out of the car development. Wing car prices seem to vary wildly. Unfortunately I don't know enough about wing cars to know what money is best spent on and what's a waste of time. Magnet segments or stacks seem to play a big role but how much of a difference is there between a 6, 8 or 10 stack motor? $100 wing car seems like a waste of time, $250 - $500 seems to be the mid range and $500 - $800+ seems pretty top of the line.

Can you post some links or pictures to these mega expensive racing slot cars you are talking about. Just interested to see what goes into the top end models.

this is a sample of the top level of slot racing..... Group 7

http://www.slotcarcity.com/catalog.php?item=21

and here would be an over the top controller to run them.

http://www.slotcarcity.com/catalog.php?item=1577

and this is what 8 of them ripping around the track looks like.

[youtube]Sm1dnJWy1F0[/youtube]

That's awesome. I had to follow the driver's heads to see who was leading.

I don't get it, do the cars not have front wheels? The car in that link doesn't look like it has any...

they have front wheels but they do not touch the track (depending on the class/chassis). they must be there though.

scr8p wrote:
and this is what 8 of them ripping around the track looks like.

I'll stick to my slow heavy 60's cars

I was looking at that Koford but $500+ is starting to get a bit steep for basically a motor and wire. $600 for this one.... Some motors alone are $300+

http://www.slotcarcity.com/catalog.php?item=1153

Group 12 looks to be more in my price range

http://www.slotcarcity.com/catalog.php?category=32

There are 30 band controllers which should be smoother, although mid range a DiFalco seems like a reasonable buy at $350

I have been racing 1/24 Drag slotcars since our RC track closed up. its a lot of fun, there just as serious as the guys at the real race track.