rob Lyttle Posted April 17, 2020 Share Posted April 17, 2020 Back in the 60s there was a mahoosive interest in slot car racing with big commercial tracks, car kits, accessories industry, magazines... The lot! Scalextric of course, and Airfix were big in it too, and moving into 1.24 scale. Monogram, Russkit, Riko, MRRC, Cox, and a host of smaller specialists making chassis, vacform bodyshells, tyres.... National competitions, 24hr races, international trade shows.... The bubble burst, I'm going to say, around 1968 - 69. It did in my vacinity anyway. Just wondering if anyone else on here has fond memories of the era? And do any of you still make slot cars? Even get a scalextric car on the bench for a tinker, a few mods, and try it out in a quiet moment on your discreetly hidden track 😎 I can find a few specialist online traders and groups of enthusiasts. There is still activity, but it's a tiny fraction of what was going on back in the heyday. Anyone....? Or is that a whole different forum? 🏁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastcat Posted April 18, 2020 Share Posted April 18, 2020 Hi Rob, Like many modellers in the '60s I had an interest in slot cars but these days I only use the resin or plastic bodies for static models. There are quite a few subjects that none of the mainstream makers would dream of doing. I also use some of the accessories, wheels, tyres, decals etc. on static models. In the Midlands there was a good following and several good clubs while there were no end of hobby shops selling everything from very expensive motors and tyres from America to pickup braids. Sadly, they've long gone. I guess the need for large spaces for storage and setting up a track killed off most of the interest although a visit to the slot car festival at Gaydon shows an enthusiastic but small following. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted April 18, 2020 Author Share Posted April 18, 2020 (edited) So here's a little bit of a memory jog.... If any of you youngsters are baffled by the prices, well....... It's a long story.. 👴 And every month one of these... Only one driver had THAT style of steering... Know who ❓🤔‼️ The prototype parade featured in every issue.... I found an archive of these pp drawings and write-ups online. A mine of information. Glad that they survived! Edited April 18, 2020 by rob Lyttle Addition 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwarz-Brot Posted April 18, 2020 Share Posted April 18, 2020 Would you mind sharing? This indeed is good stuff. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted April 18, 2020 Author Share Posted April 18, 2020 Model Cars July 1965 Model Cars July 1965 https://slotracer.online/library/model-cars/model-cars-1965-07.html See if that's a live link @Schwarz-Brot. Afraid I'm not very good at this link thing! 😬 slotracer.online seems to be a good source. Looks like They have archived all the Model Cars magazines page by page, advert pages and all! Certainly the term "prototype parade" will deliver results on a search.. I've only got a few remnants of magazines put away in a sort of scrap book format You might be some time..... 😎😅 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schwarz-Brot Posted April 18, 2020 Share Posted April 18, 2020 Link works, thank you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s.e.charles Posted April 18, 2020 Share Posted April 18, 2020 http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/forum/9-model-car-racing/ https://f-one-thirty-two.proboards.com/ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted April 18, 2020 Share Posted April 18, 2020 Hi Rob. This certainly takes me back in history. In the mid 60s I was well into slot car racing, being a member of a couple of clubs in the South East, the Eaveholm club in Dulwich, and a club in Tooting Bec, they were wonderful times. Looking through the pages of the Model Car mag on a previous post I was interested to see a picture of the Reed Club, I remember racing there over 50 years ago and getting lost on the circuit and wiping the front suspension off my car on a very fast corner. Great times. Robin. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral Puff Posted April 18, 2020 Share Posted April 18, 2020 The Honda driver would HAVE to be Phil Ginther, no? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted April 18, 2020 Author Share Posted April 18, 2020 @Admiral Puffthat's John Surtees, a top man on 2 wheels and 4. He did a spell for Honda Racing but as I remember it, the car was not a huge success. Still, the opportunity was siezed by the Japanese kit makers, and their slot car kit makers too (this all needs verification - I'm going from memory here.... 😉) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David M Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 4 hours ago, Admiral Puff said: The Honda driver would HAVE to be Phil Ginther, no? No. I think you mean Richie Ginther. It is certainly him wearing his distinctive silver and black helmet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral Puff Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 You're right - got mixed up with Phil Hill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherry268 Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 (edited) There was a massive track at a place called Overthorpe Hall near Banbury It had eight lanes and must have been 30ft from end to end They used to hold endurance races and I think they did 24 hr ones Would have been about 1968 -9 I definitely went in a six hour but as I was under 16 was not allowed to enter for any longer I always remember there was a long straight with banking at the end that if you hit it too fast you go over the top and there was a fireplace to land in Not that it was ever lit of course !! I remember my motor was a Rikoflash and I used to have a McClaren body shell painted Orange also had a Ferrari P4 Gave it up when I went to college Magic times After some though on this matter ( It was a long time ago ) I think it was more 1967 - 1968 ish when I went And I didn't give it up to go to college in 1970 I think it was all over by then Can't really remember to be honest Edited April 19, 2020 by cherry268 Afterthought 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 (edited) Airfix had a stab at slot cars in the early sixties. They did a few gigantic boxed sets. I've still got that lot although the storage boxes they were in got a bit of water damage during a house move years ago. A bit of restoration is required at some point. Edited April 19, 2020 by TonyW 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnT Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 Well that unlocked a compartment in the memory section of my little grey cells. Christmas 196? And the Airfix racing set with red Ferrari and green BRM? Was it? Track did a figure of 8 and a chicane. Had to be Airfix rather than Scalextrix due to a kids brand loyalty even if the Scalextrix did look better to be honest. I still had it all in boxes and looked after till about 1970 when it an a load of other well kept stuff like Corgi and Dinky cars got sold to buy my first SLR camera. Given I was careful with stuff and kept them all in boxes and then in side shoe and other boxes when not in use I shudder to think of the prices they would demand now 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted April 19, 2020 Author Share Posted April 19, 2020 17 minutes ago, TonyW said: I've still got that lot RIGHT..... ‼️ WE'RE ALL COMING ROUND TO YOUR PLACE THIS AFTERNOON, TONY 😍😅 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnT Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 40 minutes ago, rob Lyttle said: RIGHT..... ‼️ WE'RE ALL COMING ROUND TO YOUR PLACE THIS AFTERNOON, TONY 😍😅 There going to be a queue longer than that for toilet roll at ASDA Seriously a minute what a fabulous collection 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coors54 Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 This has taken me crashing back to 1969 and weekend racing with my mate Paul, we both had lots of Scalextric and by marking our track pieces, combined our sets every weekend into different tracks at each others houses. We both took Model Cars magazine and tried upgrading our stock Scalextric cars with different tyres, motors etc and I remember badgering my parents to get me a RIKO Ford Galaxy for my birthday. Did Blue Dot tyres exist or are they a figment of my imagination? Pauls dad (who had a Cortina II 1600 GT) took us to my first motor race meeting at Silverstone, a VSCC meet on a cold windy Sunday, the mighty Itala was running and Pauls dad said a line that has stuck with me all my life "Ahhhh Castrol R, better than any French perfume". And he's not wrong, I was hooked on motor racing from that day. Slot racing passed for me when Paul moved away, slot racing on your own is no fun. Dave 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosmosman Posted April 20, 2020 Share Posted April 20, 2020 I bought my first Scalextric set in 1972 using my first wage. Scalextric 400 Formula 1 set. Been adding every since. Have about 100 cars and loads of track. Not set it up for ages. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted April 20, 2020 Author Share Posted April 20, 2020 1 hour ago, cosmosman said: I bought my first Scalextric set in 1972 I guess you just missed the big slot boom.... Or just caught the end of it? You've accumulated quite a collection of cars over the years 😍‼️ Did you build any of them, or are they "as bought"? Looking at the shelves in the local model shop (before everything closed) I gotta say some of the cars they're making now are superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosmosman Posted April 20, 2020 Share Posted April 20, 2020 They are all shop bought. I have some Model Cars magazines from the seventies with plans for making brass chassis with lexan bodies. Bit too complicated for me. Just bought the Tyrrell 6 wheeler twin pack. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s.e.charles Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 https://www.themodelcarmuseum.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted May 4, 2020 Author Share Posted May 4, 2020 I've been up in the loft, and I grabbed a couple of cars to put on here. From a set that has 2 Porches, I took one apart and gave it a workover. What I discovered is that, underneath all the gofaster decor and garish stickers, there's actually quite a nice, well made and good looking bodyshell! No interior or clear windows of course, but runs great and all the lights are still working 😎 This, on the other hand, is a rubbish runner.... The Monogram Corvette kit got scabbed on to a Scalextric sidewinder chassis, complete with a fully rotating pickup so the car can spin around and keep going the other way.... ‼️ Here's the underside of the partner Nissan, And the underside of the Corvette after much cutting, shortening and hacking, I really need to get a proper pickup installed instead of that loada nonsense. The big payoff in using the sidewinder chassis is that it left room for the interior, and I even made up a driver to occupy the seat! So there you have it! Several hours of tinkering later.... 🤪🥳🏁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruskin Air Services Posted May 4, 2020 Share Posted May 4, 2020 On 4/18/2020 at 12:50 AM, rob Lyttle said: Back in the 60s there was a mahoosive interest in slot car racing with big commercial tracks, car kits, accessories industry, magazines... The lot! Scalextric of course, and Airfix were big in it too, and moving into 1.24 scale. Monogram, Russkit, Riko, MRRC, Cox, and a host of smaller specialists making chassis, vacform bodyshells, tyres.... National competitions, 24hr races, international trade shows.... The bubble burst, I'm going to say, around 1968 - 69. It did in my vacinity anyway. Just wondering if anyone else on here has fond memories of the era? And do any of you still make slot cars? Even get a scalextric car on the bench for a tinker, a few mods, and try it out in a quiet moment on your discreetly hidden track 😎 I can find a few specialist online traders and groups of enthusiasts. There is still activity, but it's a tiny fraction of what was going on back in the heyday. Anyone....? Or is that a whole different forum? 🏁 Slotforum.com try it my club is still running apart from that little virus doing the rounds! I've come back into modelling as my working hours interfere with race nights 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted May 4, 2020 Author Share Posted May 4, 2020 @Ruskin Air Services Well, I had a look at slotforum, and I think there's some interesting stuff OK, but the ads content is horrendous ‼️😲 Maybe I'll try their fbook page see if it's any more user friendly. What I saw looks pretty interesting and informative 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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