The diecast room floor circuit racing memories

[Mike_Powell]

Having taken the Donington Historic Festival off track, I thought I'd open a threat devoted to the pleasures of the indoor racing of our youth.

Sorry Coppice, but your Scalextric Porsche wouldn't have stood a chance. It was a very soft surface and you'd be in and out of the pits every lap to remove the fluff from the pick up.

Ah, the simple joys of running a Formula Libre race on that ever changing track, accompanied by the shrill vocalisation of an engine at full speed, excessive tyre squealing and always with at least one dramatic incident per lap. The sprint through the railway tunnel, the chicane through the table legs and the ever looming danger of being sideswiped by the cat's paw.

For several races, Captain Scarlet's Spectrum Patrol Vehicle was dominant, then came the turn of the red, blue, green and yellow single seaters, the E type and several Hot Wheels specials, before the arrival of electric vehicles (a Lima Deltic and Hornby King George VI ) took over the track surface.

I still blame those formative years on my love of motor sport.

[Gerard C]

Good idea, thanks. Think we'll see EB coming here very shortly. As a former toys wholesaler I was the first to sell TCR tracks. Not my favorite at all but good business. When young I used to play Circuit 24 and of course Scalextric. Do you remember when they launched the GT's series with headlights?

[Mike Harte]

Funnily enough, although I was always interested in cars, as well as trucks, fire engines, trains and planes, I never clamoured for slot racing and never had it. My early passion was for Dinky cars and lorries, but that took second place when my parents bought me a Hornby 00 set plus extra track and accessories for either a Christmas or birthday present. And relatives were instructed to add further to the collection. That continued for quite a few years, and whenever I came home on holidays, the base board would be already set up for me in the spare bedroom, and I would quickly re-assemble the layout that I had devised.

I kept all of that collection throughout my marriage, and it wasn't until about the late 70s/early 80s and I had had a rather large heated garage built that I decided to create a 12 by 18 foot layout that was suspended from the ceiling and was lowered and raised using sailing tackle and winches. I was still building the layout which by then included overhead catenary and was being wired ready for computerised controls when I decided that divorce was a good option, and the house was sold. Unfortunately, my next home had no room for the train layout, so I reluctantly sold it to a local dealer.

[Lancsbreaker]

Never had a Scalextrix of my own, but I did have the OO scale Minic track and cars - initially a Porsche 911 and an E-type IIRC.....I remember eagerly setting it up on the table on Xmas morning - got about 4 laps completed before the cat''s pounce on the motorised mice sent one of the cars flying........


Later on a mate built a Scalex-style circuit from scratch with much wire mesh, papier mache, hardboard and copper tape, and we bought some commerciallly available chassis and motors, which I bodied with an Airfix Lotus Cortina (in Sir John Whitmore colours), and a blow-moulded Galaxie 500 - which I painted a respendent orange..... Think I still have them in a box, somewhere.....

[Mike_Powell]

I had a Scalextrix figure of 8 when I was, I think, 6 or 7 but didn't see the appeal of if then. I bought a TCR set at a car boot sale for £1 when I was 13 or so, when it was in decline, but found a model shop through the classified adverts in the Portsmouth Evening New who was selling off all its stock. A friend and I duly got a lift from Mum that Saturday as she was dropping Dad off at Fratton Park.

We spoke to the owner and he said he had a couple of boxes we could have for £5. A few minutes later he came back and gave us 2 sealed shoe boxes. Excited about our treasure we headed to the door before he called after us, "Don't you want the other box?" pointing to a large (to us) box by the door ! We came home with enough track to go through both the front room and the dining room, numerous chassis, bodies, complete cars, tyres etc. We had several years fun from that but it still didn't have the visceral excitement of toy cars on the carpet.

[chunterer]

Hmm great thread!
Mods can you move my posts from DHF thread please?
The ones about room floor BTCC and 500 mile an hour scalextric minis? ?

[coppice]

I joined the Scalextric club at school in 1968 at 16 , having had no interest in motorsport before then . But also piqued by reading a friend's copy of Motor with a Ford GT40 Mk4 on its cover , I went along . God above, but they took it seriously and I soon lost interest and gave my Porsche away . But I did meet somebody who wanted to see the real thing as much as I did - and a few months later we were marshalling on the RAC Rally .

My late brother in law was seriously addicted though - his layout took up most of a huge room in his farmhouse , and when he died there must have been over a thousand slot cars and models . His own dad had raced against Billy Cotton in the 30s -must have been in the genes !

[John Elwin]

I had a Scalextric set back in the sixties but sadly all I have left from then is my AC Cobra. However, a relative gave me a small figure-of-eight set for Christmas a few years ago, with a not terribly inspiring Audi TT & Porsche Boxster. The set has never been out of the box, but recently I have bought a few cars, mainly for the cars rather than the fact that they are slot cars.

Recent purchases have included a very nice old Scalextric Lotus 21 for my Lotus collection & a Cortina GT, Vic Elford's 1964 Coupe des Alpes winner. I bought it from Vic's shop & he duly signed it for me. I got to know him quite well a few years ago but he is sadly now rather unwell. I have a few other Cortina's as well, including an old MRRC version.

One day I will get the track out & see if they all work!

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Good idea, thanks. Think we'll see EB coming here very shortly. As a former toys wholesaler I was the first to sell TCR tracks. Not my favorite at all but good business. When young I used to play Circuit 24 and of course Scalextric. Do you remember when they launched the GT's series with headlights?

TCR!! Major rival of Aurora?

Please can you remmind us what was the TCR'Jammer car' Gerard?

It seemed to take on an almost mythical status which ocassionally even transfered to real racing when describing the type of driver/car combo that was particularly stubborn to overtake!

[Mike_Powell]

I'd forgotten about Aurora.....I still have Emillio De Villota's race winner's cap in the shed.

[Gerard C]

The first sales argument for TCR circuits was that the cars could change lane "for real", this action being remotely commanded. Not related to the rail arrangement. Quite new and really different it was presented as a release toward the rail guided cars. Comme la voiture de papa sur l'autoroute!

Totally forgot about Aurora too. At the end of the day I feel that the COAT, C for circuit, was and remains Carrera. Fantastic product, good marketing and nice packaging.

[Newall Andy]

At the age of seven my old man gave me a Scalextric set for my birthday, it was the cross over set with the bridge and contained a works Gulf GT40. Little did I know nearly forty years later I would race the real deal, at the British GP for Lord Bamford and my father was there to see it. Who said dreams never come true ?

Happy days.

A.

[Gerard C]

Wonderful story, thanks. I remember many cars of my slot racing circuits but never raced a single one in the real life. Its never too late is it?

[midgetman]

We had a family Scalextric, it was a collection of parts rather than a set. I must admit I enjoyed building the circuits and testing them out more than the racing which I found (and still do) a bit underwhelming.

Maybe that started me on the road to my current employment!


Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

[Gerard C]

Having "only" one sister I must admit that I had more fun with diecast models than with any circuit. Only my bleeding knees could stop me from playing on the carpet! School playground what the right place to test and discover that some drop of oil can make a model running faster and longer. I remember a Talbot Lago bringing some laurels in the form of bag of marbles. Dinky Toys I'm pretty sure.

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Having "only" one sister I must admit that I had more fun with diecast models than with any circuit. Only my bleeding knees could stop me from playing on the carpet! School playground what the right place to test and discover that some drop of oil can make a model running faster and longer. I remember a Talbot Lago bringing some laurels in the form of bag of marbles. Dinky Toys I'm pretty sure.

I remember my Dinky Talbot Lago as being heavily played with

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

I remember my Dinky Talbot Lago as being heavily played with

Just like the recreation & continuation cars in the real world, you can now buy a brand-new copy Dinky Talbot-Lago from Atlas!

It's made in China rather than Liverpool though...

[Gerard C]

I cant remember if mine had originally white tyres… What I remember is that Mum did not appreciate the light oil and grim generously spread on her carpet! Sorry.

[Tim Barry]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

I remember my Dinky Talbot Lago as being heavily played with

Still got mine in the loft along with Cooper-Bristol, Ferrari (625/500??) and others!

[Aysedasi]

When I was pretty young, perhaps 5 or 6, I had quite a collection of toy cars, Matchbox, Dinky and Corgi. We had a heavily patterned carpet in the lounge with swirls in the pattern which looked like straights and corners. I used to race the cars around an imaginary carpet 'track', but the game wasn't entirely random. I used a dice to determine how far each car would move, a one would be one car length, a two two car lengths etc etc. I used to play for hours and it could take a long time to complete a lap of the lounge! It was great fun though and I would certainly love to still have some of the cars that I used to 'race' back in my childhood. I didn't get the chance to graduate to Scalextric until a lot later.

[Gerard C]

Did you play on the sand beach pushing marbles? It was good fun between high and low water.
We had the Matchbox and Dinky brands here of course but not many Corgi's. The cheapest cars were made in plastic by Norev offering detailed and accurate models but rather weak.

[Mike Harte]

I don't think that the Corgi cars were as good as the Dinkys, quality wise that is, but they did have a few rather good models that didn't feature in the Dinky range.

[Gerard C]

You're certainly right Mike but if undoubtedly interesting I found the scale used by Corgy was too different from others and some details like opening doors looked awkward to say the least. The "coffrets" looked quite interesting but when the particular model was related to a TV series we could not watch in France, the interest was low (comme, par exemple, la Ford Capri vue dans Les Professionnels).

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Did you play on the sand beach pushing marbles? It was good fun between high and low water.
We had the Matchbox and Dinky brands here of course but not many Corgi's. The cheapest cars were made in plastic by Norev offering detailed and accurate models but rather weak.

I don't know, I've picked up quite a few very good old Corgi's here in France.

I recently bought several 1960's Corgi & Dinky models on eBay recently from someone who actually lived only 10 minutes away from me! All were in virtually mint condition, except that the headlights had all been painted yellow. My usual method of removing overpainting doesn't seem to work, though.

[Gerard C]

A complete Daktari set in good nick must make some money! Same thing for the Land Rover towing a Ferrari.

May be Corgi killed the competition with James Bond Aston Martin. Expensive and wonderful.