I don't get it. What's the point? To catch one of those flying cars in the face?

In this thread:

Actually, there was a place in walking distance from my grandparents house that had these. 30 years ago. $1 for 20 laps with one of their rental cars.

How do you tell who won? The guys controlling them look like cats watching laser pointers.

Bruce Campbell: Actually, there was a place in walking distance from my grandparents house that had these. 30 years ago. $1 for 20 laps with one of their rental cars.

Yeah there were two or three different places in the immediate area around where I grew up. Always packed.

I always wanted to try it out but never did.

um, at least with radio controlled cars you had to steer, not just modulate the throttle. this is ghey.

Bruce Campbell: Actually, there was a place in walking distance from my grandparents house that had these. 30 years ago. $1 for 20 laps with one of their rental cars.

Yeah, I think there were slot car clubs like this in the 60s. Speeds and the complexity of the cars have obviously increased, but the scale looks similar.

I_Am_Weasel: If you look closely, you can see a female or two in there somewhere.

Lies!

asciibaron: um, at least with radio controlled cars you had to steer, not just modulate the throttle. this is ghey.

This is a builder's competition, not one for drivers. R/C is a lot of both.

Retractable Weeners: How do you tell who won?

There's a lap counter built into the track.

Pelvic Splanchnic Ganglion: Retractable Weeners: How do you tell who won?

There's a lap counter built into the track.

who cares who won?

wow.

That looks like a drag - no pun intented.

When I was a kid a brother got a slot-car drag race set for Christimas.
We fried two transformers in three days and folks returned it to the store and didn't bring back a replacement.

My dad got a slot-car set for my kids this Xmas. It has both loops and tight turns. What makes it so cool is that it doesn't plug-in or use batteries. The power comes from the 'driver' who each handcrank a dynamo that powers their car. Spin too fast and you will crash in the corners, not fast enough and you won't make the loop.

/I've been 'supervising' their playtime
//and am involved in their tournaments

I had these when I was a kid, who needs big wide tires and unnecessary add ons. And the body was held on with REAL AMERICAN SCREWS!


Also, on our 1/24th and 1/32nd scale slot cars, they had brass plates for their chassis, AND WE LIKED IT!

Adolf Oliver Nipples: Leave it to adults to take a childhood pastime to extremes. How much fun can that possibly be? It's like the idiots in the loudest car competition.

I know eh?

Lando Lincoln: This is incredibly lame. This is what sad lonely electrical engineers must do for fun.


What about the happy, friendly electrical engineers?

Lando Lincoln: asciibaron: um, at least with radio controlled cars you had to steer, not just modulate the throttle. this is ghey.

They don't even have time to modulate the throttle. In the old days, you had a chance to increase throttle
on the straights and reduce throttle on the turns. These cars are moving too fast to do that. Unless the cars are doing it automatically.

This is incredibly lame. This is what sad lonely electrical engineers must do for fun.

Yeah, much better to run around outside and lift heavy things.

UNAUTHORIZED FINGER: When I was a kid, I always wanted a slot car set, but never got one. So when I joined the Army, my first Christmas, I couldn't go home, so I went to the PX and bought the biggest slot car set I've ever seen. It took up our entire living room, and kitchen. My roommates and I played with it every day for two weeks, then I boxed it up, and took it to Goodwill, so some other kid could have the most biatchin' toy of his life.

Best story, bro.

/seriously.

I misread the second to last word. I guess I'll just put my pants back on now.

Lando Lincoln: Loomy: Lando Lincoln: This is incredibly lame. This is what sad lonely electrical engineers must do for fun.

What about the happy, friendly electrical engineers?

They do things like make awesome homebrew rigs.

[www.theelectricbrewery.com image 640x407]

That's pretty badass. Makes me want to get back into brewing.

Like most hobbies, slot car racing first got big in California and then became a nationwide craze. In the 60's and 70's, they were every bit as big as model trains, and until just a few years ago, I could still take my kids a few blocks frm home to a shop where the guy sold train stuff. He had large-gauge trains you could fun for 50 center for 15 minutes, and a multi-lane slot car track for 1/32 and 1/24 scale cars.

Back in the day, if you were serious, you BUILT your own tracks out of pressboard, coated them with a grippy paint, routed the slot and laid in the copper or aluminum strips... I bought car chassis, parts, and bodies from a place called Auto World (Still exists, I'm told)... Painted the UOP Shadow with those weird 4 tiny bogie wheels in the front. Also had a 1/32 Eldon Mustang I re-painted myself. HO scale racing back then was for little kids. Anyway, I found my old Mustang in a box in the basement, took it to that local place I mentioned, ran some laps, it was a great nostalgia trip, up until the windings fried, looked like MArio had blown a motor (again). Very scale-like white cloud. I did my impression of Jackie Stewart asn I grabbed the car off the track: "he's OOOt of the car, Jim, and he's roooollign around, beating oof those inveesible methanol flames!


Good times.

Anyone have a guess at the scale speed of these racers? I'd like a fully scaled up version for my commute. Can I haz, please??

/I'm sure the acceleration is in the 100's of Gs and would be quite lethal
//scaled up, they'd be breaking the sound barrier at least

asciibaron: um, at least with radio controlled cars you had to steer, not just modulate the throttle. this is ghey.

I did not see any homosexual relationships taking place in this video nor do I see how they can be implied from this hobby.

I think there were cars in that video, but it was hard to see through all the Asperger's.

just did a quick google search and there is still plenty of 1/24 and 1/32 scale stuff available. Scalextric is still in business...

So now toy cars have the same problem real super cars have. The go faster than human beings can actually drive them.

Leave it to the Finns to do this. Indoors. Lots of hand work. Social, yet not social. Non-threatening competition. Yay!

Super slot slut cars. Now we're talking.

styckx: Anyone remember these (new window)?

yep. AKA mini-4wd. brief fad in the US, still going strong elsewhere Link (new window)

also, faster Link (new window)

johnwohl: styckx: Anyone remember these (new window)?

yep. AKA mini-4wd. brief fad in the US, still going strong elsewhere Link (new window)

also, faster Link (new window)

i just ended up watching like a lot of videos of that stuff thanks for the links. never really seen that before. it's kinda cool how part of it seems like an attrition battle of which ones are tuned for not flipping off the track during the jumps, and other times it's perfectly flat tracks but with nuclear speeds;

Trackball: asciibaron: um, at least with radio controlled cars you had to steer, not just modulate the throttle. this is ghey.

I did not see any homosexual relationships taking place in this video nor do I see how they can be implied from this hobby.

buy a dictionary.

Meh. Give them a break. Tyco is long gone; from this niche anyway.

/it's cold in Finland.
//and dark.

I used to do this back in 1988 and it was dying out even back then. Peaked in the 60's maybe. The stuff I used to run was in a different class. You know, something where you could actually lose traction and wreck if you weren't careful. These are the top end cars, needless to say, and I'd wager that at this level it's more a matter of how much money you can sink into your car than how good a driver you are.