Where to from here for slots (not only a digital discussion)

[Dangermouse]

[bobbyraz49]

Maybe the next "new" thing would be slot cars without the brushes/braids ?

[Florida_Slotter]

Dangermouse,

Well my friend, this is a very wide open topic.

Perhaps I should start with a question in return: Where to you think slot cars should go?

On the question of performance . . . . . .

In my not so humble at times opinion, I think today's slot cars are as fast as we NEED. Yes, I can make a slot car go faster. It's a 'snap-in' if you would. Pro-Slot makes "Euro motors" that will give you all the performance you can handle and all you need to do is snap them into your FC130 can equipped car, light yourself on fire and you can try and keep up with the car.

I would say that the performance level of the cars we buy today is tailored to the "average" guy in our hobby. I think that person has a home layout that has a long straight of about 8 to 12 feet. I know from personal experience that when I test a 1:32 car on my "Martin's-Ville" layout at home - this is a Carrera GO 4 lane = I think it's like trying to drive a AA/FC on a go kart track. The car is just so fast for the limited track it has to run on. Of course when I get to our club with the 16 foot long straight, the car feels much better. I'm sure if I took that same car to The Race Place, which has a 175 foot per lap replica of Daytona International Speedway, I'd be looking for more horsepower.

So do we need more speed? I think not. It's there for us to grab, we don't seem to be going after it though.

Today's slot car, at least to me is freakin' awesome. The engineering that goes into these cars is quite elegant and very subtle. But when you sit down and analyze it, you see how involved the thought process was in coming up with the design.

Thank about Slot.It - most of the cars can be fitted with an inline, sidewinder or anglewinder motor pod - all with the same chassis. NSR and others do the same thing.

I see things from NSR that impress me. Their new "lightweight" Mosler body is an example of what is available to you to go fast with your existing slot car. Of course the guy that has the small layout does not care about the speed you can make as he knows he does not have the ability to use it.

As long as we have multiple people making slot cars, I do believe that there will be continued chassis and body development going on. Lighter weight components are coming in the slot car world just as they are in the 1:1 car world. Slot.It has gone from a car weighing in at 73 grams with their SICA03a to their latest Porsche 962c with a weight of 68 grams. We're talking about almost a 10% savings in weight. So I do think slot cars are going in the right direction.

It's come a long way from the first slot cars I ever drove - the HO "Vibrator" cars. Absolutely no brakes whatsoever. A friend of mine has an original Strombecker Lotus 30(?). With nothing done to it, it will not make a lap about our club track.

Yep, they've come a long way and continue to progress.

But that is my opinion of the state of the slot car world.

[dr fabio]

It will stay essentially the same. There are too many other things to occupy peolple's spare time and interests. So slots will be the domain of young kids first being introduced to the "toy" via Christmas/birthday presents. Then losing interest by the time they hit their teens and then trying to recapture their lost youth when they are in their 40s by introducing the concept to their kids. So the market is young kids and old farts.

cheers
dr fabio

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I still have a box full of Vibrators. I take them out and stare at them every now and then and wonder how in the world they worked in those days.

Quo vadis, slot cars, eh?

I see lots of improvements in the cars that can be done in detail and scaling, first off. Just in the area of lights, there are illuminated LeMans numbers, brake lights, fog lamps, and of course universal headlight and tailights yet to be done. Engine detail for cars that have visible engines, F-1, many mid-engine under glass, etc. Huge advances in tires have just begun to scratch the surface of what they can do, and gearing is wide open for development. I'd like to see independent front wheels on all cars. Silent drive (belt drive) systems are coming into play in scale racing, which is downright spooky smooth.

We have seen better pressure adhesives that allow the long hoped for easy braid layment, which although very expensive now, will get much easier to afford before long. Its already such a time-saver many people are willing to go the expense to get the job finished. I'm a cheapskate to rival anyone, and I have thought about it. Computer timing systems are in their infancy still, although there is a system coming soon that will knock everyone on their keester, plastic or wood track. More and more tracks on this side of the Atlantic are getting extensive detailed scenery, even amazing rally tracks with dirt trails that have weeds coming up through them! Wild stuff.

I couldn't care less for the digital stuff. Its irrelevant to me, and I don't intend to ever run any of my cars that way. It muddies up the water as far as I'm concerned. I don't need a new way to be passed nor a new way to nerf people out of place. The whole idea reminds me of the toys many years ago that were intended to bash together and springs inside made them blow up. If it was just no-wires controllers, that would be a completely different thing, but lane changing during a slot car race? Why is this interesting? Why is it slot racing? I think we took a strange wrong direction on that one. But the thing is, we have a big tent now in this hobby. We can make room for this kind of aberration, and coexist easily. Sooner or later, it will bring people into the hobby who might not have come in, and that can't help but be a good thing.

Speed is no longer an issue. We have been able to make cars stupid fast and unable to be seen at speed for decades. Its just unimportant as far as I am concerned. Of course, competing matters, and that is or should be in the hand that holds the controller, not huge magnets, bodies that don't resemble cars, silly hot motors or anything else.

That's my 2 cents worth.

[Ember]

I'm not really convinced slot cars will survive beyond the next generation. The majority of spotters are into it because of the nostalgia factor. They remember the toy of their youth and return to it when able to do so.

There are fewer younger people sticking with slots long enough to develop the nostalgic bond in the first place.

Aside from that... If you ask this question in Europe you will gain a different answer than in America.

European club tracks (British included) are bigger and more like the commercial track of old. Speed is all. For the Italians there is nothing but stronger and faster motors, even if it means the need super conductors to hold them on the track. The Poms are more tempered in their love of speed preferring to run their cars without the magnetic aids. But still speed is king.

I'd suggest the possibility of smaller reliable motors would be welcomed. Certainly by those among us who are scale fans. That would allow for more detail. All cars with full length drivers etc.

I think 1/43 scale will continue to grow and develop until such time as slots fade into oblivion.

[Modlerbob]

Maybe some better but not so expensive controllers would be good for 1/32 scale.

[chappy]

As much as it scares me to admit it, I am not sure that Embs is wrong. I think Carrera have recognized the future for younger generations is definitely digital, but as Embs points out that is not a worldwide perception.
Who really knows what the future holds. The market researchers will tell the manufacturers what is hot and what is not and things will either change to survive, or simply disappear and be replaced by something else.
I will continue to enjoy the hobby , and if it becomes a cottage hobby I will continue in that way. But I really hope that something happens to keep, this great hobby alive and progressing, after all it is based on scale of the real thing so what happens in the real world may impact our scale world.
Good topic David.
Bob

[Nor Cal Mike]

I am very impressed by Wes Rayner's MAGracing system using a hybrid of Faller magnet steering and RC technology. I have three of his cars and controllers and have a small track built. Admittedly, it needs some more capital investment. Wes is financing his little business from his retirement pension. Some slot car quality components added to them would make them way cool.

[Dangermouse]

Marty

I like the idea of a smart ghost car - one you can set a lap with and then race against it. Most of my slot driving happens by myself in the man cave...

I think more wireless will come into slot cars as well - the stuff Scorpius and Slot.it are doing is interesting

Performance wise I don't mind what they do - NC-1 racing is and always will be my favourite class - but there is also a lot of pleasure in cracking a fast lap with a Plafit or NSR car :)

I wonder to Ember whether they will still be made in 20 years time - Revell dropped out of making slots (though PM has picked them up), and we have seen some companies in trouble of late.

Waay - I thought you may have been posting in the wrong thread when I read your opening sentence :)
jokes aside I like what you said about the lighting there are some cool things that could be done there..

I hope they will be around in 20 years time - not just some old collectables that old guys and gals dream about :)

[downtowndeco]

I've had this idea for a different kind of layout that I think would be a hoot. It would be based on the Indiana Jones series, and would feature several of the key scenes/sets from the movie(s). Routed, and basically it would replicate the chase scenes. The two vehicles would tear around the "track" (more of a set actually) & face various obstacles along the way that would have to be negotiated. A rope bridge that only one car could go over at a time, one lane cliff roads & even a train loop that would have a replica of the circus train from the 3rd movie. Of course it would cross the cars path & you would have to time it just right to make it across without getting plowed into. At times the cars would race side by side, at other times they would split apart & take separate paths only to re-meet up again on the other side of the river or whatever. Yeah, I know, it''s weird. But I think the fun/goof off factor would be huge.

[TsgtRet]

I have to concur about the interest waning......most of us on here won't see it but it will probably happen. Most of the folks on here around my age group (I turn 62 in May) come from the "High School/Hot Rod" generation. Virtually everyone was a gearhead and even if you weren't you'd never admit it. Today's car folks are more into the "Bling" and "technology" rather than performance. They couldn't rebuild a motor if they had to but change the programming on the car's chip? Viola! If they want to race they'll go to the computer or game console. I think slot cars are pretty much where they are going to be other than refinements. Look at a 60s era Cox or Revell car and it's still the same basic configuration as the cars we have now.....the new ones may be more accurate/detailed but it's still the same basic setup. I hope I'm wrong but I really see them dwindling as us "Aged Methane Dispensers" move on to the next world.

[RichD]

In HO scale people still run the original Aurora T-Jet cars that were introduced in 1963. Three different modern replica (more or less) T-Jet chassis have been introduced, so obviously that type of car will be around for a while. 1/32nd scale is probably a different case, I expect that few people run '60's vintage cars. It seems to me that a lot of people in the hobby are middle aged or older, a lot of them were in it back in the '60's. Babyboomers are now reaching retirement age, considering that there was a long period that slot racing was moribund there are not a huge number of people that have gotten into the hobby lately. I am not convinced that the general public evem knows that slot racing exists, that was not the case back in the '60s. I don't think that the cars themselves are really the issue. Today slot racing is actually competing with modern sophisticated computer games, in order to survive it will have to offer something that computer games don't.

[TuscoTodd]

I definitely have to concur about the lack of knowledge about commercial racing being available is one of the things holding it back.
I got back into slots roughly a year and a half ago when a friend asked if I knew about the commercial track that I have now been going to weekly (I did not at that time). I HAD driven past it, but being in a strip mall type location, I had never noticed the sign! :o

In regard to those that are following/involved in the hobby - here locally, it is a mix. I would say that ten to twenty percent of the racers for the 1/32 scale classes are 60+, then there are a couple regular racers who don't have their 1 to 1 license yet, and the balance is made up of those in the 30+ range (most of of which never had ANY exposure to 1/32 or 1/24 when they were young - unless it was via home sets their parent's era)

I think the internet is definitely helping the hobby as there is a distinct wealth of information - but it appears to be an area that most local tracks don't utilize to their advantage. (very few have up to date web pages with racing schedules/results and/or FB accounts with regular postings / etc)

I would like to think, that the resurgence in popularity of slot cars, while tempered with the economic slide/decline, isn't a flash in the pan, but more akin to bowling . Where you see interest ebb and flow depending on the local interest/market, the organizations hosting, facilities available, etc.

In regard to where it is headed - I am not sold on digital (yet). With the variety of systems (that won't talk to each other) out there, it is going to have a difficult time gaining wide spread appeal I think. When it gets to where you can purchase a "universal" system that will allow you to run ANY manufacturer's digital car - I think you will see it grow notably. But right now, it seems to be too much like the slotless racing systems of the 80's where each manufacturer went at it a different way and no two systems were compatible, so while you may have a car that runs great on your track, you might not be able to "race" your friend on his track as he had a different brand.

But that is just my .02...
In the mean time I am trying to introduce as many people to the fun of slot car racing as I can! :D

[Czar]

In terms of future racers joining the hobby. I think RichD has good insight on this. In the future slots will be competing with many other forms of entertainment. As we move forward the battle will be "for eyeballs." Who will attract more eyeballs; screens, or real 3 dimensional scale models moving around a track? Using my own grandchildren as examples, I am afraid the youngsters are now very comfortable with the idea that a screen holds everything they need/want for entertainment. Besides that, it's portable. How much would you give to be able to play with your slot cars while you have a three hour layover at O'Hare airport? Easy to do if your entertainment world revolves around a screen. In addition, it is well known that game developers embed many psychological triggers to actually produce a kind of addiction to their games. Just last week one of my racing buddies sent me a link to a slot car racing game on the internet! I can't even click on that link, as I think it could lead to world destruction.