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Several years ago I was the regional director for the FCR-NCS program. That is the Parma First Class in Racing - National Championship Series.

We raced Parma FCR cars in about 6 different categories. There were 5 classes for 4.5 inch cars and 1 for 4 inch cars.

While not the fastest cars on the track, they certainly were some of the most FUN racing I've ever done. The rules were structured to take "the car" our of the equation and make the driver the most important part. I must say that I had an absolute ball racing these cars.

One day while calling a race, I made the statement, "They're heading into the banking and down to the Deadman like a herd of galloping turtles!" Some of the cars when they got to the Deadman, simply turned on their backs and did the turtle imitation. When driven beyond their means, they simply reacted in a manner that was not good.

Now that I have almost entirely switched over to 1:32 racing, I must say that Carrera Stock Cars and also Carrera DTM cars are very much like those FCR cars. While they might not be the fastest car on the track, I must say that they are some of the most FUN. I can remember when we were racing the Carrera Stock Cars one fine evening, all the cars were "clustered" in a group separated by at most a foot. Since they tend to slide the rear ends out, I think there was a whole lot of defensive driving going on as no one seemed to even attempt a pass on the outside in a turn. They ran like that for the majority of the race. Just a whole lot of FUN if you ask me.

While there are times when I am like Ricky Bobby and wanna go fast, but racing is racing and as long as the cars are competitive, so is the racing. Try it, you'll like it!

Slow can DEFINITELY be fun!!!
We race class at the local track using detuned Parma WOMPs that is simply referred to as "Spec Womp", the tires are narrow Parma 699's, the motor is a Plafit Rabbit, restricted to a 9 tooth pinion (crown is open - but everyone runs 26 tooth) and you are not allowed to mod/brace the chassis - only tweak on it and/or add lead. Those things are a riot as the racing is always close and well, being that they are WOMPs on skinny tires, they definitely need to be driven. :D

Now as for the Carrera cars - I am definitely expanding my collection! I have been running a Lee Petty Fury in our "touring class", with the magnets in and it has been hanging mid pack with the Scalextric cars and has been a lot of fun to drive on those skinny tires! :)
And now with my entry in the Carrera proxy race, I have some time behind the trigger tuning for non-mag action on them and like what I see! :D

I have always believed that closely matched cars are the best. We do something similar, running a Classic 50s Sportscar series....Ninco Classics basically, on stock tires. Tall and tippy, and we turn the power down to 10 volts. Everyone loves driving them and it's competitive racing.
Spec classes can be the most fun, because the cars are closer in performance, leaving it up to driving. And driving sure does improve when the cars are more equal.
I used to make cars from styrene strip and Artin quality motors, with vac bodies. Slow but fun when 3-4 are together on the track!

So go slow and have fun too!

I've always been a big advocate of this, but I'm going to take it one step further. What makes it fun is when there is no guarantee that the car will stay on track, and the driver has to balance speed with caution. I've driven very fast and very slow cars that are darn near glued to the track, and they bore me to death. They're a joy to drive, smooth and balanced, easy to push, but they don't take a whole lot of skill. My fastest car has spent most of the last 9 years on a shelf, because I can't wreck it.

A slower car that wrecks when the driver makes a mistake, now that's fun. :)

I couldn't agree more. We run stock Artin cars every now and then. They are really slow, but still a blast to drive!

Couple a slower car with a track that makes you drive and you've just found my Happy Place. I like the speed too on an appropriate track but I suck at racing in a crowd as Super2ner can tell you ;)

Three wide, door to door - now that is just freaking awesome.

I enjoy racing equally matched cars no matter what their speed. It is only when racing a class where all the cars should be more or less equal one or two drivers have found a way around the rules and out distance the field by a large margin that such racing becomes frustrating. Sometimes occurrences like I mentioned can be attributed to better tuning or the person being an outstanding driver but there are also many times that there is an easy explanation why that one car is soooo fast.

That is what makes it fun for me. That combination of scale detail and tuning the cars to be close. The scale detail part does not just mean how it looks sitting still for me. It's also how it looks at speed. I don't want my little Carrera Cobra or old Ninco Vette to handle or have the speeds that a modern F1 model would have. Just fast enough for that "crash danger" to be lurking about, but so that I can still actually see the car.

And when you are door to door through the turns and YOU (the driver) make a mistake that actually costs you...it's even better. I am pretty good at those mistakes, being almost Jedi-like in my experience of them. :)

When you have a great race like that, it sticks to you. I remember the Fly classic race at Mark's like I remember the little Ninco Audi TT at your house. But also remember the Carrera Auto Unions and the hoot they were. While it seemed the rest of the world had nothing good to say about them, we had a blast with them that day.

I think milder speeds and the close racing that can come of it is what makes the hobby for me.

The Pennsylvania Dutch have a saying, "Too soon old, too late schmart."

Do you think that might just apply here?

My Mom always used that phrase to describe the way we thought about things.