HO slot car racing has been around a long time now.

What are your favorite(s) and why? Be it track or cars or controllers....what "team" do you belong to?

I was fortunate enough as a youngster to get into slotcar racing at an early age. My father bought us a Revell 1/24th scale set when I was about five....man do I wish I had that set now!!! The fever never left us and in later years I found AFX/Aurora to simply be the best. My friends had some Tyco cars and track....it didn't take long for my friends to want to play at my house. In my opinion, Tyco sucked.....but now decades have passed. Maybe I am wrong?

Fast forword twenty-five years to now. I have no idea. Or rather I am slowly learning. I bought a "new" Tomy/AFX set for my kids.....yeah just for my kids - yeah right! I am astounded by these cars and the track too!!! But both have their pros and cons.

The Super G+ cars are very fast. I'm sure with hop-ups and a designated public track, even these can get dusted. But I'm talking about a home track - inside your own home.....these cars are wickedly fast. Even my "paltry" 16 foot straight-away only gives you a moment of full throttle.

Track - the real deal here. When AFX came out with the G Plus cars, most sets included the new Flex-Track (Boo!!!). On one hand Flex-track was great. You could assemble a course that didn't really want to fit together using different radius curves....so that was cool. But in reality, the Flex-Track did nothing more than simply slow you down.

The Speed-Lok track of AFX's "silver years" is long gone. In some aspects thats a good thing. The tabs often broke and it was hard to assemble (thank God for the Quikee-Lok tool!). But once assembled the track was pretty damned solid.

The "new" Tomy track is very good. The rails are much more consistant and sport a better design. The track connects (and separates) much more easily than the old AFX Speed-Lok. But there's a problem here. It's too forgiving! I am finding myself constantly re-connecting the Tomy track connections. This was never the problem with Speed-Lok.

So I suppose its all about give and take.

These are just my rantings.....I want to hear yours!!

What cars do you think are the best? What track?

Thoughts for your consideration,
:jest: J7

Hi Jester...

Too keep your Tomy track from seperating, nail the sucker down..lol..When I began building my new track last month my 7 year old daughter.. ( Who hammers me every race dammit!), was too short to reach the back and was always seperating the track at the spoon curve. a few Model railroding nails flushed down now keep things steady, and connected..

Well, as far as track goes, I have the AFX brand. I can't honestly compare it to anything cuz I'm pretty new and have never used Tyco. I had racetracks as a kid but I dont remember what they were. (I was more turned on by Hot Wheels sets as a youngster...and I think its damned unforunate for our kids that A: all Hot Wheels makes now are crappy gimmick sets and no real race tracks, and B: the cars are made so light now that you cant use them on most sets. But I digress)

The AFX has its faults, such as you've already mentioned about it coming apart pretty easy. And I'm not totally impressed with the way they fit together in a 4 lane layout. I had a terminal track that's crooked. If you lay the two that came in the set side by side, there's only about a centimeter that actually touches. Also, when I nest 9 inch turns and 12 inch turns for an oval (for example) then attach the straights, the inside straight is straight, and the outside one veers away. When I bring the straights together to hook them up at the other end, it leaves a gap where the corner meets the straight. Another problem is I got some 15 inch straights that are slightly warped. If you lay them flat, you get a little hill. Doesn't hurt the GPluses and the Tyco440x2s, but it plays havoc with the TJets.

But I'm not gonna bitch too much cuz these things can be remedied. The terminal track I've already fixed with a little heat. The turns not lining up, I just don't use the piece causing the straights to be unaligned (finding out which one it was was a bit of a trick) and with the warped 15 inchers, I'm just gonna add an extra screw hole in the center when I fasten the track down.

Having said all this, I think AFX is the best of what's out there right now. (take that for what it is) The 4 different curve radiuses (6 if you count the hairpin and the aftermarket 18 inch curves) and 4 different lengths of straights makes pretty much any layout possible. I understand that the Tyco track may be a little better quality (from what I've heard) and used stuff can be had cheap, but you're more limited in what you can do with it because the size and shapes available are quite limited.

Of course there are the BuckTrax, routed tracks etc, But I think the poster is asking about whats commonly available.

As far as cars go, I don't know what the "best" one is. Of what got, the GPlus cars that came with the set are the fastest. The Tyco Winston cup cars (440x2 pan chassis) are the smoothest. The Tyco HP7 Camaro is neither fast nor smooth, but looks good. And I've got one Tyco car that that'll spin around and go the other way, which I pull out every once in a while for yuks, usually unbenownst to my opponent. Oh, I don't own any LifeLike yet, so I can't comment there.

But I have the most fun with the Johnny Lightning TJets. They're cheap, they do muscle cars, and they're fun. The XTractions are too. Both require a lot of driver input and skill to keep them slotted. I love running TJets on my oval, when you get on the gas coming out of the turn and they get squiggly till the tires grip and you're off like a shot down the straight. Almost mimics the real thing.

Johnny Lightning is "da man" in HO slot racing right now. They're coming out with new stuff all the time. Overall their stuff is pretty good performance wise, and excellent appearance wise. (and price wise) Wizzards and BSRTs may be top shelf racers, and Tyco and Tomy may be the fastest of the factory productions, but Johnny Lightning is the only one bringing it to the masses.

I only wonder if its occurred to them to produce track too.

Anway, that's my two cents.
Trev

HO slot car racing has been around a long time now.

What are your favorite(s) and why? Be it track or cars or controllers....what "team" do you belong to?

(snip snip)

These are just my rantings.....I want to hear yours!!

What cars do you think are the best? What track?

Thoughts for your consideration,
:jest: J7

When I was little (under 5, because I know we had it at the old house, and whe moved when I turned 5) my dad bought a TycoPro set. I have a very vague recollection of the box art... when I see old TycoPro sets on eBay with the Porsche and Chapparal racing at night, it gives me warm fuzzy feelings. Still have what's left of the cars, but the track was crap and the tabs all broke off when I got into my middle-school slot car phase.

Around that time,I found a bunch of Faller track at a model train store, and the old guy was happy to get rid of it and gave me a big bag for like 5 bucks. This is cool stuff--if you're not familiar with it, it uses model-train-type brass connectors to hold the track together AND to carry current. Made myself a 4x8 layout and started buying Magna-Tractions, which is what most of my early slot education was about. I still have most of them (maybe 20 or so), well-beaten and broken and painted, and some Magnum 440s that I got when they came out. Also the remains of a couple G-Plus F1 cars, but there's very little of them left. I also had a Tjet or two that were left over from some uncle's toy stash, but I didn't know what they were except "those junky little things I can't get to run good." Then I got my license and discovered girls and the slots went in a box in the closet.

Fast forward to about 4 years ago... I was at a yard sale looking at something irrelevant when I noticed a box of old slot car stuff under the table. Three boxes, actually. The guy wanted $10 each, and I was hesitant. "Aw, c'mon, okay, make it 8 bucks each," he said. I gave in, and was glad I did. When I got home and sifted through my find, there was enough track for a small Tycopro layout AND a small Atlas layout. Plus about 10 old cars... enough to make 4 running chassis and have 6 extra bodies. All Tjets, except for 2 TycoPro Camaros. I didn't do much with them for a while, then one day I started tinkering and got a couple of the Tjets running... it's actually pretty funny, I was letting my 3-year-old drive the Aurora gray Corvette around this little Atlas layout, not knowing what I had. Then I started checking eBay... that was it, I was hooked on Tjets.

I have well over 200 Tjets now; maybe 50 or so original Auroras, the rest JLs or resin casts or other customs. They are "displayed" on a 4x16 layout with HO train scenery.
I prefer Atlas/Lionel track, which is getting tough to find, but it's still out there. It's very smooth with none of the electrical problems that some other tracks can develop. It has the same connectors as the Faller stuff I mentioned earlier--they interchange. I prefer Tjets to the later AFXs and MTs, and certainly to magnet cars, I guess because I like that the speed of Tjets is more realistic for the scale size of the car. I'm having fun experimenting with JL chassis, but I'd really like to discover a hidden case of NOS Aurora chassis in a basement or attic or yard sale somewhere...

Also, I buy up all the later-style Tyco track I can find at yard sales and thrift stores and whatnot. It's dirt cheap and I have had very good luck running Tjets on it... though I've heard from many others who don't like it. I think it's great for setting up temporary layouts and just diddling around when I can't be at the big table in the basement.

you asked for it... :D

--rick

Jester, I prefer to run the Johnny Lightning Tjets for a few reasons:

#1 Inexpensive price (these cars can be bought on Ebay by the case for dirt cheap)

#2 Variety of bodies that I like

#3 EASY to work on

#4 EASY to hop up or upgrade the chassis ,drivetrain,wheels,etc.

#5 EASY to customize the bodies

#6 Flat out fun to run (very much mimmicks the handling of a real muscle car with power)

It's kind of odd that I enjoy running these JLTO's so much....because growing up I never owned any (I was born in 76). All I ran as a kid was a few AFX Magnatractions......and a bunch of Tyco's (mostly 440X2's,a few HP7's and Tyco Pros) I have a bunch of the AFX magnatraction style track.......but I've never ran it. I usually run on Tyco track.......which I find is ok....but certainly not the best IMHO as it has it's own faults. I am planning to construct my table layout here very shortly...and when I do I'm hoping to build it out of AFX/Tomy track....if the funds allow for me to do so.

I have a decent collection of slot cars I suppose......filled with mostly AFX Magnatractions,Tyco 440X2's, and a few other random Tyco's,LifeLikes, and etc. I only own roughly 30 or so JLTO's........and not one vintage Tjet........but out of all the cars I own....when it comes to race time 9 times out of 10 I reach for a JLTO.......simply because they are a blast to race. :thumbsup:

My favorite cars of all time are the original AFX (non-magnatractions). I started out with TJets but like the AFX car better because they are basically factory hopped up TJets that run cooler and handle better. A "Fray" TJet is basically a TJet embellished with the qualities of an AFX. I actually like the larger snap-on bodies better and only wish that Aurora had redone the track geometry to accomodate the larger format cars. It wouldn't have been so disruptive to make a big track change in 1970 as it would be any time since then.

I love the TycoPro bodies but the chassis were unworthy of their covers. Fortunately most of those TycoPro bodies fit on to the outstanding Tyco 440/440-X2 chassis. The 440X2 is the small block Chevy of magnet car chassis and one of my all time favorites. I hope it's around for 50 more years. Most of the later model Tyco NASCAR bodies are nice. The Tyco F1/Indy bodies are great.

I like the Riggens because they are basically a 1/24 car done in HO scale. If it wasn't for those silly potholder magnet lovers from the Dakotas I think we'd all be racing third generation decendents of the Riggen form factor car today. Tyco had some totally awesome can motror pan chassis designs in the works in the early 70s and I'm sure Aurora would have embraced some form of the wild "brass wars" chassis designs that were popular at the time.

The Aurora G-Plus has a special place in my heart because it finally gave us some really nice open wheeled HO race cars. The G-Plus triggered the changeover to the inline integrated motor/chassis design that lives on to this day. Some of the G-Plus bodies are the finest examples of volume production HO slot car bodies ever done. If Aurora could only have resisted the temptation to cheap them out with sticker decals they'd be considered works of art.

I like the TOMY AFX chassis' a lot, but primarily for performance reasons and the fact that they fit AFX bodies. The Super G+ is a rocket but it's somewhat brittle and less easy to work on than a Tyco. The TOMY Turbo and SRT are prototypes for how to build a low cost but high performance HO slot car, a concept that Tyco missed the boat on with the HP7. The TOMY GTP bodies are my all time favorite slot car bodies. The TOMY F1s are nice as long as you get over the fact that all of the bodies are identical (one for the SG+ and one for the Turbo) discounting the paint and tampos.

The JL TJets and XTs are probably the best value in collector and basement-runner HO slot cars that is out there today. I love 'em because they are close enough to the earlier products that they were designed to emulate and are cheap enough to acquire in quantity. The JL cars deliver the closest feeling today to what it was like in the late 60s and early 70s when you could walk into a hobby store and buy slot cars. No monkeying around with EBay and specialty botique manufacturers required. They are inexpensive like real "toys" ought to be but are still nice enough to cherish as a collectable.

Rokar/Lifelike of the M-chassis vintage are nice enough and reasonably easy to work on. However, Lifelike seems to have tripolar disorder or something. They started with the long and slender bodies (L&S), moved then to the wide, stubby, and squat bodies (WS&S), and now to the blob turtle like bodies (BTL). Each generation looks like it was done by a totally different manufacturer. Their latest chassis proves that no matter how cheap and crappy a slot car chassis is, if you strap some wicked neo dot magnets under it you'll still have something that will run reasonbaly fast and be worthy of sound barrier breaking scale speeds to put on the blister packaging.

Other than that, I'm a big fan of the newer generation of HO race cars, including the BSRT G3s, Patriot Storms/P3s, and Slottech Panthers/T1s. These are all nice, solid, built to race slot cars that at the lower end of the price range (for most) offer something that you can let the nieces, nephews, and grandkids bash around the track (at 12V or less) without snapping any of your vintage plastic bodies into pieces. There's a universe of hop-up parts to take these cars to any level of racing that you want to go and twice as many rules, regulations, and allegations to go along with those parts.

I have quite a large collection--everything from early Bachmann, Eldon, Marx and Atlas, up to the latest JL's and SRT's.

I love taking each one out for a spin every once and a while, but lately I've been sticking with the original Aurora's and JL's for my primary runners. As was posted, the JL's are cheap enough to buy in bulk so I've been doing more customs based on that fact. My personal fav's are the original T-Jets for reliability but for visual pleasure, I would have to go with the early Tyco-Pro's and some of the Afx GTP's and F-1's. I think the Atlas Mustang is the best rendition of that car yet.

As for track, I use Tyco because that's what I bought when I got back into it (around 1985). I've been satisfied with it but next year I plan on dabbling into the Faller track line because I plan to double my layout size. I've had some great input on this track type from some of the members here, but I don't think anyone has checked out all the pieces available and what possibilities they have pertaining to layout options. :)

cheers..

My favorite cars are the Afx Magnatractions, since they were my first slotcars. I also like the tjets, and have gotten several of them. I'm glad JL made the Mustang in X-traction (and pullback) form (don't know why Aurora didn't make an Afx Mustang), It looks so natural beside original Afx cars.

For track, I have Tyco because it's what I first bought, and it's cheap at thrift stores...and now with the 15 and 6" curves coming soon.....I'll be able to dream up a cool 6-lane layout.





P.S Bring on the Thundertrucks, or X-Truckin (or whatever JL will call them)!!!:thumbsup:

I like the newer Tomy track best out of all that I have used. I think Tomy has smoother track connections. I like the reverse polarity feature on the power plugs, as well as the wider variety of turns. Unfortunately, I don't own too much of it.

I mostly own Tyco, which is cool with me. I'm looking forward to those new radius curves though. If I was to find good deals on Tomy, I would snap more of it up in a heartbeat.

The first slotcars I drove were MagnaTractions. The first ones I actually owned were Magnum 440s. I love the Tycos, but I never really met a slotcar I didn't like. However, I was pretty bummed when I saw how bad the Ideal cars run. The newer LLs are pretty friggin' fast. I think the Tomy SG+ is one of the fastest out of the box. I haven't tried anything newer than that. I drove StreetRacer's Dad's Wizzard Storm. I would like to try running one of my SG+ cars against it sometime.

Anyways, I can't really choose a favorite kind of car. JLs are definitely fun and plentiful. Every brand has something to offer.

[QUOTE=Captain Fred]I drove StreetRacer's Patriot. I would like to try running one of my SG+ cars against it sometime. (whaddya say Brian?)
QUOTE]


LOL, Mike, I'll bet dad would line up against you with his Storm...... :thumbsup:

Great responses all! I love hearing people's suggestions and stories. Since I was a kid there was a great rivalry between AFX and Tyco - and I'm glad it's still there!!

coach61: Nailing down a set is an obviously simple solution to the track separation problem. But its not feasible and I never wanted a "designated" course. I have a great deal of fun in track design. In fact I probably spend more time in track design and car maintenance than actually racing! I love designing great road courses with the daunting task of making the playing field as equal as possible - inside and outside tracks that have an equal amount of outside curves. I love the simplicity and design of the "new" Tomy track but it leaves much to be desired concerning track separation.

TX : Track....here's what I did and maybe it's something for you to consider. You mentioned you have a "bunch" of old AFX Mag-Trac pieces. I believe this old Speed-Lok track is great. It's extremely durable and reliable. The biggest problem was broken tabs, but once together it really stays put! You can still find the metal clips to secure track with broken tabs. So clean up that old track and use it! My Speed-Lok track is over 25 years old and works just fine!
I opted for some fairly new upgrades through www.towerhobbies.com....and for just under 100 bucks I got the Big Block Battler set (40 feet of new Tomy track and two Super G's) shipped to my door. Get some adapter track and you are well on your way. I think its a fantastic deal...sure you can fudge around with eBay, but why? Most peeps are great on eBay but you never really know what you are getting til you open it up and man some guys just rape you with shipping and "handling". Big Block Battlers...$89.99...Tower. I've bought from them for years and have had little problems. Any minor problem I had, they fixed it immediately.

So now I am off to check out the JL cars....never had them never tried them - they sound great!

Thoughts for your consideration,
:jest: J7

Well, where do i begin?

I am sure that i have posted my story on the HO mailing list quite some time ago, but now that i have a little bit of time, i can add more details to it.

I was not as lucky as most of you here, when i was growing up. My first encounters with slots were my brother's 1/24 and his 1/32 scale cars that he had. We raced those at a track near our home, but the big stuff is another story for another day.

I got my first AFX car from my brother. He got it from someone, dont know, it was a really long time ago. I "rescued" it from him, and forgot about it. It sat for a year in special hiding spots, till i finally decided enough was enough, i had to try it out. It was a pre magnatraction white Camaro. First thing i did, was go to the local hobby/train store and drool over the cars, sets and track they had. I could not afford ( save long enough) a set, so i bought an old train transformer. Next i saved up and bought a terminal track, and just ran solder from the connections and old wire from the transformer, just to hear the car run. I then bought another 15 inch straight, then 8 6 inch 1/8th corners, and then a handcontrol. I could now at least run my car around an oval, tiny, but still a "slotcar" track. It took about 3 years for me to build up my collection and set to about 10 cars, basically 9 magnatraction, 2 gplus and my lonely AFX. I was about 17 when i put all that under my parent's house, and forgot about it all.

Fast track to being about 25. I am walking thru Toys R Us, and i see a basic tomy set, just a figure 8 in the returned toys section. It is missing a car and a handcontoller,and the box is damaged. $10. SO i buy it, with my then girlfriend, and start my second slotcar life. She bought me the biggest lifelike set available here, in Australia for that christmas. My collection grows a bit more. It stops when i split with her, and remains dormant for another 7 years.

I get engaged, to a woman i wanted to live with forever, who did not think me childish, when i brought my slotcars over when i moved in. She had a son, and i thought we could bond that way. I found over 100 magnatraction cars in an old hobby shop, in original factory paper wrapping for like $5.00 each and bought the lot.At the time i wanted to raise some capital for my hobby, and also the wedding.I ended up flooding the market almost, in the states, of Ferrari 512's, in the unique european color scheme. I did not know they were worth over $100US each, and sold them for about$30 a piece. Well, all that money went onto a wedding for a failed marriage, but thems is the breaks.

Today, my collection is over 200 cars. I have some original t-jets, AFX, magnatraction, one super magnatraction, g-plus, super g-plus, lifelike, rokar, tyco and the J/L thunderjets and x-tractions. I have old AFX track, some old lifelike, a tiny bit of tyco, and more tomy track than i can poke a stick at. The tomy stuff i got via ebay, garage sales, a few trades and also looking at the junk people would throw out during council cleanups.

Where is all this leading?

Over there --------------------------------------------->X

The old afx is brittle with age, and also "fragile" when it comes to connecting and disconnecting. The lifelike, which is rather scarce now is not that well made to produce a uniform connection. Tyco, not enough to comment, and the Tomy track, as has been pointed out, has a tendancy of disconnecting easily. My track is not set up permanent yet, and when i do tinker with it, with my son, when he is here, it is attacked by 2 dalmations who bark at the cars, and with paws on the track, disrupt it.
Unfortunately, the plastic of the tomy track is not as strong as the AFX, because my AFX did not warp like the tomy track, and all my straights were flat, unlike the 15 inch tomy stuff, but that will be fixed when i set up a small 4 foot by 8 foot layout.

My favourites now.Tomy track, because it is easy to get here in AUstralia.

Cars, well, it is a toss up between the magnatraction and tomy cars and the J/L stuff.
Unfortunately the negatives for both is a) parts availability here in Australia ( unlike you lucky yanks) and b) the tomy bodies are not as diverse as the " old stuff".

Dont get me wrong tho, i have spent a fortune over the last 12 months gettting parts and stuff shipped from the states, but you guys are just soooooo lucky.

Andrij

PS: I still have that Camaro, after over 20yrs and she still ticks over.

TX : Track....here's what I did and maybe it's something for you to consider. You mentioned you have a "bunch" of old AFX Mag-Trac pieces. I believe this old Speed-Lok track is great. It's extremely durable and reliable. The biggest problem was broken tabs, but once together it really stays put! You can still find the metal clips to secure track with broken tabs. So clean up that old track and use it! My Speed-Lok track is over 25 years old and works just fine!
I opted for some fairly new upgrades through www.towerhobbies.com....and for just under 100 bucks I got the Big Block Battler set (40 feet of new Tomy track and two Super G's) shipped to my door. Get some adapter track and you are well on your way. I think its a fantastic deal...sure you can fudge around with eBay, but why? Most peeps are great on eBay but you never really know what you are getting til you open it up and man some guys just rape you with shipping and "handling". Big Block Battlers...$89.99...Tower. I've bought from them for years and have had little problems. Any minor problem I had, they fixed it immediately.



Jester, I've bought RC stuff from Tower in the past......GREAT company, FAST shipping.

If you or anyone else is interested in this old style AFX track then I'd be interested in trading it for the newer style Tomy track. I plan on permenantly mounting my future layout down.....so I have no problems with that warpage...as it won't affect me when nailed down.

If you're interested then let me know....I've got a big box full of the stuff......all of the broken pieces were tossed out a couple months ago.....so everything is in good shape.
:thumbsup:

Andrij : What a great story! I think its great to share our stories. It's a shame you have such difficulties in AU. Like you, and many I'm sure....the women in our lives come and go. I am very fortunate now to have a woman who understands me and the passions I have for "old-school" toys!!!

TX : sounds like you da man with the plan...but why trade or sell your existing Speed-Lok track? It's good stuff.....and especially with Tomy adaper track - you are set!!! If you are planning on a permenant track then yes...the Tomy track seems great for it! I am curious of your permanent lay-out and why you choose to go this way.

TFYC (thoughts for your consideration)
:jest: J7

TX : sounds like you da man with the plan...but why trade or sell your existing Speed-Lok track? It's good stuff.....and especially with Tomy adaper track - you are set!!! If you are planning on a permenant track then yes...the Tomy track seems great for it! I am curious of your permanent lay-out and why you choose to go this way.

Jester, to be honest, I'm more of a modeler. I'm going to build a layout called a "Scenic Hills 33" .....it fits on a 4' X 8' table.......and the four lane track has 33' lap length. I chose this style of permenant layout because I'm wanting to fully landscape it.....mountains,water,trees,buildings, lights,etc I've done detailed model railroading before.......and I love doing that kind of detailed work...so I want to incorporate that into my slot car hobby.

Basically, I'm choosing to use Tomy track in my layout simply because I do like how it connects together. and also because I need the variety of curves that come with the Tomy track.....in order to build my layout.

So like I mentioned....if you or anyone else wants to unload that Tomy track in favor of this older AFX style track just drop me an e-mail.... :thumbsup:

TX

What track pieces are you after mate? I have my own variation of the scenic hills 33 that i plan to do something similar and have a fair bit of track lying around.

Cheers
Andrij

TX

What track pieces are you after mate? I have my own variation of the scenic hills 33 that i plan to do something similar and have a fair bit of track lying around.

Cheers
Andrij


Andrij,to be honest, I think I own one piece of Tomy track right now......lol, not a very good start to a 4 lane 33' track... :jest:

I figure I'd just buy a couple of those Tomy International 4 lane track sets......that way I'd have a good jump on building my table..........that is if I don't find any cheap Ebay track auctions or do trades for some. :thumbsup:

TX

Make sure that you take your time when setting your track up. As a relatively inexperienced slotter, , i have encountered some things that may help you.

1. When setting up the track, making an outline of the track as it is layed out helps. I did this, but then i did stuff up.
2. Make sure you know what sort of power supply you will use if the track becomes permanent. I started off with 4 wallwarts, but now have a 0-30volt 2.5 amp power supply that i will wire up to my track.
3. Make sure that when you start nailing down the track, you know that the track fits on your board.

OK, so i DID not do those three things.
I did the outline, but the track started to move as i was nailing it down, and ended up half an inch off the board on one side, and an inch at another. As you are nailing, make sure, if you are using the nailing technique, that you dont just keep nailing without checking the position of the track.I dont know how, but my straights turned out not straight, and, well, now i have to, somehow, remove those nails and start again.I also made no provisions for driver stations, and no provisions for the power supply. As my girlfriend, come future wife and track manager said, " Looks like you did an Andrij thing again"

Also, TX, if you do need some pieces of good, used, and i dont mean nailed down/ripped back up track, email me.
I know i may be in Australia, but the net has made the world a smaller place.

CHeers
Andrij

(ps: An "Andrij" thing is doing something without really thinking, like putting the breakfast cereal in the fridge, or even the kettle. )

Andrij made some very good points about track layout. If your layout does not quite fit (you have a gap) and the track pieces are not straight then what you end up with can be something less than what you wanted.

As far as track brands go, all of the sectional plastic track has problems of one sort or another but the TOMY track has the best electrical connections and that's a big deal. The old Aurora L&J track was better quality and straighter but the electrical connections left much to be desired. The fact that they were hidden under the track and were dang near impossible to solder made matters only worse. The Aurora AFX speed lok (speed break) track had the same poor electrical connections as the older track and was in my opinion the worst track ever sold. The plastic may have been a bit better than the TOMY but the tabs broke off from the very start and having to use those repair clips (which were actually developed for an entirely different purpose) was a hack. When you're attaching a track to a table the last thing you want to do is have to take it apart and flip it over to fix it.

Andrij, thanks for the advice. The layout plan I'm going to build will easily fit on a 4' X 8' table....with a bit of room to spare to manuver it around.......so I should be ok on fitting the design to the table. I also will be running a good power supply.....not a bunch of wall warts tossed together ......that just won't cut it for my permanant layout.

I plan on devoting much of my time to setting the track up right......not just snapping it together and then racing....lol.

I'll drop you an e-mail this morning about the Tomy track :thumbsup:

i have run and raced evrything from t jets to patriots.but always have the most fun with my tjets.had a track made up of tomy peices and loved it.making one know out of tjet style track let you know how i like it when finnished.glad to see im not the only one who put the ceral in the fridge.glad i never put the milk on the shelf.

I have or have had almost every type of HO slot car at one time or another.
I originally had AFX and TycoPro with some hand me down Thunder Jets and Lionel cars.

My favorite non-magnet cars to race are the Aurora Slim-line F-1 cars. When I can find a chassis that runs good (that's about one in five) they are a lot of fun. Of course the T-Jets get a lot of track time. I run all of my cars totally stock but I do ad silicone tires.

Favorite non-mag is the Tyco/Mattel 440-X2. Great cars that run good right out of the package and provide for very even competition, but a track with a long straight is needed to really enjoy these cars. I love to race Magna-Tractions too. The Tomy cars with the SRS chassis are pretty fun also.

I need to set-up an HO track soon and will be using Tyco because I got a bunch free when my friends were buying the Mattel set with the #8 and #15 Monte Carlos on sale at K-Mart and they just wanted the cars. I also have the track from the Jeremy McGrath motorcycle set that has 12' curves WITH BORDERS which makes it excellent for non-magnet cars. I waiting for the 6" and 18" aftermarket curves. I will probably paint the track grey so it looks like weathered asphalt and it will also make the darker cars much more visible.

I don't really think there is a good HO track available right now. It is all too narrow. I don't think the power rails need to be on edge either. There are some very inexpensive 1/43 sized tracks that have with "C" shaped power rails (like 1/32 scale track). I think this would be much better because it would not wear out pick-up shoes. Also, the 1/43 tracks typically have stainless steel rails which prohibts corrosion. A new track that is slightly bigger (but not too big) with stainless "C" shaped rails and borders is needed for the size of today's cars.

I will be running my track on 12 volts. I know everyone else will say that's too low but the cars run good and can be controlled in the turns much better... did someone say drifting?

The original Aurora AFX track has gotten a bad rap. I have had many many pieces of this track with the tabs broken off because the track was not made with the right recipe for the plastic. It seems that about half of the track was not made correctly. It should not get brittle and break, but sadly it does.

If it wasn't for this quality control problem it would be excellent track with a deep slot and thick power rails.

There seems to be a lot of bad plastic out there. TOMY and Mattel both have major plastic issues. I don't know why they can't make HO track straight yet still somewhat flexible and resiliant. This stuff has been around for decades and HO track is super low tech. It's time for the slot car hobby to start reaping the benefits of those gazillions of dollars we spent on space exploration and the cold war. I ask you, where's the slot car trickle down technology benefit that was promised??? :devil:

Speaking of bad plastic, the TOMY Super G+ cars have some very serious plastic issues. I can't tell you how many SG+ magnet and body clips I've broken in relatively minor incidents and drops or when taking the body off the chassis. I've had a few SG+ chassis snap in half at the rear of the motor box when snapping in the rear axle. I even had one SG+ chassis that came out of the blister pack busted in half. Fortunately, the BSRT G3 chassis is a much better and sturdier replacement for the SG+ chassis, but dang it, why should I have to spend $7 or $8 to replace a relatively new chassis. The TOMY Turbo and SRT is better only because it has fewer parts to break. The problem with the Turbo/SRT is the snap-in front axle holes tend to grow and get too loose to hold the axle. It never ceases to amaze me that TOMY chose to put the snap-in front axle on the chassis that has a single axle location and requires you to pop the wheels to move the axle on their chassis that has two axle locations. Weird.

I've had a few SG+ chassis snap in half at the rear of the motor box when snapping in the rear axle.


Crap, I had that happen to a SG+ I bought in Florida....one night I bought it, swapped the rear wheels in favor of a set of double flanged Delrin hubs with Wizzard silicones, and put it back in my box because the shop was about to close. Saturday I went to race the car at the shop and I noticed it wouldn't run right.....upon closer inspection I found that the rear axle holder on one side was broken :mad: The only way to fix the chassis was buy using a rear axle retainer clip......which made the car run great.

I should just pick up one of those BSRT chassis though and swap everything over.....

My Uncle Had This Huge Layout In His Basement. He Would Let My Brother And I Run For Hours. It Was 1/32 Scale. My Dad Was A Railroad Buff So Got Into The Railroading Young. We Still Visit The Old Train Room On Hoidays And Family Get Togethers. Then There Was Pat Nolan. His Folks Owned A Bar/ Resturant And He Had It All. So Much In Fact He Found Humor In Lighter Fluid, Ho Scale Drag Strips And A Lit Match. His Folks Supplied Him With A Barrage Of Never Ending Cars.id Take Em Home And Try To Get Em Going Again.at One Time I Had The Largest Parts Supply In The World.(or So I Thought)so Much Stuff Was Tossed. If It Wasnt For My Wife Giving Me The Living Room To Set Up A Permanent Layout , I Probably Woudnt Be Into It Right Now.actually A Few Years Ago She Came Home With 4-5 Marchon Sets Of Which I Still Run Today, Altho Track Selection Is Poor As Far As Radius Curves Go. Also Got A Tyco Track Thats Intertwined Wiyh The Marchon. I Like The Non- Magnet Cars The Best, Alto I Got A Pile Of The Other Also. I Most Enjoy Getting Junk Lots From Ebay And Building Chassis. Im Also Attempting A Modified Dirt Track Car From Scratch. Ive Always Enjoyed Making Something Out Of Nothing, Thanks To All Of You Too And This Forum-- Keep Er In The Groove, Bruce ps. IVE GOT ONE MORE RIDING MOWER TO SELL THEN ITS 3 NEW TOMY FOUR LANE TRACKS AND MARCHON AND TYCO WILL BE HISTORY

They're here. Jay's Race Place (http://www.jaysraceplace.com) has the aftermarket Tyco/Mattel 6" and 15" curves in stock.