Slot Car Racing

[Chris Radisich]

Slotcar racing as it started out in the 60's, scratchbuilt cars raced on routed wooden tracks is still alive and well in many countries across the world.

I started out racing when I was 5 years old, introduced to our local club in Henderson, Auckland by my brother Paul who was racing there at that time (1970). That club is the oldest in NZ (dates back to 1962) and is actually one of the oldest surviving in the world still racing today. Denny Hulme was a patron to the club, and Paul was added as a patron in the 90's.

You can find the Henerson Minature Motor Racing Club online at:
http://www.hmmrc.co.nz
and on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/HendersonMi...otorRacingClub

There is a New Zealand Slotcar Association which has run National Championship events every year for 49 years, only 1 year short of the oldest world nationals, those held in the UK. You can find it online at:
http://www.nzsca.co.nz/
and a list of currently operating clubs in NZ
http://www.nzsca.co.nz/Clubs_new.htm

There is still a very active scene here in the USA where I live these days, with around 200 commercial raceways still operating. Some resources to find raceways can be found at:
http://slotblog.net/forum/74-raceway-list/
and
http://www.oldweirdherald.com/owh-raceway-directory
The most active forums are:
http://www.slotcartalk.com/slotcartalk/forum.php
and
http://slotblog.net/

In Australia there are still a few raceways surviving. The oldest is Hornsby Slotcars in Sydney:
http://hornsbyslotcars.com.au/
and a good directory of Australian tracks is at:
http://www.slotcartracksaustralia.com/

Lots of activity throughout the UK and Europe as well with the UK Association site at:
http://www.bscra.co.uk/

There is also a world body, ISRA, which holds a yearly world championship, which for 2013 is being hosted in the Ukraine:
http://www.isra-slot.com/

There are many many different forms of slotcars, from the plastic track cars that are collected and raced all over the world, to the more specialist wing aero cars (covering more than 110 feet per second, or 75mph in real speed) to brass and piano wire scratchbuilt chassis cars. Just as in real motorsport there are many many different forms and classes, all with their own race venues, rules and groups that race them.

Here are a few videos showing a couple of the many different types of modern slotcar racing.

A video taken in Helsinki at the European Wing Car Championships, and gives a look at the racing, plus a look around the pit area as competitors work on their cars. These are the fastest slotcars on the planet, covering the 155ft Blue King track (A world standard layout design and length) in under 1.5 seconds. They are very dependant on aero to keep them on the track as they weigh around 45 grams in total.