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Slot cars are to scale models of real race cars. Slot cars date back to the 1930's and 40's and became popular in the 1960's and 1970's. The quality, style of cars and track have made tremendous improvements. Today you can get slot cars in a variety of designs from NASCAR, Formla One, Championship Auto Racing Team (CART) and Indy (IRL) body styles. Every scale racer has their own idea of the style of car they prefer and best track configuration.
What makes slot cars fun is that you are in full control of the slot car racing on a replica of a real track in your own home. From a visual perspective, what you see is precisely the size of what you would see at a real racetrack and you are the one who is making that car perform just like the real thing. As the car takes the turn you slow down to handle the curve without losing control and then hit the straight away full throttle before maneuvering through a series of s-turns and back into a straight. Completely immersed in the action is what makes slot car racing fast, furious, fun on a track.
The hobby of 1:43 slot car racing is the fastest growing scale among slot cars. You can get a lot more 1:43 track in any given space than the 1:32 or 1:24 scale models. For serious race hobbyists, the 1:32 scale is the perfect size. You are aware that you are driving a minature replica of a specific real car, but it is just large enough that you can easily see the details. These cars are the best practical size for home racing.
Slot cars run on a plastic track with a slot and metal connector strips. These connector strips provide the electrical power to the cars. The slot cars have a "slot pin" that guides the car so you can maneuver it around the track. Two braided copper wire strips are positioned on each side of the "slot pin" to touch the connector strips on the track to the electrical power that reaches the motor inside the racecar. As the driver, you control how much electrical power reaches the track by pulling a trigger on a hand-held controller. Each racecar has a magnet mounted inside the bottom of the chassis. These magnets grip the connector strips on each side of the slot pin to help keep the car in the slot.
Slot car racing is not limited to just watching cars zip around a track. You can use additional straight and curve pieces to assemble a track that matches your favorite racetrack from anywhere in the world. If you get tired of racing on your track, you can change the layout to another configuration of a well known track or make up your own racetrack layout.
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