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Slot car track...WITH NO SLOT !


Ace-Garageguy

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10 minutes ago, cobraman said:

Didn't AMT have a set back in the 60's ?

They had a rig that had working steering...to a point...but the track still had a guide slot.

With the steering, you could sortof steer around obstacles (to a limited degree) and cross from one lane to another, but only at one place on the track that had an X slot. You could also make the cars hang the tail out, which was pretty fun.

 

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Its an impressive technology. It appears to be an RC car that is scaled to the track. The track seems to take up a full room. Sadly I fear this is an innovation that's two decades too late. Would you rather control a toy car or a real one? There are games on both major game systems that put you in the driver's seat of a host of tremendous cars. They offer a degree of customization this system lacks.

Is it nifty......yes. I tried to create something similar last century. I fear for the inventors behind this, it will be a rather limited market.

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5 hours ago, Jim B said:

I had a TCR track.  It was pretty cool.  I think I still have the cards someplace.

They were fun when they worked right. I had the semi truck sets with the blocker pickup. The biggest problem with them was they would stop when changing lanes because the pickups lost contact.

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We were racing 1/24 R/C cars 20 or more years ago , they were made by Tamiya . I still have these packed away. We raced on slot car tracks , just didn't use the slot . They didn't become a really big thing because of the lack of slot car tracks to race on here. They could be set up outside , but had to have a very smooth surface to handle well .

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This is all pretty cool stuff. I went thru slot cars a few years ago.  Still have lots fo cars and track. Fun for a while.  Even made a 6' x 12' routed 3 lane layout - still at my ex house with my ex wife.   I miss my lawnmower - LOL.   Had a lot of fun with it with my kids and friends.  BUT...

Look at the Forza seriesfor example.   You can drive 700+ cars now on real race tracks.   Sit in the car with actual details of the real thing.   I've been to VIR a couple times and the scenery in the game is spot-on.  The last turn at sebring?  With all it's roughness?  Yep, it's in there.   Plus, if you invest in a whole setup, you can have steering wheel, pedals, shifter.   Some guys are using real car seats or racing seats.  With slots, you get a thrill of racing, but not the whole deal.  And the new system in the OP looks fun too, til you figure in the cost and space.  I use my wife's inherited rocking chair and the TV already in place.  I turn the rocker around and no space is taken for the hobby.  

With Real Racing 3, you can race anytime (almost) on your smart phone.

As nice as models are, there is nothing like sitting in a 69 Boss 302, with the dash and wheel interpreted accurately.  And driving around Sebring or VIR or Watkins Glen or so on.  I can race against the old cars and drive them too.  As fun as slots and the newer things are, I really like the racing games much more.   I hope the slot hobby hangs on - they do make some very nicely detailed models and they are fun, if you got a place to race.  

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 3/25/2018 at 10:18 PM, peteski said:

I still have my Tyco TCR slotless race car set, similar to this:

Tyco-Command-Control-Set-Nite-Glow-Light

I still have that exact set from my childhood! It was cool at first - being able to change lanes. But it didn't stay in that lane, especially in the turns. G force automatically pulled it to the outside lane. And a lot of times the didn't quite make it back to the lane it was supposed to be in and would get stuck in the middle of the road and get hit by the other cars. Then you'd have to stop, get up and go fix it. That got old real quick!

The box made it look exciting, though.

I used to like setting up obstacles like cones, barrels and ramps and go to town. That was fun!

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Slot cars are one of my big hobbies. i got into it years ago and slowly it grows. i only have my rally cars on this picture, my race cars and muscle cars are in a box not pictured.  these are 1/32 scale. the track is 8 foot by 5 foot

 

 

20180308_165107.jpg

Edited by youpey
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On 4/12/2018 at 3:27 PM, Oldcarfan27 said:

I still have that exact set from my childhood! It was cool at first - being able to change lanes. But it didn't stay in that lane, especially in the turns. G force automatically pulled it to the outside lane. And a lot of times the didn't quite make it back to the lane it was supposed to be in and would get stuck in the middle of the road and get hit by the other cars. Then you'd have to stop, get up and go fix it. That got old real quick!

The box made it look exciting, though.

I used to like setting up obstacles like cones, barrels and ramps and go to town. That was fun!

I had the set with a figure-eigth track (and a single-lane bridge at the crossing to avoid a collision).  My experience was the same as yours, but it was still fun. Friend of mine got the track which came trucks and an obstacle car and we joined both tracks together. I think his track had either a gauntlet or a 180 degree curve where each lane had a different length. We had a blast.

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Slotless racing? Doesn't look like all that much fun to me. At least not in the way the guy in the first video made it look. The way it's set up with steering on the speed controller like that, looks to me like it could be part of the problem. 

Slotless vs slotted racing? Slotless more realistic? Yes. But more fun? I'm not so sure? It would be interesting to try it and see. 

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