Digest 1

Published by JasonB on Jan 7, 2025

A special New Year’s catch up on…. everything!

Whether you are new to the hobby or a seasoned veteran, whether you’re familiar with the SlotRacer website or not, you won’t want to miss out on our annual overview of the huge amounts of essential content we have for slot racers everywhere. We have over 41,000 forum posts from our friendly and knowledgable members, the library is always popular with hundreds of magazines and brochures, there are downloadable graphics, a massive selection of slot track plans and inspirational members’ tracks, details of slot racing clubs, a handy ‘how to’ manual and an ARC Pro guide. We’ve also got our own take on the history of British Racing Motors, the airfield tracks of Great Britan, the NSCC, the UKSCF, VIP, Vanquish, STS, Maxi Models, Wrenn and Super Shells, and as if that wasn’t enough we also have an exclusive behind the scenes look at the classic film ‘Grand Prix. We had over 11 million visits to the site last year, so we must be doing something right!

Forum

• The Forum The Slotracer forum is a friendly discussion board where we chat about slot cars, tracks, and racing. It’s a great place to get advice, or show off your work, so why not drop by sometime?

Calendar

• Calendar The Calendar is the place to find out what’s going on in the world of slot cars, but it’s also the place for you to promote your own events. Whether it’s a club meeting, race night, swapmeet, or proxy race, just put it in the Calendar and we’ll feature it on our home page.

• 2024 Slot Racer Calendar If you like a proper, paper calendar, then the 2024 SlotRacer Calendar is now available to download and print. It has a separate page for each month with plenty of room for your notes, reminders and the dreaded jobs list. Each page features one of Doug Johnson’s fabulous slot car photos, and the calendar prints at a standard A4 size.

Slot Cars

• The SlotRacer’s Manual The SlotRacer’s Manual is our attempt to guide you through all the steps you’ll need to get your cars running smoother and faster, your track working perfectly, and your trackside scenery looking fantastic. In bite sized chunks, and simple language, we’ll show you how to maintain and tune your cars, how to design and make your track, and how to create realistic scenery, without spending a fortune.

• Slotcar Alley Slotcar Alley is a magical place where all of the most important slot car companies, people and organisations have been gathered together onto one street. So you won’t have to go searching far and wide for your slot car needs, because you can find everything right here. Please feel free to have a wander.

Tracks & Scenery

• Members’ Tracks If you are looking for ideas and inspiration for your track build, or if like me, you just like seeing what others have done with their layouts, then you’ve come to the right place. Each one of these tracks is fantastic in it’s own right, but when you put them all together, when you see the range and diversity of ideas, and the talent of the makers, I think it makes a fantastic advert for our hobby.
• Scenic items manufacturers & suppliers index A fantastic resource for finding scenic items for your track is our regularly updated list of suppliers and manufacturers of scenic items.

Slot Racing Clubs

• Slot Racing Clubs Slot racing clubs are at the heart of our hobby, with knowledgeable members, a friendly environment, and competitive racing. Check out our directory of clubs, or find a club near you with our club maps.

Digital

• ARC Pro Guide This is our ARC Pro app user guide, but it’s also much more than that. It’s not just about the technical details, it’s also stacked full of useful tips about how to use Scalextric’s digital racing app practically, in a real racing environment.

Magazines & Graphics

• The Library The SlotRacer library is a growing collection of catalogues and magazines dating from the very beginnings of the hobby, right through to the present day. We have everything from official brand catalogues, and brochures, to independent periodicals, and magazines covering a wide range of slot racing, and modelling subjects. These are the publications that have shaped and promoted our hobby for 60 years.
• Magazines Index If your interest is more for contemporary magazines then check out the Magazines Index, where you’ll find links to hundreds of periodicals from the last few months and years. A fantastic resource of reading material.

• Slot Track Graphics An A to Z of slot track graphics, banners, logos, textures, posters and backdrops. In short, everything you need to get your your track kitted out, and your track room looking great. These are all free to download, for you to print off and use however you see fit.

Plans

• Track Plans Whatever style of track you are interested in, whether you prefer Scalextric, Carrera, or routed, if you want a single lane rally track, or an eight lane club track, and whether you’re interested in analogue or digital, it’s definitely worth a look at our track plans for ideas and perhaps inspiration.

• J-Trak J-Trak is the ultimate “do it yourself” modular system for portable Scalextric Sport and Digital tracks. It’s a semi-permanent, modular table based layout system, that you can add to, alter, or join with other J-Traks to make larger layouts. We have a step by step guide, and a multitude of module designs.

• Artomotive Classic cars, plans, technical drawings and cutaways, all defined by the human hand. Artomotive is an unashamedly nostalgic look back at at a bygone era, and a chance to make some of the wonderful plans, drawings, artwork, and articles of those bygone days available to a wider audience.

• F1 Track Plans 2018 Over 70 F1 track plans from the 2018 season, in different scales, and using different track systems, with elevation maps, race results and reports, and a bit of history thrown in too. It’s pretty good for the first 17 races, and one day I’ll finish it off.

• 101 Circuits for Scalextric Drivers This is the classic 1960s Scalextric track plans magazine, loosely recreated, lovingly restored, diligently revised, and digitally remastered. All of the big, bold vintage feel, but now in amazing high fidelity! The original artwork, calligraphy, and graphics have all been carefully renovated, and the track plans have been converted for Sport track, and adapted where necessary.

History

• BRM, the Inside Story We’ve taken a detailed look at the history of British Racing Motors, and what a story it is. We’ve included an absolute treasure trove of original, contemporary photos taken by BRM team mechanic Dennis ‘Sheriff’ Perkins. We run through the races, check out the cars, deal with the drivers and throw in some slot track plans for good measure. If you have any interest in BRM, or indeed in Grand Prix racing of the 1950s and 60s, then this should be a bit of a treat.

• British Racing Greens British Racing Greens is the story of the airfield Circuits of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, how they changed the course of motorsport history, and in turn perhaps the history of slot cars. It’s a tale worth telling, and there are also over sixty Scalextric track plans included.

• Lost & Found Slot car racing has a fairly long history now, having been around for over 60 years. During that time many manufacturers have come and gone, and many products have been presented, only to disappear. Of course, some of those manufacturers and products fully deserved to fall by the wayside. But then there were the others that perhaps deserved more, the ones that are fondly remembered, sorely missed, and still collected to this day.

• The Chronicle The Chronicle has several stories to tell. It has the detailed history of the National Scalextric Collectors’ Club, the origins of the UK Slot Car Festival, the building of the Ultimate Hillclimb, and some of the baffling decisions taken by Scalextric and SCX.

Media

• Grand Prix Directed by John Frankenheimer, this classic 1966 film was both innovative and iconic, and is rightly classed as a motor sport masterpiece. It featured a star studded international cast, and an even more impressive list of elite drivers. We’ve got a wealth of previously unpublished material to show you, including behind the scenes photos, and publicity shots. This is a whole new angle on a classic and iconic film.

• Photography We’ve obviously got photos all over the site, but this section is where we’ve drawn together the work of Doug Johson, whose work is simply exceptional. Doug is an ex pro who has kindly supplied us with a huge stash of fabulous photographs, so this is a feast for the eyes.