[MRE]

Hi guys, nice to see the picture of myself and Sean at the Protec launch (my son is standing between us) holding the kits we won at the test races by coming second to the home team on their club track. I'd like to add a bit more about that range to expand Brian's excellent report.

The Protec range concept was done in collaboration with John Robinson of MRRC. In fact MRRC guides were used on the cars, and I believe John also sourced the motors and gears, plus other parts. The chassis was a simple metal iso-fulcrum design and had an adaptor plate to fit into contemporary Scalextric bodyshells. The cars performed quite well and could be competitive on club tracks, so what went wrong ?

The problem was by using 3mm parts they had no compatibility with any other Scalextric cars or any parts from other manufacturers. I know that Adrian Norman argued very strongly about this (he was Product Development Manager at the time) but was overruled by others who thought they knew better, thats one of the problems of having people with no experience who have ruling decisions. By not using industry-standard 3/32 parts the range very quickly flopped. The Protec range of spares went the same way - using 3mm parts meant you had to change everything or nothing, so axles, bearings, wheels & tyres, gears, all had to be swapped instead of just one item. Costly and uneccessary, no wonder it failed. Yes, there were still some spare parts packs left at MRE in 2021 !!

Unfortunately, the Protec cars and spares aren't the only failing as Brian (CMOTD) has indicated. Lack of understanding and decent testing/development has made cars worse than they should have been (the hopeless slimline motor is a classic case) and adding magnets has become a necessity to try and combat the hard tyres and too-slippery Sport track. Basic design has been talked about a lot elsewhere, and Maurizio of Slot.It tried very hard to instill some parameters such as standardised wheel & tyre sizes etc, while at Scalextric Dave Kennedy also tried hard with some design pointers, but overall there is a lot lacking despite the efforts of people who know what they are talking about. John Robinson had the right concept with the Protec cars, one of the few ideas that got into production but was ultimately buggered up by people who don't know the slot car world. 

But - the basic flaw is having a design and development department that has no experience of racing, designing, building, or understanding how slot cars work. You wouldn't put a CAD worker in charge of a racing team, so why haven't Scalextric put somebody relevant in place ? I can't think of any other manufacturer that hasn't got an experienced slot car racer and builder in charge, who thoroughly test their cars in track conditions.

To be balanced, Scalextric car bodies are attractive and well decorated and produced, among the best in the world. Its only when you get underneath them that the shortcomings are obvious, with the result that dubious design is hidden by magnets etc. Using parts that are not compatible with anything else (even other Scalextric cars) killed Protec.

PS. Part of the arrangement with John Robinson resulted in some Limited Edition cars - Jersey Police cars, and 3 Aston Martin DBR1 cars in black, white, and blue, specially made for MRRC. 

Have fun guys. Regards from Gary at MRE (now retired).