[CMOTD]

Final episode last night with Scalextric taking centre stage. Bearing in mind that we are not the target audience I found the whole series enjoyable and illuminating with some stunning model railway layouts featured. Some of the elements were a bit silly such as the upside down train track but the general viewing public no doubt liked it.

A few things I noticed regarding Scalextric:

Throughout the series Hornby trains were promoted as serious models with as much concentration on performance and handling of the locos as the above footplate detailing. Scalextric on the other hand was described several times as a toy product by Simon Kohler and very little attention was given to performance. Much of last night's program was dedicated to the bodyshells of the Lamborghini and Formula E cars.

Performance testing was limited to a quick run round an oval to make sure the magnets were strong enough. Later we were treated to some rug racing by two Hornby employees with the sole aim of knocking each other off the track. The slipping and sliding would seem to indicate that the magnets were removed for this and was a perfect example of how rubbish Scalextric tyres are.

A couple of nice home tracks were featured including a club standard one but both were virtually bereft of scenery. A pity they didn't include a scenic version to show that slot car tracks can be just as detailed as model railways. This and other forums feature hundreds of suitable examples they could have filmed. I also wonder whether Hornby noticed that the cars on the club track weren't Scalextric products.

Simon Kohler is the true lynchpin of the company and has been vital to their survival but he is not quite as cuddly as he appeared on TV. He is well liked in the industry but  is a bit lacking in the sense of humour department and and can be a real Rottweiler if you cross him. I had several run ins with him during my time as NSCC editor and he sometimes regarded me as the spawn of the devil if I published the merest hint of criticism. John Dilworth once wrote a review of the, then new, Ford GT40 for the magazine which was 99% positive but rather extracted the urine about the godawful blobby headed driver. He reckoned it had been designed by the apprentice during the design team's lunch break and, predictably, Simon went ballistic. He got a minion to phone and give me a roasting so I felt obliged to point out that the club wasn't an extension of Hornby's advertising department, John had bought the car with his own money so he was entitled to write honestly about the product, the comment had been written tongue in cheek and if Simon didn't like it he could go forth and multiply! Fair play though, he doesn't normally harbour grudges and when we met a couple of months later at an NSCC do he bought me a pint and we had a long friendly chat with no mention of our recent spat.