Welcome

Digest 1

Published by JasonB on Jan 7, 2025 in Digest

A special 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.

Track Plans

Published by JasonB on Dec 22, 2024 in Features, Plans, Tracks

Our Track Plans section is just the thing if you’re thinking about building a new layout, or even if you just want to check out some ideas. Whether you’re looking for a comprehensive layout plan with all the parts and measurements listed, or just looking to kick start the creative process, we might well have what you need.

There are over 170 circuit designs from every major manufacturer, and more will be added regularly to build up another one of our invaluable reference sections.

We’ve got designs for Scalextric, Carrera, Ninco, Tomy AFX, Policar, ScaleAuto, Airfix, and Wrenn. We’ve also got designs for custom built layouts, for those who want to rout their own track. In fact we’ve got track plans for almost every size and scale of layout you might want.

So why not head across and have a look?

Track Plans

Grand Prix

Published by JasonB on Aug 4, 2024 in Features, Media

Through a fatefully fortuitous set of circumstances, Slotracer.Online has come into possession of a vast treasure trove of original and unpublished contact strips from the film “Grand Prix”, John Frankenheimer’s classic, and stylish 1966 Formula One film. This collection of almost 10,000 shots came from Jim Russell, a former racing driver who worked on the film. How he came by them is anybody’s guess, but they have now been saved from certain destruction by our very own Norfolk correspondent, Mr Brian Rogers.

It was such a fabulous collection that we obviously couldn’t just keep it to ourselves. These may have been simple contact strips, but with a little tender loving care, this unique array of work had to be made public. So with a fanfare and a drum roll, we proudly present a selection of our favourite shots from behind the scenes of this iconic film.

GRAND PRIX

Obviously this isn’t directly related to slot cars, but it is certainly part of motorsport and film history, and it was just too good an opportunity to miss. With a cast list including James Garner, Francoise Hardy, Graham Hill, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark, and many, many more the film was an epic period piece, but what a period.

Arguably the finest era of Formula One, captured in stunning detail with some of the best racing sequences ever.

If you’ve never seen the film before, please make sure you do. And if you have, we hope you enjoy this little look at some of the publicity shots and behind the scenes photos. Highly recommended.

GRAND PRIX

BRM, the Inside Story

Published by JasonB on May 5, 2023 in Features, Updates

We have a new and fairly substantial motor racing history section which we’ve added to the site. It could be encapsulated by just three letters, BRM, but in truth the full story would make a decent sized  book.

The inspiration for our new section came from a British Racing Motors team mechanic, Dennis ‘Sheriff’ Perkins who worked for the team for well over a decade from the mid 1950s onwards, and who took photos throughout his time with the team.

Of course Perkins wasn’t a professional photographer, he was first and foremost a BRM mechanic. In fact he was so good at his job that he was elected to membership of the BRDC, being proposed by Graham Hill and seconded by Jackie Stewart.

But he took photos of some important motor racing events, and he took his photos from a different angle to the press, or the spectators. He snapped his pics from behind the scenes, from the oil stained pit boxes, from the workshops, or even from the team transporter which he drove across the continent in his slippers.

Through his photos we will tell the story of British Racing Motors, from the disastrous and all too obvious failings in the early days, through to being world champions and one of the most consistently successful teams in Formula One at their peak, before they were brought back down to earth with a bump, as the team declined.

BRM had always set out to match and beat the best in Formula One. To do that, they absolutely insisted that they should build their own engines as well as the chassis. They wanted to take Ferrari’s approach, and when it worked, it really worked, but when it didn’t, it really didn’t.

Nowadays of course, we can expect a netflix documentary for every F1 race, no matter how insignificant. But in those days there were a very limited cohort of press reporters and photographers. So this little treasure trove of photos from the pit lanes and paddocks of the 1950s and 1960s are important.

We’ve tried our best to tell the stories of not just BRM, but of the individual races for which we have photos, many of which have their own fascinating tales to tell.

We’ve tried to tell the story of the BRM drivers and the BRM cars. We’ve used a wide variety of sources for all of the information, including contemporary reports.

We’ve also included slot track plans for every circuit, and a comprehensive list of BRM slot cars.

So there you go, that’s a rough outline of what we’ve got for you, hope you enjoy having a look and a read.

Many thanks to John Perkins, son of Dennis, for his kind permission to use these photos. Many thanks also to Dennis ‘Sheriff’ Perkins himself, not just for his sterling work with BRM, but also for recording his time with the team.

BRM, the Inside Story