In just one short year

[Czar]

DW and anyone else who think I was bashing Carrera, re-read the post. The only negativity is whatever you want to project into it. Since the essence of the post was not clear I will distill the whole post down to two words: Advertising works.

[strangebrew]

................Guys......... we need to understand slot cars are a niche market.....
Knock on a hundred doors & ask who has a slot car track, then try to make money selling to them!!!!
We should be thankful there are companies that make & sell anything for us.
From the posts, it appears there is something there for everybody, no need to berate what someone else likes.
I have exactly one manufactured car. (an SCX Dodge NASCAR #9) I bought it at a swap meet 'cuz a slot buddy
had a couple & they were fun on his track. Took it out of the case, made 2 laps on my oval, found the tires
were hard & it's been back in the case since.
I won a Carrera Cobra on an HRW benefit auction. Ran it maybe 6 laps on my track & put it in the next HRW auction.
Nothing wrong with it, just not my "cup of tea".
Nobody manufactures much of what interests me..............WHICH IS WHY I SCRATCH BUILD!!!!!
No need for me to bad mouth the manufacturers. I doubt they could sell more than 3 cars based on my preferences.
I'm grateful for all the scratch builder's products sold by SCC & others.
As long as there's brass, motors, solder & resin............I'm happy.

[DaveKennedy]

Interesting discussion...
I can only speak for what I see coming from Scalextric in the new year and stack it up against what I had seen at my previous company over the past few years.

We will be doing a new US mold every year for the foreseeable future. That's something that no other company has done in the past 5 years and unless something radically changes... they won't be doing that. I have in hand the newest car aimed pretty much only at the US market. I have suggested something... out of the box... for 2020 that's already going to the mold makers. With a car after that already planned. The researcher/product manager for cars and the manager for sets and I work closely to try to get as many US cars each year in the line as we can. This will continue each year.

I'm not going to say that we're going to radically change how we make/design cars to have them be aimed at the hobbyists...(we should not, and it would never be something I would suggest) we will continue to offer a good starting point slot car at a competitive price.

There's no need to badmouth anyone as has been previously stated, all you have to do is look at recent history of car releases to project where each company is going.

I will reach out to more clubs to set up local, club races with our cars to hopefully win over more of the slot racers out there. If you're a member of a club in the US (sadly we don't yet directly distribute in Canada) feel free to reach out to me and I'll get you some cars for your club to race... dave.kennedy@hornby.us

[JamieB]

Dave,
I've mentioned it to you in the past and I know you say Scalextric won't do it because they don't sell 1:24 track, but I really think there is a market for a 1:24 car line from you guys. With the popularity of the 1:24 BRM cars and the lack of new Carrera molds I think Scalextric could be the leader in rtr cars in the 1:24 market, especially if they decided to go after it with the same enthusiasm they have towards the 1:32.They would sell a ton here in Cincinnati alone for sure. I know its a pipe dream, but I'm still going to bug ya every once in awhile. haha. :pray: :pray: :pray:
Jamie

[DaveKennedy]

[HomeRacingWorld]

I will butt in again...

With all the scratchbuilding parts, tires, model kits galore...as well as the 3D exploding, why not BUILD the 1/24 instead?

I have a small collection of Carrera 1/24 and they are fun. But our biggest attraction? Good old USA oval racing BOMBERS!

Not every club out there only races Euro machines. Some of us rather like USA racing as that is what we grew up with. They do not make it...so we build it. Have done so for YEARS.

And a H&R/Brass chassis 1/24 can easily be converted to digital. Been there, done that. It's fun.

I see almost ZERO posts about BRM and even Carrera 1/24. A few clubs race it....but they either don't share it, or they hide it on purpose :)

Ok...butting out...

[JamieB]

Thanks for the reply Dave, I guess I've been drinking the 1:24 Kool-Aid and think its more popular than it actually is. It doesn't hurt to ask the rep for a company who is killing it in the slot car game right now though.
Harry, Scratch building would be fun, but with a wife, three kids under 6, a full time job and part time college at night, I don't have much free time to do it right now. And yes, the Cincinnati crowd is primarily sports car racing. Someday I'll get a car in the Showdown though, someday.

[R/TRandy]

I do think Czar has a good point, enthusiasm for Carrera does seem to be at a lower point, at least here in the USA.
And it has happenen all in the past year, they seemed to have shot them selves in the foot with a few of their changes.
The changes coming from a brand that seemed to be on top, did seem to be a little odd or ill timed.
These changes are no big deal when looked at individually and some changes don't effect everyone,
but there were alot of changes in a short peirod of time. Here are the changes I nocticed earlier this year.

2018 Carrera
-lack of new molds
-Lost tire sponsors from tires and cars
-trend or focus toward toys/kids themes
-lack of Ford, Dodge or Plmouth stock cars repaints of old molds
-lost Dave Kennedy, was a great ambassador for the brand
-Lost Dave Kennedy running Carrera Facebook page
-Lost the easy to use Carrera slot car web site
-New pricing scheme Higher prices across the board

I am big Carrera fan, not that happy with some of these changes but will still get some of their cars each year.
It kind of reminds me of Schlitz beer, who used to be the biggest brewer in the US. Then decided to change their
recipe and never fully recovered from it.

[strangebrew]

...Just had a thought :think:
I wonder if the major companies could see fit to sell PARTS.
If a guy could buy a chassis, motor, wheels, guides etc. separately, he could "assemble" something.
Possibly you could buy some of the bodies from the manufactures also, besides all the great resin casters out there.
Not exactly scratch building, but a guy could put something together to float his boat.
......I'm just sayin' :angry-soapbox:

[mattb]

I also like the great looking rtr cars available today. I do kind of wish for something similar in 1/24. A Lotus 38??? Indy Watson roadsters in all the great color schemes of the 50's and 60's, I can just imagine how good they would look. Then I think about the plastic chassis, magnets and the fact it's not a car I built and figure, I am just better off to build what I want and scratchbuild a chassis or setup an old Dynamic.

Probably the most collectible of the 60's cars is the Cox Chaparral 2E. It would be a great rtr, as would the 2C and 2D. Lot of great old 1/24 cars that would be desirable. It is a nice dream to have access to such greatly detailed bodies. .

[HomeRacingWorld]

So let me ask this?

We have 3D designers in FORCE these days. We have all sorts of things to print. And 1/32 chassis are everywhere, I mean everywhere.

We have TONS of model kits in this Country. TONS. Almost any model you could want to build.

Why isn't the 3D boom on chassis including 1/24?

Perhaps I am doing it differently or incorrectly, but when I see a 3D chassis it means:

Some chassis require a pod you must purchase. And then all new running gear. Same cost as if I built a brass chassis.
Because WHY would you try and use the lower quality RTR gear?
Are you twisting off Scalextric/Carrera wheels and using it over? Why do that? The performance increase you are looking for when you think a 3D chassis is the cure all answer is immediately negated using low quality running gear.

The number of 1/24 Carrera compared to 1/32 has ALWAYS been smaller and always will.

Randy, Carrera has not been using licensed tire markings for years. Not just recently.

And before you blame them, why not email Goodyear? The ridiculous licensing fee they require is WHY you don't see them. Is it THAT big a deal? Can you read therm when the car is moving?

I read an article from Germany about the trouble Carrera was in. I will not elaborate, but there has been some setbacks. Shedding yourself of top quality people like Dave and ignoring the buying power of the USA is simply the opposite of what a company in trouble should do. BUT I have learned a loooooooong time ago that these companies do what they want, regardless of what makes sense.

NINCO (AKA Nincompoop). Constant motor changes, abandoning the classic series in lieu of more Rally that never sells, and partnering with MRC that lead to price increases through the roof. We all tried to help for years...No dice. Where are they now? An no, don't believe half what you read at the National Enquirer of Slot Cars Today :)

SCX: Had a GREAT thing going with the NASCARS as well as other models. BUT just would not realize the digital system they made was inferior. All the tooling, investments, in that was murder. We tried to help?....NO dice again. Where are they now?

Carrera went through this before. They had a great resurgence with the help of quality PEOPLE over here. More new classic NASCARS, Classics like the Cheetah and Cobra, The 57 Bel Air...it was great.

And just like other companies...POOF, they pull the plug. And they have a year like this one where they just didn't have much to talk about.

That does not mean it will stay that way. They might see the light and come back next year stronger, with newer molds and maybe get really smart and bring back the classic NASCARS that never get old.

Time will tell.

[kidvoltage]

[WB2]

[R/TRandy]

Sorry Harry, but last year 2017 roughly half of Carrera offerings still had the correct tire sponsors on the and tires and on the cars. In 2018 they went to arcoss the board with the Carrera markings on their tires. Which they didn't have before, they have used Decent Decade on vintage race cars for several years and yes it was more decent looking :)
I realize for most it's not a big deal, but it is a change that is odd, no markings at all would have much better and a cost saver. As well as making Carrera spare parts availability better as was mentioned for the one of the reasons for the change.
I am hoping its just a bad year for them and the future will be better. As Carrera Digital user I have a lot of Carrera stuff.


Randy

[MrAdept]

I have couple of his 1/24th scale chassis - for the smaller cars, Escorts, Minis, Golfs.
quite nice although I haven't actually got to racing them yet. Made from PLA if you order from him, or whatever Shapeways uses if you order from there. (I have the PLA versions).

I am working on a chassis for a 512BB LM shell I have printed in 1/24th scale - its getting there slowly - I have a running example but it needs tuning.

Mark