What is your all time favorite slot car race set?

[BRS Hobbies]

I know a lot of us have had the pleasure of opening more than one race set over the years. If you could pick one to be under the Christmas tree, what would you pick as your all time favorite slot car race set? It can be any scale, past or current production, etc. If you can find a picture of the race set, please post it.

Best regards,
Brian

[mattb]

riversideqqqqq.jpg

The Monogram 1/24 Riverside set from 1965. I've always thought Monogram was the nicest looking of all the slot car tracks made.
While the 3 1/2 inch lane spacing is still too tight for most 1/24 cars, it will work. I've had a few of those sets over the years and the artwork really makes them attractive. For a home track the rich kids that got this set must have had lots of fun!!!

riverside qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq.jpg

The best set from the old days that was great for 1/24 was the Sears/Marx 1/24 Professional set. This track did have 4 inch lane spacing, aprons molded with the curve tracks to allow an extra 2 inches for drifting. The curves were flat or moderately banked, not the crazy full banks like Carrera makes. I had this track set up for many years at home.

sears race set.jpg

[FC47]

Aurora, Model Motoring, Sterling Moss set I think it was,
Hooked me on cars and racing...

[arroldn]

Eldon Selectronic Road Race Set. Got this for Christmas. Not sure if we got it when it first came out in '63 or not. If so I would have been 10. Later we upgrade to cars with lights. Was a member of the Eldon Pit Pass Club which had a monthly newsletter. When I got back into slots was surprised that analog did not have a lane changing feature. Purchased a Scaletric LeMans 24 somewhere around 2006. Set had two Porsche 911s.

[chrisguyw]

VIP for me,........my father brought back a set from the London Toy fair in 1961.

I still have the cars, and they both look and run great!!

Cheers
Chris Walker

The following pics., were pinched from Google images

[chappyman66]

I am with Matt, I am a Marx 1/24 guy. Had 4 sets at one point before Artin came out. Now down to the original set that came from Sears back in the day.

[Pappy]

Strombecker. It was a small oval with a Ferrari and a D Jag. My brother and I saved our allowance for weeks to buy it. It cost $10. I'm guessing around 1963.

[mattb]

i never saw the VIP sets, but read about them when I got back into this stuff in the late 80's. I thought the stainless track and unique wiring was really neat. A few months ago there was a boxed set on Ebay for $99 or make offer. I almost made an offer on that set, but common sense finally prevailed!!!

The Marx track was the best 1/24 there was till Carrera came out with the current design. I had 50 foot or more setup with it and was able to run a lot of the old 60's 1/24 cars I had collected.

[Slot GT]

This is my favourite because it was my first ever slot car set. My mom, aka Santa, got it for me for Christmas (1969 I think or just around that time). I played with this set for hours on end. I've loved slot cars and racing in general ever since. I still have the set and all my Eldon cars.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Christmas, 1961? Maybe 1962, there was a Stirling Moss Aurora Thunder Jet Figure Eight set under our tree. I had it assembled before my mother had breakfast ready. I ran it all day. I began saving my allowance that day to get more track. I extended one loop of the figure 8 by 4 straights, 2 on each side, and that was the way I ran it for many years. The set had a gray Falcon Coupe with black interior and a red Fairlane with white interior. I added a tan Thunderbird convertible and a green Falcon. Hard to imagine how long ago that was.

[mattb]

Not trying to hijack the thread, but this is kind of in a similar vein.

Here is a Christmas picture from 64, I would guess. After getting the Model Motoring AC powered set around 1960 and eventually converting it to DC, I got a Strom set a few years later. It was never very good, the cars did suck pretty good. Probably like all the early sets, the tires were crap. My brother and I each got a 1/32 Cox Ford GT , also. I think that the close by commercial track must have opened about that time. Probably we took the 1/32's to the big track and while they weren't that good, it started a whole new hobby for me. By summer time I was doing brass tube frames and vac bodies and racing on the big track when I could, before my paper route or after cutting grass. The big commercial track was probably about 60-70 feet long! A simple triangle with an outside loop.


The Strom track was never raced on much, but I did set up a small oval just for testing my 1/24 car. I only had 1 1/24 scale car. I built a Chap 2D and it was so good that I never built another car. I just always raced the 2D. Thankfully my mother kept that car year after year and I still have it. Until I went back to school in the fall, I was at the track most every day and raced every Monday nite. After starting back to school I had too much going on to keep racing and that was the end of it for me until I got back in around 1985 or so. My
father-in-law is the one that got me into it again with his box of old cars and telling me about the track that was still in Louisville.


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[waaytoomuchintothis]

One of our guys here at HRW is directly connected to that track in Louisville, on Bardstown Rd, not far from Lexington. I saw it in 1987, not long before the fire that destroyed that shop.

[RBPhillips]

[mattb]

Waytoomuch,
'Who is directly connected to the Louisville track you referred to? That track was Highland Hobbies run by Jim Williams (Smiley). I also knew JIm as he was a street rodder and a member of either "The Louisville Street Rods" or "The Okolona Street Rods". It was his second shop on Bardstown Rd that burned.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Mine is a little different. Not that the ones from my childhood are not meaningful, but I have to say my favorite was the Artin.



When Frank at SCW brought Artin truly into our hobby, this set was tops.

We had more fun making tracks and more hours spent on this plastic than any other. From hobby shows to club meets and good old home tracks, we were everywhere with Artin.



2 of those sets created our Dixon Hills Speedway. Likely more miles on this plastic track than any other before going all wood.