New guy here

shadowracer Monday, 5/6/2013

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Hello all. My name's Trev and I live near Toronto Ontario Canada.

I'm primarily a slot car guy, but a strange thing happened not too long ago. I just built a slot car replica of my home 1:1 speedway, complete with actual "real life" track billboards, grass, gravel pit area and such. Shortly after, while on a shopping trip with the Mrs, we seperated for a while in the mall, and I found myself standing in front of the Hot Wheels rack in a Toys R Us. 20 bucks later, I had me a small selection of Hot Wheels to populate my pit area. Had a couple pickup trucks (for hauling stock car trailers) a few station wagons, a few muscle cars, and a SWAT truck that, with a new coat of paint, would make a pretty good tire truck or even an ambulance. They looked good sitting in the pits, and eventually I found myself in front of another Hot Wheels rack to grab a few more.

I swear it all started innocently enough.

So now I'm poking through the blister packs, and I dunno....I found myself reverting back to being 7 years old. Suddenly I find myself not caring if they round out my model pit area or not....and just start grabbing the ones that just look cool. (Bone Shaker and Fangula are 2 of my faves) And I just can't wait to get home and pop em' out of the package. (which, apparently, is sacrilege if you're a collector.)

We had a discussion on a slot car board not long ago about where our love for that hobby comes from. Guys would talk and tell great stories about finding Aurora sets under the tree when they were kids and playing with their Dads, Uncles and the neighborhood kids. I couldn't share any stories like that because quite honestly, slot cars were not on my radar as a kid. They just weren't that popular in my area. Hot Wheels on the other hand....I was all over that. You could take those with you and play anywhere. My brother and I would carve tracks out of the gravel in our driveway, or in sandboxes, or in the dirt at the top of the grandstand hill when we'd go to the speedway to watch Dad race. So I come by a love of toy cars honestly.

So that was all good enough, and the sweetest deal was going to my Grandmother's house. I had a Hot Wheels monkey on my back and she was the one who kept him in bananas. See, Grandma loved to pick up toys for the grandkids and she knew I was a car nut, so I had a lot of those classic sets. Like the Rod Runner 2 lane figure 8, and the ones with the litte garages with the spinners inside. (I don't remember the name of that one, but I think we had 3 single garages and one over and under one...and more orange track than we knew what to do with.) Man...I just had so much fun with that stuff. But the deal was that this stuff stayed at Grandma's house. Except one time.

I got a Thundershift 500 set for Christmas one year. My Dad, being a bit of a motorhead and an all around handyman, built a little table. Built up a couple track spots where the cars would fly off, and attached the whole thing to the table with carpet nails. That thing was solid, and I'm sure that he had as much fun with that set as we did. I can still vividly remember many of the cars I had, and of course, as the familiar refrain goes: "Man if I still had all that stuff...."

Anyway, back to the present, I'm standing in front of the racks and I'm just being transported back in time, but the problem is that once I get them home and take em out of the blister, that's it. It goes in a box, or on my pit display. Something's missing, and darned if I don't find myself really wanting to hear that sound of cars whizzing down a length of orange track.

So, I go stumbling around on the internet to see what I can find. I'm thinking "if I can build and wire my own slot car table, then a ramp...sorta like a pinewood track for Hot Wheels, shouldn't be too tough", and I eventually found myself here at Redline Derby.

So that's my story in a nutshell. I like this place. There's not too many Hot Wheels enthusiast sites where the focus is on actually playing with these cars the way they were meant to be played with...so this place is sort of an oasis of sorts. And I just want to send a shout out to Brian and thank him for his work, both with this site and for helping with a few signup issues I was having.

You guys rock, and as my track gets built, I hope I can make some good contributions ot the community.

Trev


Discussion

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GspeedR 5/6/13

Man, thats quite a background you've got there. I remember when HO slotcars took over my hobby interests in the `70s. Lots of fun...but I ended up selling all my slot car stuff in the early 80s. I still have quite a bit of track though.

Yea, collecting/racing die-cast cars can be very addictive. While our pastime may seem relatively simple in execution, it still requires some effort in R&D and a bit of mental fortitude to remain consistent. There's lots of info to be had here so feel free to become a "sponge" and I sincerely hope you enjoy your 'stay' here.

GspeedR

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K_Harvest 5/6/13

WelcomE Trev. Im Fairly New Myself Here And Also Came Up From The Slot Car World (1:24 Scale). Just Make Yourself At Home Here And Enjoy. Everyone Is Really Helpfull To The New Guys So Don't Be Shy To Ask Anything. Once Again Welcome To The Madness!

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model40fan 5/6/13

welcome aboard...glad you got out of your RUT... er... SLOTS !

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EconoCarl 5/6/13

Welcome to the cRaZiNeSs!

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Stroller 5/6/13

Shadowracer, RUN RUN while you can!!!.....

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redlinederby 5/6/13
Site manager

Slot cars is a hobby I'd love to try out again but am afraid I'd enjoy it too much - lord knows I don't need another hobby.

I remember wanting a slot car set really bad when I was little and then finally got one for Christmas. It was a standard-issue Tyco set that were in the big box stores, which I would later discover was not a "real" slot car track. My mom took me to a local hole-in-the-wall hobby store looking for model train parts and one half of the store had a huge full scale slot car track with like 6 lanes or something. To an 8-year-old me it was simply massive. I stood there watching and wondering why my slot cars at home weren't the same. I felt cheated for sure.

Diecast Cars, Hot Wheels, Matchbox

Of course, maybe those old tiny slot cars weren't that bad and it was just that no one really showed me how to "drive" them properly. The commercials had me worried more about my car being able to go up the wall in loops rather than the skill of racing. I know slots have come a LONG way since then and I'd love to give them a try again...maybe soon after my kid has a few more years on her and we can all enjoy playing.

Anyhoo...welcome to the fun, Shadowracer. Glad you found us and hope you enjoy yourself. And don't be shy about sharing photos of your Hot Wheels or even your slot cars. Racing is racing and seeing one might create ideas for the other.

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Preacher 5/6/13

Welcome...I've only been doing this for about a year and its really competitive and fun. We do a monthly race at our church and its open to the community and we are having a blast! I've worked, and reworked my track over and over again to perfect it for the ultimate racing experience. It's all about having some fun and putting some smiles on peoples faces...even if its your own.

Preacher

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model40fan 5/6/13

sorry shadd, but go... bruins... go !

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shadowracer 5/6/13

sorry shadd, but go... bruins... go !

Picking a fight with the new guy eh?

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Stroller 5/6/13

Die Cast versus Slot Cars

Die Cast: You can get cars for less than a buck. Sometimes.

Die Cast: They never short out.

Die Cast: Free Fuel. (Gravity)

Die Cast: Tracks are easy to assemble and store.

Die Cast: Kid friendly.

Die Cast: Everyone has a chance to win. Of course some more than others.... You know who you are.

Die Cast: Cooler cars both stock and custom.

Die Cast: Able to play on tracks across the world.

Slot Cars; Hmmm?

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markkaz 5/7/13

Such a great introduction! Yes, it is an affordable hobby with lots of variety. You come to the right place if you like to open up your cars and especially if you want to roll them around! I don't get to do much downhill racing at the moment but I definitely enjoy promoting playing with the cars. You can check that out on my YouTube channel: RaceGrooves

Have fun!

Welcome, shadowracer! Here's my comparison of slot cars and Hot Wheels.... I converted my slot car track into an open track for Hot Wheels.


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