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There are two big questions that folks have when either getting into the hobby or getting back into it after a long time. What scale and what track type?
Let us take a look at the scale question first.
There are basically four slot car scales; HO, 1/43, 1/32 and 1/24.
For the home, all of them have companies that make cars and sectional track. I'm going to leave out routed track from this as that is a subject for another time.
Starting big, there is only one maker of sectional track for 1/24 cars and that is Carrera. They also make a goodly number of cars and I also believe that they offer digital options as well though I'm not positive. That is basically it for the big scale stuff.
The other somewhat limited scale is 1/43. This is a relatively new option for home racers. I know very little about it, but understand that these cars are more like large HO cars than smaller 1/32 cars.
That leaves HO and 1/32.
In a nutshell, if you are limited in space, but still want a lot of track, then HO is the way to go. You can get a very nice setup on a 4X8 board or 5X9 ping-pong table. Even a four lane track is possible in this limited space. Track is relatively inexpensive and so are the cars. HO started magnetic traction (where the motor magnets help pull the track to the metal power strips) and for the most part, these cars are insanely fast for the scale and there is little driver input aside from slowing down for sharp corners.
However, the scale has a very large following, especially amongst the youngsters. Many older slot car racers will have an HO track for their kids in addition to their 'other' track. There are also a considerable number of HO club racers. Because so much is available for HO railroading in terms of scenery, some of these HO tracks are superbly 'sceniked' and offer quite an experience.
The other scale, and the one that I know most about is 1/32. Most of us had a 1/32 race set from Strombecker or Revell or Monogram or even Scalextric when we were kids. These provided hours of entertainment and eventually were either broken or stored away somewhere in our parent's attic when we went on to other things. Like scale modeling, these hobbies took a hiatus while our hormones sorted themselves out.
Coming back to the hobby after nearly 40 years absence, I was pretty amazed at how it had evolved. Magnetic traction seems to be the way to go on these tracks as all the Ready to Run (RTR) cars have it to some degree or another. The cars are also superbly detailed with a quality and fidelity to detail that was basically unseen in most cases back in the 1960.
OK, so how about track systems. A good start up set from any of the major manufacturers will retail between $150 and $200. It is just the way things are. These sets will include about 20 feet or so of track, two cars, a 'wall wart' power supply, two controllers, perhaps some borders for your cars to slide onto in the corners, and some fencing. Also included in each set, is a catalogue of current car offerings and other bits of track you can buy.
Should you decide you like this hobby, then a wise person will buy another set. This offers more cars, more track and more important, another wall wart so each lane will have its own power supply. Downside of another set is that you generally only get standard curves. However, it is a great way to enlarge your set-up and provides a greater challenge with the additional track.
Many will stop at this stage and perhaps get a ping-pong table for their track, or keep running things on the floor. Others will start to build layouts and get more track and cars and so on.
I'll stop here for this time and go into the different brands of track. There are differences between the brands. Each has its plusses and minuses and each has a loyal following. I'll start with Carrera. If you recall, this company does 1/24 scale tracks. Well, it uses that same track for its 1/32 sets. It means a wider lane, a deeper slot and if one builds the same design layout with all the major brands, a Carrera track will require more space. In other words, with the other brands, you can put in more track per unit area than with Carrera. However, Carrera track is well made, Carrera cars run smoothly (though require a higher voltage than other brands), and the company has a wide array of options when it comes to track so you could do 8 lanes if you wished.
Next is Artin. They are also well known and offer a wide selection of cars and track. They used to be the price leader when it came to inexpensive cars and track, but now that is no longer the case. It is also a bit more difficult to find parts and pieces for Artin track. Like the others, you can do up to 8 lanes if you wish. I have no experience with their cars, though others generally deride them.
Ninco is similar. They are somewhat easier to find and provide the same options that one can get with the other track sets. My experience with Ninco cars is that while they are not the least expensive, they seem to be the noisiest cars that I own.
Scalextric is probably the most widely known of the track systems today. They offer everything that Carrera does in terms of racing 8 lanes if you wish, a wide variety of cars and tracks and they seem to be pretty well everywhere. I've never not been able to find parts or track sections or borders with Scalextric as it seems that nearly every shop that deals with 1/32 slot cars carries them. Like Carrera, their cars are fast and run right out of the package. Others need to be 'tweaked' to get them to run properly.
A spin-off of Scalextric is SCX. SCX track is identical to the older Scalextric track and so finding additional track is not difficult and one can often find people selling off older Scalextric track when they upgrade to Scalextric Sport. Again, I've not run SCX cars so cannot tell you how well they operate. I have heard that they are not bad, but not as good as Scalextric and are more expensive.
I believe all of these sets have a digital option. This allows a two lane track to have up to 8 cars operating on it at the same time. There are crossover and passing track pieces that allow drivers to go by other cars. Downside to these systems is that each company has its own method of doing this and none are compatible with each other. If one starts with an analog (normal) track system, then one can generally upgrade to digital with little additional expense.
So that takes care of that. If you are interested in getting into or back into the hobby, then a sectional track is a great way to get going in the hobby. Perhaps Santa will put one under your tree.
Here are some links to the various web sites. I think the one for SCX is unofficial, but it is the closest I could find.
Artin: www.artinslotcars.com
Carrera http://us.carrera-toys.com
Ninco: www.ninco.com
Scalextric: www.scalextric-usa.com
SCX: www.scx-usa.com
Well, that is about it for this session. I hope you learned a bit and if you have any questions or wish to share your experiences or images of your track, I'd like to hear from you on the subject so please e-mail me at mmreaders@aol.com.
Scott