Do kids still play with this? Thinking about it for my 7 year old. I loved it when I was young, but I’m wondering whether playstations have killed it. That and the dreadful management of the company.
Good Chrimbo present or will it end up in the loft (with my rusty one).

If your child has a younger sibling, then they will invariably be recruited to recover the car from the vicinity of the skirting board and place it back on the track.

Bloody loved mine (1967 vintage Lotus and Ferrari, inherited from my older bro, later brought bang up to date with a UOP Shadow and Brabham Martini and an Airfix Essex Lotus with steering front wheels and sticky tyres).

I wanted to buy the 007 Aston Martin / Alfa Romeo 159 edition for me my stepsons, but Mrs PJM put her foot down and we bought a PS3 instead.

Yes. My kids play with it a lot and have requested more track for Christmas.
Be aware that there are a few track standards now and they most likely won’t work with your old set. Get lots of braids in too. Modern braids seem to last for less time that the old ones.

Cheers, I wasn’t aware they had changed the track, that’s a shame. I had been hoping to join mine on. I remember the braids running out ridiculously fast in the old days, but then no-one bought me any so I had to make do.

My kids and at least nephew on one side love it.

Young one hasn’t got the hang of gentle application of the throttle, whereas older one does fine even with the jump in place.

Yes, I my kids really enjoy it 😉 it gets out out and played with a lot for a few weeks and then gets packed away again.

I think I might need one of these:
🙂

Child 1 got a set for his 7th birthday in March.
One of the smaller scale ones, not the full size.

Pros:
– The controllers have a power limiting adjustability so his little sisters can join in and give the trigger the full squeeze without it just flying off all the time.

Cons:
– the track itself is bastard hard to get clipped together properly. 7yo hands really struggle with the strength and alignment combination.
– ironically it comes aparts much easier! Leading to more of point 1 trying to fix it.
– The braids wear out very quickly. Don’t know if this is through normal wear or through the many trips rolling across the carpet from the newbie! It does come with 1 spare set of braids per car (2)
– One of the motors is already playing up. It seems to catch on something at full power but I can’t work out what. This leads to a jolty drive and hot burning smell. Replacement cars (or just the lower with no styled shell) are not as cheap as I’d like.

So, in summary… he enjoys it but can’t build the track himself. It doesn’t really entertain for longer than an hour at most. And durability appears somewhat suspect.

pocpoc – Member
Child 1 got a set for his 7th birthday in March.
One of the smaller scale ones, not the full size.

Pros:
– The controllers have a power limiting adjustability so his little sisters can join in and give the trigger the full squeeze without it just flying off all the time.

Cons:
– the track itself is bastard hard to get clipped together properly. 7yo hands really struggle with the strength and alignment combination.
– ironically it comes aparts much easier! Leading to more of point 1 trying to fix it.
– The braids wear out very quickly. Don’t know if this is through normal wear or through the many trips rolling across the carpet from the newbie! It does come with 1 spare set of braids per car (2)
– One of the motors is already playing up. It seems to catch on something at full power but I can’t work out what. This leads to a jolty drive and hot burning smell. Replacement cars (or just the lower with no styled shell) are not as cheap as I’d like.

So, in summary… he enjoys it but can’t build the track himself. It doesn’t really entertain for longer than an hour at most. And durability appears somewhat suspect.

All of this really.

One word of Scalextric warning (which also applies to train sets too).

They don’t like being used on a carpeted floor, carpet fibres can find their way into the motors jamming them up. For best results, either laminate, or a large board help keep the motors running well.

Why does it matter if your kids like it or not? You’re buying it for yourself, let’s be honest. So while you’re in the toy shop, maybe pick up a Subbuteo set and a couple of Airfix kits too.

🙂

kennyp 😆
I was wondering where it would go. Kitchen, no, lounge, no. I know, how about my bedroom? 😉

Be aware that there are a few track standards now and they most likely won’t work with your old set.

You can buy adaptor pieces for not very much. This will link new track to old.

Track Adapter

Clean up your old stuff with a nylon pan scourer (not wire wool as it will leave metal fibres that can short out the track or a car). The black surface can be buffed up with GT85, but make sure that you wipe it all off.

Using you old track will make it much more “playable”. New cars don’t work on banked corners though.

Buy more cars too. SCX stuff works perfectly well with Scalextric and is usually cheaper. Carrera cars will need to have their slot guides trimmed as they are wider, deeper and longer.

SCX Cars

NASCARs are great for kids as they have no bits that can fall off. Rally cars and F1 can get broken quite easily.

Throttles do have a habit of burning out. Get a few spares from eBay beforehand as one broken throttle on Boxing Day would be very bad. They can normally be had for a couple of quid each.

As for braids. Get some MB Slot ones in metre long rolls and cut to length.

You can buy adaptors to link the new “sport” track with old classic.
This year, my son, yes definitely my son, not me, will be asking for the Arc Pro power base.
Wireless controllers, up to six drivers on two lane digital layout and iPad controlled lap counter/weather conditions/pit stops.
Christmas Day will see a rerun of the RS200 vs Audi Quattro battle with a super fast fiat 500 thrown in as a pace car.

Took over from my train set in the 60s. Had a Goodwood chicane an’ evryfink.

Later joined a proper slot racing club and still have my Canam McLaren and heavily modded hand controller somewhere.

Anyway, just this morning a colleague was telling me his young lad (9 I think) was playing with his Scalextric – so the answer is yes

What HTS says^^^^

I bought myself a set-up for my birthday a couple of years ago. The intetion was that I could play it with my daughter.

It gets pulled out, played with and then goes away again. Every time I use it I get all geeky and start investigating how I can build a mega track in the garage. One day!

My daughter is now 7 and is pretty good at beating me – I’ve adjusted the throttles up from the max resistance (minimum speed) so she has to show some finesse around the corners.

Do it! Do it! Do it!

Are you Tamiya-ing this year Harry?

Can’t remember if you’ve cracked yet…
🙂

Are you Tamiya-ing this year Harry?

Tempted, but I wouldn’t use it TBH. I’d build it then ignore it. Santa will be emptying a sack full of model kits all over the living room though. 😀

Ive still got bits of scalextrix from early 60’s never play with it much now once every 5 years a bit like having vinyl quite nostalgic although nothing beats the Fly cars they stick like xxxx to a shovel Scalextrix cars were never any use with the front wheels not touching the track rolled over at the slightest speed, scx are much better too

Modern Scalextric ride much lower at the front and have massive magnets, so they stick better. I got all nostalgic and bought some old ones. They suck.

My lad liked it when he was about 8yo but I have been seriously unimpressed with the quality of the new sets and the constant breakages put him off it eventually.

I’d tend to agree. The stuff I’ve seen in the starter set that my nephew has is a bit rubbish, however the separates stuff that I have seems to be better.

Well I’ve just bid £16 on eBay for a classic lotus , as a result of this thread. My 6 year old likes the scalextrix , mostly for creating crazy tracks with obstacles to crash the cars into . the modern ” sport ” track is easy enough for him to clip together but layout design is hard for him to do alone . the cars are much easier to drive with magnets keeping them on the track more . I find collecting tweaking and running the older cars absorbing .
I also stuck a couple of Lego blocks to a spare chassis so he can build his own Lego slot car on to them.
As an addict I recommend scalextrix. my wife has other views,mainly as we have more track than floor space and only the living room to put it up in.
Pity she’s working this weekend!

Almost forgot, they do a crashable set now that break apart spectacularly when they crash, which is quite good (quality still dubious though).