Recommendations for child's first scalextric

[CazB]

Hi there, I'm looking to get my 5 year old son his first scalextric, any recommendation on which one to get him? I want him to be able to enjoy it with his dad so looking for one that they can both enjoy! Many thanks 

[Andy P.]

HiCazB,

While the MicroScalextric sets appear to be for kids I would still say you should consider the standard Scaelxtric "Sport" sets.

There are sets you can get that can be set up and with a few additons like intersections/junctions can be made very interesting for kids.

My two kids (7 and 9) play with DTM and Cops & Robbers cars all the time and have a blast.

I use an inline (plug in) dimmer to regulate the speed down so that they don't fly off the track so quickly.

The newer sets come with controllers that you can adjust how far they can press the trigger down. My experience is though that each car is different and setting the throttle while changing cars can be time consuming and fiddly.

Having said that, the MicroScalextric sets are good if you are limited in space. The cars can take a beating too. There are quite a few fun bits you can add. The biggest probelm I see is that the cars are somewhat limited.

Be careful also as there are still older Scalextric "Start" sets available. Up until the beginning of this year these sets used a different type of track and while there was a converter to hook the track up to standard Sport track these are becoming harder to find.

The further advantages to using a standard set are that you have a plethera of cars, including high impact/resistant cars and if you really get into it you can use odler Scalextric Classic and SCX (Technitoys) track.

The second hand market for standard items is also huge....

Good luck!