Need advise with 35 year old Scalextric sets

[sujitroy]

Hi  Guys,

A little bit about me.  I have two sets from the 80s. Set 200 and set 400 with a few additional track and cars. I’m now living in the US.   On a visit to the UK in Dec 2017 and after being in their boxes for more than 37 years, I got the sets out for my kids to play.  They loved it.

I now have the sets with me here in the USA.  Everything still works. I am currently using a computer laptops power supply as power we use 110volts here. It seems to work OK so far.

Some of the cars are OK, but could do with new tyres.

A few questions:

I see on slot car forums people using urethane tyres instead of the rubber type. Are these better and do they last? If so, can anyone recommend a place to order this type?

My track uses the round hole and peg to hold it all together. Newer track seem to slide together. I do see on Ebay some converter track. I intend to increase the length of track and so see the old vintage track for sale on ebay. Should I buy these track converters and now buy the newer track or should I just stick with buying from ebay the old track.

If I do buy newer track, are they made of the same rubberized material? Will the older cars work well on this newer track. Are there any issues I may face mixing tracks?

Scalextric used to sell yearly catalogs? I still have edition 20. Are they online somewhere?

My older black transformer was 12Volts 10VA, but now I see transfers of up to 16 volts. Other than making the cars go faster, is there any harm in using 16 volts?

Also many years back Scalextric had these wires to distribute power to other parts of the track. I intend to increase the length of the track. Are these thingies still available?

Should I let my kids use my 40 year old cars? Do they go brittle with age? I don’t think my cars have any value.

I see in the US, cars on ebay average about $30-$40. About 25 UK pounds is this normal now? Have the car materials changed from way back then?

Enough questions for now.

Regards, Roy

[woodcote]

Hi Roy. Welcome back to the hobby 😀

 

Tyres - yes, replacing rear tyres on the old cars is a very good move. I really like Paul Gage tyres. Paul ships from Canada and a Google search will find his eBay store. Other people might have their favorites too. Don't worry about the front tyres, they don't need to be grippy at all.

 

Track - the older 'Classic' track you have has more grip than the current 'Sport' track. Some people think that's an advantage. The slot depth on Sport track is deeper and the most recent Scalextric cars (only the past few years) have a deeper guide that 'bottoms out' on Classic track. If you like the Classic track, you're planning to run the older cars and you have a source of cheap, good quality track (SCX track is also compatible), why not stick with Classic? Using a converter you could add in modern powerbases and/or lap counters, including the ARC One and ARC Air systems, but keep the Classic track as your racing surface.

 

Power supplies - the modern power packs are rated at 15V but the powerbase only delivers around 13V to the track. Using a DC laptop power supply to your old powerbase (or maybe straight to the track?) is spot on and will probably deliver the exact voltage output of the power supply. Anything between 11V and 14V should be fine with the older cars, with 12V ideal. A lot of people use variable power supplies so they can adjust the voltage to the track depending on the cars they are running.

 

Power distribution cable or 'jumpers' - you will probably find the vintage versions for Classic track on eBay.

 

Catalogues - there are still loads of physical copies around and available, dating back to the very first editions. I remember there was an online reference somewhere (try Slot Car Portal?), but I can't find it.

 

Cars - I love the old cars from when I was a kid. Some have survived (Tyrrell, Ligier, Mini & Rover) and recently I have picked up a few extra F1 cars (Ferrari, Renault, Williams) that I really wanted back 30-35 years ago (and for less money than they cost back then). Why not share them with the kids? In many ways they are more fun - no traction magnets and take more skill to drive. Of course, if you want to preserve your favourites from when you were young, that's understandable - and a good excuse to buy some more. Spare parts are still available on Ebay and some specialist retailers like Scalextric Restorations.

 

Hope that helps. Have fun!