OK here we go. Inspired by RichardTheForth's "Beyond The Loft Hatch" I thought I would have a go at documenting my first serious track build.
Having developed a serious slot habit since being gravely disappointed with my son's Micro Scalextric set we got him for Christmas 2010 I bought a "proper" classic setup from Ebay in the Spring for £50. Having discovered ten useable cars in the box (over and above the advertised two working cars) I promptly lubricated them, fixed broken guide wires and sold the lot individually for £70! This left me with 165 pieces of classic track, two C7 Minis and a Porche 911 (no typo). Should have kept the cars BUT it got the missus on side because my new hobby wasn't costing anything. Result!
Then worked out the classic track was past it so flogged some, dumped some and bought a digital "triple cup" set in the Tesco sale for £129 - yes really. So I bought another one!
Went mad on Ebay and got some more stuff and ended up with about 20 metres of digital track with 4 straight lane changers, two pit lanes and a shed load of digital cars and some classics crying out for chips.
I should have stopped there but I bought a new 6 car APB and so there is now no going back.
I have a serious slot car habit now and rug racing just doesn't cut it any more. I'm lusting after Slot.Its and NSR's and there's no way I can sneak those past She Who Must Be Obeyed.
I'm going to have to find a way to get a track, get the cars and keep Her Indoors on side.
There's no room in the house for a track. There is, however, a convenient double garage about 5.3 metres square. If I shove all the accumulated junk over to one side I can claim about 5m x 3m of useable space. But it's single skinned, cold and too damp for a permanent track. Can't afford to convert it unless I can find a way to earn extra cash so any track I lay has to be protected from corrosion.
So how the $&£* do I do that?
Can't remember if it was a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon or a few cans of Carlsberg but inspiration did finally strike. I am going to build a portable track. It will need to earn its keep being hired out for kids birthday parties (my son is 5 - I have to be really into kiddy birthday parties at the moment), it may as well travel to his school to help them raise some money for books and stuff (I won't make money from that but I will get great publicity). This will leave me with a track that eventually cost me nothing, provides cash to buy loads of new cars and other slot goodies and is available for me and my racing buddies to use for free. If we do manage to get enough interest in a club (there's no club within reasonable travelling distance of Swansea) then this can be the club track until the club can get its own.
Of course - hiring it out for kids parties will hopefully flush out a few grownups with latent slot car habits - if I can find these and nurture the seeds of addiction we might get a slot car club off the ground. The Evangelical approach - I'm not proud - I just want to see 6 cars racing on a Scalextric Digital Track with me in the thick of things!
So I need a brief to build my track to. That's going to be the subject of the next post.
Oh and yes - I will need a name for my track so I have something to advertise to earn all those lovely slot car vouchers.
As I live in darkest Carmarthenshire (drive down the M4 until you run out of M4 and go North until you hit a mountain) and I am at the bottom of a valley, I may as well name the track after that valley. So here we are - the Amman Valley Raceway is officially born.
Here's a logo I made earlier!
Having developed a serious slot habit since being gravely disappointed with my son's Micro Scalextric set we got him for Christmas 2010 I bought a "proper" classic setup from Ebay in the Spring for £50. Having discovered ten useable cars in the box (over and above the advertised two working cars) I promptly lubricated them, fixed broken guide wires and sold the lot individually for £70! This left me with 165 pieces of classic track, two C7 Minis and a Porche 911 (no typo). Should have kept the cars BUT it got the missus on side because my new hobby wasn't costing anything. Result!
Then worked out the classic track was past it so flogged some, dumped some and bought a digital "triple cup" set in the Tesco sale for £129 - yes really. So I bought another one!
Went mad on Ebay and got some more stuff and ended up with about 20 metres of digital track with 4 straight lane changers, two pit lanes and a shed load of digital cars and some classics crying out for chips.
I should have stopped there but I bought a new 6 car APB and so there is now no going back.
I have a serious slot car habit now and rug racing just doesn't cut it any more. I'm lusting after Slot.Its and NSR's and there's no way I can sneak those past She Who Must Be Obeyed.
I'm going to have to find a way to get a track, get the cars and keep Her Indoors on side.
There's no room in the house for a track. There is, however, a convenient double garage about 5.3 metres square. If I shove all the accumulated junk over to one side I can claim about 5m x 3m of useable space. But it's single skinned, cold and too damp for a permanent track. Can't afford to convert it unless I can find a way to earn extra cash so any track I lay has to be protected from corrosion.
So how the $&£* do I do that?
Can't remember if it was a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon or a few cans of Carlsberg but inspiration did finally strike. I am going to build a portable track. It will need to earn its keep being hired out for kids birthday parties (my son is 5 - I have to be really into kiddy birthday parties at the moment), it may as well travel to his school to help them raise some money for books and stuff (I won't make money from that but I will get great publicity). This will leave me with a track that eventually cost me nothing, provides cash to buy loads of new cars and other slot goodies and is available for me and my racing buddies to use for free. If we do manage to get enough interest in a club (there's no club within reasonable travelling distance of Swansea) then this can be the club track until the club can get its own.
Of course - hiring it out for kids parties will hopefully flush out a few grownups with latent slot car habits - if I can find these and nurture the seeds of addiction we might get a slot car club off the ground. The Evangelical approach - I'm not proud - I just want to see 6 cars racing on a Scalextric Digital Track with me in the thick of things!
So I need a brief to build my track to. That's going to be the subject of the next post.
Oh and yes - I will need a name for my track so I have something to advertise to earn all those lovely slot car vouchers.
As I live in darkest Carmarthenshire (drive down the M4 until you run out of M4 and go North until you hit a mountain) and I am at the bottom of a valley, I may as well name the track after that valley. So here we are - the Amman Valley Raceway is officially born.
Here's a logo I made earlier!