Carrera or Scalextric

Minefield alert!!!

Hi SimonM, welcome to the Forum.

Amazed no one has replyed to you yet.

Couple of questions before we start.

Where do you live? - Why? - this will have a bearing on the advise given (a, becuase of available parts and b, so yoy can't come looking for us when you don't like it - only joking!)

Take a look at the following info/chart i did a while back, expect lots of different advice to follow from others, best thing to do is to try each!

It will all depend on what you want to race, with/without magnets?

Good luck!

Gareth

Slot car track manufacturers Pro and Cons:

SCX Track:
PROS:

• Easiest track to assemble and disassemble
• Because of above, best for children
• Compatible with majority of UK households exisitng Scalextric Classic track.
• 8 lane racing possible
• Locks together well on a solid floor or table top
• Good track surface with or without magnet
• Best variety of track sections with special track sections as options (sliding curve, Le Mans start, etc.
• Flexible enough to allow some misalignment
• Best looking boarders of all tracks and available for all sections
• Great looking guardrails and safety barriers
• Excellent low cost lap counter/timers
• Interchangeable with Scalextric classic, Sports and Ninco track.
• Cheapest track.
• Good range of building, accessories and figures for F1 and Rally

CONS:

• Boarders too narrow
• No individual lane power supply system
• No reversing option
• No self racing program track
• Slot too shallow for some other brands of car (Carrera)
• No banking curves
• Difficult for customers to buy
• Electric connections and power supply weak

Prices:

• Standard straight (2) £7.99
• Standard Curve (2) £6.99

Scalextric Sports track:
PROS:

• Solid track connections (but difficult to take apart)
• New low grip track surface(50/50 who likes/dislikes)
• 8 lane racing possible
• Easily obtainable
• Boarders available for all track sections
• Compatible with SCX, Classic and Ninco
• Good guardrails
• 2no. Self racing programme

CONS:

• New low grip track surface (50/50 who likes/dislikes)
• Electric connections and power supply weak
• Slot too shallow for some other brands of car (Carrera)
• No banking curves
• Surface of metal rails comes off over time
• Track is brittle
• No individual lane power supply system
• No reversing option
• Poor cheap range of new building (Cardboard) and plastic buildings based on same as 40 years ago!

Prices:

• Standard straight (2) £8.75
• Standard Curve (2) £7.75

Ninco Track:
PROS:

• Track assembles easily and holds together well
• Wider than SCX and Scalextric track with more space between lanes
• 8 lane racing possible
• Slot deep enough to allow any brand of car to operate
• Flexible enough to allow some misalignment
• Boarders available for all curves
• Individual lane power supply
• Reversing standard
• Brake feature standard

CONS:

• Rough track surface
• Can be diffucult to obtain
• No banked track
• Colour of boarders not realistic
• No self racing track

Prices:

• Standard straight (2) £8.75
• Standard Curve (2) £7.99

Carrera Track:
PROS:

• Track holds together tightly enough to operate on carpet and to move easily
• 8 Lane racing possible
• Offers boarders for all curves
• Offers banked curves
• Braking standard
• Slot deep enough for any slot brand
• Individual lane power standard

CONS:

• Can be difficult to assemble (not for children under 12)
• Plastic track tabs break off if track is disassembled carelessly
• Track can break if stepped on; Brittle
• No reversing option
• Boarder colour are unrealistic
• No self racing program
• Expensive
• Very difficult to obtain

Prices:
COULD NOT FIND ANY UK DEALER SELLING INDIVIDUAL TRACK!

Told you it was a minfield!

By the sounds of it there a couple of errors in the listing regarding sports track.

Just so you know, i race on Ninco, i have a large Ninco home track, but my layout is 80% Scalextric classic and 20% SCX. Mainly a collectors circuit with all the buildings, different track sections (Goodwood, Le Mans, etc, etc).

Didn't know the Carrera track wasn't magnetic? Why do they put magnets on their cars then?

Well SimonM - Any wiser?

Like is said, try to have a play on as many track types as possible, see which one you like and buy it!

Enjoy!

Gareth

Mr Material

Be quite - the staff might hear you!

Well no they wont actually, on my own today!

Worked hard yesterday, so feel fine to surf the slot net today!

It's about time you got a laptop in the cab, then we could work hard together!!!