QUOTE (Ember @ 3 Sep 2012, 23:02)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Alas, I'm the one with the car buying habit in our household. And when I get a new one I've got to get one for HL to run beside it.
Embs
I'm in agreement with Embs' approach whether the husband or wife is the slot car enthusiast. I often buy a pair of cars, one for
my wife...or make her custom cars to her taste. And I learned early on never to beat her when we race! The ultimate move is to
provide female drivers for all her cars...and allow her to give advice on hair color and clothing details (no kidding, she loves that).
She has come to enjoy our slot cars quite a bit...they are often sentimental reminders for her since I usually build her a custom
car for our anniversary, or are souveniers like the pair of vintage F1 cars we bought when visiting Goodwood (from the US).
Along those lines I also got my wife a vintage racing setup for the computer, and we can race cars she likes, or has interest in, on
real tracks. Racing side by side on the computer has been especially intriguing for her...as she comes to understand the different
cars by their nature. She had no way to understand Abarths versus Grand Sports until we tried them. We have learned that neither
of us can drive a rear-engine Porsche worth a darn, she is much better at driving American muscle cars than I...and ultmately we
share the same favorite of favorites: S1 Elan .
Two practical addenda: When I routed the wood slot track I made my wife's lane several feet longer overall (lots of curves so it's
not at all apparent visually), so I can race hard and still not quite beat her (!) About the computer driving simulation...my wife used
to criticize me for driving a "racing" line in 1:1 driving on country roads. She experienced it as me swerving left and right, instead of
realizing the road was swerving and I was staying as straight as possible. Since the driving simulation...she is learning to "swerve"
herself to keep from running right off the track.
Long story short...consider involving your wife, just understand she may not be interested for the same reasons you are.
John
PS getting back to the point, we now have 3 cases full of slot cars...and I'M the one who's always wanting to cull them a bit, she won't
let go of any of them (!)