Scalextric Cars: Do you buy Sport or Crystal Case?

In direct contradiction, my club's top drivers almost always run standard models rather than Sport.

When they do run Sport versions, they prefer the button magnet out.

Lined up on a shelf, with the lid open, the Sport packaging is a magnificent . . .
dust trap!
Opened up, the lid and box needs about twice the space of a closed crystal case and it's hard to keep the lids open at a consistently regular angle, failing which, the display looks very scruffy.

It's news to me that cardboard improves with age!
Usually, it either dries out and splits or it gets damp and wrinkly as well as delaminating, while the colours fade and/or run. That's the overwhelming reason why plastic packaging has become so dominant. Of course, the cardboard might well TASTE a little better as it ages, but that's a very personal thing - I am no cardboard connoisseur!

There are probably four main reasons why people will choose to pay a little extra for Sport versions

• Sport versions are usually introduced before the standard versions = gotta have it NOW!.
• Some buyers do prefer the outer appearance of the cardboard packaging, despite its obvious disadvantages.
• Some of them actually believe the hype surrounding the ground axle, metal bushings, button mag and even the Sport motor label!
• The perception that they will hold their value or even appreciate in value over time.
  That perception does hold good for a select minority of the Sport models, but certainly not all.

Sport was/is a very smart marketing ploy and, as such, it has worked rather well for Scalextric. They give us two options and it's our free choice which way to turn.