Want proof that model car racing is still extremely popular in the UK? Here you go...
The 2016 UK Slot Car Festival at the British Museum in Warwickshire. Wonder why we don't have something similar in the US?
Slot cars still white-hot in the UK
Started by
Cheater
, Aug 02 2016 05:33 PM
3 replies to this topic
#1
Cheater
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Posted 02 August 2016 - 05:33 PM
- Pete L. and WigWag Workshop like this
Gregory Wells
Never forget that first place goes to the racer with the MOST laps, not the racer with the FASTEST lap
#2
Ecurie Martini
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Ecurie Martini
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Posted 03 August 2016 - 09:08 AM
I would guess that a lot of it has to do with distance. For example, London to Edinburgh is about 400 miles. Recalling the days when I drove my son to college, Baltimore to Chicago is 750 miles which we did in one long day. A 750 mile radius from central England would encompass a fair bit of Western Europe!
Secondly, there is a fundamental difference in the organization of slot racing in the US vs UK and Europe. Slot racing in the US is heavily based on commercial tracks and home tracks, the latter sometimes loosely associated in local groups. Clubs do exist with dedicated premises and membership but they are few and far between. The UK scene consists mostly of local clubs that do have permanent tracks and an active local membership. There may be commercial tracks as well but I have never seen mention of them. I have no direct experience of European slot racing. My impression is that it is, again, local club based but often using plastic or modular track that is set up in borrowed facilities.
These differences are reflected in organization and governance. I will not explore that because to do so would almost certainly reveal my own bias and prejudices but simply suggest that the structure to promote, organize, and realize such an event exists in the UK but not in the US.
EM
Alan Schwartz
#3
Dennis David
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Posted 03 August 2016 - 05:46 PM
Also the place that Scalextric holds in the British psyche is different than anything we have here. In the US nobody knows that slot cars exist, that's not the case in the UK.
British homes are smaller than in the US if you want to play with slot cars or trains for that matter you need to gather in a shared location making the club, with dues btw a lot stronger proposition, with more structure to organize these kind of events.
In Italy and Spain it's another matter altogether but also fascinating with their mega events.
British homes are smaller than in the US if you want to play with slot cars or trains for that matter you need to gather in a shared location making the club, with dues btw a lot stronger proposition, with more structure to organize these kind of events.
In Italy and Spain it's another matter altogether but also fascinating with their mega events.
Dennis David
#4
Dennis David
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Posted 03 August 2016 - 06:00 PM
Oh and you cannot compare the "idea" of distance between US and the UK. In the US we drive long distances on a regular basis. It's not like that in the UK.
I will generalize here but we are more open to driving longer distances, so the fact that things are closer in the UK is less of a draw. If something is 100 miles away it's like forever to the English. The same with my older relatives in Holland.
I will generalize here but we are more open to driving longer distances, so the fact that things are closer in the UK is less of a draw. If something is 100 miles away it's like forever to the English. The same with my older relatives in Holland.
Dennis David
