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Slot car racing as a hobby Apparently if you want to get into Formula 1 like Lewis Hamilton it costs upwards of £8000 a year to start off in karting. If you don't have access to that kind of cash but would still like the thrill of tuning and driving a car in competition, just think "32 times smaller" and you are in the world of 1:32 scale Scalextric model motor racing.

It's a great hobby for families and friends, competitive, not too expensive (if you don't want it to be), gets the adrenalin flowing and you get to experience many of the same highs and lows as real racing drivers without the injury risk and expensive repair bills! The cars are also very collectable, there may be a club near you where you can race against others, plus it's also a great educational toy for kids and can be used to explain all manner of physics and electrical topics.

About Digital Slot Car Racing For years, model railway enthusiasts have been able to change a set of points remotely, to direct a train into a platform or siding. Now possible for slot cars, this request to "change the points" is sent by a chip in the car. Digital cars also have brakes! To send the lane-change signal, just press the button on your controller as your car crosses the sensor immediately prior to the lane-change section. The chip in each car responds only to the commands sent by the hand throttle that is controlling it. So now, instead of one hand throttle per lane, you have one per car. You program the car on track to have its own ID from 1 to 4 by holding down the required button on the 4-car powerbase, as per the instructions provided in your set. Cars can be reprogrammed to any ID/throttle, and to numbers 5 and 6 by using the 6-car powerbase.

You can run up to 6 cars with the advanced powerbase, or just use the 4-car powerbase included with starter sets. With the latest pit lane track pieces you can now set up 3 or 4 lane circuits and/or tracks with infield loops like this one displayed at the 2007 London Toy Fair.

More functionality The same command system that changes the points also controls the power to the car's motor. Pre-digital, if you put two cars on one lane and squeeze the hand throttle, both cars move, and at half their normal speed, because the power is going direct to the cars' motors and is shared. With the chip in the digital cars acting as a middleman, the digital throttle sends information only to the chip in the car that it is driving, so that in turn, the chip can control how fast the motor in the car is going. Through separate software, the digital system can also be used to simulate refuelling, pit stops and other features of the modern Grand Prix, plus keeping track of laps and lap times, and the 6-car powerbase offers additional game modes (Rally, Endurance, etc) - so it's not just about changing lanes. All in all, with all the features of digital racing, (aside from the rails in the track!), compared to analogue, you get a much more realistic representation of full size motor racing, but in your own premises and without the huge expense of racing a real car. Adding scenery to the track enhances the representation even further.

Conversion and compatibility All previous Scalextric track from the 1960s onwards is compatible with digital racing. Almost all non-digital Scalextric cars, along with cars of most other makes, can be converted to run on a Scalextric Sport Digital track. As described below, other companies' digital race sets are not as friendly to other brands as Scalextric's - so if you are considering another brand, check that it can meet your future needs and can cope with your mates' cars when they come round to your place for a race.

Also, once converted, you can run digital cars on an analogue track (you can't run analogue cars on a digital track though, if you put a non-chipped car on a digital layout it will just sit there and make a buzzing noise). The only difference you may notice with a chipped car running on an analogue track is less responsive braking, so you may need to slow down a bit earlier for the corners (consequently you may find yourself a tiny bit slower overall, if racing a chipped car against a field of un-chipped ones on an analogue track.)

Why go digital? In analogue one-car-per-lane racing, the primary factors involved in winning the race are the limits of speed and adhesion of your car, your ability to reach them in a controlled manner, and the length of the lane you are on. That's it. What other cars are doing is largely irrelevant, but if you are running on a lane next to a competitor that regularly "fishtails" into your path, you are at a disadvantage for the whole race if he keeps knocking you off. The same applies if your lane is longer than everyone else's or has a power disadvantage or a dip in the rail or a dodgy track connection, or if your car is not quite as quick or grippy as the others. Without crossovers, chicanes or side swipe straights, you don't have the opportunity to affect your competitors' races by getting to a pinch point in the track before them and so making track position work to your advantage. And last but by no means least, to race with more than two people you have to start building space-hogging and unrealistic-looking 4, 6, or 8 lane circuits. On such circuits drivers in one of the outside (gutter) lanes are going to have a tough job to get a good result, and consequently analogue slot car events are usually run in multiple stages to give everyone a fair chance of driving in every lane.

Some dyed-in-the-wool slot car fanatics like it this way because it means they can just go round the circuit relentlessly pumping in quick laps on their own lane without thinking much about other competitors. Huge commercial tracks like this one, without any scenery, can seem less like model motor racing and just amount to guiding a tiny vehicle, which you can hardly see when it's at the far end, at high speed along a massive sculpted channel. However, assuming drivers do not crash, the result of, say, a 20 lap analogue race can be predicted probably as early as lap 5, because there is nothing such as lapped traffic or drivers leaving the pits to affect progress on each driver's lane. So when racing multi-lane analogue, you are not really competing directly and fairly against the cars on the other lanes. Instead your focus is more on ignoring the other cars and trying to go as fast as you can given the combination of factors you are presented with in respect of the car and lane you have been allocated.

With digital, the environment of a real race is more accurately reflected. Lane length is immaterial, you can be on any lane at any time, the power and lanes being shared by all cars. You can use the lanechangers and have the choice of lane for a particular corner. Every lap, I can be racing on the same rail as you and trying to get ahead of you by thinking quickly as we approach a lanechanger or anticipating another car ahead switching lanes or getting in our way. If there is a car on track that's difficult to pass, it's the same for everyone. And a smart driver with a slightly slower car can get track position and make everyone else work to get past them. You will have to lap people as well using the same method. Bad driving is more heavily penalised because if you crash you really have to work your way back through the traffic - no lane to yourself.

You can also use the computer functions to run different types of race, like endurance, pursuit, or rally stages and you can fit a much longer track into a smaller space - because you only need two lanes (although using forked track pieces you can still open your track out to three or four lanes in places if you want to). Also, digital racing software creates simulations of fuel and tyre stops, economy driving and fuel weight. Overall it requires a different tactical approach and could accurately be described as the "thinking person's slot car racing".

Who is digital racing for? It seems that slot car racers mainly fall into two groups: (a) young boys (and girls) and teenagers, and (b) men over about 40 rediscovering their childhood hobby with their kids, wives and girlfriends. The arrival of digital technology is prompting many people to dust off their old track in the attic, bring it up to date with some new cars, and adding in the digital track pieces. Women particularly seem to find digital racing more appealing than traditional "stay in the same lane" racing because of its more strategic bias - a steady, quick-thinking driver can often outwit and outmaneouvre those who prefer out-and-out speed but with regular visits to the crash barriers. So even if you have never tried the hobby before you might find it a welcome change from nights in front of the telly, and it's a great excuse to have some friends round. This video from the Fulham Scalextric Digital Club shows a digital race night for 28 people in progress. PB-Pro, timing tower and computer software used here are covered elsewhere on this site. More of their videos here on their Youtube channel.

Suitable ages We are often asked about suitable ages for digital racing. There's no upper limit! But in our experience we find that some younger kids, left to their own devices, just want to "gun it" and have spectacular crashes - and we see bad Scalextric drivers all the time! To do it well requires good car control, quick thinking, and tactical awareness. Kids who are not ready for it will break the cars very quickly. If you are keen for your child to start slot racing, up to about 7 years, most will be fine with a Micro set, moving up to a basic analogue set. Once they can drive something simpler, perhaps upgrade with a Digital Conversion Set and build from there.

Which is the best digital slot car system? Well, we can only speak from the point of view of the UK buyer. SCX Digital (Spanish), Carrera (German) and Ninco N-Digital (Spanish) are the three main other digital slot car systems (see the links page). All of these systems are separate and largely incompatible, both with each other and with Scalextric. SCX Digital is even incompatible with SCX analogue. For example where Scalextric and Carrera use an LED for car identification, Ninco's system uses digital data pulses and "dead strips". Ninco's digital chips have to be disconnected if you want to run them in analogue (Scalextric's don't). And SCX's system uses special guide blades in the cars for the lanechanging mechanism - just a few examples of how the different companies have arrived at different solutions. We have nothing in particular against these systems and do not indulge in "brand bashing" like some other slot car web sites. All of these systems work well in their own right but which one is best for you depends where you are coming from. For example, serious club racers tend to prefer Ninco track to race on because of its extra width, textured surface, and thicker profile. Folk with lots of space to play with might go for the Carrera system which also caters for 1/24 scale cars. Many of the SCX range of cars are the DTM type, so fans of that race series often prefer that brand. So for some types of users in certain countries - and for those without any existing commitment to Scalextric in terms of track and cars, these other systems may well be ideal.

However this web site is focused on the UK, where many people already have some Scalextric kit from the last 50 years tucked away in storage, so here our focus is helping people to have an enjoyable racing experience based around Scalextric products. If you already have knowledge of how Scalextric works from your youth (the basics haven't changed much), and already have Scalextric cars, or are likely to be browsing UK toy shops for cars in the future where Scalextric is the main brand on offer, or needing English-speaking telephone technical support, then Scalextric will certainly be the easiest route for you. Sure, some of the other brands have one or two digital features that Scalextric doesn't have, but with the more "open source" nature of the Scalextric offering, many of these extra features are available via third parties. Also do note that even if you choose Scalextric as the basic framework for your digital layout, analogue SCX, Carrera and Ninco cars, plus those of other brands such as Fly, Slot-it and so on (many of which are great cars) can still be chipped to run on Scalextric Digital. And you can incorporate sections of Ninco and SCX analogue track within Scalextric circuits using track adaptors. So you are getting pretty much the best of all worlds. Other makes of car have different wiring / motor / power configurations so check with us if you are not sure whether a car is suitable for SSD conversion. For example the independent model maker "Slot-It" have produced their own SSD chip to help with this process. The new "Pioneer" slot car brand is now making cars that take the SSD digital plug chip. However another manufacturer "Sloter" have an agreement to produce SCX Digital Cars. So your best bet when shopping for non-Scalextric cars to chip, is to look for cars labelled "SSD-compatible" or "SSD-ready". See also the separate page about "Scalextric in Spain".

A word about die-cast models... Why? Model companies are queueing up to sell die-cast (static) models of F1 and other racing cars, at prices sometimes greater than the cost of a Scalextric car with a motor in it that you can actually drive. In the past it may have been true that slot car models had to compromise design and looks to fit in the motor and electrics, so the Scalextric model wasn't a true likeness of the real car, but these days that's no longer the case. To us it's a puzzle why someone would want to buy a car to sit and look at on a shelf, when for around the same price you can get one that you can actually tune and race your friends with. But then we are a digital racing shop!