60 Years ago this month

[Chris in the A.C.T.]

It was 60 years ago this month I bought my first slot car. My good wife of 44 years (45 if ya count the time we lived together before marriage) quietly thinks me a bit obsessive regarding slot cars while the guys I race with, I suspect me a bit anal regarding slot cars. Me? I like to think I'm enthusiastic .

Anyways, why I remember it was February was because it was not long after decimal currency came in. Dad, mum and my older sister were invited to a cousins wedding and as a spotty faced 13 year old I didn't get an invite so mum gave me some money to buy something from the local hobby shop to keep me occupied and I bought a HIT Racing Lines 1/32 scale Ford G.T. (photo off the web).  Never thought it would start a passion that would last this long even through what I called 'The Dark Ages' of the mid seventies to the mid nineties, never lost interest.

To celebrate I grabbed a couple of GT-3 Carrera Lamborghinis. We have started up a new stand alone enduro series for the Carrera GT-3's, the first third of the race is under normal lighting, the middle third using the track lights and the cars lights only then the final third of the race is back under normal lighting. We have done one round and it was a ship load of fun, the Club aces tend to favour the Porsche GT-3R but for the second round I'm going Italian as the bodies are lighter. Anal, who me?

Thanks for looking,

Chris.

 

[Vinno]

I got my first Slotcar set in the Christmas of 1985 courtesy of my wife. It was a Scalextric Le Mans with two Porsche 934’s. It stopped me going to pubs, not that I did really, which was smart on her part I guess. Although around 500 cars later and multiple tracks and race nights I wonder if she thinks otherwise? Probably not really as she never complains.

What actually got me interested was neighbour who had a large track in their garage around 1972 or there about. And as a 6 year old my brother and myself got a Matchbox Motorway. Like yourself it has become an obsession although I generally focus on Aussie cars and building Aussie cars. I also got into 1/24 scale racing three years ago and am enjoying being reasonably competitive in a completely different class of racing.