Slot car

Most enthusiasts use commercially available slot cars (often modified for better performance), others motorize static models, and some "scratch-build", creating their own mechanisms and bodies from basic parts and materials.

Model motorcycles, trucks and other vehicles that use the guide-slot system are also generally included under the loose classification of "slot car."

The car's electrical contacts, called "pickup shoes", are generally fixed directly to the chassis, and a round guide pin is often used instead of a swiveling flag.

[6] Although a patent was registered as far back as March 1936 for a slot car,[7] until the late 1950s, nearly all powered toy vehicles were guided by raised rails, either at the wheels (railroad-style), or at the lane center, or edge.

[11] In 1954, the Southport Model Engineering Society in the UK was challenged by a patent-holder for using rail-guided gas-car exhibitions to raise funds,[12] so, as a replacement, the members constructed an electric racecourse, a groundbreaking six-lane layout nearly 60 feet long, for 1:32 rail-guided cars, which is widely considered to be the progenitor of electric rail- and slot-racing.

In 1955–1956, several clubs in the UK and US, inspired by the Southport layout,[13] were also racing electric cars guided by center rails, and soon after, by slots in the track surface.

[17] In 1957, Minimodels converted its Scalex 1:30 (later, 1:32) clockwork racers to electricity, creating the famous Scalextric line of slot-guided models,[18] and Victory Industries introduced the VIP line,[19][20] both companies eventually using the new plastic-molding technologies to provide controllable slot racers with authentic bodies in 1:32 scale for the mass market.

In 1959, Playcraft division of Mettoy produced these in the UK, and a year later, Aurora Plastics Corp. released HO vibrator sets with huge success in the US.

The tiny cars fascinated the public, and their cost and space requirements were better suited to the average consumer than the larger scales.

Faller produced it for sale in Europe, and competing companies tried in vain to match the speed and reliability of Brand's design.

The Thunderjets and their improved versions, the AFX, sold in the tens of millions,[27] completely dominating the HO market for almost a decade, until challenged by Tyco cars in the early 1970s.

[citation needed] In the 1990s, computer design and methods of printing on 3-D objects helped create much more detailed and authentic models than the simple shapes and rudimentary graphics of the slot car boom.

In addition, newly manufactured replicas of Aurora's HO slot cars of the 1960s and 1970s appeared on the market and consumers gained the option of racing either the modern high-tech wondercars or the more basic designs of an earlier time.

In 2012, Hong Kong Chinese inventor Mak Wing Kwong introduced the "Dynamic Motion Express" slot car system.

The DMX track has a series of parallel slots, allowing drivers to choose lanes on the inside, middle, or outside of the raceway, passing or blocking other racers.

Around 1962, AMT's Turnpike system used multiple electrical pickups within the slot to allow drivers to control, to a limited extent, the steering of special 1:25 cars.

In the late 1960s the Arnold Minimobil system, also marketed as the Matchbox Motorway, used a long hidden coil, powered by track-side motors, to move die-cast or plastic cars down the track via a slot and detachable pin.

In the mid and late 1970s several manufacturers including Aurora, Lionel, and Ideal introduced slotless racing systems that theoretically allowed cars to pass one another from the same lane.

[29] In addition, manufacturers have used the slot track system to allow the racing of a variety of unusual things, including motorcycles,[1] boats,[30] airplanes,[31] spacecraft,[31] horses,[1] fictional and cartoon vehicles,[24] snowmobiles,[24] and futuristic railroad trains.

Power packs contain a transformer, which reduces high voltage house current to a safe 12 to 20V, depending on car type) and usually a rectifier, which changes AC to DC, for cooler running and simpler motors.

The first commercial race sets (1957) used handheld controllers with a thumb-button; like the telegraph key, these were either on or off, requiring the driver to "blip" the throttle for intermediate speeds.

Digital slot cars generally use a controller that is trigger operated, though the rheostat housing is replaced by a slim bulge containing the electronics.