Not Trains! Shock Horror - My Other Love Slot Cars

I've always had an interest in slot cars, but just with trains finding time/space to setup a permanent track has always been a problem.  However as of these days I find I have a car garage and a car that doesn't fit in it, so my thoughts have been moving towards building a Scalextric based slot car track up in there - a real proper one with scenery and everything and on an elevated table round 3 of the inner walls of the garage.  What sparked this was a recent search on eBay (non-slot car related) that threw up some Scalextric listings and (again) highlighted to me how cheaply you can pick up 2nd hand sets.  So after winning a couple of auctions I've accumulated a load of track and even a digital set so I can either go analogue or digital or maybe two tracks side by side, for both types of cars.

But I digress, I thought it may be worth sharing some of the things I've picked up, any oddities that I've come across and see how my collection continues to grow (I already had a good number of cars which I've bought over the years.

My first post is what came as a surprise to me, of late Hornby (owners of Scalextric) have been modelling 'TV and Film' automobiles, there is of course the James Bond cars, Batman, Fast & Furious and various others including the Blues Brothers.  But the one that caught my eye and I decided to get when I finally found a discount on it from Amazon was the 'Pink Rolls Royce' belonging to Lady Penelope from Thunderbirds.  I don't know about my colonial friends, but anyone from the UK will remember this iconic car as it looks as futuristic now as it did when Thunderbirds was first aired in the 60's etc...

Anyway, I saw, I ordered and I have just received it.  The thing that blew me away though is how huge the car is in comparison to more standard Scalextric cars - I mean they are all 1/32 scale including the Pink Rolls Royce, but it is huge - even bigger than the old style American cars such as the Blues Brothers car.

So, here's a couple of pictures of it alongside a Subara Impreza rally car for comparison, both 1/32, but the Rolls Royce is nearly double the length and probably at least 50% wider.  How realistic it would be to use this car on a track in a race is debatable as its not really designed for that and I should imagine on narrower pieces of track or alongside other big cars there would be some inevitable 'bumping'.  But regardless even if it only ever goes out on an occasional weekend run alone or a show journey it does look glorious.





I should add these pictures don't really illustrate the difference in size as much as when you see them in the flesh as in these pictures the Subaru is physically closer to the camera in both shots so that makes it look bigger than it is if they were to stand side by side.  But this is just because they were quick shots to share and I've not actually had the Rolls out of its display case yet!