Disney Pixar’s Cars. Best Slot Car Set for Kids. This set from the Go!!! Line makes an excellent starter set for kids. The 1:43 scale is compatible with Carrera’s Digital 143 hobbyist line but geared for children. They will love the character representations and the easy-to-learn analog controls. Shop online for 116 slot cars at discounts up to 38%. HO Slotcars is the most popular of the 3 slot cars categories, then 1/32 Slot Cars, and 1/32 Battery Slotcars. AFX is ranked #1 out of 6 slot cars manufacturers, followed by Auto World Racing, and Innovative Hobby Supply.

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Scalextric C4216 Chevy Camaro James Hunt Richard Lloyd Slot Car 1/32 DPR. Scalextric C4208 Ford Escort MK2 Castrol Edition Slot Car 1/32 Scale. NSR Ford GT40 Mark IV GULF LIMITED EDITION Slot Car 1/32 NSR0172. Electric Powered Slot Car Race Track Set - 2 cars of different colors - A perfect slot car set for beginner Racers,for younger kids to learn and develop racing skills at a slower speed! The loop and fly-over turn are both sturdy and easy to put together.Includes a number of foundation pieces that help steady the track, along with walls for the.

Slot car racing is an exciting, interactive hobby for automobile fans and anyone who likes speed and competition. Slot cars make a great alternative to video games because they tap into similar skill sets—hand-eye coordination, risk-reward thinking, competition, manual dexterity—yet remain physical, i.e. hands-on, three-dimensional and face-to-face.

We carry two high quality slot car brands: Carrera, which tends to appeal to younger racers, and Scalextric Sport, which attracts an older audience and enthusiasts. In other words, Carrera is a little bit “toy,” while Scalextric is much more “hobby.” In this post, I’ll explain some of the features of each brand to help you make a better purchase.

Digital vs. analog

Both Carrera and Scalextric offer analog and digital formats. With an analog set—the sort that has been around for half a century—you can only race as many cars as you have lanes. Your controller adjusts the current sent to the track lane, which speeds up and slows down the car in that particular lane. With a digital setup, the controller is programmed to control the car itself. Digital sets have crossover sections that allow you to switch from lane to lane for passing, blocking, and overtaking. These tracks also support more cars, so that three or four (with some sets, up to six) people can race at the same time. I’ll come back to that a little later.

3 Questions to Help Decide What's Right for You

There are a few things to consider up front if you’re looking at a slot car set:

1. How old are your racers? I do not recommend slot-car racing for very young children. Ideally, a child should be eight or older, and certainly no younger than six or seven. Eight might even be pushing it for the more technical demands of an advanced Scalextric set.

   You need a good deal of skill and finesse to navigate the track, especially around turns, and practice is absolutely necessary. You can’t simply haul back on the throttle and expect the cars to zoom around flawlessly. They will hop out of the slot and skitter away. Of course, that’s part of the fun. If there were no skill involved, you would get bored pretty quickly. For the most part, a child younger than 8 simply lacks the dexterity and coordination to grasp the finer points of adjusting speed to stay on track, and may not have the patience to put in the necessary practice.

2. Where will you put your track? The three-dimensional, hands-on, physicality of slot racing is great, but this does mean that you need space to dedicate to your layout. Even the smallest tracks are several feet across. You don’t want it in the middle of the living room where it will get stepped over—or on!—bumped, full of cookie crumbs and pet hair. The track pieces are generally pretty flexible and robust, and are designed to withstand a trodding or two, but they aren’t indestructible.

3. How often will you be racing? It's not a good idea to set up the track, race a few laps, and then pack it away again. The tracks are designed to be assembled and disassembled without too much effort, but only infrequently. Pulling track pieces apart is usually a little tougher than clipping them together, and can require a good deal of force. You want to make sure that you tug evenly so you don’t snap off the connector tabs that hold them together. Repeated assembly and disassembly will also eventually wear and loosen the connectors, when what you want is a snug fit.

   Your best option is to set up the track in a place where it can be left out, ideally on a table or platform of some sort. Take it apart only when you want to add to or modify the layout.

Carrera

Carrera has two product lines: GO!!! (analog) and Digital 143. Both are 1:43 scale, so a little on the smaller side. Carrera GO!!! is a perfect starter line. With fun themes like Mario Kart, and Disney/Pixar’s Cars 3, and exciting “action” features like loops, jumps, elevated banks that run up walls, the tracks are ideal for children around eight years old. Sets and accessories are modestly priced, too.

Digital 143

Digital 143 is more advanced, and pricier. Digital cars, for instance, are about double the cost of analog. However, if this is the first track, starting with a digital set can be a good investment, because upgrading from analog to digital requires a bunch of new equipment, including a new powerbase, new cars, and some lane-changing track. The good news is that standard track pieces are universal, so the majority of a GO!!! setup will be ready to go should you decide to upgrade to Digital 143.

The benefit of Carrera’s digital sets is that it supports up to three cars at once and allows for lane switching. Lane changes are done by holding a button on the controller before reaching a special crossover track. For the Digital 143 line, Carrera makes crossover tracks red (or green on the MarioKart set) rather than black so you can identify them easily. Crossover tracks can be single (right-to-left, left-to-right), or double (“X”-shaped).

Scalextric

Our Scalextric sets are the better choice for hobbyists. Scalextric sets have bigger, more detailed cars (1:32 scale), some of which sport cool features like working lights and, in the case of James Bond’s Aston Martin from Goldfinger, ejector seats. They let you build bigger and more technically challenging track layouts, and offer bigger and better opportunities for customization and modification, especially with Scalextric’s digital sets.

There is even a dedicated community of Scalextric racing hobbyists, who conduct full-on tournament racing with rules and regulations. With this in mind, you’ll find that Scalextric tends toward more realism—you won’t find jumps and loops here—and more technical demands.

A Note on Track

Scalextric makes a wide range of track pieces to customize your layout. Straight tracks come in a number of lengths and formats. Some of the unique pieces that are available include starter grids, crossovers for making figure-eights, side-swipes for bumping other racers, and single-lane tracks to run alongside pit lanes. There are borders and guardrails that clip along the side of just about any piece of track to help prevent you from jumping the track. Because the track is flexible, you can give some height to your layouts with elevation supports, banked curve supports, and elevated crossovers.

There are numerous options for curves, from lazy wide turns to harrowing hairpins, crossovers and side-swipes, letting you add a ton of variety and challenge to your set.

The track selector wheel demonstrates the range of curves available. You can find lots of support atscalextric.com/uk-en/, including a download for a Track Designer to help build your layout. It’s also very easy to find online forums and communities to get ideas for customizing your setup.

Scalextric Digital

One of the nice things about Scalextric is that the transition between analog and digital is pretty smooth. Upgrading an analog set will require a new power base, transformer, and some lane-changing track, but the cars are not hooked into one or the other exclusively. Analog cars will run on a digital set with a few button presses on the power base. Lane-changing will be disabled, obviously, but it’s nice to know that your old cars won’t be obsolete if you upgrade. You can do the opposite, too: a digital car will work on an analog set, should the need arise. Most of the analog cars we stock from Scalextric come “digital ready,” and can be upgraded to digital with the simple installation of a microchip. And yes, like Carrera, standard track is compatible between digital and analog; only lane-changing elements are exclusive to digital setups.

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Most digital sets from Scalextric come with a power base that supports up to four cars, and can do a few neat tricks like set the cars to run either clockwise or counterclockwise. Stepping up to the Advanced Six-Car Power Base brings a ton of features, like the ability to program various racing modes, set speed caps on individual cars, set cars to reduce speed or even pause in the event that one racer jumps the track, and so on. As far as I’m concerned, however, the coolest feature is the ability to run ghost cars, so you have some competition even when you’re racing by yourself.

ARC systems (App Race Control)

The ARC ONE, ARC AIR and ARC PRO (for digital sets) are the latest additions to Scalextric’s product lineup, which takes advantage of hand-held smart devices to add a whole new dimension to slot racing as a hobby. Set up a Bluetooth-enabled device opposite the power base and use the free iOS or Android application to create and control races, track your statistics, manage and share your collection, and more.

Before you start, you can choose from several different types of races, including Quick Race, Practice, Grand Prix, Endurance, Tournament, Drag Race, Arcade and Pace Car, although not every race is available in all ARC systems. As you play, the app monitors just about anything you can think of, from lap times and lap counts, to speed and penalties. There are several cool additions to mix things up. Turning on fuel consumption, tire wear, or car damage, means that you have to keep an eye on the condition of your car and make a stop in the pits when necessary—or risk disqualification. There are even random “incidents” like engine blow-outs and punctured tires that can bring another measure of unpredictability and realism to the race. After the race, you get analytic breakdowns of your speed, start reaction times, fuel use, and so on, which you can post to Twitter or Facebook.

Finally, there is a “Garage” mode, in which you can catalogue the cars in your collection, save track layouts, and post photos. You can also log your track pieces and accessories and use the app to explore possible layout designs.

The ARC Systems each have their own exciting features.

ARC level ARC race control system

• Hard-wired hand controllers
• Core app functionality
• Analogue system
• 2-car racing

Key features:

• Pit stops
• Post-race statistics

Mid-range ARC race control system

• 2.4Ghz wireless hand controllers
• Intermediate app functionality
• Analogue system
• 2-car racing

Key Features:

All of the features of ARC One plus:

• Wireless controllers (plus rumble)
• Variable race conditions
• Braking button

Premium ARC race control system

• 2.4GHZ wireless hand controllers
• advanced app funcitonality
• Digital system
• Multiple car racing (up to 6)

Key features:

All of the features of ARC AIR plus:

• Lane changing
• Multiple cars
• KERS boost

On your mark, get set…race!

There are 16 different track packs, bundles, and plan books to download here at Slot Track Pro. Some of the best slot car tracks can be found for Scalextric, Carrera, and other brands of tracks. This past December they were download almost 1,100 times. We will take a look and see what the most popular download for track layouts was. Will it be for Carrera or Scalextric? Let’s take a look at the list.

#16 – 27 Circuits for Scalextric

It will be interesting to see where this falls in future lists. We just added it to our collection on the 31st so it only got 2 downloads that day. Scalextric published this catalog in 1985 and there are 27 different Scalextric Classic track layouts. (2 Downloads)

#15 – Slot Track Pro Track Pack 1

Our first Track Pack includes 5 Carrera slot car tracks. We have released four additional track packs so far and have more planned for the future. The first few packs included 5 tracks each. However, we will be increasing the number of tracks in each future pack as well. (16 Downloads)

#14 – Slot Track Pro Track Pack 2

Our second track pack includes 5 Scalextric digital tracks. Each of them have an alternate plan including a pit lane. These track layouts were created in Track Power but a PDF of each track is included so it is not needed to view the layouts. (22 Downloads)

#13 – Carrera Go Track Layouts

This is bundle of Carrera GO!!! track layouts. We added this to the site on the 19th and it was grabbed 30 times before the end of the month. This bundle includes 20 different Carrera GO! tracks, including six different Mario Kart inspired tracks, official Carrera sets, and several custom tracks we created. (30 Downloads)

#12 – Slot Track Pro Track Pack 3

Track Pack 3 featured 5 new Carrera track layouts based off Lucas Oil Off Road Racing tracks. Real world circuits such as Bark River International Raceway and Glen Helen Raceway. (32 Downloads)

#11 – Slotict’s Misc Tracks

Slotict had a website years ago where he provided many different slot car tracks for people to download. At some point in time the website went offline and is no longer available. We were able to archive some of his tracks and host them here at Slot Track Pro for anyone to continue to download and use. (33 Downloads)

#10 – Slotict’s World Circuits

In addition to the miscellaneous tracks above, Slotict created a huge amount of slot car tracks based on real world circuits. This bundle of tracks includes 168 slot car tracks for 42 different race tracks such as Laguna Seca, Road America, and a lot of F1 tracks. Most of these layouts are for Scalextric but there are some for Carrera as well. These tracks were created using the editor Tracker 2000. (40 Downloads)

#9 – Track Power Track Pack

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Definitely the largest collection of slot car tracks that we are aware of. The Track Power track pack includes 758 slot car layouts. The track files are saved in both the 1.6.6 version of Track Power and the newer 1.7 version. There are all sorts of sizes and types of tracks including NASCAR and F1. If you don’t have the full version of Track Power you may not have much luck with this track pack due to the 20 piece limit the demo has. (42 Downloads)

#8 – Scalextric Track Designer Layouts

Autoworld Stock Car Legends Winged ...

This is the original bundle of Scalextric track layouts that was offered with their track designer years ago. It includes 32 different layouts. Some of the tracks are Scalextric set layouts with their different track extension packs added. In addition, there are a handful of world circuits included as well. (57 Downloads)

#7 – SCX Slot Car Track Plans Book

SCX released their track plan book in 2007 with some of their best slot car tracks detailed out. There are 54 slot car track plans included in this book including 18 F1 circuits. The F1 circuits are impressive, and huge so you will need plenty of room if you want to layout those tracks. (65 Downloads)

#6 – 102 Circuits for Scale X Racers PDF & Track Pack

As a tribute to the 101 Circuits for Scalextric Drivers Scale-X-Racers released 102 Circuits for Scale X Racers. Tracks include the 201 Formula 1 circuits, British circuits, rally stages, and other various real world circuits. In addition to the PDF to download and view, you can download a track pack with all the tracks. Tracks are created with Ultimate Racer so you can view and edit them if desired.. (73 Downloads)

#5 – Slot Track Pro Track Pack 4

Our 4th Track Pack was a super pack with 15 different Carrera slot car layouts. They range in size from 4′ x 8′ to 8′ x 12′. It is a good variety pack for all different types of slot car racers. (77 Downloads)

#4 – Scalextric Track Plans 9th Edition

Scalextric often releases a Track Plans publication with multiple layouts and plans for slot car tracks. The 10th edition came out for purchase in 2020. The 9th edition can be downloaded as a PDF and includes over 20 different Scalextric track layouts. (101 Downloads)

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#3 – Scalextric Track Plans 4th Edition

Coming in the third spot for our best slot car tracks list is the 4th edition of Scalextric’s Track Plans publication. This edition offers 31 different slot car track plans for your review. However, these layouts are done using Scalextric Classic track which includes some different angled corners from today’s Sport track by Scalextric. (123 Downloads).

#2 – Carerra Digital Tracks

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Our runner up for the best slot car tracks to download is the bundle of Carrera Digital 132 tracks that they provide on their website. These were made available in 2007 and can support either their 1/32 or 1/24 scale slot cars. (178 Downloads)

#1 – 101 Circuits for Scalextric Drivers

And our reader’s top choice for the best slot car tracks, 101 Circuits for Scalextric Drivers. This publication includes quite a few basic layouts and multi-lane slot car tracks. The world circuits that are featured include a great description of the track and some nice track details and circuit history. The layouts utilize older Scalextric track. However, it is a great resource to use for layout ideas. (205 Downloads)

That completes our list of the best slot car track downloads that we provide here at Slot Track Pro. If you missed it, check out our Top 5 Slot Car Track Designer Programs article. We have more slot car track plans and layouts lined up for 2021 so be sure to check back often. If there is something you would like to see on the site please let us know. Thanks for visiting!