Any suggestions on a good slot car set?

Personally, I love Scalextric. the modern tracks are fantastic, and I got the oval set for my friend's son when he turned 4. The entry level cars are great to start with, and Scalextric, Fly, and a few other companies make high detail slot cars that are as much fun to look at as they are to drive. The great hing about them is that they do not completely rely on magnets to stay on the track; they are excellent at learning slot-car control. I have something like 50 slot cars, and I love them all.

 

I think your son would enjoy it, but it does take practice, so don't let him get frustrated to the point where he gives up. Also, the modern cars have a removable clip/bick-up braids that you can replace with a new one very easily.

If I had a set when I was 5 like the one I have now, I would have never left the house. It's also a great father/son thing to do. My dad never had the time to do stuff like that with me so having a person to race with is a pleasure.

I might get all my cars out and take a digital pic this weekend.

 

It's funny you should mention the table.... I built a track for another friend's twins on two 4 X 8 plywood sheets and mounted it to their garage wall on hinges so it could be folded up against the wall when not in use. Thi thing had ALL the neighborhood kids getting slot cars and coming over to my friend's house to play with the track.

 

i live in ireland my wife got the attic converted for my ferrari collection,
but it gave me a floor space 20ft by 20ft it was ideal for laying my two scaletrix tracks down together and 2 two daughters get endless fun from it.
i have an 8 mouth old son adam who will hopefully get hours of enjoyment out of it 2.

 

scalextric!!!!!

And, if want a great collection of stuff, I have quite a large set that I no longer use, probably have over $1000 invested, that I'd love to move to a good home. it sets up four lanes about 8 x 20 as I recall. All less than 10 yrs old, carefully stored for the last 4 or 5.

PM me if you're interested.

Dave

 

HO Scale here, but not for that young of age............

My son became interested when they came out with the Jurassic Park set with an animated Dinosuar that ate the Mercedes!!!!!

I do have all MY old cars, as well as the F1 cars that were issued a few years ago..

I think the larger scales are more popular these days as well as being more sturdy for the younger set......

 

Scalextric or Carrera. Both great manufacturers with fantastic cars. The good news is, that regardless of which system you choose the cars will be compatible for either.

Since your son is young I suggest regular cars (from Scalextrix and Carrera) with magnets. Also I wouldn't buy too fancy car to begin with.

Recently I bought Schumi's F1 Ferrari and Massa's F1 Sauber. Incredibly detailed, but a waste if you go racing flat out with a big chance of crashing. Both from Carrera, which also offer the Enzo amongst others.

 

I bought the Scalextric set last Christmas for myself. I chose it for two reasons. 1) It was consistently rated among the best everywhere I looked. 2) The track is 'softer' and therefore more flexible. Thats a big plus with little kids that don't always step where they plan to.

The Carrera track was a close second place, I liked the fact that you could also run the 1/24 scale cars on it. Carrera also seemed to do a better job of supporting banked turns.

Check out Scalextric here:
http://www.scalextric.co.uk/pages/home.aspx