If you have not had much experience with position cars or it was many years since you last ran them in your younger years, it can be confusing working out what to buy to get started. My aim is to provide an summary of these cars to help you in choosing the position car set that is right for you.
There are two types of position cars, there is the analog cars pg slot and the new digital ones. If you ran position cars when you were younger you will have ran analog cars. With one of these you’re limited to one car car to position and they stayed in that position for the whole race.
With digital sets another dimension has been added to the racing action. You can race more than one car per position and change lanes, make passing moves or blocking moves, program in pits tops, ghost cars, yellow flags etc. This is much more like the real motor sport. In some of sets available it is possible to rave 8 position cars on only 2 lanes. They are more expensive than the analog sets.
Position cars are also made of different sizes. The size is HO or 1: sixty four scale. Initially they made to work with model train sets but they are now definitely generated for racing — they are quick and can race over some fantastic track templates. The next size up is 1: 43 scale and is designed for the younger racing with many fun features and character cars. The 1: 32 scale has a big choice of sets and is popular for in home position car racing. The biggest size car is in the 1: 24 and are usually ran at clubs rather than in the house for their size.
Position cars of the same scale from different manufacturers can race for a passing fancy scale track. However, tracks of the same scale from different manufacturers will only go together by using a special adapter track piece, that can be bought separately.
There are several different makers of position cars. The most popular ones are Scalextric, Carrera, AFX, Life like, Revell and SCX. You can get these models on line from sites like Amazon or ebay who have a large selection or from your local position car raceway. Scalextric, Carrera and SCX have the widest choice of cars including analog and digital sets.
One of the areas of position car racing that can be frustrating to someone new to the hobby is that the cars will come off the track if they are driven too fast around the figure or too slow through some of the obstacles. This is something most people get the hang of pretty quickly.
Grip magnets are now included in cars to hold the cars stuck to the track when racing around the tracks at high rates of speed. Because of the magnets the cars can climb vertically and race upside down for a time.
For the younger beginners and those without much space the Carrera Go range will make a good place to get started. There is an interesting selection of cars and being 1: 43 scale you can fit a lot of action into a relatively small area. They are an analog position car set and this helps to keep the cost more affordable.