Car of the year and predictions for 2007

Slot Car News Car of the Year-Carrera Corvette C6.R
Why? Well it was such a good car in many ways. The detail level was exceptional as was the paint and printing on the car, but what really sold me on this car as a stand out was the high quality of the build. The mechanicals on the car all worked well. The wheels on this car were perfect and that's what did it for me. So many cars with plastic wheels can't even come close to the wheels on this car, they were concentric...actually concentric. Which is saying something when you're talking about running a slot car on a wood track. I run this car often and it's still got the original rear end, gear, axles, wheels...everything (sorry not the stock tires though). And with only a tire change the car was amazingly fast and very, very fun to drive.


Trend of the Year-kits, glorious kits!
What else can you say! This year companies came out with so many kits that you had your choice of great kits from Slot It, Fly, Artin, Spirit and don't forget all those plain white bodies from many manufacturers. We can only hope that this trend continues into the new year.


Pleasant suprise of the year-Spirit
Seemingly out of nowhere Spirit has come to the US market with force and some interesting upcoming models. And they promise more in the next year. Another reason for this is that Spirit makes some really nice parts. Hopefully the coming year will find those parts in the hands of racers that need some great set screw wheel and motors that are torquey as hell! Also there may be some new models coming that will surprise some people.


Disappointment of the year...Ortmann tires.
Finding out that most Ortmann's appear to be so out of round that they're useless...shattering, just shattering.

2007 fearless prediction...this is the year of Nascar...yes Nascar.
Believe it or not, finally the slot car hobby's focus is shifting to the US market...oh crap now what do we do? We in the US have been whining for soooooo long about getting good Nascar slot cars and now guess what, WE'VE GOT THEM! Between Scalex and SCX making current (or nearly current) liveries of our weekend heroes and Carrera making all the vintage Nascar's anyone wants to buy, and Artin making low-buck plain bodies for the scratch builders out there, there's just about enough Nascars to go around.

Soon, very soon, there will be an announcement related to this post from a major company that will make many guys very happy I think...can't say what it is yet but it's an important car that will be made.

This is the year that a largely European hobby will finally take hold in the US...or fall flat on it's face because of lack of money put into marketing it. There is so much money tied up in tooling for US-specific slot cars this year that frankly I really hope that there is actually money being put into MARKETING HERE IN THE US and not just the vague hope that somewhere someone will stumble into the quickly vanishing local hobby shop to behold the latest Nascar slot car.

DaveK

And Happy New Year!