Slot Cars???

BringATrailer is known for being the place where you can find your next driving (or not driving) project, so surprisingly, another thing you cannot actually drive popped up for sale on Bring a Trailer in 2020. Being offered with no reserve is a slot car track which, taking up a whole 120 square feet of space, will probably be the most impressive in-home slot car track you've ever seen. 

Custom-built for the seller eight years ago by a Detroit company called Slot Mods, this particular track measures 20 feet long and six feet wide. More impressive than its size, however, might be the attention to detail. The track, structures, signs, and landscaping have all been painstakingly hand-painted and are remarkably life-like. When you're finished gawking at the miniature greenery, the track supports up to three racers, coming with three controllers and a total of 25 1:32-scale slot cars including Ferrari F430 Challenges, Porsche 911 Cup Cars, Le Mans racers new and old, and a street-spec McLaren P1. Apparently inspired by Virginia International Raceway, the elaborate slot car track's current owner has dubbed this thing the Gussack International Raceway, or GIR for short. "The track is controlled via a PC-based tablet linked to a variable power source that utilizes a US-style 110-volt wall outlet," the listing reads. "The seller notes that the track is modular and can be disassembled, transported, and reassembled by Slot Mods at the buyer's expense." Speaking of transporting, GIR was sold out of Armonk, New York. Getting it from there to anywhere far doesn't sound like it'll be easy or cheap if one comment left underneath the BaT listing holds any truth. "Cost for my team to disassemble, wrap, and secure in truck with liftgate provided by you: $4,750 plus flights, lodging, and vehicle. This does not include truck rental and shipping fees." TLDR?  It sold for $65,000.

As most of the internet gets by on haphazard builds that generate tons of clicks, it makes us all the more appreciative of genuinely skilled creations. From realistic scale models to handcrafted projects you can drive, it's refreshing to see people actually invest time and effort into something worth showing. That's the case with Slot Mod Raceways' latest, and really, everything they get their hands on. The Detroit team has created some amazing models of famous and original tracks meant for scale model racing. For the past two years, the crew has worked to intricately recreate a tiny-yet-exact replica of Fiat's famous Lingotto assembly plant - you know, the one with a race track on its roof. It's finally finished for your viewing pleasure and someone's personal collection. Just like the real deal, the scale model of Lingotto has a working parabolic race track on the roof. Its entire footprint spans 6-feet by 14-feet and encompasses all five stories of the original factory.

Slot Mods used a 3D printer to create the Fiat 500 models inside of the factory and assembled the entire creation into an animated diorama that tells the history of Fiat. In posts shared to Instagram, Slot Mods has photos of the factory taped to the wall for inspiration, including the assembly floor, shots of the design room where car bodies were sculpted from clay, and the interior of Gianni Agnelli's personal office.

As for the price, Slot Mods founder David Beattie told Jalopnik that this particular project cost about $225,000. If you had a time machine, you could use that money to buy more than 200 Fiat 500s in 1958 produced at this very factory. But since time travel doesn't exist, you'll have to spend your riches on this intricate recreation instead.

How about this? Nestled in the Kensington neighborhood of Brooklyn is an unlikely mom-and-pop establishment that seems like it has been transported there from another time. The store is Buzz-A-Rama, a model slot car racing shop, and it's been entertaining fans of the hobby since 1965. Back then, "Buzz" Perri was a 30-year-old entrepreneur and slot car enthusiast with dreams of owning his own racing shop. The store derives its name from his nickname, earned from his years as a high school track star when the audience "buzzed" over his performance on the field. In the late 1960s Buzz-A-Rama joined more than 40 other slot car establishments that ran throughout New York City's many boroughs. There were 14 slot car shops in Brooklyn alone; all during the (mostly American) slot car craze of the mid 1960s through the early 1970s.

Time and new trends in entertainment took its toll on the slot car trade. The industry began to slow with competition first from arcade games and later from home video games and a host of other modern diversions. Slot cars, much like model trains, slowly began to lose their mass appeal and became more of a specialist pursuit with many slot hobbyists focusing on competitive racing. Now Buzz-A-Rama is the last slot car store standing in all of New York City. It's apparently been that way for quite some time. "I can't even remember the last one that was in Brooklyn besides me - I know I must have put him out of business," Buzz laughed. The store may have gone the way of the those others if it wasn't for the Perris owning the building. Buzz and his wife Dolores live in Manhattan but commute down to the shop to run the show on weekends, still catering to the small but loyal clientele. For them, it's a labor of love. "I’m not in it for the money," he said.

The small plastic frame cars that whiz around the shops tracks are deceptively speedy. The 1/24 and 1/32 scale cars use 12 volt DC motors to race along the tracks with speeds ranging from 20 to over 100 mph. Yes - a tiny little car you can hold in the palm of your hand can go over 100 mph! A fast car can average about 300 laps in around 40 minutes. All the finesse is in the movements of the hand-held controller whose owner needs to watch the speed on curves to avoid a wipe out.

This national hobby has a die-hard community that spends countless hours tweaking their cars to make them go faster. Some people buy kits, others build the whole model up from scratch, soldering gun in hand. A newbie who wants to buy into the hobby can buy a ready-to-race car for as little as $40 but it is not unheard of to spend up to $500 for a high end model.

The shop has five different tracks that range in difficulty but there is a track suitable for just about any age group that wants to give it a try. Most of the tracks use the hand controller while others have mock pedals and steering wheels for a more authentic racing feel. In addition to the large scale 1/32 tracks there's also an HO scale (1:87 to 1:64 scale) track that fans of the smaller, classic, home racing kits can enjoy. Anyone who remembers the best-selling Tyco race tracks of the late 1970s will be quick to recognize these smaller cars.

Unfortunately, Buzz-A-Rama permanently closed due to Buzz and his wife passing from COVID in 2021. Still interested? A few places to check out are Dallas Slot Cars and Katy Slot Cars in Texas, Mid South Hobbies, and The Raceway in Tennessee, Alpine Speedway north of Atlanta, and CincySlots in Cincinnati, Ohio.