I have realized that, as with those who build, restore, and love real classic cars, there are some deep passions and strong opinions among some who collect and race slot cars. As a classic car lover and an antiquarian, I completely understand those who are sticklers for the “originals” when it comes to toys as well. However, I myself am new enough to this hobby that I’m not a slot-car traditionalist. As a result, I have standardized my fleet of slot cars on the fast, affordable, and readily available Auto World reproductions of the original Aurora Thunderjet chassis design.
Once I started reaching out to other people who were interested in this hobby I quickly found that there are some pretty strong positions out there about the traction magnet: “Its cheating!” “It makes everything too easy!” “You can’t drift with magnet cars!”
Well, I appreciate all those positions; drifting is fun, and its true that the traction magnet takes some of the realism out of scale racing. That’s why I keep a handful of original and clean running Aurora cars from the 1960’s with their fingernail-thin tires that I enjoy sliding around the track from time to time.
But considering the fun for the money, I have decided that, for what I want to do, these super fast and relatively cheap modern updates on the original design just can’t be beat. And while I’m not the type of person who always likes the idea of, say, putting a Chevy engine in an old Ferrari, you have to admit that, if someone did that, they would have a reliable and fun old Ferrari that would probably be faster than the original.
Roll your eyes if you must, but the Auto World “Ultra G” magnetized T-jet chassis is my way of playing.
3 thoughts on “Giving the traditionalists heartburn”