Day two ...

Something which I did not previously mention and which is pertinent to my recently-found enjoyment of the slot-car racing goodness is the fact that I never owned any Scalextric as a child. A gift in the form of slot-car racing was bestowed upon me at the tender age of eight years (or there about); but it just wasn't SCALEXTRIC.

... Anyhow, back to the present day -or close to the present at least, since we are still talking history after all!

I went into work a day or two after making my first SCALEXTRIC purchase; and with a close friend (called Miles) I discussed my purchase and the ensuing enjoyment, along with my surprise at how Shey had taken to it so naturally. I was still thinking at that point that I had spent rather a lot of money on this one toy -another fact which I presented to Miles.

Bill (that's me): It was really great fun, and I hope we will get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

Miles (he's my friend): I'm sure you will Bill.
Bill: It was rather a lot of money though.
Miles: Really? How much is a lot?
Bill: Seventy five quid
Miles: That's not a lot at all!
Bill: Oh, isn't it? Well, I guess it was half price.

... one conversation later and I was now thinking that I had not spent much after all, and in fact I was feeling that I'd been quite mean!

I then began investigating the prices of other bits and pieces; I started by looking on eBay, where I found all sorts of goodies, the bit that really caught my attention was Scalextric Digital System. "Oh My God", I thought to myself -if you can forgive the blasphemy (if you consider it to be). "That looks awesome!"

So the next step was to price up converting to digital. We would need the digital power base (RRP £149) and a couple of pieces of digital track; and of course during my investigations I had convinced myself that we needed a few bits of track extension anyway.

A trip back to Modelzone was in order; fortunately the guys in my local store were very helpful. After my enquiry about the Digital Advanced 6 Car Powerbase and the subsequent discovery that this, not so modestly priced, item does not include even a single hand control, we discussed the merits of purchasing the Scalextric Digital Platinum Set. The guys set about calculating the cost of the set when purchased individually; it transpired that the powerbase, the controllers, and the six digital cars included in the set on their own cost more than the entire set, so in effect all of the track would be free!

I had not gone to the shop with the intention of purchasing the Platinum set, but by golly I ended up leaving with it under my arm -well not exactly under my arm because it was quite a large box.

 
Pit lanes. What a brilliant idea!; so I had to get me some pit lane in/out pieces; which of course meant that I had to get some single lane track -straight and curved. This was all going to cost me a small fortune if I were to continue to buy this stuff from Modelzone; so when I returned home I had to search the interweb for someone selling this stuff a little bit cheaper ...