This 1:32 scale Formula 1 slot car racetrack was built by Slot Mods Raceways based in Detroit, Michigan on special order by the Formula 1 organisation. It was shipped to every grand prix in 2018 where it would be set up in the paddock area, allowing race attendees to compete against each other, in between the real life on-track events.
Slot car racing was a staple of many childhood’s including mine, Scalextric is likely the most famous brand, but there were many back in the hobby’s heyday. For the uninitiated the set up is very simple, two or more cars sit side-by-side on a plastic track with a slot in the middle and two parallel metal contact rails down the centre.
Each car has a pin that extends down into this slot which takes care of turning the cars around the circuit. Power to each vehicle’s onboard electric motor is provided by the metal strips/rails on the surface of the track, current is picked up by contacts that extend under the car and speed is varied by increasing or decreasing voltage – typically this is done with a hand held controller.
There are very serious slot car racing hobbyists with highly modified vehicles and elaborate tracks, there are also regional and national races in most countries with a populace that grew up with slot cars as children.
The track you see here measures in at 213 cm × 488 cm × 76 cm, or 6.9 ft x 16 ft x 2.4 ft. It can be separated down the centre for easy transportation.
It can be used either as a promotional unit that gets moved around or it can be permanently installed in a home, office, or business location. The team at Slot Mods Raceways can be hired for maintenance and installation work, and they can provide support when needed.
RM Sotheby’s will be auctioning the salt car track in Abu Dhabi on the 30th of November, with all proceeds going to the Reaching the Last Mile Fund, inspired by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.
Images: Peter Seabrook ©2019 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
